While consistently advocating and voting against federal cannabis legalization throughout her congressional career, Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has also been profiting from her numerous investments in a Canadian cannabis company since September of 2020. 

Since this time last year, Foxx has made at least six investments in Altria Group Inc., a leading international tobacco company that has been getting its foot in the lucrative cannabis door as of late. Altria, Marlboro cigarettes’ parent company, invested $1.8 billion in Cronos Group, a licensed Canadian cannabis producer, in 2018. So as it stands, Foxx, 77, is actively profiting off of a market and product that she has long been actively attempting to stifle from her prominent legal standpoint. For example, two months after her investments began, she voted against the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment & Expungement (MORE) Act. 

It’s speculated at this point that Foxx’s investments make her the largest holder of cannabis-related stocks in all of Congress, although that is difficult to verify because members of Congress don’t actually have to disclose the exact amounts of their various investments. Another member of Congress, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Kentucky), bought somewhere between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stocks in Tilray, Canopy Growth Corporation, and Aurora Cannabis – three powerhouse cannabis companies. However, in contrast to Foxx, Yarmuth actually sponsored the MORE Act. Again, we don’t know the exact amount, but we are privy to the fact that members of Congress are actively investing in cannabis. 

According to a former lawyer of President George W. Bush, Richard Painter, as he was quoted in Salon, the investments are “so obviously a conflict of interest” which “brings into question [Foxx’s] credibility as a lawmaker.” The complicated situation is disheartening as we watch innumerable activists, lawmakers, private citizens, and businesses lobby for the benefits of cannabis reform in America, which could positively affect innumerable people across the nation. Most specifically, true reform would begin to mend the wounds of those most affected by the obviously failed War on Drugs, which are primarily minority communities. To watch Foxx profit from cannabis production while actively working to prevent legalization and true reform is a hypocritical, mind-boggling, selfish spectacle.