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| The Secret Garden |
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Posted by FoM on March 25, 2002 at 18:58:47 PT Introduction by Kelly Luker Source: Metro Active 
Like Oz, it's at the end of a winding road. And like the Emerald City itself, the color green radiates in a shimmering glow. But Dorothy never got a whiff of anything like this. Long before that radiant green comes into view, the pungent odor of marijuana plants telegraphs their presence around the final bend. This garden of Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica and Cannabis hybrids hidden in the Santa Cruz Mountains has spared many hours of suffering for patients struggling with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and a host of other painful--sometimes terminal--diseases. It is the wellspring for Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, one of the most successful medical marijuana programs in the country. Better known as WAMM -- http://www.wamm.org/ -- the program was born out of founder Valerie Corral's attempts to alleviate her epilepsy symptoms. Despite numerous medications, Valerie's epilepsy was so severe that she could not be left alone. In 1974, she discovered that marijuana could accomplish what a cabinet full of drugs could not. Valerie and her husband, Mike Corral, began growing their own pot, passing on the excess to others who were ill. For the next 18 years the Corrals stuck to cultivating a few plants a year to supply themselves and friends. That was until 1992, when they were arrested once, then twice, for cultivation. Both times, their defense rested on their right to grow marijuana for medicinal use. As word of their efforts grew, so did the idea for a medical marijuana program. Following the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, a variety of medical marijuana programs or "pot clubs" had sprung up throughout California. However, those programs charged for their services and product, often as much or more than it would cost to purchase marijuana on the streets. And various local and federal law enforcement challenges to Proposition 215 resulted in many of the pot clubs being shut down, including one in San Jose and several others in the Bay Area. WAMM is unique among its peers in that it is a collective, where members volunteer their time in exchange for the marijuana. For those members too ill to help out--and there are many--there is still no charge. Each week, more than 100 members line up for baggies of pot, pot brownies, cannabis tincture, cannabis liniment and "mother's milk," a soy-based liquid for patients too ill to eat or smoke. The only requirement is a doctor's prescription and space availability in the program. Fortunately, new slots open up on a regular basis. Regrettably, it is usually because another patient has died. Although the program began under the regime of the conservative former Santa Cruz County Sheriff Al Noren, its growth has been possible because of the working relationship established between the Corrals and Sheriff Mark Tracy. Both the Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's office have turned a blind eye to marijuana growers and users who can show legitimate medical cause. But although the Santa Cruz populace and its local authorities offer an unusually tolerant atmosphere for medical marijuana, that has been little solace to WAMM in the face of a threatened crackdown by the Bush administration. WAMM not only survives, it flourishes, just like the secret garden. Pot plants are annuals. They begin life about the size of birdseed and, before the year is out, will reach a height of 6 to 8 feet, with trunks as thick as a man's arm. In those 10 months, each plant will be lovingly tended, closely watched and carefully groomed so it can reach its full potential. Then the harvest comes, and it's over. The Corrals have lost count of how many terminal patients have come to the program seeking relief before they die. The cannabis helps, no doubt. But there's something more, something else that allows members to flourish perhaps one last time before the harvest. "WAMM is not just about medicine," says one member. "It's about caregiving, dignity and compassion." I've been a WAMM member since 1997. The marijuana helps with the neuropathy, insomnia, diarrhea, muscle spasms and loss of appetite from HIV symptoms. When I came to WAMM, it was like being welcomed to a death reality. It was really harsh. I didn't know how many more times I wanted to get to know people who were going to die. But what I needed was the medical marijuana, and all that was asked of me was to show up. Now the president says that anyone who smokes a joint is a terrorist. It's horrifying that the president can say something that awful. When it happens to your own, you will get marijuana for them. You will do what it takes to help them eat, to help them get out of pain.The sick and dying are only asking one thing, to have what they need to treat themselves. I love the community of WAMM, but with the political climate what it is, I have to think how much of a stand I want to take. But I'll keep taking a stand. When we grew our first marijuana in 1974, I didn't know the difference between male and female plants. I started reading books and discovered that 90 percent of the information about growing marijuana was bunk. So I tried everything I read and reduced it down to discovering my own methods. It's very much an art and science. There's an intuitive quality to it. I can look at plants and make an educated guess that it's something I want to use as a pollinator. What we've generally found is that the Cannabis indica strain works better for pain and body discomfort. The Cannabis sativa works better for nausea suppression and appetite stimulation. The indica has more of a tendency to put people asleep. The sativa tends to wake people up. These are just generalities, of course. I've been with WAMM four years. I'm a paraplegic, paralyzed from the chest down from a motorcycle accident in 1992. Cannabis controls muscle spasms. A lot of the wheelchair users were using this stuff. I was always telling them, "You're just a bunch of stoners." One day I woke up in the fetal tuck; I was really spastic that day. A friend came by and burned one with me and I could actually sit up without being thrown out of my chair from the spasms. I said, "This stuff really works," and he said, "Duh." It was a little epiphany. I use cannabis on a daily basis. I use it in baked goods and a tincture form which I put in warm milk. Since being a WAMM member, I've been able to secure work as a personal trainer at a local health club. Fitness is my first love. I've been studying fitness, anatomy and nutrition for 25-plus years. I've lost hundreds of friends. The loss doesn't become easier, but it's the greatest time to be in a person's life. It's an honor. A lot of people, they come to this place where they're not running from the Grim Reaper. They turn around and begin this courtship. Death becomes the lover. In this courtship, so much of the true nature of the person comes to life. It's the most excellent training I could have. Maybe it will help me greet my own death--to court it as a lover and not run in fear. I volunteer my time as a caregiver. Everyone is expected to work, but many of them are too sick. I'm very healthy, so I can. There's a lot of people a lot younger than me, but they're so sick. There's people who come up to the farm in wheelchairs to work. There's always stuff for everybody to do. We go up one Saturday a week and work. During the planting and harvesting season, we try to go up a couple of times a week. Mostly it's help working in the garden to keep that going and do volunteer work to raise money. There's a lot of people that need help. Sometimes just a kind word helps a lot. I've been with WAMM for five years. When I was diagnosed with glaucoma, I was taking drops for my eyes, which was just making it worse. I heard that marijuana would relieve pressure on my eyes. I was raised on a strawberry farm. When I went over to the farm the first time, I'd never seen anything like it. It impressed me so much, and the people were so friendly. Two years ago, they asked me if I would consider working for them part-time. What I normally do is make marijuana into different forms for ingestion: tincture, hash--ways I can condense it and get the most out of it. I've put it into caramel candy, ice cream. One little scoop will do ya. That's one of the biggest requests at the member parties: Did you make the ice cream? Being in the AIDS epidemic, I've been to a lot of memorials. I'm a physician living with AIDS. In 1995, I came down with dysentery and ended up on intravenous fluids. I developed the wasting syndrome, going to the bathroom 15 to 20 times a day, going to bed with diapers. Marijuana saved my life. It allowed me to eat. it kept my spirits up. I'm both the patient and the doctor. I run a free clinic in the Bay Area. I started a mobile clinic to make home visits. For better or worse, I can live on SSI and cheap rent. But most doctors with families are very fearful of having their license taken away [if they prescribe medical marijuana]. Also, many aren't attuned to the substance itself. They've been thoroughly indoctrinated for the past three generations with vicious propaganda against a 5,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy. When you get into the history, it's fascinating to see that Prohibition never ended, it just switched from alcohol to marijuana. I found out I had AIDS in 1984. I didn't have any energy with the AIDS drugs, and I wasn't getting better. So I refused to take the drug cocktails, and I feel much better now. I feel more alive. The marijuana keeps me with a much better outlook on life. I work in the garden when I can do manual labor. I can't do a lot of standing. The land needs to be prepared. Some of our land is full of poison oak, so I go and tear it out. We had a little building that had been here for years for our tools, but we needed more. We all got together and worked and donated to raise enough to put in a building twice as big. We now have a cement floor, windows, an enclosed area for drying our medicine. It dries much better in an enclosed area. Right before the harvest, we have to trim the leaves and get it ready to cut down and dry. It takes several hours per plant to get them ready. The fan leaves are the first that come off. Right before we take the plants down, we take all the leaves off and all that's left is the bud. The leaves are used for the milk products, the muffins, the tincture. The majority of the THC is concentrated in the sinsemilla, or female bud. The male has hardly any medical value. Each plant will give us about 2 pounds of buds, on average. We've had so many people in WAMM die, we've learned to accept that pain and suffering are part of this world, that death is part of this life. I would have to say the biggest change in me since working with WAMM, more than acceptance, is that these bodies are impermanent. We are transitory. Working with WAMM has allowed me to accept my own mortality on a much deeper level. I love life--I'm going to try to live as long as possible--but I do know that somewhere along the line I'm going to die. The size of WAMM is determined by the amount of pot available. We have a one-time harvest, which is in October or November. What we harvest there will last the whole year. It's all volunteer, so that's the biggest reason we don't expand. This is my third season with WAMM. I had a stroke in 1997, and I have neuropathy. I use cannabis for pain management, migraines and nausea. I've watched people blossom up here at the farm, from being really sick and not having a very good prognosis to getting healthier and strong. It's therapeutic just being out in the fresh air and interacting with other people. You are who you are, and the disease becomes something in the background. We become people. Marijuana makes me feel better. It doesn't make me escape this life; I just feel better. That's not a bad thing. Note: Behind the lines at a medical marijuana farm where the operation is successful even when the patients die. About Jean Hanamoto Jean Hanamoto has been working in watercolors and photography for the last 13 years. Since her husband, George Hanamoto, and she became members of WAMM in 1998, Jean has explored marijuana as art, both through photography and computer-enhanced photography. Her work has won awards at the Santa Clara County Fair and the Gilroy City Art Show. Information about Jean Hanamoto and her art can be found at: http://www.marijuana-art.com From the March 14-20, 2002 issue of Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper. Newshawk: DdC -- http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/index.html Related Articles & Web Site: Mary Jane for Pain Student Pot Project Gets OK Is It A Crime? - 48 Hours Mom Keeps Son On Marijuana Regimen Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #8 posted by Nuevo Mexican on March 26, 2002 at 20:32:27 PT |
| and refuses to have anything to do with humans. God can be found in everything non-human, the stars, plants, animals, the air, the earth. We are on our own and God has bigger plans, and we are not part of the plan. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, the rest is our ego talking, making much ado about nothing. Live free or die is Gods bottom line. We have made our choice, and his experiment is just about over. Christians, they don't exist except on paper, in theories, in our imagination. Love is all there is. And humans are incapable of going there while in the physical form. OUr lives are a series of 'time conglomerates' as revealed by Kurt Vonnegut in one of his many great books.
Rocks have more intelligence than humans. And more patience!
Pretzel boy is a figment of our immagination and fear is the only form of control known since the Tibeten Book of the Dead documented its uses and designs thousands of years ago. Bush/Cheney are negative thought forms being pumped into our consciousness through TV, Radio, print media and all for one reason. To put us to sleep in a world of nightmares. March on Washington and San Francisco to celebrate the arrival of 'Christ-consciousness' April 20, where we realize there is no Christ but us, and no one to save us from ourselves except ourselves. Rise! Take the power. As the band the Cult say, it's beyond good and evil!
You are God, Cannabis is God, my dog is God. It is time to move on! [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #7 posted by SoberStoner on March 26, 2002 at 09:14:02 PT:
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| It's not just Christianity that's the problem. Almost every single organized religion is based upon power and fear, not love and compassion. I've studied various religions over the years trying to find out what my own beliefs were, and the more i read about the corruption of the church, the more disgusted i became with it. If asked, I have to claim agnosticism since most other religions that prech love and tolerance will go out and kill anyone that says their religion is wrong...that not love, thats not living the way of God. Valerie Corral is living the way of God. She asks for no monetary assistance, instead she recieves her pay in the satisfaction that she is helping her fellow man in time of need. She and others like her who have been prosecuted for their beliefs remind me of how the romans treated the christians in the infancy of their belief structure. Our fight is no different. Cannabis is God's gift to humanity and prohibition is an affront to God himself. All cannabis users should find or start a church that recognizes cannabis to be the sacrament that it is. THen if they should happen to come under the heavy hand of the law, they can fight their case with the first amendments guarantees or religious freedom on their side. Of course with recent developments that have basically destroyed the 1st and 4th amendments (but kept the 5th alive so the Enron criminals could use it) they would probably lose thier case, but show the hypocrasy of the government that preaches freedom to the world. Speaking of religion, does anyone know Rev Adler's email? If you could email it to me, or if the good Reverand could email me himself it would be much appreciated, thanks:) SS [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #6 posted by Ethan Russo MD on March 26, 2002 at 08:21:41 PT:
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| There was a profile of her in the excellent NY Times magazine article on clinical cannabis a few years back. None of these pictures capture her inner loveliness and charisma. She is a truly inspiring person. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by FoM on March 26, 2002 at 07:59:04 PT |
| Here is a picture of Valerie Corral from an MSNBC article back in late 96 or early 97 if I remember correctly. I want you all to notice that in the Source information I am adding a DL (Direct Link) if the paper is one that archives their articles and the url isn't real long. I think Metro Active archives their articles so you should be able to check out the cool pictures. I've been adding DL: to articles from Reason Magazine and National Review and AlterNet and a few more. Most papers don't archive that's why a direct link isn't used most times. Valerie Corral is my hero and has been since I first read about her and WAMM. http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/valerie.jpg
Source: Metro (CA) [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on March 26, 2002 at 05:29:09 PT:
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| Thanks to Den de Cannabist (Our DdC) we have the link directly to the article: http://www.metroactive.com/metro/cover/marijuana-0211.html I'd go see it quick, before somebody pulls the "copvcia" bit and hacks it... or before they take the link down. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #3 posted by el_toonces on March 26, 2002 at 03:16:44 PT:
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| Thanks for posting this, FoM. How the government can countenance the sale of Marinol which contains the THC found in cannabis, yet claim the cannabis itself has NO medical value that even my 75 year old mother queried about when she was reading the Mayo piece and the excellent comments. I told her that if she could follow the arguments in the article and in the posts, she could determine whether such "public medical information/education" was accurate or drug company style brainwashing on any topic. I am every time impressed with the intelligence of C-News readers. El [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by Bounce to the Ounce on March 26, 2002 at 00:55:28 PT |
| I'm not religious but I still feel that was uncalled for. Your anger towards Christians is very misdirected. Get mad at the government, not the Christians. I doubt that all of them are Republicans and are anti-medical marijuana. And a lot of them are on your side, believe it or not. I'm normally not an argumentative person, but the hypocrisy shown in some of your posts is sickening. One minute you speak out against the intolerance and scapegoating in the Drug War, and the next you're slandering Christians and their beliefs because marijuana is illegal. We're supposed to be the tolerant ones, remember? Leave the finger pointing and generalizations to the DEA. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by p4me on March 25, 2002 at 20:01:05 PT |
| and now that I have read this I am feeling even better. The government always uses the lie about their being no data. Every person taking marijuana is data. The fact that they do nothing to extract the best results flys in the face of all reason. It's the Republican stupid. There was a repeat of the series on the Rockefellers on PBS yesterday. The told of Nelson Rockefeller at the Repug national convention when he booed and hissed at his third failed attempt at gaining the national nomination and he went on to be selected by Ford to fill the VP role after Ford replaced Nixon. The liberal Rockefeller stood on the stage for 15 minutes of abuse while he witnessed the takeover of the Republican Party by the religious right. It had a few years of age on the production and they used their current term of "The Christian Coalition." The way I see it we are letting our religious fundamentalist hijack our political system. Were a Washington to grow one hemp plant they would take away his whole Mt. Vernon. This situation and especially the stuff from the Nixon tapes has totally pissed me off as if I were not pissed off before. Now the word Repubican is a dirty word to me. If you say Republican I think "monster waiting to be slain." And what makes it worse is that if you have any intellect at all by the time you are the age of DEAth Hutchinson and Caveman Busch you should have figured out that Christianity is not the true reality. Sure they have some stories about men living to be over 900 years old. I like the story where they shrink all the animals and all the plants of the world with their food so they could fit on that little wooden boat that a man could save them for us here today. Someone needs to preach against the false reality of Christianity. It will outlive me by centuries, but Christianity some day within the next thousand years will be about like the Shaker Quakers today. So, my perspective says that Christianity is myth with lies and we have one of our two major political parties under the control of our religious fundamentalist and they do not live in a true world of reality. That is my view. And I have not problem saying it. The fucking Republican Party can go to hell. I am tired of hearing about Utopia when you're lies destroy liberty and lives. You have created a marijuana hell for some while saying some bullshit like " We will protect you from hempseed oil. We take our job seriously." What kind of dickheads are we going to tolerate. These bastards are crazy. To say that marijuana has NO, as in NONE, medical value. Look you fuckheads, I am tired of the lies. And I am ready to march. This country needs at least 3 major parties. Last election I was a Republican. Never again. It belongs to the Christian fundamentalist. Let them have it so at least we know who the fundamentalist are. This creates a problem with me. I am not going to vote for any elected official that has not taken his clothes off and run around the square shouting they are lying to us. So all elected officials running for reelection are out. I do not ever forsee voting for a Republican in the rest of my life. So what do you do when you cannot vote for a Democratic incumbent and only a Repug is running against him and I cannot vote for those bastards. This country needs a third party with no other idealogy than we need a third party. The Libertarian candidates could still carry their beliefs. Independents could operate under a platform of nothing except that America needs a third party. Busch is no leader to me. He is a caveman that believes in a false religion yet cannot admit that marijuana is medicine. There is a book out by a Republican defector and it has set me off. VAAI [ Post Comment ] |
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