The Devil Went Down To
Ardmore a Patient’s Story of Resilience Despite the Odds By Jessi Lane
Amelia is a compassionate woman who gives everything she’s got to the cause. She cares deeply about people and shares her cannabis as medicine knowledge with those in need. At her age she has lived more lives than 30 cats. She is a treasure, a relic. She is a beautiful piece of sea glass, smooth from years and years of waves crashing over it. The sea glass, once a discarded broken rigid fragment of something more is now acceptable, pleasing to the outside world in its color and texture. What’s that phrase? Handle everyone you meet with care because you don’t know what battles they’ve been through? No quote was more fitting than that when describing Miss Amelia, who treats her PTSD with licensed Oklahoma cannabis as medicine. Eager to join the world of lawful cannabis distribution, something she thought she would never see in her lifetime, Amelia made her way into the Oklahoma cannabis industry via Tulsa Flowercraft’s application cattle call in 2018. Her muted self-reflection stood out among the hundreds of other (much younger) applicants. Even on paper, providing just a taste of the Encyclopedia of Cannabia that is her life experience, the hiring team knew she was a diamond in the rough. Her white hair delicately coiffed, with red framed glasses and a smile the size of Texas. Quick-witted and pleasant mannered, she also carried a bit of sorrow with her that she wears like a badge of honor- however protective of its placement. Today, Amelia has proven to have more character than most cannabis industry professionals have in their little finger. The Just Be Nice Project reminds us, “Character is developed through being tested, especially in the face of adversity and difficulty. Simply going through a tough time or being tested does not mean you develop character automatically, adherence to your principles when tested is what defines character. (1)” The year was 1953. It was the end of the Korean War. Dwight D Eisenhower was the President of the United States. Georgia approved the first U.S. literature censorship board. The average retail price of gasoline was 29 cents. Amelia Banks was born to an Ardmore, Oklahoma family. She was a “free range child,” spending her time outside all day “running wild without supervision,” Amelia recalls. She was the 5th child born of her siblings, who dreamed of being a gymnast one day - balancing and flipping on the family clothesline. She tells us, “In my home, at the age of 18 - regardless of what time it was - we were kicked out of the house.”
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