M<\/span>oments before announcing the winners of California\u2019s most prestigious cannabis award on Dec. 10, The Emerald Cup\u2019s organizers offered an apology, and an explanation.\u00a0One of the winners,\u00a0Eden Farms\u2019s Karl Witt, would be not present, they said. He wanted to be. As of that morning, he was going to be.<\/p>\n His absence wasn\u2019t his fault: On the way to the cup, he was pulled over by police. He had his car tossed and his weed taken. He went home, where police showed up again. His Emerald Cup weekend<\/a> began with a traffic stop, and ended with a raid.<\/p>\n Witt\u2019s case is a reminder: Even though in many places \u2014 especially in the California of 2017, where voters legalized marijuana and have just days to wait for the first commercial over-the-counter sale of recreational cannabis<\/a> in the state \u2014 it can feel as if the cannabis legalization movement has accomplished its goals, there still is far to go before cannabis advocates can hang up their hats. Despite the fact that at The Emerald Cup, nearly 30,000 people showed up to an organized cannabis party, smoked themselves insensible and bought and sold pounds in full view of bored police providing security, Witt\u2019s case is proof positive that the drug war continues.<\/p>\n First, marijuana legalization isn\u2019t nearly as popular as you think.\u00a0Look at the polling, but look carefully:<\/a>\u00a0When ordinary, non-cannabis-using civilians are polled on the matter, they appear to actually prefer decriminalization, not a well-capitalized commercial cannabis industry \u2014 and often maintaining the status quo over some drastic change.<\/p>\n All this to say the era of the activist has not disappeared yet. Here are some noble causes worthy of your involvement now, and throughout 2018.<\/p>\n Legalization allows former \u201coffenders\u201d to clean their records, but in most states, legalization has not freed prisoners serving time for marijuana-related offenses. Activists like Cheri Sicard have been busy advocating for prisoners like\u00a0Luke Scarmazzo<\/a>, who ran a medical marijuana dispensary in Modesto, California before running afoul of the feds,\u00a0and Corvain Cooper<\/a>, who\u2019s currently serving a life sentence on money-laundering charges in North Carolina. These men\u2019s crimes were nonviolent, and in Scarmazzo\u2019s case, his \u201ccrimes\u201d are now acceptable commercial activity. This holiday season, the advocacy group Parents 4 Pot<\/a> is running its annual gift drive<\/a> for the families of people incarcerated for cannabis crimes. The other 11 months of the year, Parents 4 Pot advocates for families forced to uproot themselves and move to green states to access medical cannabis.<\/p>\n Cannabis policy reform doesn\u2019t mean much if it\u2019s an academic exercise in the realm of theory. New York State is a good example. New Yorkers legalized medical marijuana, but with a narrow list of qualifying conditions and doctors willing to write a recommendation,\u00a0fewer than 40,000 New Yorkers have managed to enter the program<\/a>. If you live in New York, you can call Gov. Andrew Cuomo\u2019s office and remind him\u00a0the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine accepts<\/a>\u00a0marijuana\u2019s value in treating chronic pain. And chronic pain is endemic \u2014 having cannabis as an available option cuts back opiate use, significantly<\/a>. In New York and in other states where cannabis isn\u2019t readily available, Americans for Safe Access<\/a> has been agitating for expanded research and eligible cannabis patients\u2019 abilities to actually acquire cannabis since 2002.<\/p>\n A few years ago, scanning the room and seeing the obvious 400-pound gorilla, one of the executives at a marijuana-industry conference tried to break the ice with a joke. \u201cThis is the most white and male convention you can go do,\u201d\u00a0he said<\/a>. He was right, and he continues to be right: White men continue to dominate key positions in the cannabis space, to the point that lawmakers and activists\u00a0say openly that the industry needs a Civil Rights Act in order to ensure<\/a>\u00a0that the fabulous profits are shared equitably. Gender and racial equality aren\u2019t problems unique to the cannabis industry, of course, but more is expected from legal weed. Legalization has its roots in social justice. Remember: the drug war has been used as a political tool to break up communities of color. Drug felonies disenfranchise people from voting and sentence them to economic penury. If the legal marijuana industry fails to correct these wrongs, then it\u2019s contributing to the problems \u2014 and it appears the industry won\u2019t fix itself. Ask your local lawmakers what they\u2019re doing to guarantee women and people of color have a say in cannabis. Work with\u00a0Women Grow<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0outfits like Oakland\u2019s Hood Incubator<\/a>. If there\u2019s not a chapter or an analogue in your town, start it. At the least, recognize how the end of the drug war can be the start of a marijuana industry civil-rights movement.<\/p>\n Americans are living through an era where income inequality has reached levels comparable to Russia<\/a> and worse that Rwanda<\/a>. In order to reverse this trend, think about supporting farmer co-ops and small businesses. Make no mistake: It appears that marijuana monoliths are coming. For example,\u00a0lawmakers in California were working<\/a>\u00a0on small-farmer protections, when large donations pushed the state to cut those protections from their temporary regulations<\/a>. Buy from small producers. Ask about their practices before you purchase \u2014 if something doesn\u2019t check out, if it\u2019s not clean and they\u2019re not transparent, take your money somewhere else.<\/p>\n Now is the time when the foundation we\u2019ll rely on for years to come is being poured. You, the consumer, have more power than anyone to determine what kind of house we\u2019re building, and who is invited inside.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> what cannabis causes do you support?<\/p>\n The post The 12 Days of Kushmas: 4 Calling Causes<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The holiday season is a wonderful time to think about giving back to the community, so on the fourth day of Kushmas, my true love gave to me: four calling causes! Moments before announcing the winners of California\u2019s most prestigious cannabis award on Dec. 10, The Emerald Cup\u2019s organizers offeredContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2695,2252,50,80,119],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22030,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22029\/revisions\/22030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1) Help cannabis POWs, marijuana refugees and stigmatized rebels<\/h4>\n
2) Support legalization with ensured safe access for everyone<\/h4>\n
3) Fight for an equitable industry<\/h4>\n
4) Be a responsible consumer: Support responsible producers, safe products and small business<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: The 12 Days of Kushmas: 4 Calling Causes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"