Voters next month will decide if Montana should become the latest state to legalize the use and sale of recreational marijuana. A pair of measures to open the state’s cannabis market to adults 21 and older appear on ballots.
Proponents say legalizing pot would not only advance personal liberty, but also turbo-charge the state’s economy. Critics, however, say the risks far outweigh the potential benefits.
Dave Lewis may seem an unlikely advocate for legalization of recreational marijuana in Montana.
For starters, “I don’t use it. I’ve never used it,” he says.
Lewis served in both Montana’s legislative chambers, led two executive departments and worked as state budget director under three governors. Now retired, he’s a policy adviser for New Approach Montana, the group working to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
Lewis says he knows a good deal when he sees one.
“I got to looking at it and I came at it from the economic side, I guess, of suddenly…
