Benjamin Horner
In the summer of 2011, I attended the first Cannabis Camp hosted by Peter O’Toole (known by his friends as Uncle Pete) in the woods of a private campground close to Houghton Lake, Michigan. This was just a few months after we started the Michigan Medical Marijuana Report (now just the Michigan Marijuana Report). Having opened Flint’s first medical marijuana dispensary, I was learning about all the great medicinal values of cannabis. Meeting Uncle Pete that weekend in northern Michigan changed my life. I went back to Houghton lake to check on the O’Tooles and see what Pete and his family are up to.
At that first Cannabis Camp, shortly after pitching up my tent, Peter O’Toole came out of his humble camper trailer on the far end of the camp to greet me with a big fat joint in his hand and the magic began. There were plenty of sick people lined up to see Uncle Pete. Back then growers in Michigan were just learning and most pot was still being imported. O’Toole was more advanced than most growers, but more importantly he also had been working directly to help patients find medical marijuana treatments for specific medical conditions. It was there that I learned how to make cannabis oil, aka RSO, from Uncle Pete. With his permission we printed the story which gave full instructions on how to make the oil.
Uncle Pete is a true believer of cannabis oil as a medicine for cancer and a large variety of other conditions. Treating his own liver cancer successfully was the proof he needed. Same thing with Joe Crow, a friend of Pete’s that suffered from a large tumor on his neck that shrunk while using the oil, who taught Pete how to extract medicinal cannabinoids. Then there was Amy Joe, who had a brain tumor and was in a wheelchair from a tragic accident, who came back to camp after three weeks of being on the oil out of the wheelchair and walking. Feeling blessed, Pete decided that he should share what he learned with as many people as he could. And he did, making videos of how to grow, how to make RSO and edibles and kept working with marijuana patients, sharing their testimonies.
“Since I’ve been taking oil my life has done a full 180°. My New Life started the day he believed in his product to save my life. My tumor is shrinking. Something the doctors never want to believe, they push chemo and pharma meds to do nothing but leave you to fight a battle the odds are against you in. Thanks Pete for letting the odds be in our favor. Much love from the Detmer Family.” -A testimony by Michael Detmer and his recent experience working with Uncle Pete. O’Toole went on with countless more stories, too many to document here.
Another example was a three year old boy with horrible eczema that had burns all over his body from chemical peels. Pete found an original manual on dermatology from 1917 that listed strong cannabis oil as the cure and for Eli and it worked. Everyone was amazed and the mom shared the miraculous information online. Soon CPS was at her door. Pete called Komorn Law, one of the first law firms in the state specializing in protecting the rights of medical marijuana patients.
Michael Komorn and Peter O’Toole became unlikely friends after fighting the criminal justice system, a system that targeted the O’Tooles, and the medical marijuana patients and caregivers that they were working with. Between 2010 and 2016 Peter’s home, and other places where he made cannabis for patients, were raided by the state and local police, temporarily upending his work and the supply of medicine for his patients.
“In my darkest hours after each raid there was only one person I could count on to help us. The only person I could trust to call was Michael Komorn. Komorn and I realized that we come from two different worlds that crossed paths only because of medical marijuana.”
“Komorn exclaimed we are trench buddies!” explained O’Toole passionately, referring to people who fought together in the trenches during wartime. “Thats where the name for the trench buddy strain came from, which is dedicated to Michael for all that he did for me.”
The Trench Buddy seeds are available exclusively through Uncle Pete’s newest venture to share cannabis with the world, the Michigan Marijuana Seed Club. Good genetics is the first step of good medical marijuana. On the clubs website is a huge selection of seeds. Feminized, Izzy’s auto-flower, CBD and straight up F1 crosses are available to everyone thanks to the close knit group working with the O’Toole family.
Everyone can learn a thing or two about cannabis, and Peter O’Toole is the most advanced in his field of medical marijuana in Michigan. You just cannot buy that from a dispensary.
In the conclusion of the interview I asked Uncle Pete if he could do it all over again, would he have tried to avoid all the raids by doing things differently. His answer, “If I could do it all again... I would do it harder. After the raids, the trauma was hard on me and my family, but my publicity only got the word out farther, drawing attention to the miracles of marijuana. I have no fear now and I am dedicated to the power of this plant. It is a gift for everyone!”
