This week Issue 45 of the Cannabis Digest is printed, be sure to find a FREE copy at your local dispensary or headshop.
By Judith Stamps
Welcome to Issue 45 of the Cannabis Digest. Welcome to the summer of 2015. And welcome to the sound of prohibition’s millstone grinding to a halt. To date, 23 US states have some form of legal medical cannabis, 3 have legal cannabis, and more of the same is in the works; Canada has legal medical cannabis and, as of this month, legal cannabis extracts. On the West Coast of Canada, the City Councils of Vancouver and Victoria BC, and the small town of Kimberley BC, in defiance of federal law, have chosen to regulate medical cannabis dispensaries as legitimate “marijuana related businesses.” This coming fall, Canadians will elect a new federal government, and for the first time in history, cannabis (marijuana, I’m sure they’ll call it) will be a campaign issue.
Meanwhile North American medicine makers and parents, also in defiance of federal law, have set about to save a generation of children who experience seizures, or autism; soldiers suffering from combat related PTSD, to bring sanity back to their lives; seniors with age related illnesses, to ease their discomforts; and others too numerous to count, to heal themselves—with cannabis, illegally where necessary. And yes, I have returned to the Old Victorian writing style, which averaged 27 words per sentence. The Victorians had it right; they had legal cannabis.
Cannabis Digest is proud to document this revolution, and to interpret events by placing them in legal, historical and political context. Two of CD’s producers are proud, as well, to have produced part of this revolution, in particular, publisher and writer, Ted Smith, and layout artist and writer, Owen Smith. As you’ll read in these pages, were it not for their fortitude, cannabis extracts would today still be illegal in Canada. So do take Ted Smith up on his offer of back issues. They are a chronicle of everything cannabis—from politics to science—in this unique decade, and they feature articles that are accessible and informative. To one and all: Happy Reading.