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Rule #1: Use enough gun
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posted
I'm sure he shed tears of joy. Roll Eyes

http://www.al.com/news/index.s...ins_marijuana_c.html


The U.S. marijuana industry has a new spokesman: John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The former House speaker has joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a company that cultivates, processes and dispenses cannabis in 11 U.S. states. Boehner's endorsement, after saying nine years ago he was "unalterably opposed" to legalization, could be considered a watershed event: Marijuana has gone mainstream.

"Over the last 10 or 15 years, the American people's attitudes have changed dramatically," Boehner, 68, said in an interview. "I find myself in that same position."

Sixty-four percent of Americans, including a majority of both Republicans and Democrats, want to legalize it, according to an October Gallup survey. That's the most since the pollster began asking the question in 1969, when 12 percent of the population favored legalization.

Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, 72, will join Boehner on the advisory board of Acreage, which holds 35 licenses for cannabis businesses in the U.S. Boehner, first elected in 1990 to the House from southwest Ohio, was speaker from 2011 to 2015, when he resigned amid problems with an increasingly fractious Republican caucus. Since then, he's served as a board member for tobacco company Reynolds American and adviser for global law firm Squire Patton Boggs US. Weld, governor from 1991 to 1997, is a former Republican who was the Libertarian Party's candidate for vice president in 2016.

"We view this advocacy that we get from these two gentlemen as immensely positive for the industry," Acreage President George Allen said.

The two former politicians join Acreage as current officeholders vacillate on their support for weed. President Donald Trump has gone back and forth, while Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a longtime opponent. The Justice Department in January rescinded the Obama-era policies that allowed state legal pot markets to flourish.

Both Boehner and Weld say they've never tried the drug.

Adult recreational use is legal in nine states and Washington, D.C. That means more than one in five American adults can partake. Twenty additional states allow for some form of medical marijuana. The legal market is expected to reach $75 billion by 2030, according to the investment bank Cowen & Co.

Still, the drug remains federally illegal and is classified as a Schedule I narcotic, the harshest of five government ratings.

Weld said he's been in favor of medical marijuana since 1992 and supported the referendum that legalized recreational pot use in his home state in 2016.

"I was a little bit ahead of the field there," he said in an interview.

Even so, his belief in the functionality of the plant has grown, he said, especially when it comes to easing the opioid crisis.

"Cannabis could be perceived as an exit drug, not a gateway drug," he said.

Boehner said his perspective shifted after he saw the plant's efficacy in helping a close friend deal with debilitating back pain. Marijuana's potential use as a treatment for veterans helped sway him, too. Plus he's been studying the problems of the U.S. criminal justice system for years.

"When you look at the number of people in our state and federal penitentiaries, who are there for possession of small amounts of cannabis, you begin to really scratch your head," Boehner said. "We have literally filled up our jails with people who are nonviolent and frankly do not belong there."

On top of all those reasons to support the plant, Boehner and Weld say the debate over legalization is, at its core, a discussion of the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which allows states to do what they want.

"If some states don't want marijuana to be legal, that's their prerogative," Weld said. "But that shouldn't be dictated by the nanny state in Washington."

Despite the GOP mostly lauding the amendment, Republican politicians have been split on the cannabis issue. Sessions' harsh words for marijuana, and his decision to roll back Obama-era protections, didn't deter Boehner or Weld's decisions to get involved with the industry, they said.

"When I saw the announcement, I almost chuckled to myself," Boehner said, referring to the policy reversal. "I don't know why they decided to do this. It could be that the attorney general is trying to force the Congress to act."

The politicians' years in public office may help the company navigate the winding road to federal legalization.

"When it comes to an issue like this, that has what I'll call murky legal issues and political issues, we're there to provide advice to Acreage in terms of how they work with state and federal governments, how they work with local governments and advice on what states look promising," Boehner said.

Neither Boehner nor Weld has made a financial investment in Acreage, though Weld says he's considering it.

"Millennials who will inherit the kingdom before long, they are even more positive about cannabis than the populace at large," Weld said. "You can look at the trend of millennial opinion and you can see the future."



When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. Luke 11:21


"Every nation in every region now has a decision to make.
Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." -- George W. Bush

 
Posts: 14826 | Location: Birmingham, Alabama | Registered: February 25, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
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Posts: 29408 | Location: In the red hinterlands of Deep Blue VA | Registered: June 29, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Drill Here, Drill Now
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Sign that you're smoking too much weed - you think Boehner will represent you instead of himself



Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
 
Posts: 23957 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Go ahead punk, make my day
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$$$$$$$$ is all he gives a fuck about.

Now that the gravy train of DC is over, this is his newest teet to suckle on.
 
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He's doing it for the Vets Roll Eyes



"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"
 
Posts: 6168 | Location: In the tent, in Houston, in Texas | Registered: October 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His diet consists of black
coffee, and sarcasm.
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I care about what Weepy Boner does just enough to post that I don't care what he does.
 
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It is funny how your priorites change when you leave elected office. Paid lobbyists are always in demand. This does not surprise me.
 
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Bad dog!
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quote:
Originally posted by Angus the Kid:
He's doing it for the Vets Roll Eyes


And also to ease the opioid crisis. Yep, he actually said that. To ease the opioid crisis....

This is the kind of thing that shakes my faith, because I think if there were a God he could not resist hitting that greedy fucker right between the eyes with a lightening bolt -- BAM!!!


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The 2nd guarantees the 1st
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And all this time we thought his eyes were red from crying...



"Even if the world were perfect it wouldn't be." ... Yogi Berra
 
Posts: 1916 | Location: York County, VA | Registered: August 25, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Muzzle flash
aficionado
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Nothing he does surprised me. Disgusts, yes, but not surprises.

flashguy




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Posts: 27911 | Location: Dallas, TX | Registered: May 08, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Peace through
superior firepower
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50/50 that he's even had so much as a toke.
 
Posts: 110096 | Registered: January 20, 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I hoped he had drowned in a river of tears.




 
Posts: 11744 | Location: Western Oklahoma | Registered: June 18, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I think the day he got the speakers job and he cried, he has not had a lick of sense. Nothing he has done since then has made any sense.


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