Hempresent

Today on Hempresent our host is joined by Tim Pate Oregon hemp broker, and SHF core. Since 2013 Tim as been a member of the Administrative Rules Committee for Industrial Hemp for the State of Oregon. 20 years on Mainstage at the Seattle Hempfest. 7 years on the TV show Cannabis Common Sense. 7 years with Hempstalk as Event Coordinator or Stage Manager. On the Board of Directors of C&S Building Supply, inventors of Hemp MDF. He has built over 1,000 houses.. Tim has also been a judge in several high level Cannabis cups and competitions. Tim says quoute It's my medicine. I have had 21 surgeries, and it [cannabis] helps my chronic pain.

Cannabis as the cause of illness is our topic as Vivian McPeak speaks with Alternative Model, Cannabis Enthusiast and Activist Damsel W. Dank. Damsel suffered from arsenic poisoning from ingesting bad cannabis and she explains how she has handle treating the problem which Vivian knows all too well based on his own personal health. She takes us through how she first realized her issues and her mission to treat it.

Talking about cannabis program development, communication and implementation as Vivian McPeak speaks with Kris Morwood, the Director of Development of FOCUS (Foundation of Cannabis United Standards).FOCUS offers a range of services to assist with cannabis program development, communication and implementation, ongoing management and evaluation. FOCUS provides an impartial research, facilitation, training and program management resources for regulators, legislators, and non-governmental organizations. For cannabis businesses, FOCUS offers a complete quality management system to ensure product quality and safety, worker safety and continuous improvement. Our digital system brings the standards to life by linking standards requirements to operating procedures and worker training. Custom workflows automatically send reminders and track task completion. The management dashboard tracks open activity to completion.

Talking about Retail Commercialization and Social Consumption with Abi Roach, owner of the HotBox lounge in Toronto, Canada's longest running cannabis lounge.

Today on Hempresent Vivian is joined by Trey Reckling. Trey is originally from Savannah, Georgia and has 15 years experience in higher education. He has specialized in conflict resolution and helping prepare students for careers after they graduate. He founded the Academy of Cannabis Science and has been active in the cannabis community as a board member of the Washington Marijuana Association and Washington Cannabis Commission. In addition to other coursework at the SCC Cannabis Institute, he co-wrote the Medical Marijuana Consultant Course, the first program approved by the Washington Department of Health. He is pleased to be working with Seattle Central to develop a variety of courses to prepare the next generation of cannabis employees, informed consumers and industry leaders. Trey is a regularly featured author in the RX section of The Fresh Toast. Trey Reckling and his fiancée packed up their car in Savannah, Georgia and moved out to Seattle to join the cannabis green rush eighteen months ago. With a background in higher education (no pun intended), Reckling envisioned creating a class focused on the basics of cannabis science, handling, and law, targeted at the thousands of employees and owners in the burgeoning industry. His timing could not have been better. The Washington Department of Health recently began requiring that anybody who wanted to serve as medical marijuana consultants (talk with patients about medical marijuana choices) had to take a 20-hour educational class. When Reckling first arrived, and before the new law had passed, he started modestly, renting a classroom on the University of Washington’s Seattle campus for short sessions on “Introduction to Cannabis.” After six months he moved to Seattle Central College for a deeper partnership.

Today on Hempresent Vivian is joined by Vera Twomey the mother Ava Twomey the Irish Med Canna-Mom Ava is a seven-year-old, beautiful young girl from Ireland. At the age of four months old, she had her first grand mal seizure. It lasted for 45 minutes. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with a condition called Dravet syndrome, a debilitating form of epilepsy that doesn’t respond to conventional medication and leaves a host of developmental challenges in its wake. Ava’s seizures can last anywhere from a couple of minutes to several hours. One seizure was so bad, it left Ava in cardiac arrest. After years of failed attempts to get Ava’s seizures under control, the family was granted permission from the Irish government to treat her with a CBD-only strain of medical cannabis. Ava’s seizures reduced dramatically, by approximately 85%. While on this CBD treatment, Ava experienced her longest seizure free stretch in 7 years, a previously unreachable 11 days. This is indeed a great start. A combination of CBD (one of the compounds found in cannabis) and THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis) is widely accepted as sound treatment among knowing medical cannabis professionals and among many parents who have tried it with their children in states that allow it. Sadly, there is still shockingly little clinical evidence to support these case studies. However, the esteemed European Journal of Epilepsy, “Seizure” published Israel’s 2016 clinical study on cannabis medicine in the treatment of epilepsy. The conclusion demonstrated extremely promising results.The ratios they used in their study of 74 pediatric patients were 20% CBD 0.5-1% THC. Vera has been a dear friend of CananTech’s since we first met her at the International Conference on Medical Cannabis hosted at the European Parliament in Brussels last year. We have been following her story closely ever since. I had the great pleasure of speaking with Vera earlier this week, from their new temporary residence in Holland.

Today on Hempresent David Borden joins our host Vivian Mcpeak. David Borden is founder and Executive Director of StoptheDrugWar.org. Borden played the leading role in pioneering use of the Internet for education and organizing in drug policy reform after founding DRCNet in late 1993. Borden oversaw the organization's work on the Higher Education Act Reform Campaign, an effort to repeal a federal law that denies students financial aid because of drug convictions, and has initiated programs including the John W. Perry Fund scholarship program and the Out from the Shadows international conference series. Borden has written over 160 editorials on drug policy, and publishes DRCNet's Prohibition in the Media blog. He earned an A.B. with honors in Astrophysical Sciences from Princeton University in 1988, and completed an M.M. in Jazz Composition from New England Conservatory in 1990. He is a native of Englewood, New Jersey, one of the first communities in the state to achieve racial integration in its school system. Borden is also a member of the Boards of Directors of Common Sense for Drug Policy and the Flex Your Rights Foundation, and of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Council of Advisors.

Today on Hempresent we are joined by Alex Friedmann Associate Director of Prison Legal News. Alex is the Associate Director of HRDC and managing editor of Prison Legal News. He is responsible for news research, investigative research, editing, advocacy campaigns and other tasks, including litigation support as a paralegal. Alex served 10 years in prisons and jails in Tennessee, including six years at a privately-operated CCA facility. While incarcerated he litigated his own cases in state and federal court; served as the resources editor of Prison Life magazine, a national publication; self-published the Private Corrections Industry News Bulletin; and founded and directed a non-profit prisoner organization called the Pledge Program. He is based out of Nashville, Tennessee.

Today on Hempresent Vivian McPeak is joined by AC Braddock, CEO of Eden Labs. AC is a highly sought-after speaker at industry events and an expert in the field of cannabis extraction tech. While Eden Labs is known for its ground breaking extraction technology including Hi-Flo CO2 Extractors and its Coldfinger distillation systems, AC isn’t just all about extraction. She has a passion for educating, and is breaking the mold when it comes to corporate structuring and industry ethics. As one of the founding members of Women of Weed, an active member of the MJBA’s Women’s Alliance, and a board member of the Council of Responsible Cannabis Regulation and NCIA, this Seattle resident is a true leader and advocate for the cause of responsible legalization.

David Schmader is a writer who has been living and working in Seattle since 1991. Some of his works include the solo plays Straight, Letter to Axl, and A Short-Term Solution to a Long-Term Problem. Schmader served as a writer, editor, and columnist of Seattle’s Pulitzer-winning newsweekly The Stranger between 1999 and 2015. In his spare time, he’s the world’s foremost authority on the brilliant horribleness of Paul Verhoeven’s stripper drama Showgirls, hosting annotated screenings around the country and supplying the commentary for the bestselling Showgirls DVD. More recently, he’s become a spokesmodel for marijuana, writing the book Weed: The User’s Guide, which will be released this spring by Sasquatch Books.

Vivian McPeak speaks with Clint Werner, the Author of Marijuana Gateway to Health: How Cannabis Protects Us from Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease. They uncover some amazing facts about cannabis. The book discusses the science of cannabis' healing properties such as endocannabinoids as well as the history of medical marijuana and the political battles being fought to legitimize cannabis.