How a Former Boy Band Dude May End Up Controlling All the Legal Pot in Ohio
Pablo Escobar had nothing on Nick Lachey, a former member of the execrable boy band, 98 Degrees. He and some investors have figured out a way to corner the market on all the legal dope in Ohio. Here’s the plan via Buzzfeed:
One thing rich people excel at is being friends with other rich people. It’s a talent that can come in handy, especially when the investment of a lifetime comes along. For Nick Lachey, the former B-list boy-bander turned perpetual reality show hunk, the chance to corner Ohio’s legal marijuana industry came through his friendship with Arizona Cardinals defensive end Frostee Rucker, who used to play for Lachey’s beloved Cincinnati Bengals.
About a year ago, Rucker’s agent, James Gould, began gathering a small group of friends and friends of friends, with the goal of raising enough money to draft and pass a recreational marijuana legalization ballot initiative in the state — meaning they could bypass the state legislature and put the issue in front of Ohio citizens for a vote. But unlike past attempts at legalization in other states, which were mostly drafted by social justice activists and paid for by liberal billionaires like George Soros, this one would be written specifically to enrich the people who financed the campaign: a political action committee that Gould and his business partner, Ohio political strategist Ian James, called ResponsibleOhio.