Lifestyle
July - September | The American Cultivator |
Captain Kirk and the Cheesecake Enterprise
Occabori aectecum simus et volo tenimus uam. By Heidi Parikh, Publisher, The American Cultivator
In our pursuit of pain mitigation, ache salvation, and simple munchies satiation we tend toward the sweet tooth in medical marijuana communities. As we all sang as children it still rings true as an adult that just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. The secret to making a good edible I suspect is doing the opposite of what I do and actually make it taste good. To me a good edible is akin to a Picasso; it’s a work of art and none are so lovingly crafted as those from Michigan’s own Captain Kirk. A powerful attraction can develop from just one bite of his Key Lime cheesecake, as the story goes. So much so in fact that it was chosen as the 2011 Detroit High Time Medical Cup 1st place winner for the edibles category.
Captain Kirk’s edibles have become a name synonymous with unparalleled flavor and quality in Michigan. Winning not only the 2011 cup, Captain Kirk also won first place in 2012 Seattle High Times Medical Cup, and least I mention the numerous other cups across Michigan State. This prodigious streak has garnered quite a following from prominent cannabis activists such as the first Cheesecake recipient, Ed Rosenthal, to Paul Stanford, founder of THCF (The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation). They have even reached the legendary. As the story goes, Paul Stanford had given his first cheesecake to Willie Nelson himself and a love blossomed. Now, whenever given the chance, Willie jumps at the chance. Just recently on July 13th in Sterling Heights Michigan Willie Nelson was joined by Alison Krauss and Union Station on what was dubbed the “family tour”. It had been a while since Mr. Nelson had a bite of tangy dank-ness, so Paul whipped up a surprise. He contacted Captain Kirk to let him know about Willie coming to town and let him know he would have two passes waiting for him at the door, and to have Cheesecake in hand. When Mr. Kirk arrived he was greeted with all access passes; a golden ticket to the other realm known as back stage. It wasn’t until he entered did he realize that they were also front row center! Don’t worry; they were for him and not the cheesecake. Directly after the show Captain Kirk made his way backstage, shielded by the powerful golden ticket he entered and gave Willie his now third Key Lime cheesecake. To me the reason I wrote is neither the Cheesecake nor Willie Nelson. It’s the chat continued, PG. 17 see Captain
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How Much Amotivation Can Marijuana Really Cause? By Ed. R. Cook Author
There is a common stereotype that the use of marijuana makes a person lazy and unproductive. I say that it is more about a person’s predisposition. If you’re lazy and irresponsible before using marijuana, you will probably be lazy and irresponsible after using it. If you’re bright and ambitious, marijuana use will likely amplify those attributes. Let me cite some examples. Recently the Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon tested positive for marijuana use, and is now facing a possible year long suspension. I should also mention that he led all NFL receivers in yardage in 2013. I’d say that this is hardly unproductive. Mr. Gordon probably uses marijuana, in part to help cope with the physical damage of his work much in the same way that I use it to cope with my osteoarthritis. The brilliant Paul McCartney of Beatles fame was once busted trying to enter Japan with some marijuana. Baseball’s two time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincicum was once busted at the height of his career in his home state of Washington before they voted to legalize. Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps was famously pictured using a marijuana device. I will say that these people are hardly lazy and unproductive. Television, alcohol, and now social media cause far more unproductivity than marijuana. On the other side of this, I will tell a story of one time when I was speaking at a Multiple Sclerosis meeting. While most
people in the room were curious and supportive, there was one lady who was very angry and asked me to speak of the impairment and lack of motivation that marijuana causes. She said that her son just sits in her basement all day and does nothing but smoke pot. I tried to let her down easy but told her that it’s not the marijuana plant that is causing her son problems, it’s him. There is some other root cause that he is just not motivated to
If you’re lazy and irresponsible before using marijuana, you will probably be lazy and irresponsible after using it. If you’re bright and ambitious, marijuana use will likely amplify those attributes. get out of her basement with or without marijuana. Most people would get bored no matter the circumstances. Besides, it’s her basement. Why doesn’t she take action to get him out of there. It’s an easy stereotype for the prohibitionist to use terms like donut eating stoner, or lazy slacker. I say that there are plenty of examples of highly accomplished, highly productive successful people who use marijuana for a variety of reasons with no amotivational effects.
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Lifestyle
July - September | The American Cultivator |
Millennials and Marijuana By Ian Elliott
Cannabis is not an enemy of this nation. The absurdity of a War on Drugs, particularly when cannabis is included in the list of ‘drugs’, has become more and more apparent as we observe the anticlimactic aftermath of legalization in Colorado and Washington. The world is simply not going to fall apart over this, which would have to be clear and evident for a dissenter of cannabis policy reform to salvage any amount of hope at this time. Although I don’t personally believe that any generation, as a whole, bought into the Reefer Madness, I do see a correlation between the establishment of my generation into the social sphere and the sudden push for reform we have seen over the last decade. It will take the entire country’s support to complete what was started in the 60’s, but with a population that now surpasses that of the Baby Boomers, the Millennials have potential to make drastic changes to the contour of our social, economic and political sphere in ways that past generations could not have done. I believe we have surpassed the turning point and I hope this brief synopsis of my own generation’s perspective on this issue will give you hope as well, that cannabis legalization, re-scheduling, and research is a bright and imminent future. My generation is stubborn. Years of pampering and entitlement left the millennial generation with high expectations for quality of life and a low tolerance for game playing. Just because
a label reads medicine or food or pleasure, doesn’t necessarily mean we will believe it. We also have a head strong sense of pride when it comes to what we expect from our products. Conditioned from birth to believe that we live in the greatest country on earth, my generation was set up to expect that we should have the greatest products on earth as well. While partially effective and extremely dangerous pharmaceuticals may have appeased the public for decades, the expectation of ‘The Best’ prompts my generation to bow out of this game. We know from experience- from college parties and post-exam migraine relief- that marijuana is more effective than pharmaceuticals and easier on the body than alcohol. We want the best of the best from our medicine and will defund any medical industry which doesn’t match our idea of health. Watching countless friends and family members fall to opiate abuse, often leading to heroin addiction, the Millennials naturally adopted the mindset that cannabis makes sense as a safer alternative. If the largest medical industry in the world can’t adjust to our needs as fastpaced and health-conscious consumers, then we will opt out for something better. My generation is inventive. We create new definitions and standards which match our needs to the world around us, demanding change in the system not in our desires. Much of the debate that remains in regards to legalizing cannabis surrounds the separation of recreational and medical use. The Millennials scoff at this notion entirely. We believe that if preliminary research and our own anecdotal evidence are correct, then a plant that has preventative medical
qualities, can treat and cure disease, can be incorporated as part of a healthy diet, and can be used as a safe recreational alternative to alcohol is neither recreational nor medical at all, it is just nutritious. And if an economic and social system cannot tolerate labeling this wonderful plant as such, then we will drastically alter that system until it can. The unsustainable and often ineffective pharmaceutical industry in our country for example, has created a path to addiction and financial ruin for millions of Americans. Millennials were taught to be open-minded to technology and advances in science which would
Why is the federal government not fostering local medicinal cannabis systems, and instead choosing to support the top-down, one-supplier model? solve these problems, not create them. We were told as children that the cure for cancer might be in some distant ocean or rainforest and to the disdain of Big Pharma, somewhere between watching TV and taking out the trash, the Millennial generation stumbled upon the Wonder Drug in our own backyards. Now, we can’t help but question why the medical industries’ and our own idea of health don’t align. In our eyes, any institution that can readily deny patients with cancer and other debilitating diseases access to something that could potentially save their lives no longer serves the purpose it was created to, which is to help people
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live healthier. Any time an industry fails to meet a certain degree of expected improvement in efficiency and human impact, an alternative industry emerges as a contrast. Medical cannabis is just that kind of industry and because of this, my generation has an unwavering vested interest in furthering cannabis policy reform as a means to begin the dismantling and social extradition of those corporate institutions we deem as irresponsible and outdated. My generation is aware, now more than ever, of what needs to happen in shaping the future of our planet. The Millennial monster was awoken by a world of rent and taxes and debt, an intentionally neglected segment of our pampered past. Burdened by an insulting sum of student loans, the entitled Millennials have been forced to open their eyes to the grim reality of our current situation- and show no pity for those who have led us here. While cannabis policy reform may seem like an insignificant social change issue, Millennials see it as the linchpin issue in a series of reforms to come. We are aware of the unsustainable and irresponsible practices of generation’s past and can use cannabis reform as a platform from which to enact future widespread change. This is mainly because the ridiculous hypocrisy surrounding cannabis prohibition and stigmatization that prevents policy change resulting gives us the unique opportunity to look the Federal Government in the eye and say, “You were just wrong”. Cannabis is so stigmatized in our country that reform demands an extreme amount of questioning from citizens. Once cannabis reform happens, we know this questioning will transform into the continued, PG. 17 see Millennials