Keeping Pace

by Al Graham P.A.C.E.

Over the last few months P.A.C.E.  has  expanded its location and coverage of our Cannabis Educational Series. In our last article I mentioned that P.A.C.E.  had started showing this series in a third location and that number four was knock- ing on the door.

Well they came knocking and I’m happy  to say that our fourth location started up in June. We are very happy to have both Green Tree Eco Hydroponics of Roseneath and the Carpe Diem Cafe in Peterborough as people advocating cannabis education. It doesn’t end there either as a group of advocates from Toronto have approached us about expanding what we do into that city Not only are we working on growing our locations but we’ve also participated in a couple of 420 events and attended a court case for the cause.

Reaching out

While P.A.C.E. is reaching out to  people  through  these new businesses, the online communications program Skype has the power to bring people together when they have common causes. Here at P.A.C.E.  we have been working hard to bring people that want to help to educate people to those who would like to hear from them. Skype has allowed us to do that. Our recent interviews have been very informative and very educational.

Over the last few months we’ve talked with several people such as Brad Irwin, the owner of Hippie Butter, a hemp products company based out of Texas. He explained the legalities around it in his country and how he deals with these issues. We talked about the nutrient value of hemp products whether it was hemp seed, flour or oil. From there we learned that Brad does process some of his prod- ucts himself while other items come from here in Canada. We’ve also been able to talk with people that are in the movement. This would include people like Amy Brown from C.A.L.M. a compassion center from Toronto. Amy

talked to us about what she does at C.A.L.M. as well as her activism. She informed everyone on how to get regis- tered at a compassion center and what all is involved from filling out the paperwork; to how the doctor office is con- tacted for verification purposes. When it came to her activism the one thing that I found very interesting and heart warming was when she told us about how she worked with people and businesses to bring gifts (gloves, hats, food and cannabis) to some of the homeless people on the streets in the city. We have also had a chance to talk with Georgia Peshel of Georgiatoons. While you can always find Georgia’s car- toons in TY she also informed us that her cartoons are being shown in about nine different magazines around the world. The characters featured in them are dear to her heart while some of them are people or situations that she may have been in. She has been seen carrying a book to keep notes and comments from people for ideas for her cartoons so you never know you may recognize the situa- tion she has drawn.

Peterborough 420

The 5th annual gathering of the Peterborough 420 rally came and went as the first four did, quietly and without  an incident. This year everyone once again gathered at Victoria Park at the north end of the downtown. It’s  a large park with a giant hill on one side with a three lane one way street on the other. Organizing this event once again Blazin Wrinkz  and  his  partner  MaryJane  Ganja Girl, a couple like many of us, people who want to edu- cate the uneducated and educated.

Each year these two have picked out a stretch that borders the road and allows pedestrians to walk up to the booths to check things out. This year the P.A.C.E.  booth was manned by Jen and Sharon, both residents of this city. These two ladies have worked shows several times with TY within the greater Toronto area and are well educated on what they speak on. The two of them reported that the crowd was mixed at times with it leaning towards the younger side. Whether it’s a young or older crowd, it does- n’t matter as all age demographics can use the education.

P.A.C.E. and Blazin Wrinklz Enterprises weren’t the only booths attending as members from the NORML’s Womens Alliance and iheartfreedom.ca were also in atten- dance.

It takes business and people to join together to make these events happen. A big thank you goes out to the Intergalactic Trading Company. iheartfreedom.ca, Collett Human Services all of Peterborough as well as  P.A.C.E., GTA Seedbank,  NORML  and  NORML  Womens  Alliance for being do’ers and not watchers.

JaCanadian

While many people around the world celebrated the 420 some supporters of P.A.C.E. and of our community decid- ed to go to the land that people call the home of cannabis, the land of the 420 also known as Jamaica. This small group of advocates, now known as JaCanadian’s, chose to spend some time in this land but also spent time with the people that live there. This group has asked me not to include their names as they don’t seek to gain from it but would like to share it with everyone, hoping that others in the cannabis community would do the same.

While at the resort they were able to spend some time with the locals who worked there as well with the visitors. While many may take this as a holiday the group report- ed back that they were quite busy educating the tourists along the beach. Many were surprised at how open the JaCanadian people were and how much knowledge they knew. They were told several times that they were needed back home and while the JaCanadians couldn’t go back to where these people lived, they were invited to join our mailing list to learn what we do.

The group reported back that they made some good friends with those who worked at the resort such as Lorretta the housekeeper, Rastman a grounds keepers, Ricardo and Tully from the bar as well as Marlon the bell hop.

But the one thing that they reported to me was what they did the night of the 420. After celebrating on the beach with the other tourists the group headed back to their room to do what they came here for. They all gathered in  a room with several bags, not travel bags but bags of items that they had purchased for the children. For several hours the small group stuffed bags full of paper, pens, erasers, markers and many other items that children could use. Back in North America people are doing without but this group wanted to give back something to the people who were hosting them.

The next day the group jumped into a cab and away they went. Their cab driver took them towards a magical place called Mayfield Falls. This magnificent falls was located deep in the forest along the top of one of the mountain roads that they travelled. One of the group described the route to this place as an “unassumed road” that  she  would see back home.

While the road was iffy the people that they met along the road were not. The group stopped several times to talk to young mothers or grandmothers along the way to talk to them about what they were doing. After explaining  the bag full of items for the children not one mother or grand- mother turned down the group’s offer of assistance. The group actually apologised for not being able to do more but knew something was better than nothing. Many of the children were so excited with the gifts and promised them that they would give mom or Grama some quiet time while they played or made crafts. When I talked with this small group of JaCanadian’s they told me that their hearts grew with joy as they did this. They said “seeing the happy faces on the children and receiving the hugs and kisses from them with be something that we’ll never forget”.

Global Marijuana March

On the first weekend of May the cannabis community from around the world joins together to protest the world’s cannabis laws. Once again P.A.C.E. attended the Global Marijuana March in the City of Toronto.

This year things were different, there was no stage, there were no vendors, there was a new shorter route approved and there no was permit issued for this event. But did any of these things change the overall message? No, none of this really changed a thing.

The crowd, while smaller was still over 20,000 strong. People still gathered at Queens Park, the parade still  hit the news and people still vended. There was still a 420 cel- ebration at Queens Park and I’m sure everyone had a  great time.

One interesting comment that I heard was that the EMS was bored with nothing to do; can the same thing be said about other forms of legal drugs?

Mernaugh

In early May a few  P.A.C.E.  participates  headed  to Toronto to attend and hear the Ontario Superior Court appeals case involving Matt Mernaugh. This case is about an ill Canadian who cannot access the Health Canada medical marijuana program because he cannot find a doc- tor to sign his paperwork.

This all happened a few years ago when Matt was arrested for growing cannabis. During his trial he was able to prove his medical necessity as well as prove that he couldn’t get a doctor to sign his application. Matt and his lawyer Paul Lewin didn’t stop there as they also proved that there are many Canadians fighting for the right to use cannabis medication over pharmaceuticals.

When Matt and Paul first won this case the people of the country didn’t realize what the outcome was until they were told that the judge had given them government 90 days to change our cannabis laws or it would  become legal for all. The government fought that and  won  a  “stay” (put the judge’s decision on hold) until a higher court could hear this appeal.

As of this writing we are still waiting on the decision from this panel of three Judges. Will cannabis be legal? Will either side take this case to the Supreme Court of Canada if they lose, or will the losing party end the run here? Will cannbis be legal for all or will there be a remedy put into place to solve this problem? A problem that one judge described as never ending and fully expects to see more cases like this unless the medical marijuana program in Canada is fixed. Will the “fixed” program  look  like  the  one that Health Canada is trying to implement after los- ing the original case? Does the government know that it may lose thus all the more reason to change the existing program? Will there be easier access to this program for patients? According to our rights we the people have a choice of our medication. Unfortunately a choice  that some like Matt is now exercising through the courts while it should just be automatic.

Draw

During the spring of 2012 P.A.C.E. joined up with Treating Yourself Magazine to put together a prize that we could raffle off and bring exposure to the Treating Yourself Expo. The TY Grab Bag came equipped with many prizes including a custom made P.A.C.E Calendar featuring many pictures of two award winning strains from the TY Medical Marijuana Cup, a TY embroidered carrying bag, an autographed copy of TY Issue 1, Hemp soap and four educational DVD’s.  This  included  the  2010 and 2011 TY Expo DVD sets that totals nine discs  as well two other information filled DVD’s in The Union and What if Cannabis Cured Cancer. But the educational package doesn’t end there as they also won two weekend passes to this years Expo. At this time P.A.C.E.  would like  say  “thank  you”  to  all who participated in this draw and to Marco Renda of Treating Yourself for donating part of this prize package.

I am happy to announce that our draw winner was Debra Hunter of Ayr Ontario. When  we  called Debra she was ecstatic upon hearing the news that she had won. When I asked her where she had pur- chased her ticket from she told me that she had bought it at the TY booth while attending the Toronto National Home and Garden  Show  in  March.

She wrote us to say “Received the package and was overjoyed with all the prizes and can’t wait till tomorrow. We will be there first thing when the doors open. I have taken a picture with my prize and will send it once it’s downloaded. Once again thanks to P.A.C.E and all the hard work  you  guys put into helping people like me get what they need. Bless all of you. “

We’re sure Debra will enjoy her educational pack- age and will start to become people advocating cannabis education.

The proceeds from this draw have gone towards furthering the education that P.A.C.E. is doing. This money has purchased a couple of projector screens for the two original locations where we hold our Cannabis Education Series. For two years these locations have been kind enough to allow us to edu- cate people at their business free of charge so we are going to install these screens as a way to return the kindness and to improve the experience for those who attend.

Next Stop….. Where there will be many people advocating cannabis education, the 3rd Annual Treating Yourself Expo


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts

This menu shows the most recently posted content for a quick update since you last checked-in.

How to Sober Up from Being High?

Cannabis consumption brings different effects, depending on the person’s level of smoking tolerance. After an extreme euphoric effect, what comes...

From the Family Vault of Shanti-Baba

"Seems more than strange to grow up as a child and see how important my parents and their peers viewed...

Why Get Pines Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass might just be a typical plant growing in your backyard, but few people know that it has a lot...

How to Make Your Own Canna-Caps

by Old Hippie BeyondChronic.com What do you do when you need cannabis medicine and you can’t or don’t want to...

Database Search

Are you researching marijuana as medicine? Use the simple form below to search any condition. Read personal stories from patients just...

Cannabinoid Receptors in the Body and Their Importance

David B. Allen M.D. By legal Democratic Vote; Cannabis Is Medicine To get CBD from top verified sources, click here....

The True Origins of Haze

By Big Herb It all began in 1969, In Santa Cruz, California. At the time, there was Thai Oaxacan and...

Top 5 Health Benefits of Hemp Seeds

Hemp seeds are those seeds that are formed from Cannabis Sativa, a hemp plant. They are different from marijuana but...

Cannabis and Working Out

If you're wondering how cannabis can help you with your workout regime, then you probably need to read this article....

How Companies Are Creating Innovative New CBD Products

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis and hemp that may deliver unique health benefits. CBD is just...

5 Marijuana Compounds That Could Help Combat Cancer, Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s

by Paul Armentano Deputy Director of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) This commentary was initially...

Living with Osteogenesis Imperfecta

By Michael Morrow My name is Michael Morrow, I'm 37  years  old and I have Osteogenesis Imperfecta. OI is a...

Gifts from Mother Nature

By Dianna Donnelly - "The couch activist” Aspirin, otherwise known as Acetylsalicylic Acid, is one of the most commonly ingested preventative medicines...

Paradise Seeds Allkush; More Than Just Kush

One of the new feminised strains from Paradise Seeds is named “Allkush”. So nothing but Kush? Taken genetically literally, no...

28ft… The John Berfelo Story

By John Berfelo "Medical marijuana saved me from a life on pharmaceutical drugs..." My name is John Berfelo and this...

My Grinspoon Moment

By Carl Hedberg Sometimes a single meeting can change your life. Such was the case for me when, in the...

The Science Behind Cannabis Safety

David B. Allen M.D. By legal Democratic Vote; Cannabis Is Medicine. Drug safety is on the minds of most all...

Heavenly Hash: The Art, Science and Industry of Cooking with Cannabis Extracts

by Samuel Wells Samuel Wells is an Assistant Professor of English in Denver, CO An Edible Enigma As scientific and...

Living High with HIV

How Medical Marijuana Rivals Mainstream HIV Medicine By BenBot In 2011, I was diagnosed with HIV. An unmarked van was...

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

With Veterans at Risk, Change is Necessary, but Progress is Slow By Mary Lou Smart In 1933, the repeal of...

Milagro Oil for Lung Cancer

By Mary Lou Smart www.medicalcannabisart.com Compassionate care advocates Michelle and Michael Aldrich at Patients Out of Time’s Seventh National Clinical...

Living and Dealing with ADHD

by Patricia Allen It was back in 1974 that I first became familiar with the term Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder...

Inflammatory Comments

by Bill Drake As a long-time TY reader I’ve noticed what seems to me to be a rather over- whelming...

How Cannabis Might Keep Coronary Stents Open Longer

By David B. Allen M.D.Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon, Member ICRS. And Prisoner of the Drug War Cali215doc@gmail.com First the set...

Unlocking the Secrets, Advanced Tissue Culture

Tissue Culture is a process of isolating cells from plant tissue (explants) which are cultured (grown artificially), in a nutrient...

Anxiety Panic Disorder and Cannabis

By Hal Lubinsky My name is Hal Lubinsky. I'm in my forties, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a U.S....

Can Cannabis Cure Schizophrenia?

By Richard Shrubb, Freelance sailing, health and social affairs journalist ould cannabis treat or even cure schizophrenia? Things look promising...

Multiple Sclerosis: Regaining the Good Life with Whole Plant Therapy

By Mary Lou Smart© 2012 www.medicalcannabisart.com A trial attorney, Jim Dyer practiced law in Tucson, Arizona for 34 years before...

The Science of Cannabis Leads in Many Directions

The Evolution of a Sense of Well-Being By Mary Lou Smart www.medicalcannabisart.com While speaking at Patients Out of Time’s Seventh...

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind

By Shantibaba It is evident for all people who wish to listen that doing all things within moderation is better...

Post Traumatic Stress

Psychology and Medication at its Best By Jeff Kundert OTR Jeff works as a Wellness and Fitness Educator. He has...

The Ripper Effect

By Subcool Some really interesting information has come to my attention, and I am very excited to tell everyone in...

Auto-flowering Plants

By Shantibaba The discreet evolution of Auto-flowering cannabis plants is a recent occurrence, one that is in mode at present...

Uncovering the Original Sacrament: Chris Bennett’s Cannabis and the Soma Solution

Review by Samuel Wells When asked to name an author crucial to the growing mainstream understanding of the uses of...

Cornerstone of Individualized Phytogenetics ACDC 22:1 @ CB3

Alternative Cannabinoid Dietary Cannabis 22%CBDA:1%THCA acting at GPR55 Alias CB3 by William L. Courtney, MD, AACM American Academy of Cannabinoid...

Mr. Magoo

By Ron Hudson My birthdays: I woke that birthday morning, in October of 1966, knowing it would begin like the...

Medical Cannabis University

By Reverend Philip H Hoff - Chancellor, MedicalCannabisUniversity.org ( MCU, Inc. ), a 501 c(3) nonprofit school. The school focused...

Storm’s Story

By Georgia Peschel WHEW! Delivering this kid was like delivering a hurricane!” When our son was born, those were our...

Soil Pests & Diseases

By Lazystrain Soil is a living organism made up of billions of microbes and bacteria. The cosmology of soil life...

A Tragedy Felt Around the World

by Jonny Appleweed On Oct. 27, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed into law the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and...

Autism & Cannabis

Prohibition Makes it Tough on Parents by Mary Lou Smart Jeremy Patrone (not his real name) has a goal. He...

Vaporization of Cannabis: Are there benefits over combustion?

By William Eckhardt Although vaporization is a relatively recent development for the delivery of cannabinoids the proliferation of vast numbers...

Bedrocan

By Harry Resin Generally when you think of Amsterdam, you think of the coffee shops, but that’s not all that’s...

How Does Wattage Affect Your Vape? Beginners Guide to Wattage

Many vape devices available on the market allow you to adjust the wattage so that it suits your personal preferences....

9 Healthy Ways of Coping With PTSD

PTSD can affect many individuals and isn’t something that only happens to folks who have served in the army and...

Secrets To A Good Night’s Sleep

After a night spent turning and tossing, you will wake up feeling tired, grumpy, and sleepy. As we get older,...

4 Things To Keep In Mind Before Starting Your Cannabis Journey

Cannabis has recently become legal for medical usage in multiple parts across the U.S and several other countries for recreational...