Illinois Congressional candidate Anthony Clark is running on a platform that intends to legalize cannabis at the federal level. But unlike most politicians talking pot, Clark practices what he preaches, and is also a vocal everyday medical marijuana user. And in a new video supporting his campaign, Clark lights up on camera and breaks down exactly why he thinks cannabis legalization is so important.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Clark, 37, is an Air Force veteran who uses medical cannabis to treat his PTSD. In the new roundtable video, Clark joins two other Illinois medical marijuana patients and discusses his lifelong history with weed, which started in high school and reignited legally after his military discharge.
“Cannabis has always been there for me throughout my life, enabling me to interact with society and deal with the pressures that society often brings upon you,” Clark said. “Cannabis saved my life. It continues to save my life.”
Clark has run for Illinois’ 7th Congressional seat in the past, and he lost in 2018 with only 26% of the total vote. This year, he has two other competitors battling to unseat the incumbent, Rep. Danny Davis.
Rep. Davis recently offered his support to the MORE Act, which would legalize cannabis on a national level. But after years of opposing policies, Clark is not convinced that his competitor’s stance on cannabis is genuine.
“Because he knows we ran and now he sees after 2018 the shift in the public sentiment — of course with [cannabis] becoming legal in Illinois in January — now he’s going to sign on,” Clark told the Sun-Times. “But did he fight for it? Was he bold? Was he out front? Was he extremely transparent about it, like we were? No.”
Clark said that he will continue to use cannabis every day during his campaign, and suggested that he would not change his relationship with marijuana if elected to Congress.
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