Cannabis, controversy and confusion: Bill Clinton is back

By Maureen Meehan

Former President Bill Clinton told the audience at the Impact Forum in Orlando, Florida that he’d heard from people about how low-THC cannabis products can help with pain management. And while he’s not in the habit of paying much attention to what he calls “hype calls,” he certainly gets a lot of them: “More news about CBD than any other person in the world.”

An article about Clinton’s onstage conversation with CNN medical expert Sanjay Gupta appeared in Cannabis & Tech Today last week, quoting Clinton as saying that there is some evidence that CBD can help fight pain can help.

Photo by Cristi Ursea via Unsplash

“Imagine that. There’s some evidence that you can get low-THC CBD that fights pain. Some of these products are more or less FDA-compliant and some have been tested [haven’t been tested] Not at all,” the former president said, according to the article, which has since been deleted after alleged pressure from Clinton’s public relations team, Marijuana Moment reported.

“It was all quoted accurately and live – it was pressure from the Clinton camp PR team that the comments should be closed to the press – so we respected the author’s request,” said an editor of Cannabis & Tech Today on Twitter to Direct Message Marijuana Moment.

The President who didn’t breathe

Clinton, who said he’s tried but not inhaled marijuana “once or twice,” will no doubt be remembered for that silly remark, as well as for his Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which remains among the most far-reaching Crime belongs to any bills Congress has ever passed.

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The 1994 Crimes Act is still seen by many as a major cause of mass incarceration and a blatant and punitive continuation of the War on Drugs.

Regarding cannabis, the Clinton administration went so far as to threaten doctors who would recommend medical marijuana in California, where it was legal, that doing so “could result in administrative action by the Drug Enforcement Administration to revoke the practitioner’s registration” .

RELATED: CBD Vs. Ibuprofen: Which Works Better For Pain Management?

Photo by Elsa Olofsson via Unsplash

With friends like that

Clinton told Rolling Stone in 2000 after leaving office that he believed “most small quantities of marijuana have been, and should be, decriminalized in some places.”

One wonders where his team of media officers were when he made that comment.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.