The Green Rush has created some strange bedfellows. A couple of Congress members who never supported cannabis are now in the business. Several athletes with questionable personal track records are also finding places for themselves in the sprawling industry.
John Boehner
In 2018, the former Republican Speaker of the House joined the board of Acreage Holdings, a New York-based company with dispensaries and investments in a number of legal cannabis states. During his time in the House (1991-2005), Boehner never lifted a finger to support any efforts to reform cannabis laws and end federal prohibtion. "My thinking on cannabis has evolved," he explained.
Tom Price
The disgraced former Secretary of Health and Human Services under Donald Trump is now on the board of Botanical Sciences, a cannabis company that was just awarded a license to operate in Georgia. Price only held the position in the Trump Adminstration for seven months. He resigned in 2017 when it was reported he'd been spending government money for personal travel to the tune of $1 million. In 2018, the Inspector General concluded Price had used $341,000 of taxpayer money on chartered and military flights.
While in Congress as a Georgia representative from 2005-2016, he repeatedly voted against marijuana measures.
Isiah Thomas
A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and former Knick and Pacer coach, Thomas was charged with sexual harassment by a Knicks staffer in 2006. A $11.5 million settlement was paid to Anucha Brown Sanders. Fourteen years later, the diminuitve point guard who played on two Piston championship teams was named CEO of One World Pharma, a Las Vegas hemp company that does cannabis business in Colombia.
On February 9, it was reported Thomas had invested $3 million in One World.
Mike Tyson
The former heavyweight champion now has a line of cannabis products. In 2018, Tyson announced he and his partners (Robert Hickman and James Stromman) were converting a 40-acre ranch in Califiornia City, 110 miles north of Los Angeles, into a pot farm. Tyson has a long rap sheet. He was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992 and served three years in jail and another 60 days for violating his parole. From 1987-2007, Tyson had repeated incidents and was charged with numerous assaults, including by his wives. In 1997, during a championship bout with Evander Holyfield, he bit off a piece of his opponent's ear.
This article was originally posted on Aug. 11, 2018. It has been updated several times.
