Montel Williams is a television personality best known for The Montel Williams Show, which ran between 1991 and 2008. More recently, though, he’s been known as a vocal public advocate for the legalization of medical marijuana.
Montel was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. Depressed and dismayed, he founded the Montel Williams MS Foundation in October of 2000 to fund the scientific study of multiple sclerosis by various organizations and institutions. The Foundation donates 100% of its proceeds directly to the study of MS. As a public figure, he felt that his diagnosis was a “call to action” on behalf of multiple sclerosis sufferers and research.
Montel has publicly admitted to having used marijuana over the course of the past 10 years to treat the depression, sleep disorders, and nerve pain that afflict him as a result of his MS. Fearing the addictive nature of pain medications such as Oxycontin and Vicodin, and having realized the ineffectiveness of Percocet, Montel turned to marijuana to treat his symptoms. Though he has been arrested for marijuana on several occasions, he maintains that it is the most effective treatment for him and continues to smoke it daily.
Now a notable figure in the fight for medical marijuana, Montel works to support motions for legalization on the state level and actively campaigns for the complete legalization of marijuana, for both medical and recreational use. Leaders like Montel, with a strong personal connection to medical marijuana, give a voice and a face to the struggle for patients’ rights. As a source of courage to others and a source of financial support to medical research, Montel sets a strong example and should be looked up to and admired.
Here is an emotional Montel speaking in Annapolis, MD on behalf of the medical marijuana legislation that was pending there:
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