Jesse Ventura Joins Pro-Cannabis Coalition

photo by Freedom To Marry

Former Minnesota Gov. Roger Stone and WWF champion Jesse Ventura are joining the fight to legalize cannabis on a federal scale. Stone, a former Trump advisor, announced the formation of the bipartisan United States Cannabis Coalition (USCC), an advocacy group solely focused on protecting states’ rights to legalize cannabis, on June 16 at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo in New York. Republican and Democratic leaders have already joined the group, including Ventura.

Ventura’s decision to join the group is based on years of support for cannabis. He believes that states should have the power to legalize cannabis without federal interference. “The federal government should get out of [cannabis prohibition] completely and they should leave up to each state like they do alcohol,” Ventura told CULTURE in 2015. “Alcohol is governed by each state, whether they have dry counties, what the drinking age is, and how they handle it. There’s no reason to have the federal government involved in any way, shape or form.”

In addition, Ventura is launching a new commentary show “The World According to Jesse,” on RT America, a branch of the Russian state television programming. Ventura plans on releasing uncensored coverage of hot topics including cannabis legalization.

The purpose of the coalition is to reiterate the President’s original stance on cannabis. “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,” Stone told attendees at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo, “and to remind the president that he took a strong and forthright position on this issue in the election.” The USCC is registered as a section 527 nonprofit by the IRS.

According to Stone, one of Trump’s “key factors” for edging past Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election was signaling his support for cannabis by saying he was “100 percent” in favor of medical cannabis. Since the inauguration, unfortunately the President has strayed from his original statements, most notably evident by the appointment of the bold cannabis opponent Jeff Sessions. Sessions has already asked congress in a letter to allow the Justice Department to crack down on medical cannabis.