Legalize..just respect patients in the process..

Washington State has written their cannabis rules. Most will need legislative approval. Personal growing has been banned. Evidently this would apply to patients as well. Current law allows up to fifteen plants. Once again, legalization is accomplished at the detriment of patients. Not everyone buys their meds at a dispensary. Many of us grow our own. Oregon just decided to legalize dispensaries, which will help the existing dispensaries that started under the guise of "clubs". We voted no last time on dispensaries. But that didn't stop enterprising dispensary owners from opening businesses. Depending upon where they opened, some were harassed and raided, and some weren't. It probably would have been better to wait until they were legal, but those of us who really understand the benefits of cannabis on our health sometimes become exuberant and do things anyway. I'm not talking about drug traffickers here. Some of these dispensary owners are patients themselves. They only want to help people and have taken the risk to do so.

I have said many times that I believe in ending prohibition. It was based upon a lie anyway and countless lives have been ruined to further that lie. But to legalize at the expense of patients doesn't make sense. We don't have to make patients' lives more difficult by allowing the recreational laws to influence or apply to the medical laws. Patients use cannabis to become healthy. I know for some this seems odd. But that's why we do it. And it works! We get healthy! I'm living proof of this.

Also, current law allows patients or caregivers to possess 24 ounces of useable cannabis. The new rules would drop that amount to 3 ounces. Here's the problem with that. Many patients process their cannabis into other forms for medicating. Some make oil, tincture, or capsules to medicate with. This takes more than 3 ounces to do. Expecting this from patients doesn't make sense and could change the course of their return to health. Some patients also use raw cannabis in their diet. They include it in smoothies and juice. The health benefits of raw cannabis are only now being discovered and the news is great! I use raw leaf and small buds in my morning smoothies. Ingestion in some form is typically more effective than smoking for many conditions. Using raw cannabis, for example, doesn't even result in a high. And now growers are creating varieties that are higher in CBD and lower in THC which will also have less of a high. Tinctures made from high CBD varieties are what parents are giving to their kids with constant and severe seizures. It stops them. (Watch Sanjay's special)  Smoking or vaporizing is optimum for some kinds of pain as well as muscle cramps. It's great when you need to relax and to clear your mind of troublesome thinking as many survivors of PTSD have discovered. And yes, you'll get high from that. And you'll feel better. Trust me on this. I'm a survivor and cannabis has helped calm my mind without the resulting side effects of an anti-depressant.

The point is, patients figure out what works for them and then they get well. Colorado left patients alone. I hope Oregon does as well when we legalize. I know letting go of long-held beliefs is at the bottom of these decisions. Sanjay Gupta's special aside, people still believe in the whole "reefer madness" propaganda.  It's not easy to suddenly believe that cannabis is a safe plant that should be available to everyone.

But as we legalize, please leave patients alone. In the mean time, we need to reschedule cannabis federally so that research can begin in earnest. We did this in Oregon and rescheduled from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2. Cannabis is a safe plant and should be scheduled even further down the list, if not removed completely. Stop trying to control something that is a personal decision. I still use Humira for my RA, but cannabis is what put my disease into clinical remission. I was so ill for so long that it may take time to discontinue the Humira. I also take Sulfasalazine, although it's been reduced by half. It would be nice to only take that one. The Humira scares me. I was also able to discontinue the anti-inflammatory drug, the narcotic, both blood pressure pills, and I'm down to 1 Metformin, which is also ending soon. This would have not happened without cannabis. I have no problem with western medicine. I just wish medical schools also included natural medicines in their curriculum. My medical experience has been lop-sided and would have been richer if I could have had meaningful conversations with my doctors about all forms of medicating. They shouldn't have to fear losing their medical license for talking to me about cannabis. So I don't tell them. And that's sad. It's not what I want. 

Prohibition must end. Simple as that. No one needs to freak out about it. States with existing medical cannabis laws must either leave them alone or make them better. States without medical cannabis laws need to enact them. And for pity's sake, keep the pharmaceutical companies out of this. It's the whole plant that heals. Not an unreasonable facsimile of, which is what these pill factories pump out. If what they produce isn't what we do in our kitchens, then it's not medicine. Sorry about that. A guy in front of a booth at Hempfest this year stopped me and try to sell me some cannabis oil. I thanked him and said I make my own. And you know what? He got a really odd look on his face. And it didn't seem like he was puzzled. It seemed like he understood what I was saying.

States should take a lesson from my experience at Hempfest and never underestimate the empowered patient. Because guess what else we are? Voters. Yes, we vote, among other things like raising families, holding down jobs, and helping our communities understand the truth about this wonderful plant. We're chatty like that..

Legalize..just respect patients in the process.
 

Did we just open the door to legalization?

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that as long as states don't let it be a free for all, they can move forward on recreational use of cannabis. And apparently, this applies to the states with legal medical cannabis as well. Now that we have legalized dispensaries here in Oregon, and reduced cannabis to a Schedule 2, it will be interesting to see how all of this unfolds. 

It certainly feels like we're on the path to full legalization. I've never understood how it could be prohibited on a lie in the first place. Especially considering how many lives have been ruined by incarcerating folks for using a completely safe plant to feel better - either medicinally or recreationally. What difference does it make which it is?

But then we've been led astray before, and I suppose that we'll have to wait and see just how far-reaching this is. Will it stop the court case involving an Anaheim landlord and the DEA in which the DEA wants to seize the building owned by the landlord because he had a tenant there with a dispensary? I read that the building is worth 1.5 million so is that what this is about? Money? What about the fact that it's legal in California for dispensaries to exist? Will they finally leave Harborside alone? After all, Oakland wants them there. Will this result in releasing the people in jail for cannabis? It should. Will the raids on the legal dispensaries stop now? Was it the fact that Senator Leahy decided to hold hearings next week in the Judiciary Committee to ask why state laws aren't being respected that this response happened today? I mean, I don't really care as long as this is the real deal.

I don't know, but things do feel different. Watching the Let Freedom Ring event yesterday in Washington DC commemorating the March on Washington as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave me hope for the future. It seems like people are getting really tired of the nonsense that's been going on. It's all about oppression in one fashion or another. Doesn't matter if it's cannabis laws, the Voting Rights Act, the Keystone XL Pipeline, Wall Street and the economy, Congress, the Violence Against Women's Act, SNAP, Meals On Wheels, Head Start, or anything else. We want to be treated with respect and dignity by our government. We want law enforcement to stop behaving like thugs. We want Congress to do it's job. We want this ridiculous sequester to stop so that necessary programs such as SNAP, Meals On Wheel, and Head Start are fully funded. It's okay to care about the American people. You're supposed to. You can't create the current situation and then walk away from your responsibilities. 

And your primary responsibility is to tell us the truth. Always. The last thing any of us should fear is following our state laws. Because that's what cannabis patients fear. We follow our state laws and then we go to jail anyway, or the dispensary owners have their businesses raided. Or our children are taken from us. I hope this new understanding stops all of this from happening in the future. It's like that doctrine of clean hands idea. If you can't come into court to sue someone when your own participation in the situation is less than legal, then how can the government prohibit something it's lying about and then incarcerate its citizenry for knowing the truth and using it anyway? 

It would be one thing if cannabis killed people. I know the government likes to say it does all kinds of horrible things, but it's simply not true. But if it were that bad, then prohibition would make sense. We have all kinds of laws on the books protecting consumers from businesses that essentially lie to them about their products.  If it's against the law to scam people in business, why isn't lying to the American people about cannabis? Surely we can all agree that we've been scammed all this time. If anyone doesn't agree, better watch Sanjay Gupta's special again. 

All we're asking for is for the truth about cannabis to be common knowledge. I attended the Seattle Hempfest this year and listened to a panel of doctors talk about the efficacy of cannabis in the treatment of pretty much everything. Dr. William Courtney went on and on about the benefits of daily raw cannabis in one's diet. He fervently believes that it should be a regular part of our diet. And given all of the environmental concerns we face, cannabis can protect and heal us. 

The federal government never should have allowed this state/federal conflict to exist in the first place. As soon as decriminalization efforts began, followed by medicinal cannabis laws, the federal government should have eliminated the conflict so that state laws would be respected. To let it go on this long is abuse. The federal government needs to own what they did to all of us. 

So there you have it...

Hempfest 2013 - Saturday

What a happy place! I've never seen so many smiling faces in one place, ever. We couldn't have had a better time. We walked down to Seeley and listened to Tribal Voices. They said they've been opening Hempfest on Saturday for the last 17 years.

Jerry and Jorge Cervantes

Tribal Voices

We listened to great panels in the Hemposium. I got a picture of Jerry meeting Jorge Cervantes after the panel on growing. What a nice man! And so very knowledgeable about growing cannabis. 

We had a wonderful conversation with a lovely Tibetan man who also attended His Holiness the Dalai Lama's lecture in May. We each shared our impressions of His Holiness and agreed that we each left the lecture changed somehow. The feeling we experienced has continued to stay with each of us. I felt elevated just speaking with him. It was a lovely way to begin the day. 

Cannabis Lawyer panel

The panels were great. First up..the cannabis lawyers. I love those guys. They don't mince words and are extremely helpful. There was a Knowledge Tent in front of Hemposium and after each panel finished, they went out to the tent to answer questions. The Know Your Rights panel was comprised of Aaron Pelley, Jeff Steinborn, Kurt Boehl, and Douglas Hiatt. The consensus of opinion of the panel was to remain silent - cooperative - but silent when contacted by the police. Steinborn's basic premise was to break only one law at a time. It was fascinating to listen to these guys. 

Medical Benefits of Cannabis panel

The doctors were next. Dr. David Bearman, Dr. Jake Felice, Dr, David Ostrow, and Dr. William Courtney. They covered several issues, but the one that kept coming up was the efficacy of higher CBD varieties in treating basically everything. Breeding higher CBD varieties as opposed to higher THC varieties produce plants with less psychoactive ability than their typical counterparts. Dr. Felice uses cannabis in his medical practice and discussed that various CBD components are effective in the treatment of diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain, muscle spasms, inflammatory conditions, immune system problems, anxiety and yes, more. Dr. Courtney stressed the importance of daily raw ingestion of cannabis for everyone, including children. He recommended that the leaf not be harvested after the third month as its potency declines after that. He spoke about CBD Acid, which he called a stunning gift. He noted that in a study done with mice, researchers saw a drop in diabetes from 86% to 28% with the introduction of cannabidiol. It helped with optic neuropathy and insulin resistance. It's effective in both prevention and in repairing the damage that results. Dr. Bearman spoke about cardiac patients who experience 30 point drop in the blood pressure when on cannabis. This was an unbelievably important panel discussion. This is the kind of information people need to illustrate what a incredibly healing plant this is and how ridiculous our government's stance is on it. For the love of God, cannabis cures cancer. It controls severe epilepsy. It connects autistic children with their families. It saves childrens' lives. We need this kind of honest conversation. We need these facts.

Growing medicine panel

The next panel we heard were the growers. Okay, we tend to worship these people. Jorge Cervantes was on the panel, as was Josh Rettie, Stinkbud, and DJ Short. Jorge is Jorge - enough said there. Josh Rettie, I believe, is from Washington. Stinkbud has a medical cooperative and does some cool stuff with aeroponic growing. In response to a question on light time for flowering, DJ Short shared a great tip. He recommended 11 hours on, 13 off. This produces more bud than the traditional 12/12 configuration. He also recommended switching that 13 on/11 off for veg. They talked about not keeping mother plants around too long, which is true. They lose their vigor after a while. It's better to rotate them out. Stinkbud indicated that his yields with hydro are far greater, but that there's nothing like growing in soil, particularly outside. Jorge felt that greenhouses were useful as well, especially when considering protection of the plants.

I have to say, I wasn't sure I wanted to return this year to Hempfest. Last year was hot and I got a blister on the bottom of my foot..the first day. It was horrible. But I persevered. And in view of the successful legalization efforts last year in Washington, I thought it would be fun. And it has been. Oregon just legalized dispensaries. We've already rescheduled it to a 2. Sure would be nice if we'd legalize it completely. 

Instead of Hempfest, it should have been called LoveFest, because love for this plant was everywhere. Or I was high. In any event, have a happy, hempy day!

Hempfest 2013 - Friday

Friday..
It's pretty cool that this is the first Hempfest where cannabis is legal. For everyone. I had this guy stop me who was selling a cannabis spray. He sounded like a used car salesman. I smiled, and told him I make my own. Lots of cannabis fairies in attendance. Seriously, and they're not all women. It's hilarious. Everyone is having such a good time. And it seems like there's more food vendors this year and everything smells so great! We had dinner at Anthony's and had great garlic roasted prawns. My green beans from the bean platform were better, but Anthony's were good. I'm just partial to mine. Plus they're growing up on a platform up in a tree. So there's that. (see prior blog posts for the bean tree)

Jerry (middle) meeting SubCool
and MizJill

We bought member tickets this year so we don't have to stand in line. I hate standing in line. Especially when it's hot. But then there is the requisite Ben and Jerry's booth. And yes, we were there. Very yummy. We listened to several bands and every one of them was great! Lots of reggae (I LOVE reggae) and there was a techno deal down at the end of the park which was really infectious. Everyone was really enjoying the music. Tomorrow we'll hang out at the Hemposium and listen to speakers. Jorge Cervantes will be there to participate in a growing panel discussion. Jerry met SubCool and MizJill today..I stayed with the blanket and food, but managed to take pictures anyway. We grow TGA Genetics strains and Jerry wanted to let SubCool know how much we appreciate all the research and work TGA does to help patients, me in particular. So it was a real treat for Jerry to meet them. If he gets to meet Jorge, his visit will be complete. Jorge wrote the medical grower's bible we all use and I really hope we meet him. I'll just have to be assertive. That shouldn't be a problem ;-) 

I'll post more tomorrow.. but just know, I'm feeling a little disappointed at not getting ANY Doritos from the Seattle PD ;-)