September 2016 Issue

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and politicians and not free to the public market. I asked cannabis entrepreneur and medical grower Aleena Harney to reflect on this topic, “I was from New Hampshire, where the top 1% controls the government and makes it difficult for the everyday person to make money with cannabis legally or illegally. It’s a corrupt system. They tax it, pass ridiculous laws and constrict who can produce weed and sell it, especially if you want to do it legally. When I was in Washington, it was a disaster trying to get my license as a commercial medical grower. You have to do so much paper work, have back ground checks and they had unbelievable restrictions on how I had to grow, which limited the amount I was allowed to sell. The taxes were not worth doing it legally because you can’t profit when you’re limited on how much you could produce and sell because regulations on plant to product ratio do not make any sense. If you grow one plant and it’s more than the limited weight when ready to harvest, they consider that illegal, so you can’t even harvests fully grown plants without it being illegal even with a card. The system lets the rich produce all the money because they can afford the high prices of the tax and the card set up, so only commercial growing of big business works. I ended up stopping because it’s just not worth it. And people wonder why everyone does it illegally? I had over 100 plants because I had employees, but I stopped after J20 the first year because I didn’t make any money. My limit was about 150 plants, and I had to pay more if I wanted to raise the limit. I ended up losing money in the end because I couldn’t keep up with the taxes.” Kevin Cintorino of Elevated Vapor Lounge in Providence states “It wasn’t taxes or regulations that did us in, it was due to Elevated, or any lounge for that matter, being the final step that a patient would have to pay for after obtaining a medicinal marijuana card and paying for medication since Elevated was b.y.o.m. (bring your own medicine). When you take all things considered, by the time real non-recreational using patients had received their cards and paid for pricey medication they did not have the funds to pay for an inexpensive membership in order to socially utilize this medication in a non-hidden setting. Also, there was a difficulty because patients with medicine weighing even a small amount over what they are legally allowed to have were afraid to come in due to being investigated. All of the members that I had dealt with were accountable and within their legal limits at all times, but either way this is predominantly an older and responsible crowd we are dealing with who are typically patients 40 years old and up.” When asked questions about his feelings on patients legal plant count vs. allowed end medicinal product ratio in Rhode Island Cintorino states, “This also a bit messed up, that’s why Massachusetts allows 10 oz. on hand. You do not merely get 2.5 oz. from 24 plants. If a patient is properly growing healthy plants, they will receive more than 2.5 oz. of usable medicine, beside the fact that they have to be very precise while taking down these plants due to the fact that a plant can easily yield over 3-5 ounces wet weight, unusable product, which then needs to dry and be cured but can easily be confused by law enforcement as usable medicine which makes the patient worry over their legal limit during their harvest.” During a little pow-wow with Phil Hardy of The Hardy Consultants, Hardy and I got to talking about actual patient help and our ideas about true activism, “Like you, I have assisted patients with needs ranging from help making automated gardens and with garden care, to individuals who are just initially trying the medicine and learning how to roll a joint. But you don’t see the dispensaries doing that. Do you see representatives of Patriot Care in Massachusetts or from the Rhode Island’s Thomas C. Slater Compaction Center at any NECC events (New England Cannabis Convention)? If they do show up they are just checking it out. They are not at a booth as part of the community and making it known, you don’t see the people that run these dispensaries on the DPH stairs rallying and fighting for patient rights. Would it make more sense as an activist to take money and
see representatives of Patriot Care in Massachusetts or from the Rhode Island’s Thomas C. Slater Compaction Center at any NECC events (New England Cannabis Convention)? If they do show up they are just checking it out. They are not at a booth as part of the community and making it known, you don’t see the people that run these dispensaries on the DPH stairs rallying and fighting for patient rights. Would it make more sense as an activist to take money and pump it into lobbyists with anti-pot campaigns, or to donate that money to organizations like Parents 4 Pot? Now what would it make sense for big business to do?” The Journal of the American Medical Association in Internal Medicine published research in 2014 following 13 medical cannabis states over 11 years showing that cannabis could not only help the pharmaceutical dependency epidemic by treating withdrawal symptoms of opioid dependency, but also by lowering overdose related deaths in states with medical cannabis by 25%. A plant that could cure and treat cancers, mental and emotional ailments, alleviate nerve pain disorders, and help individuals ranging from hospice patients to children with seizures is being withheld and manipulated. This is the same plant Holland has found that over 40 years of adult use has not raised consumption among adolescents, and in fact, Holland boasts half the underage cannabis use rate reported in the US. The current situation is that we are taking away the medicine from healers, and putting it in the hands of kings where it has no right to be.
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September 2016 Issue

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