Grow Green: Article for Organic Audiences

Using the Essence of Robust Plants from Sub-Saharan Africa

by James E. Kostrava

     The “Grow Green,” all natural, organic movement is nothing new.  For generations people have been passionately encouraging growers of fruits and vegetables [and now medicinal plants] to reduce or eliminate the use of harmful, synthetic pesticides.  That is great, and commendable, but to be realistic you have to put yourself in the position of the farmer.  She says, “Yes, I’d love to grow green. But how can I do that?  If I don’t use pesticides, harmful pests will simply eat [and destroy] my crops.”  That was true until very recently.  But now, using a method called, “Bioadaptive Supplementation,” growers are able to replace many synthetic pesticides that contain heavy metals with all natural, organic plant supplements made by extracting the essence of robust plants from sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Takes Witness to the Crisis of “Medical Refugees”

by Chelsea Shaker

     Medical marijuana for children is a debate in itself, set aside from the normal debates of medical marijuana for adults. The positive benefits of medical marijuana for pediatric debilitating conditions, as well as the negatives of the unknown- insufficient legislation allowing for pediatric access to medical marijuana, lawmakers still not passing any medical marijuana legislation, and the stigma of marijuana is not medicine still being felt from medical professionals, is at the forefront of debate as of late. It has been the spotlight issue of CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who has recently recinded his opposition of marijuana for medicinal purposes after witnessing the accounts of numerous parents and patients suffering from various forms of severely debilitating conditions, in particular epilepsy. After hearing of medical marijuana treating Dravet Syndrome, a serious form of epilepsy for then-4 year old Charlotte Figi in 2012, Gupta investigated further into the science behind medical marijuana. This included witnessing first-hand the relief of the cannabis oil for Charlotte and meeting with the Stanley Brothers (of Realm of Compassion in Colorado) who provided the seizure-reducing, non-psychoactive strain.

CANNABIS PROHIBITION: WAR AGAINST JOY AND INSIGHT

by Chuck Ream

     When we get high with ganja we reliably feel happy. We often gain improved insight and perspective from “seeing the world in a new light”. Pleasure and “understanding”, however, are two major reasons pot is illegal.

VGIP - Local Petition Drives 2014

by Ben Horner

     To legalize or not to legalize, that is the question for maybe as many as a dozen cities this year in Michigan. In this election cycle, the VGIP is assisting several of the local petition drives to remove local penalties for possession and use of small amounts of marijuana. So far, cities that the Coalition for Safer Michigan, lead by Chuck Ream, Tim Beck and Justin Soffa, have targeted include: the city of Lapeer, Oak Park, Saginaw, East Lansing, Port Huron, Hazel Park, Onaway, Utica, Mt. Pleasant and several other possibilities.

Cannabis as a Treatment for Drug Dependency - Chelea Shaker

 

     With Heroin and Prescription Drug Addictions on the Rise in Michigan, Cannabis offers an alternative, medicinal treatment for drug dependency.

FREE THE WEED 37 - John Sinclair

  
 Highest greetings from New Orleans, where I’m about to leave for Detroit after the coldest and wettest Mardi Gras of modern times that pretty much took the fun out of everything. It’s been cold here well into the middle of March, although nothing like the winter in Detroit, and I guess it’ll take a while more for me to get some warm weather here in the States.
    Maybe the sun will come out for the Hash Bash in Ann Arbor on April 5th, because when it does the people who gather on the Diag and then at the Monroe Street Fair have the most beautiful time getting high in public, digging the music, shopping at the booths, munching some of Domenick’s pizza and sharing hours of exciting and fulfilling human fellowship under the sun.