Filed by KOSU News in Health.
June 15, 2011

TV personality, multiple sclerosis patient and one-time drug industry spokesman Montel Williams has a new role: consultant to medical marijuana dispensaries.

This week the media star took reporters on a tour of an upscale medical marijuana dispensary that he’s helping to launch. “I use medical marijuana,” Williams told one TV reporter. He’s been an advocate for the legalization of medical marijuana and said he uses pot every day.

The Sacramento dispensary is run by Albatin Wellness Cooperative, and Williams said it’s nice enough that his parents would be happy to check it out. The fancy dispensary could help lift the stigma of medical marijuana. “Why are we treating patients who seek out this type of medication like they’re some lesser members of society,” he said.

For years, Williams served as the face for the brand-name drug industry’s consortium to offer help to people who can’t afford their medicines, though that relationship ended a while back. Now, he’s eyeing a different national medical venture — opening high-end medical marijuana shops in states where they’re legal, CBS 13′s Derek Shore reported. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]