Category: Activism News

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Simpa’s Open Letter

To whom it may concern,

We have all unwittingly been sowing the seeds of distrust, dismay, and despair within our own community by supporting the continued subdivision of our noble cause; ending Cannabis prohibition. These seeds have quietly taken root and have been growing unchecked in all corners of our community for decades. Activism, advocacy, anarchism, and academia have all seen this narrowing of interest and passion to smaller actions and campaigns around “Medical Cannabis”, “Industrial Hemp” and “Marijuana” that has been to the detriment of all parties and the wider world.

This particularly peculiar and pernicious flora has come to fruition in recent years. Its first bounty is now being harvested in the form of “Legalised Medical Cannabis” in the UK. This corporate victory was primarily achieved by the weaponising and astroturfing of our community to push their narrative, agenda, and the pharmaceutical paradigm until we ourselves began believing it. When the legislation passed on November 1st 2019, our once loud and proud orchestral annunciation of truth and justice was left broken, raspy and cacophonous, unable to muster little more than a death rattle in opposition as we choked on the scale and scope of their betrayal.

We have all been misled into supporting and championing divisive singular narrative campaigns around cannabis. We have been led to advocate for Hemp over Cannabis, and inferior “legal” cannabinoids over other illegal ones, leaving the socially corrosive and criminalising status quo unchallenged. This has allowed for the individual synthesizable, patentable, and profitable components of the plant to be commodified, commercialised, and monopolised by corporate proponents who claimed to uphold the same ideals and serve our collective common goal of “freeing the weed” once and for all.

This has never been more self- evident than the current situation in Europe as the EU now moves to clarify its position on CBD as a narcotic, using the interpretation of the fraudulent and fascistic 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotics as its justification. The Convention states that any and all components or derivatives of the plant Cannabis Sativa L are Schedule IV meaning they have “particularly dangerous properties” and are “likely liable for abuse” so therefore must remain illegal.

If they take this position it would put all of the CBD and Hemp companies and individuals that have profiteered from the perpetuation of prohibition – while Cannabis dealers and community champions faced incarceration – back in the pile with the rest of us. So, isn’t now the most opportune moment to cease these nonsensical definitions and divisions? To stop individual pursuits of profit? To band together to once and for all to liberate this plant from a century of propaganda, paranoia, and prohibition?

The British government as we know tried to get around these restrictions for medicinal use years ago by updating their original 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act with the Misuse of Drugs Regulation 2001. This allowed for Schedule 1 (1971 scheduling) drugs to be lawfully controlled, possessed, and supplied by prescription, while non-controlled supply and production of the exact same substance remained illegal. This greatly helped GW Pharmaceuticals and it’s vulture capitalist investors use the legislation as protection. They later got Home Office approval to launch their first Cannabis-based drug, Sativex, in 2006, thus avoiding prosecution for cultivating, processing, and distributing a Schedule 1 drug.

The subsequent “legalising” of “Medical Cannabis” in 2018 went a step further by creating a new class of Cannabis as a drug in Schedule 2. “Medical Cannabis” is defined in the legislation as a “Cannabis-based product designed to use in humans” acknowledging that it has some “accepted medical value” The deliberately use of “Cannabis-based” is ambiguous and Orwellian language, that I suspect has been used to allow for non-Cannabis derived medications under the interpretation of the law. It was also enough to placate the average advocate and naive tabloid reader into believing that everyone needing cannabis for its medicinal benefits are now legally allowed to access it.

In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth. To date, the NHS has only issued TWO prescriptions and there have been less than a hundred private prescriptions handed out by the ever-growing gentrifying and profiteering private clinics. These establishments are predominately patronised by those fortunate enough to be able to afford hundreds of pounds for the pleasure of being told that “Medical Cannabis” can greatly reduce their symptoms and help them manage their condition.

Although some of these clinics are importing raw flower, they are primarily pushing tinctures and pharmacological extractions before the raw plant. I fear that this is part of a much larger plan to switch the market we were tricked into helping build from a plant that anyone can easily grow at home to synthetic cannabinoid analogs, non-cannabis-derived cannabinoids, and other “Cannabis-based” pharmaceuticalised drugs. This would negate the restrictions of the conventions altogether and greatly compounding some of the most sinister socioeconomic and individually destructive elements inherent in prohibition.

I worry that the CBD industry and the emerging private British healthcare sector – which will be created through impending US trade deals – will be Cannabis-free in the coming years. By the perfecting of synthesising and extraction techniques of non-Cannabis derived cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds present in Cannabis, they will nullify and mute the medical argument as an avenue to truly relegalise cannabis for all therapeutic uses. Only the therapies that they approve and profit from personally will be allowed to flourish.

It is these lessons that I implore you to learn from to help us all avoid the next big astroturfing project that is coming from the same minds behind the campaign to “Legalise Medical Cannabis” in the UK. Their next target is the “Hemp Industry” or as it should be known as, the “INDUSTRIAL CANNABIS” industry. In exactly the same way we empowered the medical paradigm, we are doing the same by calling the industrial properties and applications of Cannabis, “Hemp”. Cannabis is Cannabis. End of.

The regurgitation of these misnomers will only further confuse and coerce the layman into believing that “Hemp” and “Cannabis” are different plants. One with the potential to grow a brighter future and the other a dangerously addictive drug that causes psychosis. The continuation of this paradigm by stigmatising and segregating the industrial, medicinal, and individual conscious expanding uses of the Cannabis plant has been to the detriment of every living creature on earth.

It is the same plant that produces the full extract cannabis oil (FECO) that can help treat Cancer, Crohns, and countless other conditions that gives us the raw materials to negate the toxic and environmentally destructive practices and by-products of some of the most polluting industries on the planet.

The day to day processes and procedures of these global industries; Energy, Fashion, Agriculture, Construction, and Transportation, are currently contributing to an ecological and environmental genocide. From endocrine disruptive chemicals like Dioxins that are used to colour timber pulp paper (which is now so ubiquitous that they are present in all mammalian breast milk), to the Schedule one carcinogens BPAs and BPZs present in all petroleum-based plastics (and now found in the faeces of all humans), to the earth-scarring mineral mining techniques that tear open the earth to remove elements that are no longer needed in a world where Cannabis is legal. All of these crimes against nature are a direct result of the vilifying and demonising of this plant nearly a century ago.

There is no such thing as a “medical cannabis plant” or a “hemp plant” – There is only Cannabis and its innumerate cultivars. The misuse of nomenclature is a tool that this small cabal of cannibalistic capitalists wields to subjugate and divide our movement for their own sinister fiscal ends. We must above all else first standardise the terminology around Cannabis. This ultimately means accepting the truth, there is only Cannabis and its industrial, medicinal, and conscious expanding properties and applications.

We have cultivated the Cannabis and delicately woven its fibres into the ever-tightening noose around our necks by allowing the subjugation and arbitrary distinctions of “Medical Cannabis” “Hemp”, and “CBD”. Allowing these independent industries to arise and operate while the common man remains criminalised, creates a profit incentive for those industries to fight to continue their monopolies by demonising the other aspects of this wonderful plant.

In commercialising certain parts of Cannabis we have allowed it to be taken over, controlled, and regulated by vulture capitalists and ruthless individuals intent on profiting from the perpetuation of prohibitive policies.

The UK is not the USA. The factors that have allowed for dispensaries, GYO, the use of flowers as “medicine” and an industrial sector will not happen here while we are governed by these pirates in power. They will seek with every action to accumulate more control and wealth from the creation of any new Cannabis-based industry, be it medicinal, industrial or commercial.

Ultimately, until we stop infighting over the potential crumbs that fall from their table and focus on building our own damn table, there can be no tangible progress. Without a parlay between the individual fractured industries, the various activist and advocate groups within the community and wider industry, there can be only one outcome: The “legalisation” and “medicinalisation” of a plant whose potential could have saved the world, into just another soulless commodity destined to destroy it.

In all good conscience, no individual or industry should be allowed to profit while others remain criminalised and incarcerated. Our only option for resistance at this point is to revolt against the installation of the Prohibition 2.0 paradigm and the co-opting of our culture and community.

We must unify to cultivate a future fair and equitable for all consumer and non-consumer alike by tearing up the antiquated, racist, and fascistic drug laws. So I ask you, what better time than now to sow the seeds of equity, justice, and prosperity? My friends, its time we call for a Cannabis revolution and rebellion.

Solidarity and salutations,

Simpa Carter

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Cops Jail Men for 8 Days over Legal Hemp Despite Documents Proving Legality

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona arrested the two men on drug trafficking charges for the legal hemp.

Christopher Tinsley, left, and Gordon Peppers spent eight days in jail despite showing deputies the documents confirming the hemp was legal.

By the time they got to Arizona, Christopher Tinsley and Gordon Peppers had been on the road for a day, transporting a load of legal CBD-rich hemp from Oregon to Texas, planning on reaching their destination by nightfall before heading back home to Oregon the following morning.

The entire trip was supposed to take three days with the two longtime friends taking turns driving.

But they had the misfortune of driving through Yavapai County just north of Phoenix where the county attorney is still living in Nancy Reagan’s “just say no” America, a prohibitionist of a prosecutor who has a reputation of sending licensed medical marijuana patients to prison.

Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk also has enforcers on the payroll, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, which has seized millions of dollars in civil asset forfeitures over the years with the money going straight into a fund she manages. Polk once penned an editorial claiming “marijuana use was associated with the tragic and needless deaths of 62 children in Arizona.”

But Tinsley and Peppers knew none of this when they drove into Arizona on March 25 after spending the night in Nevada.

The fact they had all the paperwork proving the load was legal was beside the point, according to Yavapai County sheriff’s deputy Trevor Hearl, who claimed in his report that his “training and experience” left no doubt in his mind that they had been transporting “high-grade marijuana” instead of CBD-rich hemp.

As a result, the two men spent eight days in jail at a time when the coronavirus was ​running rampant in jails and prisons across the country. They were charged with several drug trafficking felonies which were all dismissed after an independent lab test confirmed the shipment was, indeed, legal hemp. Now the two friends are preparing to file a lawsuit.

“All they had to do was call the Oregon Department of Agriculture with the (certificate of analysis) and give them the badge number from each container and the department of agriculture would have told them where it was grown, when it was harvested, when it was sold and all of that stuff,” Tinsley said in a telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime.

Instead, the deputies claimed the documents were fake without making any effort to prove it.

One supervisor even lied to them by claiming he had called the Oregon company they were working for and was informed the company only sold marijuana, not hemp.

“I said that’s kind of funny because it was 8 a.m. and I happen to know the company does not open until 9:30 or 10 so unless you had a nice conversation with the automated system, I highly doubt you spoke to them,” Tinsley said.

The men were also informed they fit the profile of drug traffickers because they were driving a car with out-of-state plates on a known drug corridor.

“I kept waiting for him to say it was because we were black,” Tinsley said.

Even before pulling him over, Hearl claimed in his report he was able to determine that Tinsley “appeared to be extremely nervous” as he was driving because “he was pushed back in his seat, with both hands on the steering wheel and both arms locked out.”

Tinsley said the bulk of the arrest report is nothing but lies and exaggerations. This is how Hearl justified the traffic stop.

While driving east on I-40 east bount near mm 140, I observed a Nissan work style van traveling in the right (slow) lane. As I got closer to the vehicle, I noticed the vehicle drift from centered in its lane toward the shoulder, hugging the fog line. In my experience, this shift in lane position is a subconscious behavior associated with creating distance from a threat. In this scenario, my approaching patrol vehicle is a threat to people involved in criminal activity.

As I got closer, I noticed the vehicle did not have a permanent license plate displayed in the license plate bracket. I then saw the shape of the temporary license plate tag in the rear window, but could not make out the numbers because the rear window tint was too dark. Due to the slow speed the vehicle was traveling and other traffic moving at the posted speed limit, I passed the vehicle in order to prevent the disturbance of the normal flow of traffic. As I passed the vehicle, I noticed the driver appeared to be extremely nervous. He was pushed back in his seat, with both hands on the steering wheel and both arms locked out. This type of driving position appeared to be uncomfortable and is not typical behavior displayed by the innocent motoring public while traveling long distances on the high way.

I noticed the vehicle drift from centered in its lane toward the shoulder, hugging the fog line. In my experience, this shift in lane position is a subconscious behavior associated with creating distance from a threat. In this scenario, my approaching patrol vehicle is a threat to people involved in criminal activity.

The deputies were so convinced they had make a huge drug bust that they separated the two men, trying to get them to rat each out for crimes they did not commit. The two men ended up spending six hours in handcuffs in the back of separate patrol cars as the deputies searched their van before they were driven to jail.

The deputies weighed the hemp twice; once while it was inside the totes it was being transported in, then again without the totes; the true weight; a difference of 131 pounds.

“Instead of us having 286 pounds of hemp, they were saying we now had 417 pounds with the hemp inside the totes themselves,” Tinsley said.

The deputies then informed the owner of the hemp company who had been trying to secure their release that they had been caught with 417 pounds of marijuana, making the owner believe they had picked up an additional 131 pounds of actual marijuana to transport with the hemp. That made him hesitant to hire an attorney for the men. It was not until he read the police report that included both weights that he realized what they had done.

During the entire traffic stop as well as in his report, Hearl kept referring to his “training and experience” as to how he knew the men were lying which he admitted did not go beyond a simple smell test.

“He kept say, ‘well, it smells like marijuana,'” Tinsey said.

But had he received proper training, he would have known that hemp and marijuana are identical because they are both cannabis plants so yes, they both smell alike. The only difference is that hemp contains less than .3 percent of THC which is the cannabinoid that gets people high.

In other words, no matter how much training and experience a cop may have, the only way to determine whether a plant is hemp or marijuana is through an independent lab test which had already been done and was included in the certificate of analysis accompanying the load.

Nevertheless, cops across the country keep making these arrests with very little repercussions as we’ve reported in the past.

It’s been almost two years since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill which legalized hemp at the federal level but local and states cops have evidently not made any effort to train their cops on the issue.

According to the Miami New Times, the following arrests took place in 2019:

  • The New York City Police Department seized 106 pounds of legal hemp in November after a FedEx driver chose to deliver the shipment to an NYPD precinct instead of its destination, a CBD business. The NYPD congratulated itself on Twitter about how it intercepted “marijuana that was destined for our city streets” — only to have to return it several weeks later when it was proven to be legal hemp. The FedEx driver had picked up the hemp from a farm in Vermont and took it to a police station in that state, which determined it to be legal hemp. The driver then took it to the NYPD for a second opinion. The NYPD invited the owner to pick up his legal product and then arrested the owner’s brother when he attempted to retrieve it. The owner and his brother are preparing to sue.
  • The Pawhuska Police Department in Oklahoma that January seized 18,000 pounds of legal hemp that was being transported from Kansas to Colorado, where CBD would be extracted from it. Four men were arrested for marijuana trafficking before all charges were dismissed in July.
  • Idaho State Police seized 6,700 pounds of legal hemp that January and are refusing to return it to its owner despite lab reports having long proven the hemp to be legal. A truck driver arrested on felony trafficking charges ended up sentenced to 180 days in jail after accepting a plea deal for failing to provide proper trucking documentation. Shortly after the seizure, state police issued a media release saying “the trooper’s training and experience made him suspicious that the cargo was, in fact, marijuana, not industrial hemp.”
  • The South Dakota Highway Patrol seized 292 pounds of legal hemp in July and arrested a man who was driving the hemp from Colorado to Minnesota, where CBD would be extracted from it for use in the commercial market. The hemp has been tested and shows only traces of THC, but prosecutors are proceeding with the case against the man because South Dakota is one of three states that have not legalized hemp. The seized hemp was valued at $36,000, but the CBD extracted from it would have been valued at $100,000. The driver’s next hearing is set for February. He remains out on bond.
  • The Colorado State Patrol seized 162 pounds of legal hemp in May and arrested the woman who had been hired to drive it to Las Vegas. They slapped her with trafficking charges punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The charges were dismissed, and the hemp was returned in August after it was tested in a laboratory and proven to be legal.​

In all these cases, the arrests are made after the cops refuse to do their due diligence.

“All they had to do was take five to ten minutes to call the Department of Agriculture in Oregon and they could have verified every one of those papers we had,” said Gordon Peppers. “But they told us the entire time we were lying.”

​Read the Yavapai County sheriff’s arrest report here.

Originally pubblished by: Carlos Miller on May 28, 2020 at https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/cops-gone-rogue/cops-jail-men-for-8-days-over-legal-hemp-despite-documents-proving-legality-GvgkYDv3S0yae9M92-O9LA?fbclid=IwAR1UOTrSw_xZW8VV4lhsyo_mVtlf0SEU3OaAZUhUFs3LdypgtAGLHJDVYJo

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“Unnecessary and cruel” – how MS victim described cannabis prosecution

A married couple accused of illegally possessing and producing cannabis have walked free from a court after the prosecution accepted there was no public interest in continuing with the case.

Lezley Gibson and her husband Mark outside Carlisle Crown Court following a previous court appearance

Mark and Lesley Gibson, both 55, had faced three charges.

They included an allegation that they had in their possession illegal cannabis-laced chocolate bars.

Mrs Gibson, who has multiple sclerosis, said that she was forced to find an alternative source of the drug after the NHS withdrew the cannabis based medicinal spray she had depended on for more than a decade.

Without it, she said, she suffers from a range of distressing symptoms, including intense pain, body spasms, and sight loss.

At Carlisle Crown Court today, there was a spontaneous round of applause from the couple’s supporters in the public gallery as Judge Michael Duck announced that the case was now over.

Throughout the case, the Gibson’s have said that their actions were purely down to medical necessity – the need to treat Mrs Gibson’s MS.

The prosecution today outlined how for more than a decade Mrs Gibson had been able to get her medication through a doctor’s prescription, but then in 2017 the local NHS withdrew it. 

Prosecuting attorney Brendan Burke outlined how the Gibsons had illegally produced at their Yewdale Road home in Carlisle only after her Sativex medication was withdrawn.

Speaking outside court, Mr Gibson said: “These prosecutions are unnecessary and very, very cruel. Today was a good result – and the law is listening – at last!”

Prosecuting attorney Brendan Burke insisted that the couple had broken the law and warned that they would be prosecuted if they did so again.

Originally published By Phil Coleman at https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/18140039.carlisle-couple-cannabis-charges-declared-not-guilty/

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48,732 Grams Of THC Oil Seized By Sheriff Department

Will County Deputies say they observed a speeding vehicle with an obstructed license plate near Joliet’s Houbolt Road.

(Image via Will County Sheriff )

JOLIET, IL — The Will County Sheriff’s Office is looking to arrest people who are transporting illegal drugs into their community. On Monday, the sheriff’s office publicized one weekend arrest near Joliet that resulted in the seizure of 48,732 grams of THC oil from a car near Houbolt Road.

Sheriff’s deputies say they stopped the car because its license plate was obstructed. The driver, Ali Alkhreisha, age 21, was from Bellflower, California. “Sheriff’s deputies, along with K-9 partner, Malice, conducted a search. Malice positively alerted to the vehicle where cardboard boxes containing 31 mason jars with 48,732 grams of THC Oil was found,” police said.

In addition, 47 grams of cannabis and a THC vape pen was also located, authorities said.Patch 

The California man was put in handcuffs and hauled off to the Will County Jail on charges of driving while license suspended, delivery/manufacture of cannabis over 30 grams, possession of cannabis over 5,000 grams.

Ali Alkhreisha, Will County Jail mugshot

The day before, on Friday, Dec. 20, Will County police say they stopped a Michigan speeder who kept changing lanes without signaling on I-80 near Joliet’s Chicago Street. After searching the car belonging to Aubrey Honeycutt, 32, authorities say they confiscated nine vacuum-sealed bags containing 20,989.4 grams of THC wax and one vacuum-sealed bag containing 10 cannabis joints in a duffel bag.

Honeycutt was taken to the Will County Jail and charged with delivery/manufacture of cannabis over 10 grams and possession of cannabis over 100 grams, improper lane usage, speeding, and improper passing.

Originally published by: By John Ferak, Patch Staff  on Dec 23, 2019

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A beginners guide to Cannabis Clubs in the UK

Cannabis is the one of the oldest known substances consistently utilized by humans. We have been consuming it for its medicinal properties, as a rather safe intoxicant, and industrializing the fiber, roots, hurd, and seeds of this amazing renewable resource into literally thousands of everyday uses.

In the 20th century as Cannabis prohibition really began to take effect – cultures and communities around the world that consumed or utilized cannabis as a cornerstone of their daily lives had their traditions, practices, and the ancient knowledge that connected them together over the commonality of cannabis criminalized.

Fortunately, there has been in recent years a reemergence in awareness of our rich history and deep connection to Cannabis Sativa L. This has driven and motivated like-minded individuals around the world to seek each-other out to share this sacred knowledge and celebrate Cannabis in all her multifaceted glory.

This community building has brought together incredible people from all across the world who are choosing to stand up against oppression and persecution to defy the stigma and risk prosecution to be honest about their cannabis consumption and to protect the peoples right to utilize all the plants of the Earth.

From the partially decriminalized Dutch coffeeshops that were formed in the late-1960’s in Amsterdam to provide any customer over the age of 18 with much more than just fresh coffee and delicious decadent dutch delights. To another slightly newer quasi-legal system that comes out of Europe that seeks to give autonomy and power back to the cannabis consumer – Cannabis Social Clubs.

What is a Cannabis Social Club and how is it different from a Dutch-style coffeeshop – I hear you asking? Well, Cannabis Social Clubs, or ‘CSC’s‘ for short, are non-profit private member associations – These non- governmental organizations are made up of like-minded individuals coming together to obtain cannabis through the creation of buyers networks and collective cultivation to ensure that all members have consistent, safe and fair access to quality cannabis and cannabis-derived products. Unlike Cannabis buyers clubs CSC’s do not limit themselves to just medicinal consumers as they believe all cannabis should be freely accessible for their membership to decide how to utilize and consume.

These organizations self regulate the cultivation, production, transportation, supply and distribution of cannabis and cannabis-derived products to its members. This is done while employing strict self-imposed rules, regulations and operating procedures to ensure that the safety, hygiene and efficacy of the products that they are providing is of the highest standard possible. They also seek to provide the most up to date and accurate information and educational resources to its membership.

These associations have in my opinion grown from several root sources. Firstly, a ruling by the Spanish supreme court in the 1970’s that small scale personal possession wasn’t to be criminalized, the signing of the 1978 constitution protecting Spanish citizens right to privacy, the acceptance of coffeeshop culture else where in Europe and the gradual reduction in the social stigma around the sharing and consumption of cannabis in mainland Europe.

These were the primary catalysts that allowed activists to produce what later became the first CSC model back in the 1990’s. It was these first attempts that gave birth to what is now currently considered the best operating model for CSC’s to adhere to – the ENCOD Model.

The European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD) was founded in 1994 when 14 drug organisations combined resources to create the drug law reform body on the recommendation of a European commission. ENCOD has since been fighting for rational, sensible and fair drug policies throughout a lot of the countries of Europe by taking on the well-established monolith of draconian prohibitive drug policies on the international stage. Today they are a 150+ strong network of committed organisations and advocates.

The Coffeeshops and clubs are both currently illegal as the law stands in their individual countries. But just as the coffeeshops have been tolerated in the Netherlands for many decades leading to a gradual tolerance and acceptance of their existence by local authorities and now even to the eventual trialing of regulated legal models. The same is gradually happening in Spain as with a few other European countries with CSC’s. However, not without moderate to severe blow-back from certain prohibitionists and misguided or frankly corrupt policy makers.

So, although this and other perfectly functional models are out there and operating right now – These Cannabis clubs are still forced in most countries to function outside the protective sphere of legality to provide the vitally needed services and supportive safe spaces for their members to congregate, socialize, and consume cannabis, however they deem appropriate.

The clubs that have been emerging slowly here in the UK have been slowly gained respectability in their communities by fulfilling the shortfall created by the corrupt cannibalistic British “medical Cannabis” industry – Who are actively seeking to put profit and the interests of its share holders above the peoples basic right to access and use cannabis for its plethora of medicinal benefits it can provide.

Cannabis Social Clubs in the UK are generally less governed than their European counterparts and often regulated by several different ever-changing models and ideologies. They are, however typically a private member clubs for consenting adults to access Cannabis for therapeutic, recreational, and social consumption. They act as a first port of call for connecting with other cannabis consumers, a space to seek advice and general cannabis information, harm reduction and up to date educational materials.

There are a number of various clubs operating under different models and serving different clientele and their needs. There are active clubs across the UK from Dover to Aberdeen that operate under various models from non-profit to coffeeshop style cafes.

There are 43 different police forces in the UK – some support clubs and some do not, however the revolving door nature of public office and the fragility of policy to the scrutiny of public pressure means that this support varies greatly and cannot be assumed to be long term.

This uncertainty has created a rather large gray area were in the UK as where there was once support and approval for a CSC as a vital tool to reduce crime and help rebuild communities they now risk being targeted as they’ve once again been deemed “Unhelpful in fight against crime”

Many of the UK based clubs are associated to the UKCSC but not all follow the same model or operate physical premises like they do in say Spain, Belgium or Switzerland to name a few.

So who are the UKCSC?

According to their website;

“[The] UKCSC is the UK cannabis consumer voice, offering practical and legal advice and guidance to Cannabis Social Clubs, politicians and police forces in order to provide a self regulatory frame work to reduce risks. UKCSC are a not for profit Non Government Organisation founded in 2011 by concerned citizens comprised of experienced healthcare professionals, industry experts, horticulturists, clinical researchers, patients, entrepreneurs and activists from across the UK, United States, Europe and the rest of the world”

“UK Cannabis Social Clubs are Private Membership Clubs for adult medical and social use acting as a first point of contact for cannabis consumers, patients, advice, general cannabis information, harm reduction and education”

The UKCSC is currently the largest association of clubs in the UK that function under the same operating manual we discussed above. To learn more about the UKCSC and how to register and create a UK Cannabis social club click here. There are also plenty of resources online to help you find the information you need to form an independent club too.

There is a long history of independent and UKCSC affiliated clubs putting on spectacular public and private events for its membership and the local community. From Brighton Cannabis club’s yearly Green Pride protestival which takes place each July in Preston park – attracting several thousand guests to Hampshire Canna’s annual protestival on Eastney beach each August.

The independent club events such as DCCC’s Autumn Expo in Durham to MKCSC’s monthly drop-in which provides a free monthly drop-in for the public to come and ask questions and cultivate community connections at a independent cooperative coffeeshop for the last two years.

There is a long rich tradition of clubs organizing public events and protestivals to bring the community together and to protest the unjust laws that seek to deny people their basic right to a plant that is as equally connected to our past as it is our future.

So what does the future look like for Cannabis clubs in the UK and the wider world? Well, regardless of the various legislative proposals and so-called reforms due to be put forth to governments around the world in the coming months.It is the tireless efforts of committed activists that makes me confident that CSC’s will continue to gain respectability and acceptability until the day they eventually become as legally welcomed and protected as Workingmen clubs or public houses.

Written for CannabisActivismNow.com By Simpa Carter

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The Plant War Rages On…

By Kerry Cannon

With 33 states, and The District of Columbia, having legalized Cannabis, in one way or another, it would seem that Cannabis Prohibition is ending. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. 

Lance Gloor (pictured bottom left) and Supporters #OneTeamOneDream

New Federal data shows that Cannabis arrests actually rose in 2018. Approximately 91% of Cannabis arrests last year, were for simple possession. That’s 608,776 victimless possession arrests in 2018. Up from roughly 599,282 victimless possession arrests in 2017.

The majority of people in The US support Cannabis legalization. More and more states are legalizing. Yet arrest rates are not decreasing. Prosecutions are still happening, even in so called “legal states”. Countless people are still in prison over a plant. 

Lance Gloor is serving a 10 year Federal prison sentence for legal medical Cannabis in Washington state. Before the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment became law in 2014, the federal government had tax payer funds that were used to prosecute state legal Cannabis pioneers. Lance Gloor is one of many who were prosecuted under federal law, while being compliant with state legal Cannabis laws. 

Lance Gloor’s injustice haunted me. I have never met Lance in person. In fact, I’ve never heard his voice. I was able to attend one day of Lance’s federal trial as court support in 2015. The testimony given by the federal officer that day, did not convince me that Lance had done anything wrong or illegal. (Neither has anything I discovered doing my due diligence- researching Lance’s case and his character.) If anything, the testimony given that day, proved what a waste of tax payer $ prosecuting for Cannabis is. Lance Gloor was denied his constitutional right to an evidentiary hearing. What was presented to the jury as evidence, was a stretch of a story to portray Lance in a way that I’ve yet to see any actual evidence of. 

Ultimately the jury judged Lance on violation of federal law. This resulted in a 10 year federal prison sentence. Had the jurors been aware of their Jury Nullification rights and exercised them, I’ve no doubt that Lance Gloor would have walked away from his trial a free man. A family would have never been torn apart over a healing plant.

I began working in the Cannabis industry a couple of years after Lance’s trial. Everyday at work, it was always in the back of my head that Lance is behind bars for doing what I was now collecting a paycheck for. I was connected with Lance’s mom Tracie Gloor-Pike on Facebook. After reading several of her pleas for the Cannabis Community to help her son, I knew I needed to do something to help.

After pondering ideas on how exactly I could help, it hit me. Wearing a safer shirt (safershirts.org) was my greatest activism tool. I was already a safer stenciler, who painted shirts in line with Jared Allaway’s ‘Marijuana is safer than __fill in the blank___ ‘ message. With the Seattle Cannabis Freedom March 2018 approaching, I made a “Free Lance Gloor” stencil, out of materials from the dollar store, and painted several shirts for The March. I wore one there and gave the rest away, in an effort to begin the #FreeLanceGloor public awareness campaign. It worked. Shortly after the movement to free federal Plant Prisoner Lance Gloor, took off.  Mac Doc Codispoti (AKA Safer Stencils) gladly jumped right in to relieve me of stencil making duties. RIP Doc. We couldn’t have grown this movement without you. 

Kerry with a handmade Free Lance Gloor Stencil

I was the nobody, who decided to be the somebody, to do something about it. Beyond painting, and sending out Free Lance Gloor shirts, I began to encourage others who support Lance Gloor’s freedom, to hand write up a quick sign, with the 3 words “Free Lance Gloor”  take a photo holding their sign, and upload to social media. The purpose to bring about greater public awareness, and to show support for Lance.  Those hundreds of photos, along with photos of Activists in their Free Lance Gloor shirts, have been collected, arranged into photo collages, and sent to The White House. 

Lance Gloor currently has a pending clemency petition at The White House. Public support is a huge part of the decision making process of granting clemency. If you find 10 years in Federal prison for legal medical Cannabis in Washington state to be unacceptable, please participate in any, or all, of the calls to action.

A view of the North Portico of the White House, Wednesday June 14, 2017 in Washington D.C. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

*****Call To Action*****

1) Call The White House comment line at 202-456-1111. Politely leave a message with a volunteer “I support the pending clemency of Lance Gloor. Thank you.”  Or email your comment to https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Again, please be polite. This call is about our injustice that Lance Gloor pays the price for.  Comments on different topics should be addressed in a separate communication. Thank you! 

2) Write up a “Free Lance Gloor” sign. Take a photo of you with your sign and email to freelancegloorshirts@gmail.com
*All photos are likely to be submitted to the White House. Your face need not be in photo if you choose. 

Prohibition will never truly end, so long as anyone remains caged for Cannabis. It is our duty to set Our Plant Prisoners free. Public support works. Every effort helps. Together we can, and we will, set Lance Gloor and every last Plant Prisoner free. One Team One Dream.

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Cannabis For Parkinson’s And Alzheimer’s Diseases -An Interview With Dr. Ethan Russo

Dr. Ethan Russo

Dr. Ethan Russo is a world-renowned authority on the medicinal use of cannabis; an academic researcher, author and industry leader whose expansive knowledge of cannabis therapeutics spans history, cultures and its myriad applications for improved health and wellbeing. A board-certified neurologist and former Senior Medical Advisor at GW Pharmaceutics, Dr. Russo is currently Director of Research and Development of the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute, a consortium of international academic institutions and private companies dedicated to promoting medical cannabis research.

In this interview, Dr. Russo shares an informed and insightful vision of how cannabis-derived medicine stands to benefit two of the more intractable neurological conditions facing older adults, Parkinson’s (PD) and Alzheimer’s (AD) diseases.

Abbie Rosner: If medicinal cannabis targets our endocannabinoid system (ECS), what is the involvement of that system in PD and AD?

Dr. Ethan Russo: The ECS regulates most physiological systems in the body, but above all the nervous system, where it helps to achieve the balance that allows individual nerve cells to communicate. The ECS is disrupted in both AD and PD.

Rosner: What is the research with cannabinoids and Parkinson’s disease showing?

Russo: In a mouse model of PD, treatment with nabiximols (Sativex®), a cannabis- based pharmaceutical approved in 30 countries outside the USA, resulted in improvement in dopamine neurotransmitter function, and reduced oxidative stress (akin to “rust” of the nervous system), as well as leading to improvements in anxiety and self-injury behaviors.

Clinical results with treatment of PD with cannabis have been quite mixed. Cannabidiol (CBD) helped a few PD patients with psychotic symptoms, and some with a rapid-eye movement sleep disorder. Observational studies with smoked cannabis, presumably high in THC, reportedly produced acute benefits on tremor, rigidity and slow movement (bradykinesia). The best results in PD were reported in a Czech study in 2004, in which patients ate raw leaves of cannabis for as much as three months and reported significant improvement in overall function, tremor, bradykinesia and rigidity, with few side effects.

Rosner: And what about cannabis for AD?

Russo: The story in AD is even more intriguing. Both THC and CBD have been shown to interfere with the production of abnormal toxic matter in the brain of such patients. This is quite exciting, inasmuch as synthetic drugs designed for similar purposes have yet to advance in the clinic. Both THC and particularly CBD are known neuroprotective agents that hold the potential to slow or perhaps even halt the degenerative process. On the symptom side, THC as a single agent has proven beneficial in AD patients in reducing nocturnal agitation, improving sleep and appetite. Observations of nursing home patients in California with dementia have produced similar benefits as well as reducing the need for nursing intervention and amounts of other drugs.

There are four FDA-approved pharmaceuticals to treat memory loss in AD, but all have mild benefits on a temporary basis. These are designed to increase the amount of acetylcholine, the memory molecule in the brain that becomes depleted in AD. Interestingly, the terpenoid alpha-pinene is capable of boosting acetylcholine by inhibiting its breakdown, and with fewer side effects than the conventional drugs.

Rosner: We hear a lot of talk about THC and CBD, but what about the role of terpenes?

Russo: Terpenes are aromatic compounds from plants that are important in our everyday exposure to scents and flavors. Some of these, when combined with cannabinoids, boost their effects such that the result is greater than the sum of the parts. We discussed above the role of alpha-pinene to combat memory deficits in AD and PD. Linalool, a component of lavender essential oil as well as cannabis, has been demonstrated to calm agitation in AD. The terpene limonene, common to citrus and cannabis, is a powerful antidepressant and immune stimulator. Caryophyllene, a terpenoid with the distinction of also being a cannabinoid, is of key importance in AD, as it may help in clearance of beta-amyloid waste in the brain.

Rosner: CBD products are so popular now. But what price is paid when you remove THC from the cannabis equation?

Russo: A severe price may be paid if cannabis-based medicines are devoid of THC. It is clear from the above that THC has a major role to play in both symptomatic treatment of dementia and quite possibly in preventative benefit. The dangers of THC have been vastly exaggerated by alarmist politicians and the press, particularly in such contexts where alternatives have been extremely disappointing and are actually much more problematic. Very small doses of THC are required and their benefits outweigh any risks by healthy measures.

Rosner: You have also been a proponent of diet and other complementary approaches to cannabis.

Russo: Fascinating epidemiological studies have linked diet to degenerative diseases, especially AD. Diabetes and obesity, which are rampant in the USA, as well as trans-fats, all increase AD risk. In contrast, disease rates are lower in areas following a Mediterranean diet rich in monounsaturated olive oil and omega-3 fats from fish. We also know that daily cognitive challenges when carried into the elder years offer some protection, as does vigorous physical exercise.

An underappreciated factor in degenerative diseases is the microbiome, the bacterial content of the gut. We know that THC, rather than leading to obesity as one might surmise, rather changes the microbiome balance in the gut to favor bacteria that protect from development of obesity and the metabolic syndrome.

Great benefits may accrue to AD and PD patients through the use of probiotics (i.e., natural organic multi-culture yogurt, kefir, lacto-fermented vegetables, and supplements in capsules) and prebiotics (vegetable matter like acacia fiber, slippery elm, burdock root and supplement in capsules) that provide an optimum feedstock for the beneficial gut bacteria.

Rosner: From where we are today, what are the best approaches for prevention and treatment of PD and AD?

Russo: The best current approaches to AD and PD beyond what the conventional pharmacopoeia offers include: aerobic activity, daily mental exercise, Mediterranean diets with use of anti-inflammatory fruits and berries, probiotics and prebiotics. From cannabis, THC, THCA, CBD, beta-pinene, caryophyllene, linalool and limonene may all have important contributions to treatment of these disorders.

Rosner: Where do you see promise on the horizon?

Russo: While the current laboratory experiments have been extremely important in establishing a foundation for cannabis-based medicines in treatment of AD and PD, it is definitely time to move the effort into the clinical arena. It is clear that these conditions are increasing in our aging populations and conventional approaches to date have been less than satisfactory. Utilization of cannabis preparations with the right mixtures of cannabinoids and terpenoids show great promise to produce better results. While these may be simply palliative in reducing drug and care burdens, there is also the possibility of making a real difference in slowing or abrogating the pathological processes in these two disorders.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.


Originally published at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/abbierosner/2019/02/26/cannabis-for-parkinsons-and-alzheimers-diseases-an-interview-with-dr-ethan-russo/?fbclid=IwAR03BkSPfWjBzEJCRLxWv8p9yKpu7jj_M2R0rs6jXTDbxWKg7mK32m7sGqQ#3b31b7b95dd6

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Canada’s first publicly traded marijuana company has rough first day when pot shipment seized by RCMP

‘When you call police to say, ‘Come look at this,’ you believe you have everything in order’

Handout/Tweed

Tweed Marijuana Inc. became the first publicly traded medical pot company in Canada on Friday, but behind the scenes the Ontario production facility has apparently been searching for answers after a run-in with the law.

On Monday, the company was hoping to beef up its stock with a shipment of medical marijuana products that it says it acquired from B.C. growers who had previously been licensed to grow their marijuana at home.

Even though the company had received Health Canada’s approval to import such products, the Mounties, who the company said it had invited to inspect the shipment, ended up seizing it at the Kelowna International Airport.

“We felt everything was done absolutely correctly,” Tweed chairman Bruce Linton said from the company’s office in Smiths Falls. “When you call police to say, ‘Come look at this,’ you believe you have everything in order.”

The case seems to highlight an ongoing confusion around the old legal regime, which allowed licensees to grow medical pot in their basements, and the new regime, which restricts production to commercial growers, such as Tweed.

As of Friday, the company — one of 12 licensed so far in Canada — had still not received an explanation for the seizure, Linton said.

Sgt. Duncan Pound, an RCMP spokesman in B.C., refused to comment on the reasons for the seizure.

“We typically do not confirm or deny investigations unless there is an investigational or public safety need. Specific details about any investigation only become known when that investigation results in charges being laid by Crown Counsel,” he said via email.

Before the April 1 switch to the new regulatory regime, individuals who previously had personal-production licenses were allowed to sell what “starting materials” they had, such as seeds and plants, to one of the new commercial producers.

Linton said Friday his company hadn’t originally intended to purchase other medical marijuana products; the initial business plan was to grow about 25 varieties of plant at the company’s 160,000-square-foot growing facility.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File

But when the company started accepting customers early in February, demand for its products proved much higher than expected, Linton said.

It became clear, he said, that the amounts sought per patient were “several multiples” higher than what the company had planned for. When Tweed pointed this out to Health Canada officials, the company was told that other commercial growers were buying medical pot from growers who had been licensed under the old regime.

The only stipulation was that they needed federal authorization to do so.

Health Canada spokeswoman Sara Lauer confirmed Friday that Tweed received the go-ahead.

Linton said the company collected plants, seeds and “in-production plant materials” from multiple growers across B.C. He declined to say exactly how much product was acquired, but said it provided the firm with an additional 55 varieties of marijuana.

Linton said the company’s purchases from B.C. were a one-time thing and that all future product will be grown in Smiths Falls.

The company invited the RCMP to come inspect the shipment at the Kelowna airport Monday, the last day such transactions could take place.

“Our intent was to be transparent,” he said. Plus, having the Mounties around also provided extra security for the precious cargo.

Health Canada officials were unable to say Friday how many other commercial growers had acquired marijuana products from home growers before the deadline.

Linton speculated that the RCMP seizure may have been the result of “confusion” because of overlapping regulations.

Last month, a Federal Court judge granted an injunction for medical marijuana users who had previously held a personal-production license.

The injunction allowed those users to continue growing pot until the court issues a final decision.

On Monday, the same day the Tweed shipment was seized, the federal government announced it was appealing the court ruling.

The closing price for shares in Tweed Marijuana Inc. on Friday was $2.59 on the TSX Venture exchange, valuing the company at $90.7 million (market capitalization).

Originally published at: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadas-first-publicly-traded-marijuana-company-has-rough-first-day-when-pot-shipment-seized-by-rcmp?fbclid=IwAR0v5x3fCJJPCbNW7QUoDhmNBtXTt_6og0E_KKPAWplUXzJZq5Wj-AyyR_U

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Alcohol Destroys The Brain, Cannabis Heals It, Says Latest Science

You may not be aware of it, but alcohol damages the brain as soon as its effects can be felt. That’s right, bad decision making and memory blackouts are direct effects of alcohol-induced brain damage. Scary, huh?

The science surrounding the damaging effects of alcohol is very clear. In fact, there is no safe level of alcohol consumption and any amount of alcohol raises your risk of cancer.

Would you believe that alcohol is actually rated as more damaging than heroin in harm indexes?

Despite these facts, alcohol is legal and widely available in the UK. Us Brits even get drunk on alcohol more than any other nation. 

Recent research from the University of Colorado in Boulder, however, has found evidence that suggests cannabinoids are far safer for long-term brain health compared to alcohol.

Cannabis is safer than alcohol

For many years, we have been told by our government that cannabis will damage our bodies and brains and turn us crazy. Propaganda in the 90s showed a fried egg to demonstrate what would happen to your brain ‘on cannabis’.

It turns out that nothing could be further from the truth. 

Reefer madness 

Now, thanks to the Internet and a relaxing of prohibition in some parts of the world, the science of cannabis is exploding and facts can no longer be hidden or smeared by the government.

In fact, this latest research goes some way to prove that most propaganda is completely untrue. The final conclusions of this study sum it up nicely:

“Marijuana and associated cannabinoid products…were not shown to have any long-term impact on the amount of gray matter in the brain or on the integrity of the white matter.”

But the truth is even more interesting than ‘no damage’.

Cannabis is good for the brain!

Research from 2018 has shown that cannabis use can have positive long term effects on the brain

This study, led by Staci Gruber, found that after just three months of cannabis treatment, participants were able to perform tasks better and had improved activation at two different cortexes of the brain which are responsible for controlling parts of our emotions and memories. 

While that study is ongoing and is set to finish in around 24 months time, these results concur with studies coming out of Israel that show cannabis can prevent the brain from ‘slowing down’ as we age.

It is clear we are only beginning to scratch the surface of the benefits to humanity of this powerful and controversial plant. However, there is little doubt that people would be much healthier should they chose to consume cannabis over alcohol.


Originally published at: https://www.highandpolite.co.uk/cbdnews/alcohol-destroys-the-brain-cannabis-heals-it-says-latest-science?fbclid=IwAR0uJGHhhuMIHyxAb9l7tJRflG6HhB2PR_kZeHJl0dVv9PAv7sYaQwMecRo

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Levi’s found a way to make hemp feel like cotton, and it could have big implications for your wardrobe

hemp plantation

Hemp fibers are naturally stiff and ropy, but Levi’s has discovered a way to make it feel like cotton.

  • Denim icon Levi Strauss & Co. debuted garments made from a soft hemp-cotton blend in March, and head of innovation Paul Dillinger said he expects 100% cottonized-hemp products in about five years.
  • Hemp uses significantly less water and chemicals than cotton during cultivation. Levi’s has found a way to soften hemp using far less water than was previously used.
  • Dillinger said the long-term goal is to incorporate sustainable cotton blends by using fibers such as hemp into all of its products.

With the legalization of hemp in the United States last December, the industry has been exploding: Reports and Data estimates it’ll be worth $13.03 billion by 2026. While you’ve probably noticed hemp-derived CBD products everywhere, hemp also has major implications for sustainable clothing — and denim icon Levi Strauss & Co. has made significant progress in making this happen.

In March, Levi’s debuted a collaboration with the Outerknown label that includes a pair of jeans and jacket made from a 69%-cotton/31%-hemp blend that feels like pure cotton. Why’s that significant? Hemp, a cannabis plant with a negligible amount of the psychoactive chemical THC, uses significantly less water and chemicals than cotton. Unlike cotton, though, the material is difficult to work with. The cotton fibers in your shirt are derived from a puffy bud on top of a plant, while hemp fibers come from a tall, sturdy trunk.

“It’s a longer, stiffer, coarser fiber,” Levi’s head of global product innovation, Paul Dillinger, told Business Insider. “It doesn’t want to be turned into something soft. It wants to be turned into rope.” Levi’s has found a way to make hemp fibers soft and able to blend with cotton, but in a way that uses significantly less water than the process used to turn hemp plants into a rough material. “It’s great that it’s resonating with the consumer, but it’s more important that it’s helping to future-proof our supply chain,” he said.

Dillinger explained that this is a significant research project that will continue for years, rather than a project that only results in a couple of high-end, niche products. “Our intention is to take this to the core of the line, to blend it into the line, to make this a part of the Levi’s portfolio,” he said.

Dillinger said Levi’s is continuing to work on improving the quality of its cottonized-hemp, to the point where it can be nearly half of a cotton-blend for most apparel, as well as fully hemp for certain products. And in five years, he said, he expects “a 100% cottonized-hemp garment that is all hemp and feels all cotton.”

Dillinger said that the need for cotton alternatives became apparent when looking at the growth trajectory of cotton demand compared to access to fresh water required for its cultivation and processing. Since he was familiar with the nature of hemp, he did not expect to find a solution there… until Levi’s discovered cutting-edge research in Europe, where industrial hemp was already legal in many countries. Levi’s would not reveal its partners or details of its breakthroughs, except to say that it had a market-ready material after three years.

When Levi’s finds a way to make 100% cottonized-hemp clothing, “We’re going to go from a garment that goes from 3,781 L of fresh water, 2,655 of that in just the fiber cultivation,” Dillinger said, drawing from data collected by the Stockholm Environmental Institute. “We take out more than 2/3 of the total water impact to the garment. That’s saving a lot.”

Despite his optimism, Dillinger was quick to point out that he doesn’t want hype around the hemp industry to make it seem like Levi’s and its competitors are going to fully replace cotton or revolutionize the industry overnight. To do it properly, there remains many years of research and development. Plus, it’s likely hemp will be just one of several natural cotton alternatives.

The idea is that hemp clothing, whether in a cotton blend or by itself, isn’t going to be a fad. Dillinger said that while he can’t speak for the company on this point, he personally isn’t too concerned about the marketing of cottonized-hemp clothing, because the ideal down the line is that customers won’t even notice a difference.

“So often there’s the assumption that to purchase a sustainably-made product is going to involve a sacrifice, and that the choice is between something ethically made or something that’s cute,” he said. “You don’t have to sacrifice to buy sustainably.”