When you’ve been a cannabis activist for well over a decade, the only time you expect to hear your name dropped at a police press conference it will be followed by the words “has been charged with.”
On a morning in late January, I was drinking coffee and watching a Toronto Police Services press conference. I was getting agitated by the misinformation as they spoke in regards to a rash of recent violent dispensary robberies in the city. And then, I was surprised to hear my name mentioned.
Life is viewed by many in many ways: as a gift, as a curse, or even as a mission. But whatever views of life one might have, in it we all have one thing in common that we deal with everyday, and that is our health. And whatever the case may be regarding one’s health, we can all agree that “good” health is important simply because without it, we may as well throw in the towel and forget about those life views altogether.
Having been raised in the mid-west, Kansas, Shona Banda’s upbringing was in a very typical, American conservative environment where cannabis is known as a highly dangerous illegal drug, and is socially and morally frowned upon. This, later in life, ultimately left Shona feeling like she was a “druggie” when she decided to treat her illness with cannabis.
As a part of good health, what we put into our body is as equally important as how we treat it. To have the freedom to treat ourselves with naturally grown plants, nuts, seeds and fruits we have depended on the earth since man has existed. Nutrition from the earth is here for a reason, so why not utilize its given resources, including cannabis, to optimize our overall health?
Twelve High Chicks thanks regular guest contributor Tracy Curley for this timely, firsthand account. We hope she, and all of our friends in Toronto, remain safe while continuing to fight for patients’ rights and access.
Toronto is still in turmoil after the Project Claudia raids on medical marijuana dispensaries. Stakeholders met this past Tuesday, June 7th, to prepare for the raids that are rumoured still to come. Meanwhile Canada waits for legalization of recreational pot to be introduced in the spring of 2017.
Twelve High Chicks thanks regular guest contributor Tracy Curley for this timely, firsthand account. We hope she, and all of our friends in Toronto, remain safe while continuing to fight for patients’ rights and access.
Many were shocked when on Thursday, May 26th, Toronto Police Service (TPS) raided more than 40 marijuana dispensaries, using battering rams and entering with guns drawn. 90 people were arrested when Project Claudia happened; police filed 186 trafficking charges (possession for the purpose of) and 71 charges for proceeds of crime (cash seized on premises).
Nothing is more infuriating to me right now than waiting for the new government to decide what will be allowed and what will be in the medical marijuana grey area since the Allard win. What will be considered okay after Health Canada incorporates personal growing into the Licensed Producer system designed into the MMPR?
I recently fell victim to this unjust law again when one of my friends/patients left my house after spending the afternoon. We exchanged methods on how to make the tincture that was then incorporated into hard candy. He had brought all his own product with him and when he left my house he also took what we had made together. A few hours later he came flying back into my house, stating he had been pulled over by the RCMP and had been held for several hours. He told me they had ripped his vehicle apart and all they wanted to know about was where, how, and who had made that candy. Was I was under investigation … for candy?!
It’s hard not to notice these days that there is something not right about the state of affairs in our country.
We are supposed to be living as free people in a free country — we long ago shed the dictators, kings, and tyrants that ruled the masses for tens of thousands of years, subjecting people to their whims.