A new face of the pro-marijuana legalization battle might surprise you. For one, she looks a lot more like your grandmother than the Dude, and for another, she’s a red-blooded Texas Republican.
But snowy-haired, 85-year-old Ann Lee is dedicated to the cause of giving Americans the right to legally light up.
“It’s just me, I believe in this,” Lee told Houston’s KHOU News.
In some ways she was a late-comer to the movement. She admits that she didn’t change her mind about the drug until her son became wheelchair-bound and used pot to treat his condition.
“We realized marijuana wasn’t the weed of the devil which I had been known to say,” Lee told the news station.
Since then, Lee has been on a mission to legalize the drug, learning about the drug and its effects on users and pressuring state lawmakers to reconsider the ban on cannabis.
Lee’s activism breaks many stereotypes. For years, the push to legalize pot came from jazz musicians, free-spirits and hippies. Now, though, the coalition is expanding to include proponents of limited government as well. Lee argues that support of legalization is a natural Republican position.
“It’s not Republican to support prohibition,” Lee said. “The government has no business telling you you cannot [smoke.]”
Watch the clip via KHOU below:
