Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
SOCIETY<br />
Afternoon Blaze with Jay segment<br />
where you can hear Diesel talk to<br />
his east coast buddy, Jay Blaze.<br />
Like Diesel, Jay likes to have the<br />
occasional toke as evident in the<br />
shot taken by Rosanna Mestre.<br />
During this time, the two talk<br />
about what's new with Jay and the<br />
happenings around him. They'll<br />
touch on the latest marijuana<br />
movies to the local happenings<br />
along the east coast. Jay always<br />
has something interesting to say<br />
whether he’s laying down the<br />
weed-facts, just giving his opinion<br />
or even telling a story about life.<br />
During the second half of the hour<br />
is when the Reefer Reporter airs<br />
his news. The Reefer Reporter segment<br />
is my newest adventure into<br />
educating the people. The threeminute<br />
show starts off with some<br />
classic reefer tunes from the ’30s<br />
and ’40s. As it fades to some quiet<br />
background music, Diesel and I<br />
start into our weekly cannabis<br />
news segment. The segment is<br />
Jay-Blaze<br />
22 - <strong>Treating</strong> <strong>Yourself</strong>, <strong>Issue</strong> 16 - 2009<br />
done live so if there is a blooper,<br />
you’re going to hear it.<br />
I’m really surprised that this is<br />
happening as I’m the kid, who<br />
while in public school, had to<br />
spend 4 years in speech therapy to<br />
learn how to speak clearly and<br />
was too shy to do his mandatory<br />
class speeches. Talk about facing<br />
your worst fears! The one thing I<br />
remember from those days was to<br />
look above the crowd if you are<br />
nervous. It worked in Niagara; so,<br />
with no one around me, the nerves<br />
are pretty good while I do the<br />
radio show.<br />
The segment comes on the air<br />
about twenty minutes after Jay<br />
Blaze finishes up at 4:25 p.m.,<br />
which puts me on at approximately<br />
4:45 p.m. eastern time. When I<br />
started my activism I had no idea<br />
that I would address thousands of<br />
people in a live conversation but it<br />
has now become a reality. It is a<br />
way of educating the grassroots,<br />
the people who don’t buy or can’t<br />
afford to buy magazines, people<br />
who can’t afford a computer<br />
(never mind having<br />
access to the net) or<br />
those who refuse to<br />
get into the cyber<br />
world. I even reach<br />
out to the ones that<br />
only listen to the<br />
message given to<br />
them by those that<br />
say the opposite.<br />
The debut show of<br />
the Reefer Reporter<br />
allowed us to talk<br />
about everyone’s<br />
favourite magazine,<br />
<strong>Treating</strong> <strong>Yourself</strong>.<br />
The magazine<br />
received lots of mention<br />
as we talked about<br />
medicinal marijuana<br />
and where you can<br />
find medicinal<br />
marijuana<br />
information.<br />
Besides letting<br />
everyone know<br />
about the TY<br />
website, I made sure everyone<br />
knew that they could pick up their<br />
own physical copy at their closest<br />
Chapters-Indigo bookstore, as well<br />
as the many small variety stores<br />
out there.<br />
Since that first show I have been<br />
able to educate people about the<br />
oldest marijuana discovery by Professor<br />
Ethan Russo and his colleagues,<br />
and I’ve been updating<br />
people on some legal cases in<br />
Canada. These legal cases are ones<br />
that could lead to the legalization<br />
of marijuana. We’ve also had a<br />
long conversation about cannabinoids<br />
and how they work medically<br />
within the body and how we<br />
have receptors to receive these<br />
cannabinoids within us. The news<br />
also goes international as well. We<br />
have touched on the legal status of<br />
growing plants in the Netherlands<br />
when their courts ruled that their<br />
citizens could grow up to 5 personal<br />
plants each. I’ve even filled<br />
everyone in on how the new President<br />
of the United States feels<br />
about medicinal marijuana and<br />
how he has stated that the government<br />
shouldn’t be raiding the compassion<br />
centers in California. I also<br />
had to tell everyone how marijuana<br />
legalization was the top question<br />
at the website Change.org,<br />
which asked people what they<br />
wanted then-President-Elect<br />
Barack Obama to change the most<br />
when he came to the White<br />
House.<br />
In less than 5 weeks of doing the<br />
show it has gathered response<br />
from both coasts of Canada and<br />
all the places in between. We’ve<br />
even gotten comments from as far<br />
away as the southern USA. With<br />
actual information being used,<br />
many have written to say that the<br />
show is a very valuable to our<br />
movement. Frank wrote me and<br />
said “Getting the truth about<br />
cannabis to the mainstream is so<br />
important. Your initiative deserves<br />
praise and support,” while Alison<br />
Myrden wrote “Thank you
Change language