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It’s been a friggin’ looooong winter at ye olde Jersey shore. My Mary Jane supply is practically nil. Sadly, I’m forced to roll teeny pinners that burn up in mere seconds upon lighting. I think I’m high, but it could just be the lighter fluid, I don’t know. Sad times indeed but like a bear living off of her fat during hibernation (is that what they do?), I’m forced to make the best of it.

Luckily I’ve found that watching copious amounts of Trailer Park Boys is practically the equivalent of getting high until some kind soul (hint, hint, Exit 63) visits me at the Jersey shore and replenishes my stash.

Okay back to the best show ever.

Now there are plenty of pot-friendly shows (Weeds, Workaholics, etc.), but then there’s Canada’s Trailer Park Boys who literally swim in the shit. (They make a driveway out of hash. Need I say more?)

The cast is adorable, the plot lines are insane and if you watch it long enough, you a. experience a second-hand high and b. almost get the sense that Sunnyvale really exists. (If it does, I’m moving there and hanging with Ricky, Julian and Bubbles.)

So stop what you’re doing and watch the clips below. (Because whatever you’re doing isn’t that important, I promise. Remember I can see you. It’s the Internet.)

Available on Netflix or YouTube.

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Beth Mann is a popular blogger and writer for Open Salon and Salon. She is also an accomplished artist with over 15 years of experience, as well as the president of Hot Buttered Media. She currently resides at the Jersey shore where she can be found surfing or singing karaoke at a local dive bar.

Contact: maryjane {at } freedomisgreen.com

7/12/2011 – Commentary by Chris Goldstein – Governor Christie and the New Jersey Legislature often tout the state’s medical marijuana law as being the “most restrictive in the nation.” Sure, it is so strict that seriously ill or even terminal residents don’t get any marijuana at all.

Some of the blame falls right back on the Legislature. Elected officials spent five years debating a law that included provisions for home cultivation. That pragmatic language was cut at the last minute by the Assembly Health Committee. States like Vermont, Rhode Island, Washington and Maine have allowed small plots by patients and caregivers while dispensary regulations are worked out. Without these provisions New Jersey residents have been left without any legal access.

Yet the delays, legal wrangling and plain opposition to the compassionate use law from the Christie Administration have been among the most unsettling acts of politics in NJ. The issue cast a clear picture of the storm that has hit Trenton. Governor Christie cares to spend time on cancer patients and those living with AIDS only to keep them from consuming state-approved cannabis. Perhaps if every suffering patient were a millionaire living in a North Jersey suburb they would get better treatment.

Last year Gov. Christie requested a six-month to one-year delay in implementing the law. At the same time he suggested that Rutgers University should have a monopoly contract for growing and distributing the state regulated cannabis. Like all of the Gov’s other medical marijuana ideas the giant Crimson Knights Cannabis Farm was clearly designed to fail. Patients and advocates rallied against both concepts. But the legislature passed a 90-day delay. Christie has since extended this indefinitely.

The Legislature then passed concurrent resolutions stating that the Christie Administration’s proposed regulations for the program violate the intent of the law. Patients were forced to re-testify again and again before committees in Trenton. But elected officials have not taken the final steps to remove those maliciously constructed rules.

At the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey we hear directly from NJ patients on the phone, via email and through social media.

Given false hopes and hollow assurances many patients have already given up on the program. Some are planning to move to states like Maine, Colorado or Rhode Island. Others hit the streets to pay exorbitant prices for medical grade cannabis.

And qualifying patients do get arrested. We saw the state vigorously prosecute John Ray Wilson, a man without health benefits trying to treat Multiple Sclerosis by growing seventeen marijuana plants. Wilson got a five-year prison sentence. Another qualifying patient, David Barnes, chased down Gov. Christie at several Town Hall Meetings. Christie told Barnes that he would have a state issued ID card for medical marijuana; twice …back in 2010.

But not every ill patient can corner the governor for a bold-faced lie in front of TV cameras. At this time, not a single ID card has been issued.

Then there are the strictly law abiding citizens, some of them dying from their conditions. Although their physicians recommend cannabis and they know it could help relieve their suffering, they wait for fully legal access. Thousands of qualifying terminally ill residents have passed away already, waiting in vain.

Unfortunately the compassionate use program was not immune from Jersey-style politics from both parties. Six medical marijuana Alternative Treatment Centers (ATC) have been approved by the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). Three ATCs have close ties back to none other than Gov. Christie. Another ATC has Assemblyman Thomas Giblin, a powerful Democrat, as the leader of the Medical Advisory board. Adding to the intrigue, the two physicians at DHSS who had seen through the regulations for the cannabis program, Dr. Poonam Alaigh and Dr. Susan Walsh, abruptly resigned just days after the ATC applications were approved.

The  Gov’s new spin is that he wants legally unrealistic assurances from the federal government. Because he is a former US Attorney, Christie is a qualified expert at playing both sides of the legal fence on this issue.  The real question is to why he would waste so much time and energy fighting the state law.

Christie has also been trying to carefully groom his national image as being brutally honest. But this has not been the case for medical marijuana. The governor has refused to meet with patients or advocates and is now keeping the NJ program suspended by a personal whim. All of this has been done while Christie and his fellow NJ Republicans trash western states with blow-dried conservative rhetoric about medical cannabis.

It does not help that a myriad of state positions in New Jersey are now held by former criminal prosecutors. These are talented attorneys but they lack transparency and diplomatic ability. Dismissing the wisdom of the community and locking out advocates, the policy for cannabis (along with many other public health issues) is decided in the thick-walled vault of Christie’s office.

Medical marijuana isn’t the only policy that has been negatively affected by this approach to governance. But this may be the most heartbreaking.

Right now, hundreds more qualifying patients are lamenting our state government from their deathbeds in a haze of fully legal opiate drugs. The only way to end this impasse over medical marijuana is for Chris Christie to follow the state Constitution in the best spirit of American federalism and show some true, human compassion. It is also long overdue for the NJ Legislature to stand up to the bully governor to protect the state’s most vulnerable residents by aggressively moving every option to implement the law.

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]

3/16/2011 – A recent medical case-report highlights a striking association between inhaled Cannabis and anti-tumor effects in young adults with brain cancer. This gives scientists new evidence that the chemical compounds from the Cannabis plant (known as cannabinoids) may have significant anti-cancer effects in humans.

Mansoor Foroughi PhD is the lead author of a new paper that suggests the possibility of Cannabis inhalation in the spontaneous regression of gliomas. The MRI images provided in his study demonstrate that the tumors of two patients (11 and 13 years old) did not increase in size after treatment, constituting a state of remission. (To be in remission, a tumor simply must not increase in size.)

The 13 year-old patient showed up at the hospital suffering from increasing headaches, nausea, and vomiting. She had prolonged memory problems and began to deteriorate rapidly. An emergency MRI scan revealed a tumor mass in her brain. She underwent a craniotomy and most of the tumor mass was removed. Her doctors then followed the remaining tumor mass closely with subsequent MRI scans.

The authors note that this patient volunteered that she began smoking cannabis at age 14, after her diagnosis, and continued almost daily from age 16 up to 19 years of age. As they scanned her brain over time, the tumor mass became smaller with each checkup. According to the study, the tumor in the teenager had almost completely disappeared six years after the operation.

The paper states, “The regular use of Cannabis coincided with the time course of radiological tumor regression.”  This patient received no further medication or medical treatment. The biggest variable in her remission seemed to be “Cannabis Inhalation.”

This was not a completely unique case. The 11 year-old patient in the same report arrived at the hospital with a history of headaches that gradually became worse and ultimately lead to nausea, vomiting and confusion. An MRI revealed a tumor mass and she underwent a craniotomy. A small remnant of the cancer was left behind, later confirmed by a follow up MRI. Over the next three years, the tumor would demonstrate the features of regression. Then, around the time the patient was 14, the tumor began to regress. Finally, six years post-surgery, the tumor remnant had nearly disappeared.

The authors write, “The only significant feature in the history was the consumption of Cannabis via inhalation, on average three times a week. This occurred in the last 3 years of follow up, namely between the ages of 14 and 17, and coincided with the time course of the regression of the residual tumor.”

Foroughi and his team suggest there may be plant synergy and recommend studying the whole Cannabis plant, “since any beneficial effect may not be caused by one compound, molecule, or cannabinoid alone.” This theory is supported by previous research;  published evidence shows that cannabinoids have an enhanced anti-tumor activity when they are applied in combination.

The report concludes that “more research may be appropriate to investigate the therapeutic use of these substances” and goes on to say, “Such research will be difficult to achieve because Cannabis is illegal in many jurisdictions.”

There has never been a clinical trial studying the anti-cancer effects of smoked marijuana. However, there has been one clinical trial with pure Delta9-THC and brain cancer. Several patients in Spain were admitted to a study focused on the issue of safety of using cannabinoids in the clinic. The patients were administered Delta-9 THC by direct injection into the site of the tumor. A slight reduction in cancer proliferation was reported but the treatment did not cure any of the patients.

The authors write, “Cannabinoid delivery was safe and could be achieved without overt psychoactive effects.”

Since this was a pilot trial on the safety of injected THC, the most important point is that none of the patients died during the study and no serious adverse effects were reported. A review of the evidence can be read here and a follow-up study is being conducted in Spain.

Can marijuana contribute to the regression or remission of certain cancers? Given the slow progress of clinical trials for whole plant Cannabis, it can be frustrating waiting for years, even decades, trying to answer these vital questions. But for the two young women with brain cancer in Dr. Foroughi’s report, a shift to a cannabis lifestyle may have made a difference.

Jahan Marcu is currently investigating the pharmacology of cannabinoid receptors. He was working at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute when exciting discoveries were made showing enhanced anti-cancer effects with THC and CBD from the Cannabis plant. The findings were published in the Journal of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. In 2009 he received the Billy Martin Award from the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS). Jahan is currently the vice-chair the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board at Americans for Safe Access (ASA).   Contact:  science { at } freedomisgreen.com

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent any University, business or affiliates. While the information provided in this blog is from published scientific studies it is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.

Growers come in all shapes and sizes. And all may have their various reasons and methods to keep their crops alive in various climates, both geographically and politically.

This New York Times piece details the poignant struggle of one grandmother in Swaziland, Africa as she tries to make ends meet.

“Without weed, we would be starving,”

 

PIGGS PEAK, Swaziland — After her daughters died, Khathazile took in her 11 orphaned grandchildren without hesitation. It is what a gogo, or grandmother, does in a country where the world’s highest H.I.V. infection rate has left a sea of motherless children.

Perhaps. But Khathazile has some insurance in case divine intervention fails: Swazi Gold, a highly potent and valuable strain of marijuana that is sought after in the thriving drug market of next-door South Africa. In a field deep in the forest, atop a distant hill in this arid corner of tiny Swaziland, Khathazile grows Swazi Gold to keep her growing brood of grandchildren fed, clothed and in school.

Read more.

7/6/2011, Updated – The issue of medical marijuana is set to be encamped on President Obama’s doorstep. The District of Columbia is in the process of implementing a 1998 law that was specifically blocked by Congress until 2009. The Washington Times reported yesterday that eighty-two applications to run cannabis centers were submitted to Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration.

A majority of them, 47, listed mailing addresses in the District in their letters to the health department. Other applicants were from Maryland (18), Virginia (7), New York (3), New Jersey (2), and one each from California, Colorado and Montana.

A few of the out-of-state applicants boasted experience in medical marijuana where it is already legal. A spokeswoman for the health department could not be reached for comment on whether experienced growers and sellers would gain preference over applicants originating in the District.

Of the applicants who listed a cultivation or dispensary site, many of them had lined up property in Northeast, where industrial space is more plentiful.

A panel of five members — one each from the Department of Health, Metropolitan Police Department, Office of the Attorney General, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, and a consumer or patient advocate — will score each of the eventual applications based on a 250-point scale that examines criteria such as security and staffing at their facilities, their overall business plans and the opinions of local Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. READ FULL ARTICLE

The current regulations for medical marijuana in Washington DC are similar to those in Delaware and New Jersey. There are no provisions for patients or caregivers to cultivate a personal amount of cannabis. There are no legal protections for patients who access the underground marijuana market. All of the seriously ill residents who would qualify must access one of the proposed dispensaries.

In 1998 District voters approved Initiative 59, a ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana, with 69% approval. That was just the beginning to one of the strangest stories in medical marijuana politics.

Congressman Bob Barr (served 1995 to 2003), a Republican from Georgia, was one of America’s most vehement prohibitionists. He had a particular dislike for marijuana reform. Barr attached an amendment to the Omnibus Spending Bill in 1999 that funds Washington DC. The US Congress controls the DC budget. The amendment blocked Initiative 59 from being enacted. Despite several court battles the Barr Amendment was inserted into successive spending bills for a decade.

In 2008 Barr shifted in his stance on marijuana a full 180 degrees. And it wasn’t just talk, Barr began professional lobbying activities on behalf of the two groups he battled the most on the issue: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP).

In 2009 Congress lifted the amendment  from the Omnibus Spending Bill and Washington DC was allowed to proceed with medical marijuana implementation. Barr’s intensive lobbying effort to remove his own creation was seen as a key factor.

Another driving force behind DC’s compassionate use law was one of the worst tragedies of American marijuana prohibition. In 2004 Jonathan Magbie, a quadriplegic man in his late 20′s, was caught with a marijuana blunt while riding in a car with friends. A municipal judge sentenced Magbie to 10 days in the city jail after he was unabashed about his marijuana use to relieve some of his symptoms. The jail failed to provide the ventilator Jonathan needed to breathe and he died on the floor of his cell serving the first night of his sentence.

Magbie’s death may have been avoided if the DC medical cannabis law had not been blocked by Congress. Now, patients like Magbie continue to wait for the law to be fully implemented.

DC Mayor Vincent Gray and other officials are aware of the recent “Cole memo” from the Department of Justice. But the DC regulations require each prospective facility to grow less than 95 cannabis plants at any given time. This quantity (less than 100 plants) is thought to avoid interference from federal agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

It remains to be seen if the federal authorities will set armed agents and prosecutors against the centralized dispensary systems in DC, New Jersey and Delaware. Because of the free-market model employed in states like Colorado and Michigan federal raid activity does not shut down entire state-regulated systems for patient access.

But raiding or interfering with these centralized facilities could completely shut down all of the regulated supply of medical cannabis to qualifying residents. Such activity may be much harder for federal authorities to justify.

Having an operating medical marijuana law and access system in Washington DC could set the stage for another major shift in the politics for American cannabis: a US Senator or Representative who is also a card-carrying medical marijuana patient.

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]

Can medical marijuana users carry concealed guns? Oregon’s Cynthia Willis will soon find out:

Cynthia Wills, 54, has a medical marijuana permit to treat arthritis and muscle spasms. She also has a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

Oregon police, AP reports, have tried to take away Willis’s gun, prompting Willis to fire back with a lawsuit, joined by three co-plaintiffs. The case is pending in the Oregon Supreme Court.

“Under the medical marijuana law, I am supposed to be treated as any other citizen in this state,” said Willis, a retired school bus driver whose gun of choice is a Walther P-22. “If people don’t stand up for their little rights, all their big rights will be gone.”

State sheriffs, according to AP, say that federal gun laws prohibit firearm sales to drug addicts, a term that includes medical marijuana users, they contend.

“The whole medical marijuana issue is a concern to sheriffs across the country . . . because there is so much potential for abuse or for misuse and as a cover for organized criminal activity,” Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon told AP.

Gordon’s office rejected three medical marijuana patients in the Portland suburbs who applied for concealed handgun permits.

If Willis loses, she plans to carry her pistol out in the open, in a holster on her hip, which is legal under Oregon law, according to AP.

“I’ve been done harm in my life and it won’t ever happen again,” she said, explaining why she carries a gun.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey says that he does not agree with the state’s medical marijuana law. But he should feel better knowing that close allies will own three of the first six facilities. New Jersey media sought out the individuals behind the non-profits given a green light to produce medical cannabis. Michael Symons at the Asbury Park Press revealed the deep political ties at half of the approved operators.

David Knowlton who led Christie’s gubernatorial transition team on health care issues chairs one of the non-profits and Webster Todd, the brother of former governor Christine Todd Whitman, is on the Board at another successful applicant.

Here is part of Mr. Todd’s extensive resume:

He served one term in the Assembly more than 40 years ago and was chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board in the late 1970s.

Todd is a trustee for the Compassionate Sciences [Inc.] center. He was in the Assembly from 1968 to 1970 and worked in the White House, State Department and, from 1976 to 1979, the National Transportation Safety Board, where he served as chairman. He founded Princeton Aviation Corp., was president of Frontier Airlines and was senior director of air safety at the Airline Pilots Association.

Todd said he got involved with the medical marijuana effort at the urging of his oldest son, William.

“And I personally happen to believe in compassionate use,” Todd said. read more

Symons uncovered another connection at a different non-profit called Compassionate Care Centers of America Foundation Inc.:

The New Brunswick center’s board includes Kevin Barry, an anesthesiologist who was chosen by Christie as chairman of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey board of trustees, as well as a former federal prosecutor who served as a division chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. read more

This particular non-profit partnered with the Meadowlands Hospital Group on their application.

Since being approved these permit holders have heaped public praise on the overly restrictive regulations being proposed by the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). However, the patients they hope to serve have been working with the Legislature to re-craft the very same regulations.

So far the Christie Administration has delayed the medical marijuana program’s implementation by almost a year. Gov. Christie has been unwilling to compromise on the key issues, continually referring to federal law instead of state statute.

Many qualifying patients say that they will remain in the underground market unless the regulations are changed. That would give  the governor’s close associates little opportunity to try their medical cannabis cultivation skills.

More at freedomisgreen.com:

No Permit for Low Cost Marijuana Supplier in NJ

New Jersey Licenses Six Alternative Treatment Centers for Medical Marijuana

VIDEO: HIV Patient Calls Out NJ Gov Christie on Medical Marijuana

Watch Gov. Christie discuss his views about the compassionate use law on 3/22/2011
Takes place at 23:30 in this video – http://millenniumradionj.com/AskTheGovernor/ask-gov-WKXWFM.html

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. He volunteers with local groups to change prohibition laws including PhillyNORML and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey. Chris enjoys old-school hip-hop, vintage airplanes and changing the world. Contact: chris { at } freedomisgreen.com

In official testimony just one-week apart, powerful state regulators in New Jersey and Maryland refused to call marijuana a “medicine” and are widely deferring to the federal government.

Dr. Poonam Alaigh, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS) is supposed to be implementing the state’s year-old medical cannabis law, but her department has crafted unworkable regulations.

Testifying about the broken rules before a Senate committee on March 3, 2011 Alaigh said, “I am a scientist. So unless I see studies to verify that marijuana can be used a medicine, and I don’t see those studies right now, I cannot call it a ‘medicine.’”

Several times during her testimony Alaigh carefully pointed out that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved marijuana.

Alaigh and NJDHSS have apparently confined their research on the issue to the handful of cannabis studies that were conducted through the federal governments of the United States and Canada. This ignores mountains peer-reviewed scientific and medical research data published in the world’s most respected journals.

During a grilling by NJ Senator James Whalen (D-2) about a possible home delivery service for patients Alaigh made an interesting remark, “ In terms of the federal law, the DEA, this is still an illegal substance.”

Alaigh is not the only state-level bureaucrat using federal policy to confound safe access to cannabis.

Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) testified last week against medical marijuana legislation in his state saying: “This is not just because marijuana is a controlled substance. It is also because marijuana, unlike approved pharmaceuticals, has not been characterized, studied, and determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be safe and effective.”

It is important to take note that the FDA’s research labs are based in Maryland.

So if it is called “medical marijuana” or “medical use of marijuana” in the legislation then why not just call marijuana “medicine”?

Because this is where the big money starts talking.

Medicine is one of the biggest businesses in the world. New Jersey and Maryland serve as the corporate bedroom communities and lobbying base for the pharmaceutical industry.

There was also a strange twist at the close of the NJ Health Commissioner’s testimony.  Dr. Alaigh, a practicing physician, testified that she currently has a patient who benefits from medical marijuana use.

“I have to tell you I have patient right now who tells me how impactful his medicinal marijuana is…and his life changes because of what he takes. So, is it effective in a certain patient population? Yes, I have patient where it is effective.”

NJ State Senator Jim Whelan responded quickly, “Well it sounds like a medicine to me.”

More info:

NJ – www.cmmnj.org

MD- http://www.mpp.org/states/maryland

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade.  He volunteers with local groups to change prohibition laws including PhillyNORML and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey. He enjoys old-school hip-hop, vintage airplanes and changing the world. Contact chris { at } freedomisgreen.com

6/27/2011 – The first public hearing this legislative session on a bill to legalize medical cannabis in Massachusetts will take place tomorrow, June 28th. The Joint Committee on Public Health will begin testimony at 10AM on H.625. The measure would allow doctors to recommend cannabis and regulate up to nineteen “Medical Treatment Centers” for marijuana across the state.

Representative Frank Smizick (D-Brookline) is sponsoring the bill and issued this statement: “ I’ve met patients with ALS, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, cancer, and other serious diseases who cannot tolerate the side effects of available medications or find them ineffective.  Some of these patients have been able to reduce their intake of toxic or addictive medications and others have been able to stay on life-prolonging treatments like chemotherapy by using medical marijuana. As long as use is approved by a doctor, medical marijuana should be an available treatment option for these individuals, just as it is in Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont,” said Smizik.

Matthew Allen at the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance said that residents want to see the law passed. “There is huge public support right now for this reform,” said Allen, “Polling shows 81 percent of residents want us to be the next medical marijuana state. Patients, public health professionals and other groups will be there tomorrow to testify.”

There is also stronger support this session among legislators. “We did triple our co-sponsors between last session and this one,” Allen noted. “That is really is due to the hard work of the patients working with us actually going up to the State House and asking for support.”

Allen is hopeful that more elected officials can be swayed during the public hearings. “When legislators really see the patients with HIV, cancer, ALS – how much they are suffering – and we can explain the multiple levels of regulation in the bill that we find this can be … hopefully the committee will understand that this is a compassionate reform that needs to happen not just for these patients but for the greater cause of public health.”

The bill has earned some important endorsements icnlouding: The Massachusetts Nurses Association,  the Massachusetts Public Health Association, the MA Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the MA Breast Cancer Coalition, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union, the AIDS Action Committee, the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, Cambridge Cares about AIDS, the Teen AIDS Peer Corps, and the Massachusetts Hepatitis Patient Empowerment Project.

“The dozens of patients who will come forward tomorrow are just a small portion of those suffering across the state,” said Allen.

Maine legalized medical marijuana in 1999, Vermont passed in 2004 and Rhode Island in 2006. All three states are now moving towards regulated dispensaries but Maine is the only state on the east coast with facilities open for patients.

Massachusetts decriminalized adult possession of cannabis (for all uses) by a ballot measure in 2008. But doctors are still not allowed to address the issue with seriously ill residents in a fully legal manner.

“Patients are being left behind,” said Allen, “Right now a Massachusetts doctor can write a recommendation for a patient in Rhode Island but not for someone with the same conditions living 2 miles over the border.”

Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Coalition

MASSCANN/NORML

MA Joint Committee on Public Health

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]

9/27/2012 – A crowd of over 30,000 made a big donation to family farmers and got a wonderful event in return last Saturday. The 27th Farm Aid concert took place at Hershey Park Stadium with the feel of a county fair/protest rally.

Small business agriculture is under tremendous pressure from new threats like shale fracking for natural gas. Farm Aid, founded by superfriends Willie Nelson, Neil Young  and John Mellencamp, remains a vital support net for American farmers. On stage there was incredible music but also moments to highlight important issues.

Neil Young played a memorable, light drenched set with Crazy Horse. Young paused between songs to speak about the roots of their mission:

“Why we’re still here: When you go to your market, try to buy something that came from really nearby. Its great to buy from the USA, but its even better to buy something from your neighborhood or your county or your state. Our farmers are competing with an agri- business that is… huge. And they’ve got lobbyists in Washington buying this and buying that so that [family farmers] can’t get what they need. [Family farmers] can’t stay in business; they get choked out of business because of big corporations.”

Young gave the crowd this take-away:

” What we want is for you to buy food that matters!”

Willie Nelson brought activist John Trudell to the stage just before his signature closing set.

Trudell, a Native American, brought his appeal for hemp farming in the USA:

“As a person of the land and as a human being I relate to farmers as being people of the land. With all of the problems that we are confronted with and are faced with…I would like you all to consider learning the realities of industrial hemp.”

The crowd cheered and Trudell added:

“The economic and environmental realities of industrial hemp; teach it to the young. Have your organizations and the people who represent you; and take it upon yourself, to learn the realities of industrial hemp  It will save the family farm. [Hemp] will give the young farmer a future. It’s a part of American history. It’s always been here… And in the next election 2016… Vote Hemp!”

The work of Farm Aid continues year-round: Consider a donation at farmaid.org

To find out more about industrial hemp check out votehemp.com and the National Hemp Industries Association.

 

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]