HOPE LIVES HERE BY MAGGIE SLIGHTE
Patrick “Saint” Seifert, a United States Marine Veteran, was reading an article about veteran suicide when he came upon a statistic that completely overwhelmed him. “It was a credible source; it was the VA [Veteran’s Administration], coming across that study… I was mad because I didn’t know about that number. Twenty-two a day, eight thousand a year… it’s frustrating.” The statistic that he is referring to, the number he used to name his organization for, is the number of United States Armed Forces Veterans who die by suicide daily. Although the number has been disputed, the Veteran’s Administration released the study in 2012 using data compiled from state death certificates. Katharine Seifert, Patrick’s wife and self-described Mrs. Twenty22Many doubts the number twenty-two (recently lowered to twenty by the VA), pointing out, “Think about all of the other statistics that our government puts out… think about it… how many times has our government lied to us. What on earth could that number possibly be, when our Gold Star Wife has lost, since her husband passed away, there have been two veteran suicides, in her neighborhood.” When asked if Katharine was a veteran also, Patrick was quick to point out that the work she does is more than equal to his service in his eyes, “It’s not easy being married to a Marine… I can’t imagine my life without her.” After he heard the statistic, he asked the veterans that he knew to get together, and they began having meetings with an intent to find a way to help other veterans who were in need of help. They had a goal before they had a name: To add PTSD to the list of qualifying conditions to use cannabis as medicine in Washington State. “It was first thing we did coming out of the gates, and it was successful.”
Patrick brought the idea of the name “Twenty22Many” to the group in early 2015, about a month into the meetings. At the time he was the proprietor of a medical cannabis shop, governed by a state law that was replaced and revised when “recreational cannabis” was legalized in Washington state by popular vote in November 2012.
2
2 47
