Cannabis, controversy & confusion: Bill Clinton is back

Clinton, who famously said he tried marijuana “once or twice” but did not inhale, recently talked about how CBD can help with pain management.

Former President Bill Clinton, speaking at the Impact Forum in Orlando Florida, told the audience that he’s heard from people about how low-THC cannabis products can help in pain management. And while he’s not in the habit of paying much mind to what he called “hype calls,” he sure receives a lot of them: “more messages about CBD than any man alive.”

An article covering Clinton’s on-stage conversation with CNN medical expert Sanjay Gupta appeared last week in Cannabis & Tech Today wherein Clinton was quoted as saying there is some evidence that CBD can help combat pain.

“Go figure. There is some evidence that you can get CBD with a low-THC count that will combat pain. Some of these products have been tested more or less to FDA standards and some [haven’t been tested] not at all,” the former president said, according to the article that has since been deleted after alleged pressure from Clinton’s public relations team, reported Marijuana Moment.

“It was all quoted accurately and live—it was pressure from the Clinton camp PR team that the comments were supposed to be closed to the press—so we respected the writer’s request,” a Cannabis & Tech Today editor told Marijuana Moment in a Twitter direct message.

The President Who Didn’t Inhale

Clinton, who said he tried marijuana “once or twice” but did not inhale, will no doubt be remembered for that silly remark as well as his Viol­ent Crime Control and Law Enforce­ment Act of 1994, which is still among the most far-reach­ing crime bills Congress ever passed.

The 1994 Crime Bill is still seen by many as a major driver of mass incar­cer­a­tion and a stark and punitive continuation of the War on Drugs.

In terms of 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 “lead to administrative action by the Drug Enforcement Administration to revoke the practitioner’s registration.”

With Friends Like That

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

One wonders where his team of media handlers was when he made that remark.