Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson is dabbling in the marijuana industry, joining Cannabis Sativa Inc. as CEO and president:
Johnson said he hoped to expand Cannabis Sativa into a major marijuana business and intends to work out of New Mexico to help develop products that are legal in states like Colorado and Washington. “I generally believe this is changing the planet for the better,” said Johnson, who will be paid $1 a year and receive equity in the company. “It also is a bet on the future … We think we have the creme de la creme of marijuana products.”
Johnson, who owned a construction company that helped build Intel Corp.’s Rio Rancho, New Mexico, plant before entering politics, said the company will make marijuana-based oils aimed at helping children with epilepsy. The two-term governor also said it will make cough drop-like products for recreational use.
Emma Roller learns that “while marijuana may be his passion, Johnson has also been vocal about rekindling his presidential ambitions”:
“I hope to be able to run in 2016,” he said in a Reddit Q&A session in April. Johnson said he would run as a libertarian again, because that way he “would have the least amount of explaining to do.” While a 2016 Johnson candidacy is low-hanging fruit for pundits’ jokes, he does have a following akin to Ron Paul circa 2008. And while recreational marijuana is a long ways off from becoming a (legal) reality outside of Colorado and Washington, states are becoming more progressive with their views of medical marijuana. Even some of the most conservative states in the country have begun legalizing cannabis oil to treat children with severe epilepsy.
The Dish 