Are you still using medical marijuana to relieve your symptoms?

Without a doubt, and I will until the day I die. I'm a proponent. I've testified around the country in every state that has legislation pending.

Why is smoking a joint preferable to popping a Percocet?

I'm just asking for my doctor to have the right to prescribe it just like he has the right to prescribe morphine or cocaine. Under Bill Clinton there was a study funded by taxpayers that attempted to refute marijuana's medical efficacy. The study came back the opposite. It said that it was the most egregious offense that marijuana was not being prescribed by doctors. People have to understand that the pharmaceutical industry makes about 190 different pain medications. That's because not one medication will work for more than 28 percent of the population. So, I might take a pill and it might not work. And the next pill might not work and the next pill might not work. Marijuana won't work for everyone either. But give my doctor the right to make that choice, not some bunch of bean heads wearing bad ties and bad suits down on Capitol Hill.

Will it ever be legalized?

No question. Right now there are 13 states that have already passed medicinal marijuana
laws that allow doctors to prescribe. In another two years we'll be up to 19 states. When we hit 25, the federal government can't stop it. And the presidential candidates are 100 percent for changing the way marijuana is persecuted,
prosecuted, or processed. So, the tide is changing.

Do you have political ambitions yourself?

Politics will be in my future whether it's from an elected position or from a lobbying position. I believe very strongly that if
you complain about the ills of our society and do nothing about it, you should keep your damn mouth shut.

You're referring to yourself?

I do a lot of complaining about the ills of society, so it's time for me to step up to the plate and do something about it in a leadership role.

Do you think we'll see our first African-American president elected this year?

I have no idea about this election and I don't think most of America does either. We're not informed enough. We follow the media with a hook in our mouths like lemmings being pulled over a cliff.

But you're part of the media.

I am part of it, and I'm glad I've quit for right now. It's offensive to watch supposed news pundits swill on their individual opinions in an attempt to sway people to vote the way they do. Most people voting this year don't have the slightest idea who they're voting for. They only have the media's impression of who the person is. Some might say this happens every
election, but it doesn't. This election is definitely worse.