Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R) is continuing his campaign in support of expanding medical cannabis access in the state, telling Inside Texas Politics that “if it’ll help a toothache,” he’s “for it.”
“…Anything that will relieve pain or suffering for somebody. And we’ve seen this, how it helps PTSD, cancer patients, etc. But we just need to open it up to everybody and quit picking winners and losers.” — Miller to Inside Texas Politics
Miller’s comments come 10 days after he published an op-ed calling for the end of cannabis prohibition.
“This is about freedom. It’s about less regulation,” he said during his appearance on Inside Texas Politics. “It’s about less government. It’s about freedom between you and your doctor and getting the government out of your life. So, I think it’s a conservative issue.”
In the op-ed, Miller said he believed “cannabis prohibition came from a place of fear, not from medical science or the analysis of social harm.”
“Sadly, the roots of this came from a history of racism, classism, and a large central government with an authoritarian desire to control others,” he wrote. “It is as anti-American in its origins as could be imaginable.”
Despite Miller’s support for broad cannabis legalization, the reforms are opposed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) but Miller said he plans to urge the governor and GOP-led Legislature “to come together and set aside our political differences to have an honest conversation about cannabis: where we have been, where we are going, and what role government should properly play.”
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