Artemus Gifford greeted me as I closed the gate. Saphrona and Harmon were there too.

Next came Electa and Sam’l Williams, James and Hannah Dibble, and the Goodriches, Robert and Olive.

They were all nice people I’m sure, but things really came alive when I found John Finley Pettigrew. Here was someone I was sure moved to Michigan from another state, and I could tell right away I liked this guy.

In Illinois, where I’ve lived most of my 47 years, cannabis activists refer to Michigan as a “free state.” You are one of 16 states protecting a patient’s right to use cannabis. That provides Michigan patients with a degree of freedom lacking in Illinois or any other Midwest state.

I’m not a patient though. I use cannabis for wellness – for health. Herbal cannabinoids are life giving and the science proves it. We happen to live in an age with backward cannabis laws. Our laws prohibit rather than protect herbal cannabinoid supplementation. – Protect? Yes, protect. Science clearly shows that cannabinoids are biologically fundamental to human life – mine included.

The political facts are different and better known than the biological. In the political world I’m a chronic criminal. That defines me as a bad citizen. But I’m not a bad citizen.

I grew up an Illinois farm boy, played sports, graduated from America’s institutions, served in the US Army, taught children in our schools, and participate in the political process. I think of myself as a good American; I always have and will. It was that feeling – a love for life and this place we call home – that I shared with the Michiganders I met last November in Cass County. They too moved to Michigan for similar reasons – let’s call it the opportunity of freedom – or even liberty.

You see, the people I “met” reside in Brookside Cemetery near Cassopolis. Their headstones speak of an earlier freedom-pursuing emigration:

Artemus J. Gifford         1855-1940
Saphrona E. Gifford        1831-1925
Harmon L. Gifford        1824-1925
James Dibble            1828-1911
Hannah Dibble        1830-1911
Electa L. Williams        1838-1916
Sam’l Williams        Co. A 12th MI Infantry (Civil War)
Robert Goodrich        1831-1904
Olive Goodrich        1846-1911
John Finley Pettigrew    1758-1838 (Revolutionary War)

Michigan joined the United States in 1837 as our 26th state.  With the exceptions of Artemus, Olive and Electa, these birth dates precede statehood. That means these early Michiganders moved here as well – like me.

There is another interesting trait about these headstones. Other than the two soldiers, Williams and Pettigrew, the headstones are the same make and model. They are short rectangular marble stones with only the individual’s name and lifespan engraved. Typically, headstones stand out for their uniqueness. Often a bible verse, Christian cross, or a testament to the deceased’s good character is engraved along with one’s lifespan.

While we know where these citizens are buried, it’s not so clear where they were born. Census records from 1830-50 only verify John Pettigrew’s presence in Cass County. There are lots of Williams (13 families in 1850) and a few Giffords, Dibbles, and Goodriches, though none corresponding to these first names.

My research instincts suggest some of these individuals buried at Brookside were born slaves. The birth dates fit the time of America’s slavery. The uniqueness of the first names is also a clue. “Electa,” “Artemus,” “Saphrona” … these are atypical first names. Few European immigrants would have had such names. That makes me think they were part of the southern emigration of former slaves to the north. Michigan played a pivotal role in ending slavery – sending 40 regiments to the war to preserve the Union. That kind of idealism would have appealed to the formerly enslaved looking for a fresh start.

John Pettigrew was not a slave. He was from Rockbridge County Virginia. Pension records show he served in the Revolutionary War. He was 18 years old in 1776 and has the year of our revolution engraved on his headstone.  His burial stands apart from the other 200 sites in the cemetery; all the other headstones face west toward the sunset, except his, which faces north. I laughed a little – because it looks like he’s still in charge – or at least given a place of distinction.

The state Pettigrew is buried in didn’t exist for most of his life. It would take another conflict, the War of 1812, to bring about Michigan statehood. He did die a Michigander though. The year before he passed, Michigan’s star was added to the flag he helped create.

In the Army I spent time at Fort Knox Kentucky, Fort Benning Georgia, Fort Riley Kansas, and Fort Lee Virginia. I was also sent to Germany, the land of my ancestors, and Saudi Arabia, a place I never imagined I’d see. In doing so, I met and served with thousands of freedom-loving Americans. To me it was an honor to serve. America’s a great place and it creates great citizens.

The Brookside Cemetery wasn’t my first encounter with freedom-pursuing Michiganders. Last September I attended the cannabis rally in Lansing for patients’ rights. I noticed several “Don’t Tread on Me” flags in the crowd. That’s the flag of America’s revolution. Such ideals once motivated colonial subjects like Pettigrew to rebel and form the experiment-in-liberty known as the United States of America.

In 2012 the Great Lakes state is once again a leading beacon of liberty. I hear you’re gonna legalize cannabis. That’s a revolutionary spirit and would make founding citizens like Pettigrew proud. So count me in Michigan and I’ll see you at the rallies; and remember to bring a flag – better yet, make one!

~
Bryan W. Brickner is a Chicago writer emigrating to Michigan. He has a doctorate in political science from Purdue University (1997) and is co-author of The Cannabis Papers: a citizen’s guide to cannabinoids (2011).

MMCC is the only safe access in this community of about 450 people. Beemers 200 or so members are generous folks, apparently. Half of the floor is covered with donations for local charities; diapers, boxes of canned goods and overflowing grocery bags.

Beemer educates his members about medical marijuana, helps them fill out forms and also connects patients with caregivers. When they bring in a donation for local charity, they’re rewarded with a discount on services.

Even without the donation discount, Beemer promises his medicine, edibles, clones and hash are fairly priced. If you’ve ever done business with a farmer, you know those fair prices come with the expectation that the community will in some way benefit from the exchange.

Beemer would also like to see his community benefit from cultivating industrial hemp, but realizing that dream will take more than the generosity of his neighbors.

For reasons that no one can intelligently articulate, it’s illegal to grow Hemp in the US, so all Hemp products come from Canada or oversees. Hemp is a variation of cannabis sativa that has no significant amounts of THC. If farmers like Beemer were allowed to cultivate Hemp, it would be used to make more than 25,000 different products, most of which are superior alternatives to less environmentally friendly products. It’s the longest, strongest natural fiber known to man and the seeds are a ridiculously nutritious source of protein and essential fatty acids.

“This being farmland,” he says, “we could fill 20 acres with Hemp easily. It would impact the local economy, provide for alternative fuels.”

As we left, we heard a commercial on the local country music station, 100.9 Country, that detailed everything we’d just witnessed first hand; giving back to the community, a safe place where community members can come for education and medicine.

We look at the clock. It’s 4:20 as we roll down empty road, flanked on either side by rolling fields of corn and soy.

On January 2nd, 2010, police stormed the home Muntian shared with his wife and children, guns drawn, in a paramilitary raid. His small children, ages four and six, witnessed the raid, including police holding guns to their parents heads.

Police seized marijuana and grow equipment, and prompted an investigation by Child Protective Services. Investigators found no issues and closed their case.

Not long after the Jan. 2, 2010 raid, prosecutors dropped all charges, said Southfield attorney Michael Komorn, who specializes in medical-marijuana cases and represented Muntian in the criminal case. 

Muntian filed a federal lawsuit in May in the U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, against the police who raided his St. Joseph County. The lawsuit alleges unlawful arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, excessive force and illegal search and seizure.
In the lawsuit, an attorney for Muntian and Armstrong wrote: “Despite unequivocal rights granted to Mr. Muntian as a licensed caregiver under Michigan law, (police) refused to allow Mr. Muntian to show them proof of his license and the defendants proceeded to seized medicine and equipment in direct violation of the statute.”

Troy attorney Travis Mihelick alleged that police used “extreme force and the threat of deadly force on suspects who were not resisting.”

A relative took custody of the children when both Muntian and his wife were taken to jail. 

Komorn, the criminal attorney and a board member of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, said similar cases have occurred across the state. Winning a lawsuit against police for excessive force in a drug raid is very difficult, although the Sixth Circuit Michigan Court of Appeals also agreed in May to hear the case of an elderly Southfield couple similarly brutalized by police looking for marijuana. 

He said police should have left Muntian alone after determining he was properly licensed. Instead, he was charged with manufacturing marijuana, possession with intent to deliver and maintaining a drug house. Once charges were dropped, Komorn said, Muntian was allowed to retrieve his equipment from the police station. He said the raid, with children in the home, was traumatic.

“ Those kinds of images are very hard to shake,” Komorn said.

At the age of 31, Bill Schuette was elected to the United States House of Representatives, serving six undistinguished years. Governor Engler made him Director of Agriculture in January 1991. He was elected to the State Senate in 1994.

Schuette was elected to the Court of Appeals in 2003, despite having no judgeship experience. His service ended in 2008 but his aspirations grew- and he saw the medical marijuana law as a way to get there.

Schuette took up the anti-medical marijuana cause in 2008 by co-sponsoring a campaign to defeat Proposal 1. He used imagery in television commercials that demonized marijuana patients. “There is nothing in this law that would prevent California-style pot shops from opening up on every street corner in Michigan,” he said. When his effort fell short and medical marijuana became law, Schuette found a new platform to propel his career into prominence.

Fast forward to 2010. Mike Cox as AG had largely ignored the medical marijuana movement, refusing to bow to federal demands for medical records and allowing communities to explore options made possible by the MMMA. In November, Schuette secured the AG job, but in a victory more narrow than the other conservative candidates enjoyed.

Even before taking office, Schuette began sniping at patients. He announced his intent to release the protected records, and five days after being sworn in to office he issued that order. Immediately afterwards, the Michigan Association of Compassion Centers (MACC) filed an injunction to stop him from doing so, and the battle began.

January 12th, MACC President entity Big Daddy’s was raided by the Oakland County Sheriff Department. No arrests were made, but the attitudes and actions of the officers suggested the order came from an entity higher than theirs. Fueled by the new AG’s anti-cannabis zeal, legislators introduced bills in March aimed at curtailing patients and caregivers. The month ended with a double exclamation point: the AG issued briefs in two cases involving medical marijuana, the Compassionate Apothecary case and People v Redden.

April, May and June of 2011 were mirror images of March, with the flow of new anti-cannabis legislation punctuated by statements and encouragements by the AG. On June 7th Barb Agro, then-71 years of age, was convicted of felonies stemming from the Clinical Relief raid, bracketed by the issuance of AG Opinion #7259 on the 28th, which lays down new regulations regarding the cultivation and control of marijuana plants, and a package of bills introduced by Rep. Walsh on the 30th.

Schuette held an August press conference supporting the bills and their sponsors. No patients or representatives of the medical marijuana community were present, nor were any proposed bills addressing the issue of dispensaries. Less than two weeks after the media event we find out why: the Court of Appeals hands down a decision in the Compassionate Apothecary case which is touted as signaling the end of dispensaries in Michigan. The next day, two dispensaries in Ann Arbor were raided.

The AG summoned several county prosecutors to a meeting that weekend. Eight days after the CA decision, Oakland County officials filed charges in the Big Daddy’s January raid. Emboldened by the weekend meeting, attorneys for the city of Lansing begin the process of shutting down all the facilities in their community. Ann Arbor’s long-fought effort to pass an ordinance in the city regulating distribution and caregivers stumbled. Centers across the state begin to close under the perceived pressure.

Patients took the fight to Lansing on September 7th with a the largest crowd in MI history, and a clear message that did not favor the current administration. Shortly afterwards, another AG Opinion was issued empowering landlords to refuse or eject tenants who are patients or caregivers. Less than a week later, the federal government published a letter that any medical marijuana patient in the United States was not allowed to own, purchase or transfer firearms or ammunition.

The months of August, September and October passed with no serious consideration of the threatening legislation, despite Schuettes press conference statements. In response he established a series of four, statewide seminars designed to educate elected officials and law enforcement on the law. Community members who were allowed into the series reported that it was more about promoting Schuette’s stridently anti-marijuana political agenda than trying to find ways to make the law work for the tens of thousands of Michigan residents it was meant to help.

Dubbed the Clearing the Air seminars, the series met protesters at every venue and was hammered by the media for closing the sessions to cameras and the public. When the media was finally allowed to attend, several news stories cast a poor light on the proceedings.

Within a week after Traverse City hosted Clearing the Air, dispensaries in that city were raided.

During the series, Schuette took time out to introduce Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to the state at a campaign stop in Troy, where protesters targeted Romney for his association with the AG. The office also faced protests in Mount Clemens where Schuette had joined in a Nuisance lawsuit against a second Big Daddy’s location. The Nuisance method was further used by the AG’s office in December, he formally issued that charge against a three-outlet medical marijuana distributor named Hydro World.

Polling data tells us that the majority of Michiganders support medical marijuana, and that approximately half of the US population favor some form of legalization for recreational use. Schuette may have his eyes on a national prize but his home state seems less hospitable to future candidacies. Schuette will have to earn his next elected office- unless Romney simply appoints him to one.

Jamie Lowell is co-owner of the 3rd Coast Compassion Center and is assisting the organizers of the Vote Green Initiative Project. He sat down with us to discuss how VGIP empowers every day citizens so they can participate in the democratic process.

Why did you get involved in the VGIP?
The organizers of the project, Ben Horner and Ed Gorski recognized that 2012 was going to give us a lot of opportunity in the medical marijuana and marijuana reform. I believe in the concept so I am working with them.

The VGIP encompasses all the elements of things that I personally like to be involved with. It truly is a unity group. All the leaders from the medical marijuana and marijuana reform communities are participating in this forum.

Right now we’re conducting statewide educational meetings and helping people vote, sometimes for the first time in years, or just helping them get registered.

We want to empower people with information, motivation and the inspiration to do whatever they’re able and willing to do. We also give them ideas for ways to create impact in their own communities, such as running for office.

We help them feel comfortable and give them the tools and knowledge they need. This really empowers people who want to contribute and make a difference—in whatever way they’re comfortable.

Can you give an example?
Well, Carey Neuville-Justice is an example of someone who saw opportunity and took action. A seat in the House of Representatives was vacated due to a recall and she stood up to the plate and is running for state representative in the 51st district. She’s a shining example of someone who gets involved on that level.

There are lot of offices that people can run for, and certainly people can just help with a campaign if they’ aren’t willing or able to run for office.

The forum also allows offers space for local people to let us know about existing actions in their area; it’s not a one-way channel of communication. At the last meeting in Lapeer, someone showed up with recall petitions. He’s getting rid of his local legislator and got some people pumped up for it who ended up volunteering to help, and that’s what its all about.

We discuss how people can do various things to be involved and at the end of it all we discuss the foundation, what they all have in common, which is to vote.

There are four main components of the meetings:

Legislative Updates and Actions
Here, we talk about how effective it is to contact your legislature and communicate with them about how you want to be represented. It’s important to let them know what you think about these issues.

We teach them the various ways to communicate with their legislators; in person when they hold local coffee hours, or writing a letter or email, or simply making a phone call.

Court Cases
The ongoing Court of Appeals and Supreme Court cases have a huge impact on how our law is being shaped.

Now, there are ways to support the defendants. We’ve attended hearings, held protests and demonstrations. We’ve filed briefs in support of the defendants, but what we can do more directly is vote for the right judges, because if you’re talking about the situation in the legislature, the courts, the state wide or local initiatives, these judges hold a great deal of power.

Three of the Supreme Court seats, eight circuit court judges and an unknown number of appellate court judgeships will be up for grabs in November.

The LLEP-Lowest Level Enforcement Priorities
Lowest Level Enforcement Priority initiatives direct local law enforcement to de-prioritize marijuana possession enforcement in their areas. Kalamazoo just passed an LLEP last summer, and we’re looking for more people willing to do the same within their own cities.

State Wide Initiative to Repeal Marijuana Prohibition
The Committee for a Safer Michigan is coordinating a statewide, constitutional amendment that repeals marijuana prohibition for adults 21 and older. It will legalize marijuana use for adults in Michigan, but have no effect on the federal prohibition of marijuana.

Right now the single most important thing people can do to help CSM is to circulate petitions and get enough signatures to put this on the November ballot.

Why do you think there is such an overwhelming response to your project?

Just like attorney general Schuette is hitting us from so many different angles—in the courts, in the media, with legislators—people want to fight back, and we’re doing so from several different angles. The best way to accomplish this is by educating people about how to participate in the democratic process.

If everyone does a little bit more than they normally would, this will culminate in our success in 2012.

Another important thing to note is that even though we’re focusing on marijuana reform and medical marijuana advocacy, these tools can be applied to any issue someone is passionate about.

What we’re finding is that participating in the democratic process is something not many people consider. They let authority dictate to them, and they aren’t aware they can be a part of and directly affect the political process.

The democratic process is the only thing we have left. These guys have crept in over time and just whittled away at our rights, our ability, and our knowledge of what’s going on and how we’re able to empower ourselves.

It just seems like our rights and protections in general have been slowly picked away at to the point where it’s not even the real image of America we really have anymore.

That’s why so many people are participating. We’re not truly free, and people are starting to realize it.

The use of medical cannabis testing labs is on the rise in Michigan. These labs provide a number of services including quantifying levels of the different cannabinoids present in a sample, analyzing moisture concentrations of various products and screening for microbiological contaminants and pesticide residues. This information is useful to a wide range of parties including patients, caregivers and compasson clubs.

Given the decentralized supply system created by Michigan’s medical marijuana laws, testing provides patients with information transparency about the safety and quality of the different products available to them, allowing them to make informed decisions about their choice of medicine. All other products that go in or on the human body are subject to quality control at some point in their production process and medical cannabis should be no different. For instance, knowing whether a product is THC or CBD rich allows patients to select medicines that will bring symptomatic relief for their specific conditions; what is beneficial for a patient suffering from chronic pain might not be ideal for someone with epilepsy. Knowing the potency of edibles, where the onset of effects is not immediate and can be highly variable enables patients to prevent taking a dose that might make them uncomfortable.

Aside from measuring potency, medical cannabis testing labs can also screen for the presence of pathogenic molds and bacteria. While most medical cannabis users have probably ingested products with high levels of these contaminants and been fine, this is not the case for patients with congenital or acquired immune deficiencies, those taking immunosuppressive drugs such as those used in chemotherapy treatment for cancer or patients with several hypersensitivity or allergies to these contaminants. For these patients, consuming products with high levels of opportunistic pathogens could be the difference between life and death. In addition to worrying about the detrimental effects caused by colonization of the respiratory tract by opportunistic bugs, some contaminants, such as Aspergillus flavus, produces a mycotoxin that has been proven to cause liver cancer, a side effect not commonly associated with long-term cannabis use.

Pesticide contamination is also an issue of big concern to patients.  Indoor pests such as spider mites, whiteflies, fungus gnats, thrips and leaf miners are fairly common to marijuana gardens and although most of these pests can be avoided by sterile growing practices and preventive measures, many caregivers routinely resort to chemical intervention regardless of how soon their crops will be harvested. Exposure to pesticides can lead to both acute and chronic forms of toxicity. Immediate symptoms of pesticide poisoning include  headache, nausea, dizziness, increased secretions, muscle weakness, tremor, incoordination, and vomiting. Long-term chronic exposure to pesticides can lead to accumulation within the body and cause DNA mutations that may lead to cancer or pose a risk to future offspring.

In addition to benefitting patients, testing can also be useful for caregivers and collectives deciding which strains to keep or for those embarking upon phenotyping experiments to find strains with unique chemical profiles. Caregivers and collectives that provide test results to their patients demonstrate that they are willing to go the extra mile to prove what they already know, that their medicine is safe and effective.
www.micannalytics.com/

On September 7th, and at least two thousand people came together a sunny fall afternoon on the front lawn of the Capitol steps to protest attacks on the medical marijuana law. The rally was, so far, the largest in Michigan.

Sen. Rick Jones walked past the rally and later told a reporter from The State News what he saw reinforced his view that most patients do not have serious medical conditions.

“A number of people who talked to me obviously were not sick,” Jones said. “It seems clear to me a large part of the crowd wants recreational marijuana.”

Jones’ belief that you, or he, can determine whether or not that person is ill by looking at them as you walk past might explain why most of medical marijuana bills he’s introduced undermine the intent of the Act—which is to protect sick and dying citizens from police and criminal justice attacks.

However, that doesn’t explain why this Republican legislator from Grand Ledge hasn’t urged or required his colleagues to created an advisory board to determine new qualifying conditions for patients, or force the state to issue cards in a timely manner—both of which are required in the law and have been ignored for three years.

Here’s a short list of proposed legislation by Jones:

-Require the DCH to submit a registrant’s name and address to the state police within 48-hours of issuing the marijuana registration card.

-Expand prohibition of a patient’s “primary care giver” from being someone with a drug felony record to any felony record at all.

-Ban lawsuits against municipalities over anything in the medical marijuana act and eliminate those “pesky lawsuits filed by high profile lawyers against municipalities over their pot ordinances,” as reported by Timothy P. Flynn of The Oakland Press Law Blogger.

-Exempt the use of medical marijuana from personal insurance benefits. This bill also bars both excessive hospital charges for semi-private accommodations and loss of income the person would have performed for three years after the accident, limits funeral and burial expenses, and raises the limit of payable benefits in the first 30 days after injury.

-Ban medicinal marijuana clubs or bars.

-Prohibit medical marijuana facilities from being located within 1,000 feet of a church or school. This is perhaps, one of the most ironic bills Jones has created, and considering marijuana prohibition has made schools and parks the focal point for drug distribution, drug information and drug requisition.

Before the MMMA was passed, this long corridor on Michigan Ave between I-127 and the Capital building was 40% empty. It was dubbed “The Green Mile,” after compassion clubs and dispensaries opened, bringing economic viability to the once shuttered road to the Capital.

“We had the pick of Michigan Ave,” Capital City Caregivers co-founder Ryan Basore told the Cultivator in November of 2010. “Our building has been empty for over 9 years.”

But this was when safe access points hit their apex in Lansing and across the state. Businesses opened. Electricians, builders, and single moms found work on the front and back end of this growing industry. Medical marijuana businesses helped feed Michigan families in an economy that had previously offered them little to no relief.

According to Basore, Lansing was sixth or seventh in job growth in the country during 2010; number one in Michigan. He estimates there were 8-12 dispensaries on Michigan Ave.

Today there are none.

The August 2011 court appeals ruling that patient-to-patient sales were illegal effectively shut many of the dispensaries across the state, and Lansing city attorney sent out cease and desist letters that very day.

Lansing attorney Robert Baldori confirms an escalation in task force raids on patients and caregivers since August, and calls them, “ a waste of recourses,” but his overall impression is that the medical marijuana law is a low priority to legislators. “No one wants to touch it, even the zealots are not aggressively pursing this.”

Lansing resident and lobbyist Robin Schneider agrees. “We were in meeting about the bill requiring medicine to be locked in a car trunk  or locked case ,” she says. “I asked if they had considered the old lady who forgets her capsules in her purse and gets pulled over on her way to church. Are you really going to put her in a situation where she should be arrested?”

“They pointed to this kid in his 20’s and he said. ‘ Ma’am, we didn’t realize you could do other things besides smoke it when we wrote the bills.”

I asked, ‘when who wrote the bills?’ and he said, ‘when we wrote the bills.’

“These bills were all written by interns. That’s how much they care about this!” she laughs. “Lets give it to the interns.”

Basore closed his compassion club the same day the court of appeals decision was issued. He says he’s now the executive produce on the movie, “Boogie Stomp,”  a movie about Baldori’s earlier days as a musician, which is, “pretty easy, compared to my old job where you could do everything right and still get charged with a crime and go to prison.”

“That whole experience really toughened me up.”

“Woody” has two degrees in nursing. He’s currently working with Geriatric patients.

The pharmaceutical companies are always pushing the most you can prescribe legally on these patients. You’ve got little old ladies who are always taking more. Maybe she’s doing well with it maybe not, but they’re always saying, ‘you can up her dosage.’

The pharmacies don’t check for interactions between pharmaceutical prescriptions.

One client of mine was taking too much of her meds for Parkinson’s and it looked look like she was delirious, so they took her to the hospital.

The hospital didn’t look at her drug levels and shipped her to another hospital where they medicated her so heavily that she couldn’t even respond. Her family was calling me asking what they should do and I said stay with her! Follow her wherever they send her and make your selves a pain the butt so they release her to back to the nursing home.

Which they did. I took her off of every med they put her on and she started to respond again, but it took three days.

These are old people and the meds that they had her on, heavy psychotropic meds, could have killed her, where as cannabis is good for Parkinson’s and all sorts of neuromuscular diseases.

When I worked in nursing homes a few years ago, it was fairly rare that they would have their own gardens but now there are quite a few with enough land to garden. They do it to get their seniors out, the ones in assisted living. It’s so good for them to garden; it helps with their depression to get out and be part of the community.

If these elderly people can grow their own food they could grow their own supply of cannabis. They could harvest their own medicine. They could make medibles and get rid of the dangerous meds.

My goodness they could reduce so many of the meds especially the different “nerve pills,” like Zanax and Klonipin.

They’re all interacting with other meds that they have to take, whereas a couple hits of cannabis would be enough to relax them and it doesn’t with the other meds they have to take.

A lot of these meds are not considered dangerous for young people or for mid-life people, but when you’re a senior they become extremely toxic to their system. They’re usually taking high blood pressure or cholesterol or dementia drugs too.

Its ridiculous that they put them on so many heavy psychotropics like Klonipin.

There are so many things outside of pharmaceutical drugs that will help you, but look at all the commercials on TV. Even if you didn’t have something wrong with you, you might believe it after watching these commercials. Maybe you should have an anti depressant and accentuate it with Abilify!

A compact woman who is anything but fragile, “Jesse” is a family independence specialist who helps people obtain public assistance.

If the state of Michigan found out I am a medical marijuana patient I would be fired immediately. After 30 years of experience, I would be fired on the spot. They would come to me and say, “come with us, we’re going to the hospital and you’re going to drop.”

If I refused, they would fire me. If I drop and come up positive they would fire me. I’ve seen it happen to plenty of people.

I can’t believe they’re talking about drug testing my clients. Why pick the person who is coming to apply for assistance? If you’re going to drug test, why not drug test everyone?

Let me tell you, there are a huge percentage of us who would test positive. If they did that it would decimate the department and I mean all the way up to child protective services. I know a lot of CPS workers who are patients and caregivers.

I have experience with foster care kids and I’d say at least ¾ of all of our foster kids are on some type of mood altering drugs. They do try to get them counseling but that takes more money and time and our foster system is already stressed right now.

These drugs are not tested on children! They’re tested on grown men. And I’ve seen children as young as five years old on a heavy-duty psych med. My husband said  he would hesitate to put a teenager on those, you don’t know what it does to your brain as it’s forming. You don’t’ know how it’s effecting their brain!

It’s crazy.

Legislators are saying it’s not a bona fide relationship when a doctor spends 15 minutes with you to see if you have a qualifying condition, but that’s what’s happening now with doctors diagnosing people as bi-polar. Bi polar is the diagnosis they’re giving to everyone. Family doctors are diagnosing people bi-polar. You can’t talk to someone for 15 minutes and decide they are bi-polar.

So they’re sticking labels on people. So maybe you’re a little anxious, maybe you’re a little down, but you know what? It’s normal to be a little down sometimes. Life makes us legitimately down. Sometimes it’s not normal for us to have a happy face all the time. People die, people move away, things happen and as a society we don’t want to go through those steps anymore. We just take a pill.

We take a lot of them.

With marijuana, if you had that as an option when you’re going through something like that, it’s not going to send you down that road toward being on anti-depressants all your life.

After you’ve been on those drugs for so long and then you go off of them, the brain doesn’t go back and do what it’s suppose to do. You’re dependant on them. And with cannabis that’s not the case.

I thin maybe people could psychologically become dependant on anything, but marijuana isn’t going to make you physically dependent like the psych drugs do and its’ not dangerous like the psych drugs are.

There are so many different populations and we’re never going to know until it’s legal and they can run tests.

Miller co-owns and operates Traverse City’s Center for Compassion with Methodist Minister Mike Thue and his son Robert. She initially rented a room in the back of the building to do massage. Well, that little room was attached to the Compassionate Apothecary dispensary and one day the folks running that dispensary just disappeared. They stayed gone too, gifting her with both the larger space and any of the possessions left behind, including lockers and computer equipment.

She doesn’t sell dried marijuana flowers but makes and offers alcohol based cannabis muscle rubs and Holy Oil—a cannabis massage oil recipe found in the book of Exodus. “I thought, why don’t I make this stuff and see if it works? And it did.”

Courtney has seen dramatic improvements on her patients with the oil, particularly those with Muscular Dystrophy.

“My first MS patient had been smoking marijuana her whole life and didn’t realize what it would do if it were rubbed in. I gave her a massage and she started crying. She was so relived. She thought she would be on Oxycontin and bed ridden for the rest of her life and she’s only 32 years old.”

“She started walking around and said, ‘oh my God! My hip feels better,’ and went home and put her hair in a ponytail, which she hadn’t been able to do in months.”

“It changed her life.”

Courtney recently spent a month learning Reiki in Tulu, Mexico, on the site of ancient Mayan Ruins.

“I had thought about being a medicine woman when I was younger but thought I was ridiculous. Now, I know it’s what was meant to be. I will be here in Traverse doing all I can for the sick.”