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View Full Version : My thinking on cannabis has evolved




timosman
04-12-2018, 04:17 PM
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/john-boehner-joins-marijuana-company-view-on-cannabis-has-evovled.html


11 April 2018

Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner will join the board of directors of a marijuana holdings corporation, saying his views on the substance have "evolved."

Acreage Holdings, which describes itself as "one of the nation's largest, multi-state actively-managed cannabis corporations," announced Wednesday that the former U.S. representative from Ohio has joined its board of advisors, and will join the board of directors once it is formed.

In a statement sent to CNBC, Boehner said his thinking on cannabis "like that of millions of other Americans, has evolved as I've learned more about the issue."

"I decided to get involved because of the struggles of our country's veterans and the opioid epidemic, after learning how descheduling the drug can potentially help with both crises," he said.

Boehner explained that the federal government should stop labeling cannabis a "schedule 1" drug — lumping it in with heroin and cocaine as having the highest potential for abuse.

"Descheduling will reduce the conflict between federal policy and state programs" which have pursued more lenient policies on marijuana under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. constitution, he said.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a Republican who ran on the Libertarian Party ticket alongside former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson in the 2016 presidential election, is also joining Acreage's board.

Boehner was the top Republican in Congress from 2011 through 2015. He was succeeded by Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who announced Wednesday that he will not seek re-election at the end of his current term.

Boehner has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump's administration, as well as many of his former colleagues in the House, since his retirement. As Boehner marks his self-described evolution on marijuana, which is used both as a recreational and medical drug, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken steps to pursue enforcement against marijuana more aggressively than the Obama administration.

In a joint statement, Boehner and Weld argued against marijuana's continued federal status as a schedule 1 drug.

The "negative implications" of the schedule 1 label include "the lack of research, the ambiguity around financial services and the refusal of the VA to offer it as an alternative to the harmful opioids that are ravishing our communities," the former politicians said in the statement.

Boehner announced his new affiliation in a tweet on Wednesday.

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brushfire
04-12-2018, 07:54 PM
https://images-cdn.9gag.com/photo/aMAr4RR_700b.jpg

nikcers
04-12-2018, 08:22 PM
I think they want to change the perception that people have, especially younger people. They want people to think its more dangerous than alcohol, or at least stop it from becoming normalized like alcoholism is in society, they want to completely destroy the perception that its harmless.

Or at least artificially create the demand for government regulation to regulate the government from regulating the industry. You got to abandon the free market principles in order to save the free market system.

Was anyone on RPF really pretending like the marijuana industry wasn't a boondoggle that won't get its own lobbyists?? Much of the old school Ron Paul people I know predicted this a long time ago. That legalization would increase price, and cost due to government tax and crony capitalism.

The pendulum I think is on the swing though and it could go both ways, I have seen more "news" about how dangerous it is in the last month than I have in years. I think its fake news though, even the internet censorship is in place and dissenting opinions and comments were getting completely slided out of existence on public forums.

The funny part is I expected someone like Obama to be the spokesman. That's where I could see them trying to swing the pendulum the other way by poisoning the well with Boehner. All they would really have to do is promote a bunch of fake news that says its dangerous and than have someone who is the opposite of what the public considers an intellectual authority arguing for it.

Like Ron Paul says, it doesn't take much of a majority to accomplish anything in government, all you need is a small ideological minority of voters who share a philosophical goal. A small minority is enough to change the outcome of an election.

Just something to think about if you start hearing more about how people who use marijuana are dumb or can't remember shit, or it causes them to develop mental illnesses, or take extra sick days because of nausea and cramps that only get relieved by taking long showers.

jkr
04-12-2018, 08:56 PM
Yeah, my thoughts evolved.

I used to get rich by putting people in jail and taking their stuff for using it and now I'm going to get rich by selling it to them... ain't that a bytch!