Chris Wright (activist)
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Wright (born October 14, 1957) is an American businessman, cannabis rights and free speech activist, and frequent candidate for public office. Wright, who co-founded the Grassroots Party in 1986, owns a computer repair shop in Bloomington, Minnesota.[1][2][3][4][5]
Wright ran for U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district in 1988 as a Grassroots candidate. In 1998, Wright was endorsed by the Grassroots Party for Governor of Minnesota. He got 1,727 votes. In the 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial election, Wright got 7,516 votes as a Grassroots candidate. In 2014, Wright got 31,259 votes for Governor as a Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis candidate. On April 20, 2017, Wright announced he intends to run for Governor in 2018 as a Legal Marijuana Now candidate.[6][7]
Wright organized the Minnesota Tea Party, a cannabis rights rally held on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol every September from 1987 to 2000. A political rally and music festival called Grassroots Gathering, organized by Wright in 1992, which was to be held on a private farm in Ogilvie, Minnesota, was cancelled by authorities citing incidents reported at the Weedstock festival in Wisconsin the previous year.[8][9][10]
Wright was arrested in 1996 for growing 41 cannabis plants at his home in Minneapolis. He appealed his conviction and lost. Wright argued that under Art. XIII, Sec. 7 of the Minnesota Constitution any person may sell the products of the farm or garden occupied by him without obtaining a license. The Minnesota Court of Appeals reasoned that product labeling and other restrictions established previously granted police authority to ban cannabis.[11][12]
References
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