Medical marijuana advocate running for state House after 100 ‘likes’ on Facebook

David Michel of Telford, a leading advocate for legalization of medical marijuana in the Tri-Cities area, is running as an independent for the state House District 6 seat now held by Rep. Micah Van Huss (R-Gray), according to the Johnson City Press.

For the past six months or longer, Michel has been the driving force behind the Tri-Cities chapter of Safe Access, a political action group dedicated to supporting medical marijuana reform.

…“My wife was like, ‘You need to run. You need to run.’ And her brother was saying, ‘You need to run for office. You don’t mind speaking to people and you’re willing to listen to people,’” Michel said.

“So I put on Facebook that they were wanting me to run (for state representative) and a bunch of people started responding. So I said, ‘If I get 100 likes (on the post)’ I’d do it. And I got it before the next day.”

Michel said he chose to run as an independent because he doesn’t “like partisan politics.”

“Partisan politics, to me is pathetic. It doesn’t help anybody,” Michel said.

… While discussing his likelihood of getting elected, Michel referenced a poll conducted Tuesday by Nashville-based WKRN that asked viewers, “Are you more likely to vote for a gubernatorial candidate who supports legalizing medical marijuana?”

Out of the 2,477 respondents, 78 percent responded “yes.”

If elected, Michel said infrastructure improvements and attracting more “blue-collar jobs” would also be priorities.