
Chief’s TY Tokin’ Toons

I’m a 48 yr old (just turned Oct. 27th) Canadian male, living in the Niagara area, married to a beautiful woman, father of 5, (2 boys living at home and a boy and twin girls living on their own) a I’m also a grandfather to 7 little ones, with another on the way! Years ago, I was a hardcore biker and businessman, choosing to attend meetings dressed in leather instead of
suits, and on a Harley instead of in a Porche. I owned and operated my own sign shop for almost 25 years until I was injured on the job, falling from a ladder and breaking my neck in two places. The resulting chronic pain caused me to close the business and put me on Ontario’s Disability Support Program. I have also not ridden a motorcycle in almost 6 years because of my injury. Because of the multitude of high powered opiates that I’m forced to take every day, I’ve found that Marijuana helps with the nagging pain, the stomach disorder from the pills, and the resulting mood swings, anxiety and depression from being unable to work and support my family. I started smoking recreationally as a teenager, and rarely smoke just to get high anymore. I learned of Treating Yourself from a friend a couple of years ago, and with their help and support, I’m slowly learning to accept my fate and to get on with my life, bearing the pain that I suffer each and every day. I don’t know what I’d do without their assistance as I’ve grown to depend on Treating Yourself daily.
I started drawing at a very early age, and as a child always searching for a sheet of paper to draw on, I took to ripping the labels from the food cans in my Mother’s pantry. The day she looked in the cupboard to fetch something to eat and found a stack of unmarked tins is the day she decided to go out and buy me some decent art paper. The rest as they say, is history! During my years as an artist, it’s been financially and psychologically rewarding. While I did make a good living while I ran the sign shop, I always found doodling at home in the evenings while watching TV the most satisfying. ***Cartoons of the people and situations I saw on the tube was always fun. I still do it today, and still find as much joy as I always have. Because of my injuries, I’m not able to do it as much, and don’t really have the outlet to help financially. When Marco from Treating Yourself asked me to draw some cartoons and cover pages for his fledgling magazine, I was overjoyed to help. I knew it wasn’t going to pay, but it was a way I could give back to the people who’ve been so helpful in the past couple of years, plus it would help exercise my mind now that I’m basically idle. My Doctor at the Pain Clinic that I attend reminded me early on that one thing very important to good mental health while caring for my injuries was to keep my mind active. Reading, crossword puzzles, that sort of thing is imperative to keeping the mind strong when the body cannot be Marco’s offer to give me a couple of pages to draw some topical cartoons and cover pages were just the ticket I needed.
Now I can spark one up, get in the mood, and let my imagination take over my pens, and well. you can see the results. This is just another example of how Treating Yourself and marijuana as medicine have both helped me immensely in the past while. One of the other projects I’ve taken on is building a custom motorcycle by hand from the ground up. It’s taken a few years, but I’m almost done.
Many people with closed minds may think this is just another pot smoker who is trying to justify smoking weed, but I can truly attest that if it wasn’t for marijuana, and especially people like Treating Yourself and Skunk Magazine, people who are putting the word out to the masses about the medicinal benefits of the plant, people like me and many others out there would be wasting away and giving in to their injuries and illnesses and not be able to live a decent life due to their debilitating physical and mental disabilities. And for their help, I’m truly grateful.
-Jeff “Chief” Stockton