Depending on whom you ask, Charles Koch will be called the titan of the industry, the monetary gray cardinal of politics, or Marcus Aurelius of the libertarian movement.
So he is using his name and nearly $25 million of his $45 billion fortune to influence criminal justice reform and the legalization of marijuana by the end of 2021.
As an ardent libertarian, Koch considers banning cannabis in any form — joints, Delta 8 sprayed flower, or vape — to be a violation of personal freedom, as well as a destructive government policy that only worsens the problem of mass incarceration in America.
That gives the industry more than $17.5 billion from the sale of legal cannabis products, and that figure is expected to grow to $100 billion by 2030.
After Koch has expressed his support for cannabis, other people who have hidden their views on legalization have come out of the shadows.
He says the United States must learn a lesson after the “horror” of the alcohol ban a century ago.
Eighteen states now allow adults to use marijuana, and 37 states allow medical hemp consumption.
The fact that Koch is doing this “calms people down.” In June, Amazon announced that it would lobby for the legalization of cannabis, and other companies, including Altria, Brink?s, and Molson Coors, created a panel of experts to propose federal marijuana laws.
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