Even if the user misidentified it as ‘recreational.’
The medical cannabis movement is sweeping through the nation with such momentum that even conservative legislators are evolving to see the benefits. All cannabis use appears imminent west of Colorado and north of Virginia while medical cannabis is plowing through the South. This is exciting news, but we must remain diligent and see this to the end. There is one phrase that is slowing cannabis law reform; “Recreational Cannabis.”
“Recreational cannabis use” is the most detrimental phrase our industry faces today.
Over half the U.S. population supports “recreational use” of cannabis. Unfortunately, those whose don’t support recreational use, oppose it vitriolically. “Recreational cannabis” is exactly what the opposition is fighting to prevent.
The flip side to this is that over 80% of Americans support medical cannabis use and over 85% support freedom in healthcare decisions. All of these statistics are trending upwards.
In the South, “recreational cannabis use” is a non-starter and a debate that cannot be empirically won. On the other hand, “medical cannabis use” is a debate we win. And we don’t need to manipulate our messaging to change the debate, we need only to correctly identify ‘medicinal use.’
Cannabis and The Human Body
Cannabis is imperative to maintaining a healthy body. Cannabinoid ligands fuel and balance the human endocannabinoid system, a system that regulates the immune system, mood, sleep patterns, appetite, and pain sensation. Just like vitamins, the human body needs cannabinoids to function properly. Due to cannabis prohibition, most Americans suffer from endocannabinoid deficiency syndrome. Endocannabinoid deficiencies manifest themselves in the form of autoimmune diseases, depression, bipolar disorders, neurodegenerative conditions, inexplicable pain, and sleep disorders.
Now, let’s delve into the mind of a ‘recreational’ cannabis user.
Recently, I’ve been interrogating self-proclaimed ‘recreational’ cannabis users to find out what’s so fun about smoking weed. Their initial answer is always the same; “I don’t know, I just like it.” But after digging with some questions, it always turns out the same.
Recreational cannabis users are using cannabis for medical purposes, they just don’t realize it.
Here are the post prodding answers and the medical condition that the ‘recreational user’ is treating using cannabis. I’ve also added common drugs and medications that are the AMA and FDA’s more popular treatments.
“It makes me relax.” – Anxiety. Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Prozac, Cymbalta, Wellbutrin, and the generics.
“It calms me down.” – ADHD/Anxiety – Ritalin, Adderall, Vyvanse
“It helps me think.” ADHD – see above
“It helps my stomach calm down.” GI, IBS, IBD. Pepto, Pepcid, Prilosec, I don’t know the RX drugs for this.
“It helps me talk to people.” Social anxiety – Alcohol
“It makes spending time with my spouse more fun.” – Sexual dysfunction/Anxiety. Viagra, Cialis, that new female viagra.
These are all medicinal applications.
I encourage all “recreational” cannabis users to reevaluate their use. If there is a prescription or over-the-counter drug designed to treat something that cannabis helps you with, that’s medical use. If they sell something at GNC or Vitamin World that cannabis helps you with, that’s medical use. You may not use these other medications because you already know that cannabis is a superior treatment, you just didn’t realize it.
Our society defines recreationally using a drug or medicine as “abuse.” Exclaiming that you use any drug recreationally is the first step into a 12 step. If you still don’t think that your cannabis use is medicinal, please call it ‘therapeutic’ so that you don’t look like an addict and hinder the entire movement. When we have medical, I promise that you’ll be able to find a doctor that will write you a recommendation.
My activism probably wouldn’t have gone the direction it did, if it were not for my eye opening, and empowering experience, volunteering at Adela Wisdom’s 420 POW booth at Seattle Hempfest in 2015. I had just relocated to Washington state from Southern California, the month prior. Up to that point, my biggest focus in activism was safe access for medical cannabis patients in Apple Valley, California, where dispensaries had been banned.
Adela and Aaron Wisdom
Before my volunteer experience with POW 420, I was completely clueless to the fact that prisons across the nation house an extremely large number of non-violent “criminals” serving time, many life, over a completely non-toxic healing plant. It is with great sadness that I am now writing about the injustice Adela, and her husband Aaron, are currently facing.
Adela has been a judicial reform advocate/activist for nearly 20 years. Her activism has reached worldwide, speaking in many different countries, and advocating for real judicial change at The United Nations. She has written to over 1000 POW 420’s, and has done 3 prison interviews. Not only does Adela believe that no one should be caged for Cannabis, she has walked the talk, helping and educating many.
Adela and Aaron Wisdom are both judicial reform advocates, and small farmers, residing in Callaway county Missouri. Both husband and wife, are running for political office. Aaron is a candidate for Lt. Govenor. Adela is a candidate for US Representative 3rd District of Missouri. Days after announcing their candidacy, The Wisdom’s were raided. On September 17, 2019, their home was searched by the Sheriff’s department looking for cannabis, and other items related to cultivation, drug trafficking, drug sales, and drug use. Law Enforcement did not find what they were looking for in what seems to have been a politically motivated raid.
A little after 8:00 am, early June 2020, a National Guard helicopter flew over the Wisdom’s farm. Using a telescopic lens, noxious Cannabis was seen on the Wisdom’s property. From the air, they also observed Aaron and Adela burning weeds. Missouri Dept of Agriculture lists Cannabis Sativa L as a noxious weed. The Oxford dictionary defines noxious weed as a weed which is considered to be harmful to the environment or animals, especially one which may be the subject of regulations governing attempts to control it.
The observation of the noxious weed, along with the legally required destruction of it, made Law Enforcement feel justified in conducting a warrantless search. Plain clothed officers showed up to the Wisdom’s property, wearing ski masks, and did not identify themselves. Adela had a gun pointed at her face, by a man who she did not know the intentions of, or why he was on their property. Both Aaron and Adela were arrested. They face a decade in prison each for the victimless crime of having 22 wild growing noxious weed plants growing on their property, and destroying them per Missouri law. The raid was carried out by both the Mustang Task Force and local Law Enforcement. At any time, these charges could become Federal charges.
Seems to me it is pretty clear that the current powers that be in Missouri, feel threatened by Adela and Aaron’s candidacy for political office. Missouri currently has over 7,000 rape kits sitting on shelves, collecting dust, untested. There is no funding to process those rape kits and get violent rapists off the streets, yet somehow funding is always available to investigate and prosecute people over a plant. I say: No Victim No Crime.
The consequences of unjust Cannabis laws are always about more than just a loss of freedom. For Aaron and Adela it has put a halt on the child adoption process they were in. Due to the ongoing investigation, they cannot pass an FBI background check. Adela has had her chances at motherhood taken from her. A baby in need of a loving, stable home with courageous, compassionate parents, who actively make this world a better place, had that opportunity lost.
Long time Wisdom family friend Victoria Hughes was asked about what kind of people the Wisdom’s are. “Adela has turned personal tragedies into a passion for helping others who are struggling. She has a way of bringing hope to people who have often been forgotten by society” Victoria shared. “Aaron is a very hard-working gentle soul. He goes out of his way to take care of others around him. I watched him prepare meals daily to take to their 80 year old Veteran neighbor, without asking for anything in return.”
Callaway County, the state of Missouri, nor the World will be any bit safer by having Adela and Aaron locked in prison for 10 years. In my opinion, it would actually be a disservice to all of humanity to have The Wisdom’s incarcerated. They need our help.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King Jr
*Write a letter to Judge Carol England asking she drop all charges against Aaron and Adela. Please be polite. A template, or sample letter is available on Adela s website. https://www.adelawisdom.com/call_to_action
*Write up a “Drop all charges against Adela and Aaron” sign. Take a photo with your sign and email to itskckush@gmail.com. Photos will be arranged into collages, and sent to the court, in support of Aaron and Adela.
Originally written by By Kerry Cannon for cannabisactivismnow.com
A portable and inexpensive greenhouse can be built in a matter of hours with the right tools and a little elbow grease. You can learn how to build one in this video
Stakeholders say the recent raid at a family hemp farm in Sweden reflects lingering ignorance among authorities that is holding back the sector in Scandinavia’s biggest market of 10 million consumers.
Michael Henell and crew at Magic Herb, Öland, Sweden
“The whole thing is probably about ignorance on the part of the police as they must have mistaken the industrial hemp for marijuana and therefore destroyed the cultivation,” Michael Henell said of law enforcement on the island of Öland, where Henell and his family operate Magic Herb, a boutique hemp company that grows and sells hemp buds and products based on extracts.
Henell said police raided his legal hemp business unannounced Aug. 13 while he and and his family were away on vacation, destroying his small hemp crop and, armed with a search warrant, seizing finished products that were stored in the family’s home.
‘No excuse’
It is legal to grow certified varieties of hemp in Sweden under permitting by the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
“I have triple checked that all papers are correct for the cultivation. We have had hemp for several years and it has never been a problem,” said Henell, who had approval of both local administrators and the national agriculture board for a hemp grow of about 1,000 plants that he was cultivating both outdoors and in a greenhouse.
Henell believes ignorance is no excuse. “It is utterly damning that the police can come and destroy our life’s work, for which we have shed blood, sweat and tears. Our entire annual harvest has now been destroyed by the police,” he said.
Prejudice lingers
Swedish authorities’ prejudice against hemp is rooted in aggressive national anti-cannabis campaigns carried out in the 1970s and ’80s, according to David Appelgren, Chairman of the Swedish Hemp Association, a 200-member strong group that advocates for the sector.
David Appelgren, Chairman, Swedish Hemp Association [Photo by: Crelle]
“Slowly, we’re turning. Most youth understand hemp is a regular thing, and even older people are using CBD,” said Appelgren, who tours Sweden educating about hemp. “But they’ve been pushing this agenda for 40 years,” he said of anti-cannabis elements in the country. “It’s still in the culture and hard to get rid of.”
Little grown
Hemp barely registers in Swedish agriculture. Modern-era records that date to 2004 show 150 hectares were under hemp that year. By 2007, hemp fields had grown to 829 hectares, but then started to decline. A total of 170 hectares were cultivated this year, according to government statistics. Appelgren estimates there are about 150 hemp operators in Sweden, most of which are small family businesses like Henell’s.
Hemp grown in Sweden since 2004, in hectares
The sector has survived only because of court cases that went against the government, both Henell and Appelgren said. Most notable, hemp farmer Ulf Hammarsten received damages from the Swedish state after his hemp crop was repeatedly destroyed by authorities. EU officials found in Hammarsten’s favor in 2003, ruling that national legislation prohibiting the cultivation and possession of industrial hemp was incompatible with the “common organization of markets” under EU law.
Swedish hemp history
Hemp is in Sweden’s history, archeologists have found, with cultivation generally presumed to have begun in sometime in the second half of the first century AD, as indicated by pollen records. Finds of seeds demonstrate that the plant was locally cultivated and processed during that epoch.
Hemp fiber is also revealed in subfossil remains found at Lindängelund in the region of Malmö, signalling the earliest evidence of hemp retting in Scandinavia discovered so far. Experts also have said they found evidence of small scale fiber processing in settlements through 400 AD. Remains of hemp later found in lake sediments indicate that the retting of hemp eventually relocated from settlements to lakes shores, where processing became larger in scale and more integrated into the agricultural system of the time.
Halloween night 2017, an act of compassion quickly turned into a 2 year and 9 month long living nightmare for one Ohio family. Glenn Keeling had a friend in need of cannabis, so he gifted his friend 2 grams of cannabis concentrate. Not too long after the friend drove away from the Kimmel-Keeling residence, he was pulled over by law enforcement. That’s when this good deed became a crime.
Despite the fact that Medical Cannabis was legal in Ohio, law enforcement set their sights on Glenn Keeling. He led the first ever Global Marijuana March in Ohio. Glenn also ran for political office in his town as an open medical cannabis patient. He and his wife Peggy, had began a NORML chapter in their area. Law Enforcement’s attention on this family was no doubt, politically motivated. They were seeking to make an example out of Glenn in corrupt Mercer county Ohio, and had long been doing surveillance on his family’s home.
“I smell marijuana”, the 3 words law enforcement officers often use as probable cause. Those 3 words were said to the friend, when he was pulled over after leaving Glenn and Peggy’s home. The friend fully cooperated with the officer, including naming Glenn as the source of where his cannabis concentrate came from. Later that night, police officers arrived at the Kimmel- Keeling residence. The husband and wife, both being legal patients with a doctors recommendation, thought the misunderstanding could be cleared up by cooperating with the officers. They quickly found out differently. The officers had no interest in seeing Glenn or Peggy’s doctor signed recommendations. Their home was immediately raided. What was discovered by officers, was a legal supply of cannabis for 2 patients, along with a teenage girls craft supplies, the officers assumed was for making cannabis edibles. The officers decided that despite medical cannabis being legal in Ohio, not yet having operating dispensaries, made patients criminals.
Glenn was arrested that night. His wife Peggy was charged at a later date. Their daughter had to get out of bed, to leave her home for the night, to stay with her adult brother. Multiple charges were brought against Peggy and Glenn. Each faced over 50 years in prison. Peggy and Glenn were both allowed to continue treating their health conditions with cannabis, per their bond conditions. That was a first in Ohio.
Unfortunately, this family did not initially have local support outside of their family. I became aware of this injustice, while scrolling Facebook one day. Peggy had reached out for help in ‘The International Cannabis Patients Wall’ Facebook group. I reached out to Peggy to learn more about what was happening to her family. Not only did she tell her side of the story, but she also provided proof to back up everything she said. One of the charges that hit me right in the heart, was child endangerment. I read the letter Peggy provided from the CPS caseworker. In less than 1 month, CPS completed their investigation, with the determination that Peggy’s teenage daughter (Glenn’s stepdaughter) was safe in the family home and should remain in her parents care. Yet overzealous Mercer County Ohio Prosecutor Matt Fox, persisted with child endangerment charges, as well as many other bogus charges, in an attempt to prosecute and persecute this couple.
I personally believe that no one, anywhere, with any amount of a healing non-toxic plant should face criminal charges. No Victim, No Crime. The only victims I saw in all this, was a family at risk of being torn apart. I knew I had to do something to help.
I began a public awareness campaign via social media. Making many more aware of this injustice was step 1. A call to action to call the prosecutors office, to politely ask that all charges against Peggy and Glenn be dropped, was put out shortly after. Many people had made this phone call. Some had telephone conversations with Mr. Fox. The prosecutor told numerous people that the full story wasn’t being told. Sadly some believed that tax dollars wouldn’t be wasted if there was no serious crime, and refused to support this family. It felt like Matt Fox was playing a game, with the arrogance of assuming he’d win.
With all of the details of Peggy and Glenn’s cases being public, I printed up both dockets from the courts website, took to social media in a live video, read all of the charges, showed all of the proof Peggy had provided, compared Ohio law, and proved to many of the doubters, that at most the punishment should have been a small fine. That helped public support really pick up. Throughout this time, I was also collecting photos from all across the country, and the globe, of people holding a handwritten “Drop All Charges Against Peggy and Glenn” sign. I arranged these hundreds of photos into collages. Those photo collages were sent into the court, and added to both of their case files.
Unfortunately, all the stress that came with this long, drawn out legal nightmare, resulted in increased health issues for Peggy. The stress was literally killing her. Glenn came to the conclusion that he needed to take a plea deal, accept whatever consequences Judge Ingraham decided, so that his wife may live. I have much respect for Glenn for making such a loving decision. The stress had taken it’s toll on his health as well. He did what any honorable man would do, he put his wife above himself.
The day to sign the plea deal came. Glenn and Peggy both signed deals. They were instructed to check in with their probation officer before the court date for sentencing. I was very pleased to learn that at the meeting with their probation officer, Peggy and Glenn learned they had their probation officer’s support. I was later told that their probation officer was aware of the ‘Keep Peggy And Glenn Free’ photo collages, as well as a petition I wrote on their behalf. Officer Gross asked Peggy and Glenn to have me email him everything, so he could make sure Judge Ingraham sees them. One Monday morning, I sent the emails. Mr. Gross replied quickly, that he was already printing the photos up and thanked me. I thanked him for his help as well.
Although I have yet to meet Peggy and Glenn in person, nor ever stepped foot into Ohio, I have much love for them and their family. While working on behalf of ending their family’s injustice, I watched them still do all they could do to help others, despite their struggles. I got to know amazing people, who I now consider family.
After 2 years and 9 months this family’s nightmare came to an end. July 27, 2020 was sentencing day. Peggy was facing 84 months in prison, 10 years suspended drivers license, and $17,000 in fines. Glenn faced 90 months in prison, 15 years suspended drivers license, and $37,000 in fines. During the hearing, Judge Ingraham held up a binder of photo collages, mentioning I had sent them in to the court. Peggy and Glenn both escaped prison time. They were sentenced to 5 years probation each. Neither had their drivers licenses suspended, and the mandatory fines were waived. What a huge relief for their entire family. One of the great things that comes from the outcome of their cases, is the precedent now set. It can, and will help other medical cannabis patients in Ohio, that may find themselves in a similar situation.
Public support matters. We all have the power to make a difference. Together we have the power to make a greater difference and a real change. Be the change you wish to see. Stand against injustice. Even if we are not directly affected, we are all indirectly affected. My work made a difference, only because of each and every person who took action with me. I greatly appreciate all who did.
Written by: Kerry Cannon aka “KC Kush” exclusively for cannabisactivismnow.com
When many people hear the words ‘cannabis industry’ they often think of a utopian world where legalization in America applies to everyone and nobody will ever go to jail for growing, possessing, or selling cannabis.
While this may be true for the ultra rich capitalist class of people in America who can afford to pay over a million dollars for a legal cannabis license, it is not true for the majority of us hard working Americans who just want to put some food on our table and smoke a joint or take a dab after a long day of work.
As an activist in Colorado, I learned some interesting things that you won’t see in High Times, NowThis, or any other for-profit corporate media conglomerate. They are only interested in getting money from their rich sponsors, who are only interested in numbers of viewers. The more eyeballs, the more the media company can charge advertisers. This is why they publish sensationalist viral garbage over and over, they seek to appeal to the lowest common denominator and will promote any company who gives them money to do so.
In Colorado, We The People were able to pass a referendum that legalized cannabis for personal use and home growing. As soon as we voted on our own proposed amendment to the Colorado constitution and it passed, politicians in conjunction with cannabis business owners immediately began to roll back our progress and began stripping our newly appointed rights away with dozens of new laws, regulations, and restrictions which hurt patients and only benefited the big business cannabis companies who donated to those politicians to restrict our rights.
While a few of the more ‘daring’ or ‘independent’ media out there might slightly mention what I just described, they will NEVER talk about the main point of this article; how the cannabis industry actually stifles innovation and causes higher prices for patients.
In the capitalist world, everything hinges on one basic concept: ‘intellectual property’. Intellectual property refers to intangible property that is the result of creativity, such as patents, copyrights, etc. Capitalists use intellectual property to justify charging a higher price for their product. Typically this will be done through words and phrases along the lines of: ‘our product was created with a special formula by scientists using a very technical, very expensive machine’… When in reality this product, or one extremely similar, can be made yourself at home quite easily. The capitalist business man, who we will now refer to as the vulgar economist, does not want you to know that you can do this yourself at home because that would hurt his profits. If you can make this, he can’t make money off you buying that product or service from him. So he protects his ideas (which he learned from someone else) by strict intellectual property laws and by deceptively keeping that information from the public.
When we are talking about using cannabis for medical use, keeping vital information that can improve a patient’s outlook and life is not only immoral but is down right destructive. Let’s take the case of Charlotte’s Web, (although every company in the cannabis industry is guilty of this unless they are completely open, transparent, and show the entire process behind how and what is used to make their product).
When Charlotte’s Web came out, nearly every magazine and news station in America carried a story about it and it’s ‘miraculous health benefits’. The company did nothing special to make this product. They simply got a strain from another grower, or created their own which is not hard to do yourself. They then hid any information about what this strain was, so that patients could not grow this strain themselves. Their only option was being forced to purchase products from the vulgar economist made from the strain at the highest price the market allows. If the corporate board members instead would have released the information that ‘Charlotte’s Web’ is pretty much the same thing as the strain ‘R4’, then thousands of patients could have easily have grown this plant at home and maybe then because of the massive increase in moms and dads growing for their epileptic children maybe we could actually achieve a true legalization in America in which all prohibition laws are repealed and we can all grow, sell, and process cannabis instead of just the rich friends of politicians.
Norfolk farmers are learning how they can benefit from growing cannabis – more lucrative per gram than strawberries.
Farmers are being encouraged to look at the business potential of growing cannabis. Pic: Cathal McNaughton/PA Wire
Property giant Savills, better known for selling high-end homes, has teamed up with cannabis specialists to launch a business venture for UK growers.
A new joint project called Crop17 will help farmers with knowing the best land for the crop, sourcing equipment and navigating the legal minefield of the Class B drug.
Although cannabis is illegal in Britain, several countries and states across the world have legalised it, leading to a boom in exports from the UK.Medicinal cannabis plants being grown in a glasshouse at the British Sugar in Wissington. Picture: Archant
Alex Bragg, a director at Savills, said: “The UK agriculture sector is embarking upon a period of unprecedented change. A phasing out of subsidies, a new dawn for trade, adapting to meet climate change targets and a huge growth in agtech presents the industry with huge challenges and opportunities. For the forward-thinking and innovative farmer and grower adapting into new markets is a key priority.”
Kit Papworth, director of farm contracting business LF Papworth, based at Felmingham, near North Walsham, has been invited to attend a Savills conference in London on hemp cultivation in the UK. He said: “The hemp and CBD (Cannabidol) oil markets have a huge potential, for both the oil and the biomass produced by the plant, which can be used in industry, building materials and for sequestering carbon.
“Farming in a post-Brexit world means we have to look closely at all of the opportunities and this is just one of many that we are considering.”
The worldwide legal cannabis industry generated revenues in the region of £11.5bn in 2019 – expected to grow to around £35bn by 2024. The total number of medical cannabis prescriptions issued in the UK could surge from a few hundred to more than 185,000 by the end of 2023 if the country follows a similar path to Australia, whose medical cannabis programme has grown rapidly since the government relaxed restrictions in 2018.
The active ingredient in cannabis – Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – is illegal in the UK but Cannabidiol (CBD) is not. However, all CBD products sold in the UK have to be imported typically from the US, Canada and Columbia.
This zero-carbon house in Cambridgeshire, England, literally comes from the land. Built on the 53-acre Margent Farm, the Flat House takes advantage of the property’s biggest resource—hemp.
London studio Practice Architecture worked with the farm to design the house, which was constructed in two days using prefabricated panels made from hempcrete, a mixture of hemp and lime.
The paneled facade of the house is clad in hemp-fiber tiles that are bound with a sugar-based resin made from agricultural waste. “The materials are breathable meaning they regulate the moisture in the air, resisting damp and mould and leading to a healthier environment and air quality,” the architects told Dezeen. The house also goes off-grid with a biomass boiler and solar panels on the roof.
Inside, the hemp panels are left bare, framed by a timber support system, which gives the walls a cool, neutral-toned texture. Though the house is made from humble materials, it still exudes an air of sophistication. The open-plan lower level has an atmospheric double-height ceiling and a wall of windows light up the dining area. Light timber stairs lead to a mezzanine and the bedrooms.
Can nature win the war on climate change? Maybe with a little help from humanity.
Using old reconditioned military planes, we can plant one billion trees a year. The planes will “tree bomb” deteriorated forests that have been devastated by commercial logging.
The proposed program uses some of that fastest growing trees in the world, which grow over 10 feet per year. These trees can fully counter the negative effects of de-forestation within a few years.
“A fleet of unused and decommissioned C-130 Hercules cargo planes, originally created to drop land mines, could be recommissioned as foresters,” the Guardian states.
“Lockheed Martin — the quintessential military innovation company — and Aerial Forestation Inc, of Newton took an old rusty idea from former UK RAF pilot Jack Walters and turned it into a reality. The planes will be outfitted to each drop up to 900,000 trees in one day and with 2,500 C-130’s sitting unused in 70 different countries, this idea could make for a lot of little saplings.”
The cargo planes will drop cones of seeds that bury themselves in the soil. The tree bombs don’t explode on impact but rather their casing dissolves over time and they contain a measure of fertilizer and enough moisture to ensure that the tree takes root.
“The possibilities are amazing,” says Peter Simmons, a Lockheed Martin representative. “We can fly at 1,000 ft at 130 knots planting more than 3,000 cones a minute in a pattern across the landscape – just as we did with landmines, but in this case each cone contains a sapling. That’s 125,000 trees for each sortie and 900,000 trees in a day.”
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 reportedin 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.”
Farmers are being encouraged to look at the business potential of growing cannabis. Pic: Cathal McNaughton/PA Wire
Medicinal cannabis plants being grown in a glasshouse at the British Sugar in Wissington. Picture: Archant
