Cut the shit Mr. President. End the War on Drugs NOW, sir

As our country's founding papers declare in no uncertain terms, Mr. President, We the People of these United States have the right to do what we feel is best for ourselves, as long as we harm no one else. Such liberties are not negotiable [Free Means Free].


The war on drugs is a brutal, cruel and economically devastating military operation supported by a nearly eighty-year propaganda campaign that would make Mad Men weep [Lights Camera Cannabis!]. In the mix; a diabolical scheme to hold back mainstream research on a green suite of psychoactive plants [Schedule 1] and a stunningly successful campaign to keep cannabis and hemp out of business [The Cannabis Trades].


In America our epidemic overuse of alcohol and pills is a direct result of our limited choices.


To be sure, societies have been celebrating safely (and not) with alcohol and other drugs since the dawn of civilization. Hathor, for example, was (is) the Egyptian goddess of love and many other things, including joy, music, dance, beauty, culture and drunkenness. While using alcohol to excess clearly isn't new, legal, social and religious restrictions on choices didn't begin in earnest until the rise of the Romans a mere two thousand years ago.


In ancient times people understood plant medicines and inebriates as gifts of nature. They also knew at a cultural level what plants to avoid. In the Americas they used psychoactive mushrooms, peyote and ayahuasca, particularly for religious and shamanic purposes. Scandinavians seem to have favored the curiously Santa-colored amanita muscaria mushrooms, which just as curiously can make shrooming reindeer dance, prance and leap.


Cannabis sativa was an early choice for medicine in China and in India, and arrived (along with hemp) in Egypt by way of ancient trade routes [Seshat's Secret] The ancient Egyptians, who knew how to party, also adored their fabled Nile blue lotus and the mandrake--both of which figure prominently in their erotic art and love poetry [see Sacred Sexuality in Ancient Egypt by Ruth Schumann-Antelme and Stephane Rossini].


In the 'modern' world the prescribed choice for addiction is typically sobriety, except of course for the pills taken for depression and related ailments. My mom, a delightful giving woman brimming with creative talent, struggled for decades to maintain her sanity in a tragic, heart-breaking last-century existence defined by restrictive drug choices. In the late 70s my attempt to switch her to cannabis failed because a well-born eastern Yankee such as herself could not--dared not-- step that far out of line [Baking with Mom].


In cannabis country we don't buy into that crap anymore. As adults in America we are free to make our own choices and explore our own remedies. As parents in America we have the right to make mature and rational decisions in the best interests of our children. And naturally we are free to make our own cannabis medicine, share those remedies with others, and tell the truth to our kids [Shona's Secret].


End this terrible war, Mr. President. If you don't your successor will surely have to.

Shona's Secret

Cannabis patient rights pioneer Shona Banda is fighting for her life. Again. The first time she survived a nearly fatal bout with Crohns by treating herself with THC oil she learned to make from Rick Simpson’s YT classic Run from the Cure.

Now Shona’s been dragged into drug war hell for secrets she was forced to keep as a citizen living under prohibition. Making cannabis concentrates—in the presence of a child, especially—for herself and fellow cannabis patients is a serious crime in Kansas and in many other states. She’s been branded a criminal, and worse, an unfit mom. She’s facing thirty years for defying grossly un-American laws. The ‘good’ news is her story might just be enough to end the war.

The big reveal in this saga is that Ms. Banda is alive only because of a most convenient truth; cannabis is a non-toxic, not physically addictive medicinal flower that is (when used properly, of course), totally safe, even for children and pets; an ancient remedy that can work for some of the most common ailments of these ‘progressive’ times; alcohol abuse, insomnia, stress, migraines, depression, fibromyalgia, MS, ADHD, PMS, PTSD, late-night barking…

Doubters search US patent 6,630,507; Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants, filed back in 2003 by none other than Health and Human Services, the same agency that continues to insist that cannabis is bad, just bad. And these are the people We The People are taking orders from? Wake up America!

In the waning years of prohibition, 20th-century industrialists have every right to be pissed. The cannabis trades are booming, despite every attempt by a hoard of Federal agencies to dismiss, disrupt and intimidate ganjapreneurs. Cannabis patients and fans alike are leaving the ‘pills butts and booze’ drug reservation in droves; choosing their favorite forbidden flower for medicine because it works, treating themselves in private because it’s nobody’s business but their own, and sharing the truth they discover with anyone who will listen.

Treating yourself in private—using doctors for diagnosis and emergency care and taking care of the rest with herbs, flowers, good food and practices—drives drug prohibitionists crazy--a third choice between greedy and frightened; it's just a flower, madam.

So now a lad with cannabis country smarts dares to stand up to drug warriors he knows are full of shit—and unwittingly unleashes on his family the very worst of America. The eleven-year-old is detained. Authorities are notified. His mom, Shona Banda, no less, arrested and charged.

Sorry Kansas. We’re Americans first. Our lives. Our bodies. Our right to explore, choose and responsibly use nature’s bounty of options. For Christians in the know it’s Genesis 1:29; Cannabis is ours; God said.

And boy oh boy, just wait until Middle Americans find out about all this! Washington will have some serious explaining to do. And soon after that, America’s longest and most indefensible war will be over.

Stay strong Shona; we’ll get you out of this.

Tunes to make our quiet revolution less so...

Listen up newbies: Edibles are not Food!

The war on cannabis is over. It ended earlier this year when the Epilepsy Foundation declared “an end to seizures should not be determined by one’s zip code.” Eventually Obama, or the next one in, will be forced by public opinion to 86 Schedule 1 and reveal our nation's biggest lie. 

Scientists and researchers will then rush in to discover what cannabis patients and others have learned on their own—sometimes the hard way. Cannabis won’t kill you, but it’s not harmless.

Overdoses are on the rise, some have had tragic consequences. The dark side of the cannabis revolution is that the right to choose is returning to a population unaccustomed to using any sort of complex and powerful medicinal herb. Much less one that looks like a chocolate bar and tastes divine…

As Ms. Dowd discovered the hard way http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/opinion/dowd-dont-harsh-our-mellow-dude.html?_r=0. edibles are not food. They’re a multi-dose delivery device for an astonishingly effective non-toxic medicine. Too much of that good thing, however, will serve up a super-nasty ride that won’t kill you but may make you wish it would.

THC overdoses hit hard and go long; fear, confusion, panic, paranoia, anxiety, short-term memory loss, slow reaction time, racing thoughts, dizziness, sweating, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, severe headache, parched mouth/throat, chills, shortness of breath, low blood pressure, fast heartbeat, heart palpitations, and in some cases ,the sensation of being crushed.

First-timers with edibles and extracts should go slow, and it’s best to start early on a free day. If possible, know what you’re getting. Sativa and indica strains can deliver significantly different strengths and experiences, and activation times can vary tremendously among the many ways cannabis can be consumed.

A conservative trial dose of THC is less than 25 milligrams (mg); keep in mind that a dispensary sweet can easily contain five times that amount. For those with even less tolerance for risk and/or effect, one-tenth of a 100 mg chocolate bar can make for a good trial. If you’re getting edibles at the fair, take heed; potency’s a bragging right in cannabis country.

Green dragon tincture, a fiery reduction extract made with 190 proof spirits, is a Dionysian remedy that can put you down and lay you out. If it’s thick and dark emerald green, test with no more than 8-10 drops (pictured made in Rhode Island from the dank Dutch strain BLZ). 

Tincture evaporates to sticky oil that can produce significant effects from grain-sized doses. On the weaker side is light green menstrum (first press) which may require 25 drops or more to yield a desired effect.

Give it an hour and see how you feel. One of the most common paths to overdose is going double-down—re-dosing before the first dose has kicked in. Wait at least 90 minutes (or longer) between trials. And know what to do if things get rough.

Taking care of yourself in the heavy grip of a THC OD can be a nightmarish experience, especially due to the fear and paranoia that often dominate the early hours. Don’t move about. Get comfortable. Stay away from the stove and don’t light any candles. Drink water and juice. You’ll likely be parched and find it’s hard to swallow so no snacking. Not one chip.

Caring for others who’ve ingested too much weed takes patience and a soft touch. Gently coax the stricken to a quiet, dark sit spot; warm, safe, familiar if possible, with pillows and blankets all around. No bystanders.

A damp cloth on the forehead/over the eyes may settle the nerves and help with the headache and nausea. Stay close but don’t engage in the drama. Be the nurse; relax, close your eyes, breathe, you’re safe here, sleep is on the way…

After a few hours of peak suffering, a physical malaise will settle things down fast. Cannabis is not toxic so there’s no hangover after the deep sleep, and no long term effects, other than maybe wisdom and humility.

WARNING: People with pre-existing conditions such as angina can be at greater risk. Watch for symptoms that warrant professional care including trouble breathing, pale skin color and unresponsiveness. If the individual gets aggressive or crazed, some other drug’s almost certainly in the mix. Make the call.

Bottom line: Cannabis is powerful medicine. Don’t be a dope. Use with respect.

Carl Hedberg is a cannabis care mentor living in Lafayette, Colorado. pvtmeds@hushmail.com

Schedule 420

Schedule 1 is the cornerstone of cannabis prohibition, an institutional lie designed to frighten citizens and hamper scientists so that no one gets close enough to re-discover the truth about this ancient medicinal herb that rarely harms and never kills.  By declaring cannabis to be of no medical value (who's still not laughing?) our government has been able to hold the line on research and control the conversation for nearly eighty years.  But now the truth is online, and the research has gone viral.

Every spring, on the afternoon of 4-20, cannabis fans all over the world conduct, on themselves, at their own expense, on schedule to the minute, and often on video, the largest coordinated cannabis study possible; all in.

And what happens when everyone who chooses to do so gets totally baked on the same day, at the exact same time, all around the world year after year?  Don't bother to check headlines from 4-21; you already know; no big bad; no spike in traffic accidents, health care costs or violent crime on 4-20 or for that matter every afternoon at 4:20.  No ill effect from celebratory mass consumption on a global scale, and yet this is the 'substance' our government of hope and change continues to insist (with guns at the ready) that we stay away from?

The industrial revolution swiped our right to choose cannabis.  We want it back.  We know the truth and we're not shy about sharing it.  Mainstream media is wising up; seeing the demand and the dollars.  When the American people wake up to the truth about this healing garden flower that also happens to be stimulating rural economies from Bangor to Boulder and beyond, they'll rise up and end this terrible war faster than a NH governor can just say no.