WHY MMJ MATTERS

As America wrestles with a divided political reality, medical Cannabis usage and patients have become an important centrist cause that starts with a plant most Americans have never seen.

ADOBE/MYSTERYSHOT

Why Medical Cannabis Matters!

I grew up in the DARE program days, back when "marijuhana" was considered as dangerous as heroin and drug advocates came to sing songs about the dangers of getting high at schools. While DARE has since removed Cannabis from its list of dangerous drugs, it didn't stop former AG Jeff Sessions from calling Cannabis a "true hard drug" several years ago, or for our criminal justice system to continue their unjust war.

america has a 100 plus year legacy of arresting people for non-violent drug offenses that will one day be a stain in our history books. We lock humans in for-profit cages for growing or smoking a harmless plant, and treat those addicted to drugs (illegal or prescribed) as criminals to be hidden away from society. Even in this new age of enlightenment surrounding drug policy, people are still going to jail for weed, with an arrest every 48 seconds. While some states are collecting hundreds of millions in tax revenue from the sale of ‘legal’ Cannabis, others are stealing freedom for as little as an eighth of pot.

WHEN I BEGAN as an activist for Cannabis in 2009, legalization was considered a pipe dream and medical Cannabis a thinly veiled attempt to legalize drugs. I was arrested for less than one gram of Cannabis while in college, having dodged the law with much larger amounts previously, and nearly lost a scholarship and my freedom. Over the last decade, I have seen many lose freedom or their children for something we know to be beneficial for medicine and recreation.

So when I ask myself why medical Cannabis matters, it starts with those in jail. Nobody deserves to be in jail for a plant.

That fundamental injustice aside, the most marginalized group is those needing Cannabis as medicine, our patients. The right for medical Cannabis was won by sick and dying cancer and AIDS patients who knew their message meant more than the risk, and that they wouldn’t be alive long enough to experience prison.

It literally took the sick and dying raising their average medicine cabinet and help reconnect us voices for the plant to become accepted. to nature through the act of gardening. Growing

Today, medical Cannabis covers a broad range your own medicine is an extremely satisfying and of social issues that touch every household in human thing to do. I hope to see the plant freed the country. From the essential human right to for the entire planet to love and heal with. cultivate a medicinal plant, to the criminalization As we head towards a new future of medical and stealing of freedom for generations, to the and recreational Cannabis use, it is important racist past and present of how our drug laws are to remember our roots, those who suffered, and enforced, pot has a big impact. As the joke goes to share the truth about the plant and medicine - the most dangerous thing about Cannabis is that benefits so many. Whether you are new to being caught with it - and very few consumers can Cannabis or a lifelong smoker, share your voice say that they or a friend haven’t been arrested or and experiences with the plant. That’s how we will stigmatized for Cannabis use. And even as medimake change nationally, in our communities, and cal Cannabis use is being debated and overreguin the lives that we touch every day. And it’s what lated, corporations and big pharma are lining up we strive to do with Leaf magazines. with billions of dollars to invest in and profit from Each month we look forward to bringing the the plant. truth about medical Cannabis and stories that are

So, why does medical Cannabis matter? It from local communities. Since starting Northwest matters because it helps. Helps cancer patients Leaf in 2010, we have worked to highlight the battle chemotherapy, AIDS patients to eat, and companies and products that are changing the my lower back pain. It helps children with Autism way our plant is perceived. I am honored to be and rare cancers, soccer moms with endometribringing the Leaf to the Northeast, where we plan osis or anxiety, the elderly to to continue our legatreat pain without opiates, for cy of quality journalVeterans to heal from PTSD or traumatic brain injuries, and EVEN AS MEDICAL ism surrounding the uses of Cannabis. many more conditions. I have CANNABIS USE IS I hope that you seen our plant help and heal BEING DEBATED AND enjoy our efforts to countless lives - and it can be OVERREGULATED, bring you authentic grown in your backyard or closet. That’s why Cannabis means so much. CORPORATIONS AND BIG PHARMA ARE LINING UP content about the plant we all thought we knew, sharing

To say it’s just a plant WITH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS enlightenment one takes away from the amazing TO INVEST IN AND PROFIT magazine at a time. medical potential of cannaFROM THE PLANT. Thank you for binoids and I look forward to reading the Leaf and science catching up from a I hope that you share century of prohibition. But to us with friends and me, the greatest potential lies family! Keep an eye in a small personal garden and freedom from a out for our new issues each month as we learn for-profit healthcare system. Pot isn’t the answer together how medicinal Cannabis can help our for every illness, but it can easily replace half the country, species and planet.