About 2 months ago we covered the news that former U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) was jumping into the cannabis community after being quite vocal about his opposition to cannabis during his time in office. These days he is still being vocal, but at least now he is putting what influence he has left to good use.
Boehner recently did an interview with a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, near his old stomping grounds of Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. He was very open about his newfound perspective on cannabis – a perspective many wish he had come around to a few years earlier.
“There’s a lot of evidence that it works,” Boehner told WCPO-TV.
“Even with chronic pain, or veterans with PTSD, they ought to be able to have access to medical marijuana because we believe it actually helps them,” he said.
Boehner is now a big believer in more research being done on cannabis, and he seems to be pretty aware of the preliminary results. “When you look at the states where medical marijuana is pretty prevalent, the use of opioids is down 25 percent,” he said.
During the interview he did refer to CBD as the “non-psychotic part” of marijuana, when he meant to say “non-psychoactive.” To be fair, Boehner did get into the game really, really late, so he’s probably still working on some of the terminology.
Of course, “better late than never” is a common phrase for a reason. Boehner seems willing to use his influence to get the word out about cannabis, especially on the medical side. While he said that he wouldn’t advise states on what they should do or not do regarding cannabis laws, he does believe the federal government has to get out of the way and let them do it.
True, he is speaking out – at least in part – because he profits from people having better access to legal marijuana. But it’s important to remember that Boehner could make money in many industries, but he chose cannabis. It’s also important to remember that profit is a good incentive to get things done, which is why you’re holding a smartphone or browsing on a home computer right now in what is probably an air-conditioned room or building.
If you think marijuana has benefits and we should explore those benefits, your voice is welcome, no matter how long it took you to voice it.
