In the cold Canadian winter of 2010, a Toronto-based activist known as Amy Anonymous began handing out bags of milk, cookies, warm clothes and (for those who want it) cannabis, to help the city\u2019s homeless. Nine years later, and with cannabis now legal in Canada, she\u2019s still going at it.<\/p>\n
The activist initiative was originally called \u201cMilk & Cookies for the Homeless,\u201d but it has now been redubbed \u201cMilk & Cookies & Cannabis for the Less Fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started in the winter of 2010,\u201d Anonymous told Cannabis Now over the phone. \u201cI saw this guy who I passed every day, and saw that his clothes were ripped. So I went to the store bought him a hat and gloves, and he was so grateful.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Later, she said, \u201cI brought some bud for him to smoke, and papers. He had a lighter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anonymous<\/a> was already working at a cannabis dispensary in the Toronto area, and was using the herb for pain relief following a car accident.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I understood how cannabis can help with pain, with mood elevation,\u201d she says. She thought those were things that could help people who are \u201csitting on hard cold pavement all day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like I was giving him medicine,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThe equivalent of a Tylenol \u2014 but natural, because that\u2019s what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Donations From Across Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n In the first winter of Milk & Cookies, Anonymous gave out 20 packages containing milk and cookies, hats and gloves \u2014 and, optionally, cannabis. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was all donated by the cannabis community following a social media campaign,\u201d Anonymous says. \u201cThis really brought everyone together for the greater good \u2014 growers, sellers and buyers alike.\u201d<\/p>\n The project, which has continued every holiday season since then, started before Canada adopted cannabis legalization nationwide<\/a>. With legalization in effect, adults in Canada are allowed to gift up to 30 grams of cannabis to adults over 18.<\/p>\n This winter, Anonymous says she already has 70 bags prepared, with winter coats as well as gloves and the knitted caps that Canadians call a toque. Each bag also contains a\u00a0personal-size carton of milk and a few cookies, which Anonymous makes herself.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first year it was chocolate chip, this year it\u2019s sugar cookies,\u201d she says. \u201cHomemade cookies, made with love.\u201d<\/p>\n The bags also include $10 in \u201cpreloaded food cards\u201d redeemable in local fast-food outlets. With these, recipients can order a meal and nurse it, and be out of the cold for an hour or two. Anonymous says the restaurants have to honor the cards, and have not complained.<\/p>\n \u201cHumans are humans, whether or not they have a roof to sleep under,\u201d she says. \u201cThey can still enter and use your establishment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And finally, the bags contain cannabis \u2014 always dried flower. \u201cWe don\u2019t give out edibles because of dosage issues,\u201d Anonymous says. \u201cThis year, we had a\u00a0donation of pre-rolls of CBD flower.\u201d<\/p>\n Anonymous emphasizes: \u201cWe always ask if they consume cannabis, and if they are of legal age.\u201d<\/p>\n Anonymous says she is building a relationship with some local shelters around Toronto. Some of these now allow Anonymous and her team to give out packages outside, even if cannabis is not allowed inside as a \u201cnarcotic.\u201d In which case, she tells recipients not to consume on the premises. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to help people, we\u2019re not trying to start problems,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n But mostly, she says, \u201cWe walk around the streets of Toronto, especially streets known to have people in need of assistance.\u201d She adds,\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s kind of sad that year after year, we see a lot of the same faces.\u201d<\/p>\n Anonymous anticipates that the project will only grow. \u201cWe\u2019re now receiving donations from around the country,\u201d she says \u2014 again, mostly from folks in the cannabis community.<\/p>\n Fueled by soaring housing costs, Toronto is experiencing a homelessness crisis, with advocates\u00a0estimating<\/a>\u00a0close to 10,000 people are sleeping on the streets on any given night, on top of many thousands more in the city\u2019s overstretched shelters. The city\u2019s winters are notoriously harsh. Late last January, the\u00a0Canadian Broadcasting Corporation<\/a>\u00a0reported that four people had already lost their lives due to homelessness in the city that year. Little tent encampments are common under the minimal shelter of highway overpasses, and activists are demanding that Mayor John Tory declare a \u201chomeless emergency<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2028A Local Personality<\/strong><\/p>\n As her\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0makes clear, Amy Anonymous has been a figure in the Toronto cannabis community for a long time.<\/p>\n \u201cI worked in the cannabis industry back when it was illegal,\u201d she states. \u201cCannabis got me off painkillers after my accident. I started baking with it, and made instructional videos of the preparation for a local website.\u201d<\/p>\n She wore dark glasses and a floppy hat to hide her identity in the videos, and became known as Amy Anonymous.<\/p>\n Anonymous continues to have a strong online presence. She recently produced some videos for the humor site\u00a0Swearnet<\/a>, including trailers for what may become ongoing shows, entitled \u201cCannabis<\/a>\u201d and \u201cHigh F*ckers<\/a>.\u201d The High F*ckers explore local cannabis culture in obsessively irreverent terms, for instance in their\u00a0420 Toronto Special<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Anonymous does see a serious side to her work. In addition to the simple humanitarian aspect of what she does, she says she is also trying to send a message about cannabis and the people who use it.<\/p>\n \u201cMy goal has always been to make cannabis normal, to reduce the stigma,\u201d Anonymous says.\u00a0\u201cI think we\u2019re succeeding, and I love being a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, what are you doing to give back this holiday season?<\/p>\n The post Why One Activist Is Giving Milk, Cookies & Cannabis to the Homeless<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
In the cold Canadian winter of 2010, a Toronto-based activist known as Amy Anonymous began handing out bags of milk, cookies, warm clothes and (for those who want it) cannabis, to help the city\u2019s homeless. Nine years later, and with cannabis now legal in Canada, she\u2019s still going at it.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34,50,99,221,1047],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40059"}],"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\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40060,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40059\/revisions\/40060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Why One Activist Is Giving Milk, Cookies & Cannabis to the Homeless<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"