cannabisnews.com: Aboard The Canna Crawl Bus
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Aboard The Canna Crawl Bus
Posted by CN Staff on January 15, 2019 at 05:46:50 PT
By Hallie Miller
Source: Washington Post
Maryland -- For the first time in five years, Joppa, Md., resident Brandon Bevins feels good. There’s still some pain, but after being diagnosed with bladder cancer at 31, he feels like he’s turning a promising corner. And he owes it all to the medicinal cannabis community, he said.“When you get sick, man, it really beats you down,” the former nightclub promoter said. “We take care of each other.” On a recent Tuesday, Bevins boarded a bus leaving from Towson to embark on a “canna crawl” with about 20 other Marylanders who have found long-awaited relief with medicinal marijuana.
The bus tour was like a pub crawl but meant for the state’s cannabis patients to tour and shop at different dispensaries.Some of the passengers said they had years of experience experimenting with the drug as medication outside of the law. Others described themselves as marijuana “virgins” who once stigmatized the controlled substance but have come to view it through an enlightened lens since it became legal at the state level for certified patients to purchase in December 2017.“I didn’t know about cannabis as medication,” said Bethany “Betty” Jane, who organized the event and holds a medical marijuana certification for chronic pain. A former journalist, she now runs the “Mary Jane Chronicles” website, which houses a blog as well as a calendar of events she coordinates for patients to connect and find resources.“Here you can say, ‘I’m hurting,’ and there’s so much support,” the 53-year-old Ellicott City resident said, adding that she’s planning to host more social events through her business in 2019. “We really need events for people to get community support.”Under Maryland law, patients must be certified by a registered medical provider to be able to buy medical marijuana grown by licensed operators and sold at licensed dispensaries.During the day-long canna crawl, certified patients traveled to dispensaries across Baltimore County, including Chesacanna and KIP in Cockeysville, Your Farmacy in Lutherville-Timonium (where patients had the opportunity to medicate) and Blair Wellness Center in Towson. Along the route, they shopped for products including pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes, balms and oils, and enjoyed day-of discounts, specials and, in some cases, free “swag bags” filled with goodies and informational packets.The crawlers also met with staffers at each dispensary to discuss symptoms and treatment options and bonded with other patients, some of whom have become friends online through marijuana-centered Facebook support groups or at other events held throughout the state.Theresa “Tree” Themelis, 30, and Cyndi Stallings, 59, connected over the summer and realized they both struggled with fibromyalgia, a condition that causes widespread chronic pain, fatigue, and sleep and mood problems. Since then, they’ve kept in touch, trading tips for pain relief, recommending products to each other and sharing stories from their mutual struggle.“If you can find someone to help you, it’s a much nicer journey,” said Stallings, of Pasadena.“I felt so alone in this,” added Themelis, of Perry Hall. “This is something I always felt like I had to hide.”Green Leaf Medical, a Frederick-based cultivator of medical cannabis, sponsored the recent event and will sponsor another canna crawl for Montgomery County dispensaries Thursday, said Eric Berman, the grower’s business development official. He said his company supports the idea of the crawl so that patients can make connections and learn more about what’s available to them.As of November, over 70,000 patients in Maryland had registered with the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission. Dispensary sales topped $95 million by the end of last year, blowing by projections from one of the cannabis industry’s leading market research firms.Bevins, who boarded the canna crawl bus to meet new people, said the event represents the community’s willingness to “look where others won’t” for solace and solutions to complex problems.“We’re pioneers,” he said. “There’s just such good energy here.”— Baltimore SunSource: Washington Post (DC)Author: Hallie MillerPublished: January 14, 2019Copyright: 2019 Washington Post CompanyContact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/HBhHkCXBCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on January 23, 2019 at 09:53:01 PT
Matt Elrod isn't taking this laying down.
He's been debating Berenson on his Twitter account and, and maybe somewhere else I saw, too.For quite some time now Cannabis News has been a relentless rant against an equally relentless injustice. I'm unaware that our rants ever caused death... but their war of prohibition has done so much damage. So much death. Such outrageous harshness and loss. It's so sad that intelligent people, like Berenson and his wife, are striving so hard to continue the persecution of others over cannabis. I understand that grief for someone they cared for is usually what is driving these well-spoken and persuasive prohibitionists but their choice of a way to deal with their grief and fear is not a good one. Their choice, prohibition, has in reality been deadly and destructive. And somehow, they don't seem to realize that prohibition did not save that loved one, who overdosed on some other prohibited substance. They also seem stunningly unaware of the damage, death, and destruction that their beloved prohibition has caused in and of itself. On his Twitter feed today Berenson also says, "Cannabis users were more likely to be violent than alcohol users, and 3x as likely as nonusers." 
 
https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on January 22, 2019 at 20:30:17 PT
Hope
Thank you for the link. I haven't talked to Matt for years now. I wasn't sure if he was still active and I am glad he is. Very smart man.
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on January 22, 2019 at 19:48:03 PT
Our own Matt Elrod has been trying to reason
with Alex Berenson.https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1087899329015222272/photo/1As an aside, I was pleased to see that Berenson's book, the current version of Reefer Madness... Tell Your Children, is no longer showing as the #1 Best Seller at Amazon. It's now the Best Selling New Release. Prohibs are loving the book.
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Comment #5 posted by John Tyler on January 17, 2019 at 06:55:05 PT
Feeling no pain
Legend says that the Hindu God, Shiva, brought cannabis down from the high Himalayan Mountains and gave it to mankind to lighten their burden, ease their pain, and bring joy to their hearts. It is also said that when friends do psychedelics together they find true happiness. I think these peoples’ testimonials bear this out.Legalization, come on south a little bit more.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on January 15, 2019 at 17:28:20 PT
There are messed up people in the world.
All I'm saying is the people he talks about are crazy and they were likely crazy before they used cannabis. Of course, he and his shrink wife say that any argument against the murderous rages and assaults mentioned being caused by cannabis is just a form of denial. (Well isn't that handy?) What Alex Berenson’s new book gets wrong about marijuana, psychosis, and violencehttps://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/14/18175446/alex-berenson-tell-the-truth-marijuana-psychosis-violence?fbclid=IwAR064WI57vJ9OBucGOAMuEdWnOpb4ajS1XXHzsM3f5fUbuYqOqWtyNec37I
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on January 15, 2019 at 16:43:57 PT
Alex Berenson
Makes legalization of cannabis sound like a Zombie Apocalypse. 
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on January 15, 2019 at 16:42:59 PT
That sounds beautiful, Afterburner.
But this is the latest thrown at the legalization of cannabis. It's pretty rough. It looks to me like it doesn't take into account that sometimes crazy people, as well as not crazy people, use cannabis, too. *sigh* The gist of it is marijuana psychosis and how marijuana turns normal people murderously violent. Shades of reefer madness. The author of the discussion is Alex Berenson and his book is Tell Your Children. 
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Comment #1 posted by afterburner on January 15, 2019 at 15:09:53 PT
Looks Like Baltimore Sun Is Worth Reading Again
I used to read online articles at the Baltimore Sun, but I got tired of the constant infighting in the comments. It's amazing how legal cannabis can change people's minds and provide insights into new solutions to long-standing problems. Imagine how we could move beyond a world controlled by death cults, into the promised land of sharing and blessings. National and international legalization of cannabis could be the key to an abundant future for this wartorn planet and its people, animals, fish, water, atmosphere, land, food, fuel, prosperity and creative ideas.
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