Roger Stone, a staunch conservative and longtime friend and adviser to Donald Trump, recently announced the formation of a bipartisan United States Cannabis Coalition (USCC), whose goals include protecting states’ rights, legalizing marijuana and reforming “our antiquated and failed federal drug laws.”
Amen to that.
“I am going to be working with a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, progressives and libertarians, liberals, and conservatives to persuade the president to keep his campaign pledge, and to remind the president that he took a strong and forthright position on this issue in the election,” Stone said at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo (CWCB) in New York last.
“The facts are on our side—opioid addiction is down in the states that have legalized cannabis as are drug overdose deaths and all classes of petty non-violent crime. At the same time, we must increase public awareness of the millions in state revenues that state-approved cannabis is generating… and the thousands of jobs the multi-billion cannabis industry has created,” reads the USCC website. “Legalized cannabis has also crippled the drug cartels who extort those who are sick or dying.”
Stone, in a Youtube video, called the War on Drugs expensive, ignominious and a racist failure. He said Obama should have declassified marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug at the end of his presidency.
The political consultant and Washington lobbyist, says he will ask his friend in the Oval Office to honor states’ rights on marijuana policy—which, as a candidate, Trump promised he would.
Stone said Attorney General Sessions and Homeland Security Director John Kelly and their threats to crackdown on legal weed compelled him to form the USCC.
“It’s our intention to identify, reach and mobilize millions of pro-cannabis voters to urge the president to keep his word,” Stone said at the CWCB expo. “It’s our intention to lobby the Trump administration from the top down to recognize the medicinal value and economic potential of cannabis.”
Stone said the USCC’s mission, in addition to legalization, is to to reschedule weed to allow doctors to legally prescribe it and open up avenues for research.
Part of the USCC’s mission will also be to reform the federal tax code to help cannabis companies gain fair access to the banking industry.
In another jab at Jeff Sessions, Stone said, “In all honesty, it’s time for President Trump to tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions to cut the shit.”
There are easily 100 million Americans who will certainly agree with that remark.
