Relax, the kids will be just fine...

But... what about the children?? 

I hear it ALL the time when advocating for safe and legal access to cannabis. 

My response?? Relax, the kids will be just fine. 

"Grucza's study adds to a growing body of research showing that changes to marijuana policy have had a much smaller effect on teenage drug use than once feared. A paper published in Lancet Psychiatry last year found that passing medical-marijuana laws had no effect on teen marijuana use at the state level. Other large surveys of adolescents, such as the Monitoring the Future Study, find that in recent years teen marijuana use has been flat. State-level federal survey data shows little change in teen marijuana use, even in states that have legalized it for adults."
‪#‎EducateNormalizeLegalize‬ ‪#‎StopTheHarm‬

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/29/no-legal-weed-is-not-dumbing-down-the-nations-teens/

"Mother Teresa" of Cannabis ~ Valerie Leveroni Corral

Valerie Leveroni Corral is a true pioneer and an inspiration. Her soft and gentle Spirit is reminiscent of Mother Teresa's. I was blessed with the opportunity to meet her in 2014 at the 8th Clinical Conference on Cannabis therapeutics in Portland and hear her speak on using cannabis with those who are dying, to help alleviate their symptoms and throughout their dying process. This was a short 4 months after my own dad died of Stage IV lung Cancer. Sadly, because of the illicit nature of cannabis, I wasn't able to utilize this treatment option with him as he would not consider becoming a criminal. Valerie ignited a fire in my heart to make medical cannabis available to dying patients in Florida. 

We need to remove cannabis from Schedule I altogether. Let's stop messing around, let's allow people the right to take charge of their own wellbeing, especially at the end of life when people are most vulnerable. Cannabis promotes eating, sleeping, relaxing, protecting and forgetting. Anyone who has ever worked with those who are dying or had the honor of sitting with someone as they transitioned from this life on, knows the exquisite gift these 5 functions could play in alleviating common symptoms of the dying process. 

Cannabis can facilitate a deep connection between the Mind, the Body, the Spirit and Community. The goal of end of life care should always be to promote a peaceful environment as well as to provide comfort care. Let's stop making people criminals at the end of their life, these folks have enough heavy shit they're already dealing with. Cannabis does NOT meet the criteria of a Schedule I drug.

In 2016, the Florida Legislature passed the Medical Cannabis Act which expands the "Right to Try" law. This expands existing law to include full spectrum, whole plant cannabis as a legal option for those who have been determined to have one year or less to live. 

I consider that a significant advancement! I know we have a long way to go, but let's remember how far we've come. I invite you to read about the awe inspiring work that Valerie, who has been called the Mother Teresa of Cannabis has done.

Thanks Val, your work has quite literally changed my life. I pray that you are well and I will continue to send Blessings your way...

I invite you to read about the awe inspiring work that Valerie, who has been called the Mother Teresa of Cannabis has done.

http://sfevergreen.com/marijuanas-mother-teresa/

Medical Geographical Discrimination

Discrimination: the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people.
(Merriam-Webster)

Geographical medical discrimination: Making a medication or a treatment option available to one group of people while denying access to another group of people based solely on the geographical location they reside in. (Josephine C. Krehl)

So, using this line of reasoning, I have a couple of questions…

1) Do “We the People” have a medical discrimination suit against the Federal Government for setting up a system that inherently discriminates against people who wish to use cannabis as an alternative treatment option but are denied the ability because they live in an “illegal” State while this very option is made available to someone else living in a “legal" State?
2) Can “We the People” hold the Federal Government complicit in all the deaths, in all the suffering, of all the individuals as well as their loved ones who sat helplessly by, since the Federal Government learned of and suppressed the discovery that cannabis induces programmed cell death (apoptosis) in cancer cells?

On the morning after an old friend reaches out desperately searching for options for another friends’ 14 year old daughter battling brain cancer, wanting to learn about cannabis as a treatment option but because it is prohibited, they’re just not sure where to turn, so after 32 years, they find me.

On the morning after we lose another brave Cannabis Warrior, another Casualty of this stupid, ineffective, destructive “War on Drugs” (more like war on humanity if you ask me) this is what my “Social Work” brain ruminates on.

How does one find “lasting” Peace when this is how one goes to sleep and how one wakes up? Story, after story, heartache after heartache, all crammed into a tired, tormented, trauma filled brain.

When do we end it, how do we end it? How much longer will it take, how many more people will have to die?… When will we finally decide, as a Country, that it is time to... #StopTheHarm??
#EducateNormalizeLegalize