Looks Like Paul Ryan is Job Hunting

Tom Angell's Marijuana Moment reports that US House Speaker Paul Ryan is saying sweet things about the industry. Could it be that he's angling for a piece of what his political pals John Boehner, William Weld, Brian Mulroney, and Mitch McConnell have banked by going green?

In the article titled, "Paul Ryan Touts The Benefits Of A Marijuana Ingredient and Industrial Hemp", we learned that the departing arch-conservative Speaker has lent his position and reputation to support cannabis and hemp. Well, sort of, and quietly and very late.

But hey, everyone has to start somewhere!

Ryan spoke at a campaign event in Kentucky on behalf of a Republican colleague. In his remarks, he was supportive of cannabidiol (CBD), the single molecule among hundreds of compounds and terpenes provided by both cannabis and hemp that is federally approved in the US. CBD has been approved this year by the Food and Drug Administration for narrow use by children suffering from 3 varieties of epilepsy.

Seeing as how he was standing on Kentucky soil, it was less surprising to hear Ryan speak in favor of industrial hemp, a big kentucky crop whose national legalization is powerfully supported by Ryan's Senate counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has sponsored the inclusion of industrial hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill comes up for vote soon - the House has not approved it to include hemp... yet.

So with one speech, Paul Ryan has supported a colleague, appeared hip enough to support a bit of cannabis, supported legalization of a multi-billion-dollar industry in which the US is decades behind other countries, and not-so-secretly thrown his hat in the ring for one of those Board positions that, for the politically connected, are sprouting like up weeds.

Pun intended.

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