Billionaire Charles Koch's Movement To Legalize Cannabis | Features | Forbes

Charles Koch, billionaire and devout libertarian, is known for spending a fortune on political causes but is now actively funding efforts to end federal marijuana prohibition. Here’s why pro-pot advocates in both parties are high on his support.

Although Koch isn’t big on consuming it himself, he’s going public now with a long-held belief: Cannabis should be legal nationwide. So he’s putting his name, and nearly $25 million of his $45 billion fortune, to influence criminal-justice reform and legalization by the end of 2021. Brian Hooks, Koch’s right-hand man, says that a good barometer to gauge what Koch and his network are eventually willing to spend is what they’ve already put toward these issues—some $70 million in total over the last two years.

“It should be the individual’s choice,” says Koch from his office in Koch Industries’ sprawling granite compound in Wichita, Kansas. “[Prohibition] is counterproductive. It ruins people’s lives, creates conflict in society and is anti-progress. The whole thing never made sense to me.”

Further Reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2021/07/27/billionaire-charles-koch-on-why-cannabis-should-be-legal/?sh=eef2e214a735

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40 Comments

  1. Lee Adickes on January 10, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    Home growing needs to be protected



  2. Ice Cold Killa Prod on January 10, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    Please make It legal #Legalize_Brazil people being killed by organized crime



  3. Wilfred Peake on January 10, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    I really hope this is him trying to attone for his sins for what he helped create



  4. Beaukneaus on January 10, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    NINETY THREE PERCENT of us believe medical marijuana should be legal. So what do the democrats do? Go for FULL ON LEGALIZATION, despite the fact that the president has already said he’s against it. They should have put forth a bill for Medical, which Biden has already said he supports (and should have already done something about unilaterally), and brought it to the floor for a vote. I’d LOVE to see politicians forced to vote on this when 93 percent of Americans support it.

    They DON’T WANT it to pass. That’s why they brought such a HUGE BILL forward, because they know it won’t pass.



  5. jay 00 on January 10, 2022 at 7:59 pm

    YES



  6. Andy Smitty on January 10, 2022 at 7:59 pm

    Well a broken clock is right twice a day, his clock on cannabis is right!



  7. Ron Maddesn on January 10, 2022 at 8:02 pm

    Bullshit puff piece paid for by the koch Bro’s lol but whatever atleast donate $5billion to the cause if you really bout it Charles! #Put5onit



  8. Some guy on January 10, 2022 at 8:02 pm

    You’ve really skipped around a more plausible explanation for his desire to legalize. I wonder what the greedy business man has to gain? I highly doubt any of your arguments for a benevolent business man pushing for criminal justice reform could be backed up with quotes.



  9. Gary Dean on January 10, 2022 at 8:04 pm

    4:20 eh. nice one. 😉



  10. Philip Smith on January 10, 2022 at 8:05 pm

    Lets be blunt with Montel Williams. Montel speaks with the service connected veteran owners of Freshly Baked Company a social equity cannabis micro company.
    https://youtu.be/KBhN1-nJ5ck



  11. Steelz MB on January 10, 2022 at 8:06 pm

    One too go



  12. Diana SUNSHINE Wulf on January 10, 2022 at 8:06 pm

    no



  13. David Chavez on January 10, 2022 at 8:07 pm

    If it doesn’t benefit the people in power then what is their incentive to make a change? We already know that political class of people aren’t held to the same standard by the criminal justice system. Prohibition basically has no effect on them so why change anything when all it surmounts to is a reduction of power for them?



  14. Richard Jr on January 10, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    A smart man ! Richard Jr.



  15. Kobe Goodall on January 10, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    Omg keep the Koch brothers away from weed please..



  16. Rolando Mota on January 10, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    Kind of sad the rich elites run this country now.



  17. Mi Journey on January 10, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    i dont know if i should laugh or what!!! 25million of his 45billion is like driving down the street just to say hi, do you really care… NO, not really!?!



  18. Mike R on January 10, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    Best way to become a trillionaire ? Sell drugs.



  19. Joshua Goodson on January 10, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    News flash, cannabis is a plant. It grows wild all over the world from the bush of Australia to the tundra of Siberia. Humans have been using it for thousands or years. Stuffing it our pipes, making saves or ingesting it without the approval of big brother. Harry Anslinger paved the way, Nixon followed suit along with Reagan to influence world drug policy and make it illegal. Before you know it people are being killed and their lives ripped apart because someone didn’t approve of them personally using a plant. Over 100 years of cannabis criminalization a disconnection from the natural world and now look at us, making arguments in a virtual world hoping it makes a difference.



  20. Ravi Flores on January 10, 2022 at 8:23 pm

    The vídeo has 4:20. Nice.



  21. Sho Nuff on January 10, 2022 at 8:23 pm

    This is big news. Crazy it’s not being talked about. It will take money to legalize marijuana. The money has historically been tied up in lobbying to keep it illegal. Maybe that will change and it will finally happen. A shame it had to happen this way but that’s the way of the world.



  22. ta bou on January 10, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    Koch for prez!!!!



  23. randy gee on January 10, 2022 at 8:28 pm

    Charles I pray and thank you for what you do towards legalizing Cannabis.



  24. P2Feener 305 on January 10, 2022 at 8:28 pm

    These are exactly the kind of people the cannabis industry does not want. These are the kind of people that kill the truth essence of legal cannabis. Kinda wish it never became legal.



  25. Rolland Curtis on January 10, 2022 at 8:29 pm

    Cannabis too? Branding common household items are not enough.



  26. Moo on January 10, 2022 at 8:30 pm

    I’m glad we have the Devil himself on our side.



  27. Tinkdoggathanthe32nd on January 10, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    He wants it legal ?



  28. melonbobful on January 10, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    This guy getting involved says that the public are going to get screwed over.



  29. morizla on January 10, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    About time he does something night before going to meet his maker..

    He helped create the monster Republican Party today so hey.. it’s only fair



  30. James Johnson on January 10, 2022 at 8:33 pm

    Charles Koch is worth $45 BILLION. Why wouldn’t he donate a couple BILLION to get cannabis legalized?



  31. Calvin Duke on January 10, 2022 at 8:33 pm

    LEGALIZE IT FEDERALLY ALREADY END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW



  32. Strategic Stripping *Mind*Body*Spirit* on January 10, 2022 at 8:34 pm

    Does anyone know a way (or even a possible way) to get in touch with him?



  33. Petek Demircioğlu Çelebi on January 10, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    Count me in: Im never taking those pills again. Doesnt matter if I become 40kgs and get seizures all day and Shake from anxiety all the time.



  34. Cody Robinson on January 10, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    Koch’s control fertilizer industry. I’m assuming that’s the reason they want to legalize cannabis.



  35. Stonerman15 on January 10, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    Legalize medicinal and recreational cannabis already please! I’m ducking republican in SC nobody is against it!



  36. BMWO Canada on January 10, 2022 at 8:38 pm

    He is aiming too high. Sounds good. When you criminalize something that is widely used, people don’t stop using it. His vision is still far from reality, but it is doable, I believe.



  37. hugokatz on January 10, 2022 at 8:42 pm

    Cannabis legalization takes the excuse politicians have to build a police state. Reform would also take police excuses for robbing and beating people on American roadways. Any politician who doesn’t want to stop this injustice should be thrown out of office.



  38. Fritz The Cat on January 10, 2022 at 8:43 pm

    F the Koch bros. File an injunction against the federal govt. Urge your local overlord to make it nationwide.



  39. incognitoALister on January 10, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    He just wants to be the monopoly of the weed industry



  40. Julian Echelon on January 10, 2022 at 8:46 pm

    Koch brothers are still the LITERAL WORST no matter what they try to legalize