By Gayle Quin
This has been truly one of the most amazing summers of my life. Not only do I feel healthier than I ever have before, but the synchronicity happening all summer has been astounding. Ted and I have been on two book tours, and to one music festival, selling his text book. The first tour was to Toronto and the Cambridge/Kitchener area, where Ted is from. It was great to spend some time visiting with family and old friends in between vapour lounges and book signings.
Erin and Chris Goodwin at Vapour Central offered us their space as a book signing headquarters, and an all-star game of Reach for the Pot. Due to technical difficulties. I was unable to film the whole show, but it was show on Pot TV and I think it will be in their archives. Chris Goodwin and Matt Mernaugh were the captains of the two teams. Ted also held a Reach for the Pot game at Vape on the Lake, which you can see on Hempology 101’s YouTube channel. You can also see photos of our travels on Ted’s face book page. Everyone went well out of their way to make us feel at home. We had a 420 meeting in Kitchener which three folks and two city officials attended. It seems as though the RCMP discussed us at a meeting, too, trying to figure out what to do with us when we came. In the end, an officer came to say hi and Ted talked to him for about half an hour—until he realized that Ted would gladly talk to him all day about hemp, and went back to work. We took everyone else around back and had a wonderful 420, and inspired a local patient who has already held another 420 at Kitchener City Hall.
The second tour took us to Prince George, Dawson Creek, Edmonton (where MACROS held an awesome BBQ for us), Prince Albert, and then two days on the Good Seed’s 30 acre hemp farm. It was awesome! After cooking hemp leaves into olive oil in a method similar to how we make Ryanol, we juiced about 50 immature hemp plants. It was very strong tasting and is likely to have many health benefits. We stopped in Saskatoon, spent three days with Bailey and Kristen in Medicine Hat, and then took off to Calgary for the Alberta 420 BBQ, where we stayed with Lisa MamaKind. We headed to the mountains for a break, then spent the last day in Kelowna at Be Kind, with one last stop in White Rock before catching the ferry. Wow. I think we held 12 events in 16 days. We met a lot of wonderful people on the same mission as ourselves—to free the venerable cannabis plant. At the end of it all we have the book in 28 stores, and have one distributor on board. It is also available on Amazon and Hempology 101’s online store.
And as if traveling for 30 days wasn’t enough, we’ve also been doing the usual stuff. Hempology 101 held its 17th Anniversary march on Sept. 5—it’s always on the first Wed. of Sept. We marched from Centennial Square to the Legislative Buildings where we have a mass smoke-out and take a photo for a postcard, which is available at the Sacred Herb and Hempology 101’s online store. Ted also gave out the trophy bongs from the Reach for the Pot Tournament this summer, and trophy buttons to the winners of the annual contests. There should be a film of the evening on Hempology 101’s YouTube channel.
Then there is the whole Canada Revenue Agency thing going on. Wow, Ted is no longer owner of the Cannabis Buyers’ Club of Canada, and the non-profit society Victoria Cannabis Buyers’ Club is now a reality. It’s been hard trying to not imagine where it will go from here, and concentrating on the jobs at hand instead.
The new photo ID membership cards with a magnetic strip have been working out well, thanks to all for your patience through the transition. We have a Board of Directors consisting of Brandi (vice-president and staff representative), Dieter (president and executive director), Majick (secretary and member representative), Daak (treasurer), and David (grower representative). We still have committees to form so there is lots of room for volunteers who want some hands on work with this exciting new adventure.
September is also the beginning of Hempology 101 on university campuses—after all, our motto is “Legalization Through Education.” The student council at UVic have had no response from administration about whether the Wed. 420 meetings are a student tradition as recognized through a student reeferendum last year. We have requested the Martlet to ask what the delay has been. Lectures have been great, and have been extended to an hour, with the first four held on the lawn by the SUB. Hopefully Dr. Hornby will be discussing the hemp juice and oil reports he does at his lecture on Cannabis Chemistry on Oct 17. The results of his tests are posted on the Hempology 101 webpage. Remember, if you can’t make it out to the lectures, we post them on Hempology 101’s web page later. Ted and I went to Vancouver for UBC’s clubs days and with a great deal of help from Nai, the UBC Hempology 101 club lives on. We ended up having a 420 Fri. afternoon, with the guys being very excited to learn it was the very first 420 ever on campus. It didn’t take long to fill all the board member positions, and we just heard they have held another 420! Everyone also liked the idea of the meet and greet for UBC Hempology 101 club members being held on the second floor of CC Headquarters Vapour Lounge, on Oct. 11. We are hoping activists such as Jodie Emery, Hutch, Greg of the BC3, and many others will drop in to help inspire the next generation of activists. Laurent has kindly offered his time to DJ for the evening as well. We had a wonderful two days on campus, and I can hardly wait for the meet and greet! The club at VIU Nanaimo is hurting the most, and hopefully we will pull it back together with a joint effort from the Movie Club, so watch for postings on a fun night in Nanaimo soon. We also have a Hempology 101 club alive and thriving in New Brunswick at Mount Allison University, thanks to Steve. He signed up 76 members on the first clubs day Hempology 101 has attended, and is already one of the largest clubs on campus. They have put on a movie night, held a Hempology 101 lecture on the history of Hempology 101, and have applied with the campus radio station to have a one hour weekly show. Two Hempology 101 textbooks have even been purchased by the MTA University Library! Ted is starting to schedule guest speakers for the first Hempology 101 conventions at four universities in Eastern and Central Canada this fall. We will start in Halifax at Dalhousie University on Sun Nov. 18, getting our first chance to visit with John Cook (former operator of Cannabis Buyers’ Club of Canada—Halifax Chapter). Next will be Mount Allison University in Sacksville, NB, on Nov. 22. Third will be Carlton University in Ottawa, on Nov. 25 (Elizabeth May will be in town at the same time, so cross your fingers for us!), and finally the University of Toronto on Nov 29. I just hope winter doesn’t come early.
The last issue of the Cannabis Digest was the first ever to be gone before the next printing! Thank you to all loyal readers! Ron was the winner of the colouring contest (make sure to get them in on time). In the mean time, we will no longer be shipping for free unless you are a Compassion Club or currently advertising in the Cannabis Digest. There will be a shipping fee of $20 per bundle ($10 for 1/2, etc.) otherwise. Thank you for your continued patronage. We are really hoping to get this paper to pay for the writing, editing, printing, and shipping costs and could use more advertisers and subscribers.
Team 420 has stopped Tues. dodge ball and Sat. soccer due to poor attendance and non-sportsmanlike attitudes. Thursday dodgeball on the back lawn of the Courthouse will carry on at 4:20, as usual.
Remember we still have the 20 day Bake-Op trial starting on Feb. 5. Thanks to all who are coming forward wanting to testify. We will need more members to testify about their use of the club’s edible and topical products, so if you are interested please talk to Ted.
Last but not least is FUN! Halloweed is coming on Oct. 31, of course. We have a costume contest and hot box the Courthouse starting at 7 pm. Then my next favourite event—Winter Solstice! We go Cannabis Carolling and hot box City Hall on Dec. 19. Meet at the Ministry of Health building at 7 pm.
Thanks for all your giving. It’s been great being able to work more lately. I keep feeling better all the time, and hope you do too! Lots of Love, Gayle.
