Medical marijuana activist and former day-time TV talk-show host Montel Williams suffers from MS. He recently announced his partnership with the Albatin Wellness Cooperative, a dispensary in Sacramento, California.

Born on July 3, 1956 in Baltimore, Williams started his career in the Navy. In 1991, he debuted The Montel Williams Show on KCOP in Los Angeles. It was picked up for syndication by CBS Paramount Television. For the next 16 years, it was a staple of day-time talk. The show was canceled in 2008.

Williams had begun discussing his illness and use of marijuana on the show, but it was after it ended that he became a full-time advocate. Williams has spoken before many state legislatures and reform conferences, often tearing up as he tells his story of spasticity and relief provided by the medicinal use of marijuana.

"For immediate cessation I smoke it," Williams says about his use. "Most of the time I eat it at night because I suffer from extreme tremors in the evening and I also suffer from extreme neuralgic pain in my feet. If I eat it in the evening it takes [the pain] from a six to about a three. When I pop out of bed I'm normally at my best, so that's when I work out and I try to get as much work done early in the day. As I get later on in the day, my feet start to go on fire. When they start to hit the fire mark I'm easing my pain, it's just that simple. I've been speaking to politicians all around the country and all around the world on this issue and you'd be surprised that more people understand and back it and believe in it."

However, Williams also regularly states: "I have never been or will I ever be in favor of the full legalization of marijuana."

On Jan. 4, Williams was arrested for possessing a marijuana pipe at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. The charged was dismissed in April.

Williams has been married three times and has four children.

Also see:
Montel Williams MS Foundation
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