Free the weed

Last summer Congressmen Ron Paul and Barney Frank introduced HR 2306, a bill that would give states the right to establish their own medicinal cannabis policies.  The measure was of course deemed dead on arrival as is usual with cannabis law reform initiatives, but Obama's decision to escalate the conflict next month by sending in Federal troops to close California dispensaries could ironically spark the beginning of the end of cannabis prohibition.

The truth is out about this safe and effective garden medicine that rarely harms and never kills, and that's bad news for the forces of an Industrial Age that sought to make shoppers of us all.  Patients who choose cannabis typically drink less and use fewer manufactured drugs.  This outlawed flower comes without a set of instructions, but with no danger of a lethal overdose or physical addiction, patients become pioneers, investigators and experimenters who treat themselves and bravely share their discoveries online.

Although the number of cannabis consumers in the US is probably less than ten percent of the total population, most Americans support the right of their fellow citizens to use cannabis for medicine.  Small-scale home cultivation for private use is taking off.  Seeds, clones and medicinal formulations are being shared through a peaceful, cautious and nurturing underground community straight out of Bradbury's visionary tale Fahrenheit 451.
 
Aided by wise healers with medicinal plant knowledge going back thousands of years, an increasing number of patients are using manufactured medicines as a last resort, and turning to their doctors for diagnoses and when needed, surgery. They rightly believe that making medicinal use of intelligently selected plants is not a radical practice any more than hoisting water from a clean well is a radical alternative to buying bottles at the store.

If mainstream Americans were to spend a week's worth of their TV time online investigating cannabis, they would discover a shocking and most convenient truth; our freedom to decide what we use for medicine, fun and stimulation was taken away not for the good of society or for our own protection.  The twisted reality of the Western healthcare model is that without laws, propaganda and military force to 'discourage' free choice and personal exploration, their monopoly power would evaporate.

The inevitable restoration of the right to choose cannabis will mark the beginning of a slow and painful decline of Americanized medicine.  Many will lose their jobs as last-century businesses fail, and as government agencies charged with drug enforcement and control are downsized or eliminated.  Not a pleasant prospect in the midst of possibly the worst recession in history, but staying the course is no longer possible in an age of instant communications, border-less social networks, and a rising populous cry for smaller, less intrusive government.

Now that the internet is brimming with cannabis testimonials from regular, honest and genuinely surprised survivors like Emily Sander (cancer) and Shona Banda (Crohn's), the big question is how many more US Administrations will be allowed to duck, dodge, bully, stammer and squirm away from the truth in service to a moralistic, commercialized, media-supported framework that from cannabis country looks like a Mel Brooks tollbooth?

Early on Obama pledged to leave medicinal cannabis decisions to the states.  This month he's threatening to spend more of our money to violently disrupt the lives of peaceful state-legal cannabis patients and entrepreneurs in California.  With activists already in the streets across America standing up against abuse and greed in general, this President may unintentionally spark a unified movement with the power to insist that America finally restore our basic human right to choose and responsibly use cannabis.

Free Cannabis Rising Lectures

In New England the movement to restore our right to choose is well underway but the vast majority of Yankees are woefully uninformed.  To help change that I have developed a series of ~40 min lectures followed by an open-ended Q&A/discussion.

The next scheduled lecture is at BU in Boston on Monday Oct 17th 7PM:

Cannabis Rising: How the Great Prohibition will end (sooner than you think) and why now is a critical time to support national law reform organizations

I am not affiliated with any group and I offer these lectures at no charge.  Here's what I need to support these outreach talks:


New England hosts  No charge. I cover costs with sponsors and an information/product table.

Unique/portable products  In the course of my travels I will be visiting 420 friendly shops all over the Northeast.  I am building a portfolio of products I can sell at my info table as well as offer wholesale to retailers, festival vendors.

Sponsors  Your logo on the welcome slide as people are taking their seats and then again on the last slide for the Q&A session.  $100 per lecture.

Contact email: hempseedventures@yahoo.com.

Medicinal cannabis in the movies; bit parts are better than a staring role

Now that the Internet has obliterated the anti-cannabis propaganda machine, advocacy-minded screenwriters and filmmakers have an opportunity to help dispel the mythology of the Great Prohibition by giving audiences something to Google.  How?  By quietly working medicinal extracts like tincture into the lives of their silver-screen characters.

Green dragon tincture, a Dionysian concentrate made with pure grain alcohol, clearly demonstrates in form and effect the medicinal reality of this herb.  Woven into the fabric of a scene as if it were a pack of smokes or a cold one, nonchalant use of this ancient emerald elixir could make a huge impression.

Here's an example:

Set up: In the marvelous film KILL BILL Vol 2 there is a great dialog scene where Budd (Michael Madsen) is in his trailer kitchen blending a potent smoothie for himself and Elle (Daryl Hannah).

Variation: After filling the two ball jars, Budd reaches up into the cabinet for a small tinted dropper bottle.  He shoots a couple of squirts into his jar and gives it a swirl.  It turns green.  Elle squints her one eye; "WTF is that?"  He shrugs; "It's cannabis tincture, liquid weed...takes the edge off...and you know, sometimes it makes me smile..."
"Yeah? No thanks..."

A brief big screen appearance like that would spark thousands of online searches.  Not long ago tincture and cannabis extracts were absent from the Internet.  That has changed to an amazing degree.  Now searchers will find the faces and testimonials of fellow citizens; brave patient-pioneers like Shona Banda, Rick Simpson and most recently Michael McShane, a Detroit man who used cannabis oil (fully evaporated tincture) to remedy skin cancer.

Compelling medicinal use testimonials are now commonplace at cannabis cups, festivals and rallies around the world, but mainstream folks in the heartland of America don't go anywhere near those events.  They need to learn the truth over the same channels they get the garbage on, and as tobacco promoters can attest, the most powerful medium for making subtle yet lasting impressions is film.

Need help making it real?  Have your people call my...cell.

Top 10 things you should know about people in cannabis country

People in cannabis country...

10. won't bother you, even if you don't use cannabis
9.  are in touch with the natural world
8.  are harmless unless they drink
7.  are colorful and entertaining
6.  like to barter and trade
5.  make their own medicine and aren't afraid to share their secrets
4.  see through the bullshit
3.  are highly creative and hate weed puns
2.  believe cannabis is a spirit medicine
1.  live free or die

Little Miss Renaissance

Daughter Nina, 16, wears a lot of hats; musician, film production assistant, karate girl, cook, German language student, seamstress, animal lover, road-kill skinner...  She's a pragmatist (he's dead so why not use the fur?), a non-conformist (what shall I make?  Anything but a hat!), and a teen girl (EEww this is so gross!).  Her kindergarten teacher had said little Nina was unmanageable because she refused to follow directions as given.  When she concluded her harsh critique with "Don't blame me when she's 14 and out of control..." we decided then and there that Nina (and her older sister Dagny) would be a homeschooled. 

That suited them until their early teens, when both decided to return to school as freshman.  Now Nina's planning to do her junior year abroad as a German exchange student and Dagny (French, violin, writing, acting) will be trying out for the all-state orchestra this year and planning a similar year away before college.  As parents we tried to give them minimal direction and maximum moral support.  That seems to be working but it leaves no room for parental bragging; it's always been their lives, their decisions, their outcomes.

New job, fun mission

I'm to be the managing editor at 1000 Watts, a publication I have been watching grow all year.  I started badgering Dana (the founder) a few weeks ago to let me take it to the next level; new features and articles of interest to medicinal cannabis aficionados in the Northeast, particularly in New England. 

The truth about cannabis is rising and bringing down the walls of Prohibition, and we're going to be covering that amazing social, political and economic revolution every step of the way--from the perspective of the folks on the front lines; patients and care growers.

The Silence of Prohibition

Last weekend I set up a table at a big flea mkt in NH to sell Cannabis Rising stuff and give away copies of 1000 Watts, a rising voice for cannabis patients and care growers in the Northeast--at least, that's what I said whenever anyone connected, which was not often.  It reminded me of a time long ago when I was trying to sell bagels to the same sort of folks.  The best part was watching for that moment of recognition, when their eyes divert and their feet carry them swiftly and smoothly away as if on a jet stream with a message; this is not for you.

One in 200 might wink or in some other fashion let me know they know but they can't go there; not with the wife, the kids, the job...whatever.  After two days of that I knew I needed to say something to these knuckleheads--these decent people who are too caught up in life and show and angry politics to think about what cannabis really is and what that could mean for them and people they care most about.  This song is for them.

The Silence of Prohibition (Sound of Silence/Simon & Garfunkel)

[Em] Hello America, my old [D] friend
I've come to talk with you a[Em]gain
Because a vision of [C] freeing the [G] weed
Left it's [Em] seeds while I [C] was va[G]ping
And that [C] vision that's been [C5] planted in my [G] brain?
Cannabis is [Em] rising, and
Bringing down the [D] walls of Prohi[Em]bition.

[Em] In restless dreams I walk a[D]lone
Among narrow rows of medicinal [Em] home grown
'Neath the halo of [C] thousand watt [G] lamps
I'm pullin' the [Em] girls in from the [C] cold and [G] damp
When my [C] eyes were stabbed by the [C5] flash of a police [G] light
But it's al[Em]right (in this dream)
I'm [D] legal [Em]

[Em] And at the open air market I [D] saw
Ten thousand people maybe [Em] more
Liberals talking with[C]out speak[G]ing
Conservatives hearing with[C]out liste[G]ning, and
[C] Too many people [C5] suffering from things that cannabis [G] cures
But no one [Em] dares
Disturb the [D] silence of Prohi[Em]bition.

[Em] Fools said i, you do not [D] know
Cannabis can even work where cancer [Em] grows
Hear my words that I might [C] teach [G] you
Take a tour and see if they can [C] reach [G] you
But my [C] words like [C5] silent raindrops [G] fell
And [Em] echoed
Inside the [D] walls of Prohi[Em]bition.

[Em] And the people bowed and [D] prayed
To celebrities and heroes that they [Em] made
And they'd lash out with [C] crazing warn[G]ings
Like reform and truth are[C] bad for [G] kids (and I'd say)
The [C] words of the prophets are now [C5] written on Facebook [G] walls
And dispensary [Em] halls (but still only whispered)
Inside the [D] walls of Prohi[Em]bition.