Issue 16.pdf - Treating Yourself

"The dark angels of Babylon are among us and
are trying to take one of our own." ~Eddy Lepp
lovely directress, had invited us to
come and listen to Eddy speak to
us and show some slides of his
garden in California, where
cannabis for medical use has been
legal since 1996. It was great to
be informed about the law in California,
and to hear of the many
efforts folks like he had made to
get the law changed on our
behalf. The slides he showed us
that evening made their way into
our hands after the show. Eddy
gave us permission to print them
in the first ever issue of the International
Cannagraphic Magazine.
As Editor of the magazine, I was
grateful for the wonderful content
we had for our Charter Issue.
Eddy and his wife Linda
expressed many times that we
should come and visit their place
in Northern California. After
the Cannabis Cup that year, the
ensuing long dark and cold wintry
months at the high northern latitudes
of the Netherlands and
United Kingdom were spent
working on the International Cannagraphic
Charter Issue, enclosed
DVD movie, and the new
ICMag.com website. In February
of 2004 we delivered the goods
with a print magazine/DVD and
live website with a quickly growing
membership. Overgrow.com
was at the time the only real
grower’s website, and when it shut
down ICMag.com was there to
offer a home for growers on the
Internet. The next challenge
was upon us, the ICMag/Seeds
Direct/Gypsy Nirvana Grow
Cup, April 20, 2004 to be held in
HEMP CHRONICLES
Amsterdam. Working frantically
we assembled a team and put on
a mind-blowing show that no one
who attended will ever forget.
In May of 2004 I traveled to the
United States to promote the Cannagraphic
and get some material
for the next issue. Visiting Eddy
Lepp’s Medicinal Gardens in
Lake County, California, was a
highlight, and I observed his medical
patient volunteers preparing
some 35,000 seedlings for planting
in an open field on his farm. I
wrote a story for the second issue
of the International Cannagraphic,
and filmed enough video for the
DVD production. During the
visit we discussed the legality of
what he was doing, and Eddy
showed me the letter of the law
that supposedly protected his
rights as a medical patient to
grow and use cannabis. He also
showed me a letter he had sent to
a number of law enforcement
organizations such as the DEA
and the local sheriff claiming it
was his right to grow, that he was
going to grow, and to please let
him know if they had any objections.
It seems no body ever
answered any of these letters, so
Eddy Lepp felt he was completely
within his rights to grow cannabis
as medicine. Especially for folks
who had medical recommendations
from their doctors. It
seemed the plan was this, to
charge around $500 for each
“plot” upon which one plant was
grown in the name of the patient.
You could buy as many “plots”
as you could afford, and I
observed many poor folks getting
theirs for free. Eddy is very generous
and shared his medicine and
sacrament freely. At one of his
meetings on the farm he made us
aware of his passionate feelings
that around his place, patients
came first, and you were here to
take care of them, not yourself. I
have to say that in one week, I
saw literally hundreds of people
sign up for their plots. He had
perhaps fifty people living on the
Treating Yourself, Issue 16 - 2009 - 37