It must have been a weird week for the California cannabis executives and advocates who found themselves partying with Mitch McConnell. Well, it was just lunch, meetings and a tour of a marijuana-related business, as far as we know. But it was a looser, funkier look for a Senate majority leader not known for his liberal approach to drugs or anything else.

As it happens, however, the Kentucky Republican’s home state, albeit more famous for bourbon and doped-up racehorses, has a burgeoning hemp industry. All politics being local, McConnell has taken steps to facilitate legal trade in the marijuana fiber as well as cannabidiol, the non-psychoactive cannabis derivative touted as a cure for everything that ails you and your dog.

McConnell still insists on distancing himself from hemp’s “illicit cousin” marijuana, incorrectly calling it a “completely different plant.” Fortunately, politicians, unlike plants, can stray far from their roots.

Josh Gohlke, deputy opinion editor