Bob Lee, 80, and his wife Ann, 80, devout Republican Party activists since the 1964 Goldwater campaign, are headed to California this summer to work on a new political cause: the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.
Bob and Ann, of Houston, are the parents of Richard Lee. The Oakland pot entrepreneur, profiled in today's Sacramento Bee, bankrolled the signature drive to qualify the November initiative.
The Lees' view of marijuana changed after their son suffered a spinal cord injury, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. They came to accept his use of marijuana to treat muscle spasms and sleeplessness.
"As we learned more, we became more accepting," Bob Lee said. "We found out that the war on drugs is actually doing more damage than good...We are now very skeptical of the federal government when we read the history of how marijuana got classified as the drug of the devil."
So Ann Lee says they'll be out in California to back a son who "always marched to a different drummer."
"I'm going to come out and help him as a conservative Republican," she said. "What do you think of that? I think it's right."
Pictured: Richard Lee greets fans at recent International Hemp & Cannabis Expo in Daly City. Peter Hecht/phecht@sacbee.com
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