Montel Williams Endorses Legalization Effort in Ohio

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]M[/dropcap]ontel Williams gave an emotional speech Weds, Oct. 21 at a news conference in Columbus, Ohio. Williams and others showed their support for Issue 3, which would be the first constitutional amendment in the country to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis in a single vote. Issue 3, if passed, would create implications for legalization efforts in states across the board.

“Stop the stupid. Get the patients off the battlefield,” Williams pleaded. Williams expressed the urgent need for immediate access for patients. Williams would rather call it ‘adult usage’ rather than recreational cannabis. “And that’s all I’m about,” he said. “This entire thing for me has nothing to do with recreational. I have never, ever, ever supported recreational drug use and I will never do so.”  Montel Williams, whose talk show aired for a decade, takes medical cannabis to aid his battle with multiple sclerosis.

Williams’ spokesperson said he will not be endorsing any of the 10 potential growing sites that would be created by Issue 3. Another amendment, Issue 2, would ban adding monopolies to Ohio’s constitution.

Not everyone is happy with Issue 3. Jen Detwiler is a spokeswoman for No Marijuana Monopoly. “This is not a medical marijuana amendment,” she said. “It is a marijuana monopoly amendment. And there is very, very little in the amendment that talks about medicinal marijuana. This amendment was created and funded by people who stand to financially benefit if it passes.”

Nicole Scholten’s 11-year-old daughter depends on medical cannabis. Scholten reluctantly accepted Issue 3 as a means to an end. “Right now parents like me and families like mine have the choices of waiting patiently for authority figures to tell us it’s OK to legally treat our children or uproot our fragile families to a legal state,” Scholten said. “Why are they uprooting their very fragile families to places like Michigan and Colorado and Oregon? Because medical cannabis actually works.”