EX-SPEAKER, EX-GOVERNOR JOIN WEED FIRM’S ADVISORY BOARD
“We view this advocacy that we get from these two gentlemen as immensely positive for the industry.” GEORGE ALLEN ACREAGE HOLDINGS’ PRESIDENT
The U.S. marijuana industry has a new spokesperson: John Boehner.
The Republican former Speaker of the House 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,” he said in an interview. “I find myself in that same position.”
Boehner’s dramatic new position on marijuana recalls the recent career changes of former Toronto police chiefs Bill Blair and Julian Fantino, both of whom have gone from enforcing drug laws to taking prominent decriminalization roles in Canada. Blair is the Liberal point man on pot reform and Fantino, who once compared weed to murder, has launched a medical marijuana company with former RCMP deputy commissioner Raf Souccar.
Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld will join Boehner on the advisory board of Acreage, which holds 35 licenses for cannabis businesses in the U.S. Boehner, 68, was first elected to the House of Representatives from Southwest Ohio in 1990. He 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 Inc. and adviser for global law firm Squire Patton Boggs US LLP. Weld, 72, who was governor from 1991 to 1997, 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,” said George Allen, Acreage’s president.
The two former Republican politicians join Acreage as current office-holders 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 The Justice Department in January rescinded the Obama-era policies that allowed state legal pot markets to flourish.
Weld said he’s been in favour 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.
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.
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.