When John Boehner was Speaker of the House, he described himself as "unalterably opposed" to marijuana legalization, a posture that contributed to the criminalization, imprisonment and ruination of millions of Americans.



Now Boehner has joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, one of the major players in Big Weed, growing, processing and distributing marijuana in 11 states.

Boehner says he changed his mind about destroying the lives of marijuana users when one of his friends used marijuana to treat his back pain.

"Over the last 10 or 15 years, the American people's attitudes have changed dramatically," he said in an interview. "I find myself in that same position…"



"When it comes to an issue like this, that has what I'll call murky legal issues and political issues, we're there to provide advice to Acreage in terms of how they work with state and federal governments, how they work with local governments and advice on what states look promising," Boehner said.

Ex-Speaker John Boehner Joins Marijuana Firm's Advisory Board [Jennifer Kaplan/Bloomberg]

(Image: Lindsay Lachance, CC-BY)