Ric, a patient of 16 years, at MedFest in Seattle, Dec. 18, 2011. “Every day, patients are discriminated against in their daily lives. It’s nice to come here and be around people who understand.”
in memory
Ric Smith 1963-2012
BY PAM HALEY FOR NORTHWEST LEAF | PHOTO BY DANIEL BERMAN
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first met Ric in 2003 at a Hempfest signmaking party. He convinced me that it would be okay to share my desire to see the end of Cannabis prohibition with my coworkers. He dared me to find out how many people I thought to be super conservative wanted to know more about Cannabis. From that dare I literally re-met several of my coworkers. The experience opened my eyes to how broadly prohibition affected humanity. My bond with Ric tightened after my sister died from AIDS in 1996. We had experienced how life can unjustly wield its hammer of fate, and knew this was the ultimate opponent in our struggle to understand the reason for life. We had a bond that was grounded by knowing we only live once and not wanting to have done to us that which was being done to others. Our bond created a pair that would do just about anything with anybody to accomplish our common goal. How ludicrous, he would say, it is to keep a plant from a person who has exhausted all manmade concoctions to cure their manmade disease.
Ric had a guardian angel in Meril Draper, and I can attest the Draper family has love that can save a life a few times. The Drapers first saved Ric’s life when he and Meril proclaimed, through their own experience, that Munchies Save Lives. The experience was so strong they shared it with as many people as they could. Soon, a community standard had been established. When a person was in need of medicine or food, they just had to ask, and the pair would fulfill the need. When the Draper’s love revived Ric in his last days, Ric asked us to expand Munchies Save Lives into a program that would carry on what his Guardian angel did for him. One of the reasons Ric will be missed in our community is that he lived in the outer edge of life’s accountability. He demonstrated what it would take for the rest of us to make the bold moves
How ludicrous, he would say, it is to keep a plant from a person who has exhausted all manmade concoctions to cure their manmade disease.
to change the laws. Like he said, ‘what did he have to lose, what could they take from him that he knew he was already losing?’ In the outer realm, where most don’t dare venture unless they want to seriously risk their future, this frail, soft spoken gentleman lived, and he led the rest of us. There is not anybody as far out on the edge as Ric was that can lead us now. As I sat down to write this piece about my friend Ric, the first thing to came to mind was his ancestor James Reed who led the Donner Party through the Sierra Nevada’s (sorry MaryAnn). They shared a tenacity. I can’t stop thinking that their fight for survival was so strong that it altered their genes and that is where Ric’s character and strength came from. So, if you are wondering how he came back time and again only to search for and find another way to obtain a medicine — his medicine — read a little of our country’s history and you will understand a little more about the fight in my friend Ric.
jan. 2013 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
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