Original subtitles

[Source: Youtube Caption]

when most of us hear the words weed or

cannabis we imagine happy hungry stoners

unwashed and lazing about in the sofa

playing computer games or watching TV

not a care in the world as they waste

their life and brain into oblivion sadly

this has become the popular image and

stigma surrounding the plant

even though research has shown that

cannabis has hundreds of active

compounds is relatively safe to consume

and can treat or even cure thousands of

medical ailments including cancer

cannabis remains illegal or controlled

all over the world the media playas with

stories about the harm cannabis causes

and how it induces psychosis and even

suicide but neglect to highlight the

full details to this day not one person

has died from an overdose of cannabis it

has been theorized that it would take

over a thousand pounds of cannabis being

consumed within an hour to have a fatal

effect since this is impossible

we will not be seeing any deaths

difficult with the cause of death marked

as cannabis overdose any time in the

future cannabis or as non psychoactive

form hemp has been used by humans for

thousands of years and until not so long

ago was a plant prized amongst all

others so why in this day and age does

such a useful plan cause such

controversy why in the UK and so many

other countries around the world is it

illegal in this documentary we will

delve into the past and discover the

evolution of the cannabis plant and the

endocannabinoid system that evolved

within mammals eventually becoming

perfect partners we will explain how our

ancestors used the plant and her empires

were forged with hemp as the main

driving force

most importantly of all we will look

into the medical benefits of cannabis

and how one plant has and can again

change the world

[Music]

[Music]

you

our story begins well at the beginning

13.7 billion years ago a phenomenon we

now call the Big Bang began this single

event was the genesis of all matter and

life in the universe within 10 to the

minus 34 of a second that's a hundredth

of a billionth of a trillionth of a

second in age a singularity that seemed

to pop out from nowhere had expanded by

90 times its size and created all the

elementary particles needed to build a

universe during the first three minutes

of the universe the light elements were

born in a process known as Big Bang

nucleosynthesis temperatures cooled from

103 - Kelvin to 109 Kelvin and protons

and neutrons collided to make deuterium

an isotope of hydrogen

[Music]

fast forwarding through thirteen point

two billion years and we observed the

formation of the stars and then the

galaxies the Milky Way is formed and

roughly 4.3 billion years ago on a

far-flung spiral our home planet Earth

starts to form a fiery ball that will

soon host and take part in all of human

history millions and billions of years

past the planets cool and the oceans

form at an estimated 3 billion years BC

single-cell structures formed in the

oceans then multi-cell then small

creatures we will stop at 600 million

years BC this is where our particular

story begins the creature you're looking

at here is the humble sea squirt the sea

squirt has evolved within itself the

endocannabinoid receptor system to

control how much water goes in and out

of its siphon the endocannabinoid system

was only recently discovered in mammals

in 1992 by dr. rafael michelin as well

as researchers will and yvonne and dr.

liu Mahan's

they discovered the first naturally

occurring endogenous cannabinoid or

endocannabinoid an and amide an and

amide is a fatty acid neurotransmitter

and was named from the sanskrit word an

adder meaning joy or bliss previously in

1963 dr. raphael michelin discovered the

structure of Delta 9 THC and in 1980 a

dr. William Devon discovered the protein

receptor sites cb1 and cb2 in the brain

and throughout the body although I was

surprised that the amount of work that's

currently being done and has been done

on what's called the human in the

cannabinoid system and it may not be

known that all humans produce cannabis

if you like in their brain it's a

natural

ducked called the endocannabinoid system

we produce cannabis like compounds which

have a profound effect on many aspects

of our behavior on pain on motor control

movement control on a growth and

adaptability of the brain potentially on

cancer or mood on memory it's a

fascinating system and this is the the

largest neurotransmitter network in our

body that was only discovered in 1988 so

it's a it's a relatively speaking a very

recent knowledge and the endocannabinoid

system consists of receptors there are

two types of receptors identified so far

except is in the brain in the immune

system in our gut and any most organs in

the body the receptors is the first

thing the second elements are ligands or

microscopic amounts of chemicals or fats

oils or fats which are called

endocannabinoids and the third element

is the endocannabinoid system there are

enzymes the enzymes are responsible for

manufacturing the endocannabinoids in

the first place we'll all help him with

them to break down so these three

components working together are the

endocannabinoid system and the reason

it's called the endocannabinoid system

is because these cantonese cannabinoids

these endocannabinoids are remarkably

simply not exactly the same but they're

remarkably similar to the cannabinoids

defined in the cannabis plant an and

amide fits the cb1 and cb2 receptor

sites like a key in a lock as well as

being a mood enhancer an and amide helps

control height weight and reproduction

amongst other things in the body leaving

the sea squirt behind we move forward

566 million years and time 234 million

years bc here in the mountains of

kazakhstan the cannabis plant has

evolved from humilis lupulus

are more commonly known as the hops

plant the flower of which is still used

to this day in the brewing process for

beer evolving at such high elevation

present the plant with many unique

environmental pressures to better

survive the high UV radiation levels

low-oxygen and increased predators

cannabinoids such as THC were used to

retain water reflect sunlight and ward

off predators tetrahydrocannabinol or

THC is the most famous cannabinoid and

the one responsible for the plants

psychoactive effect

THC was discovered by dr. Raphael

Missoula in the 1960s by separating the

compounds of the plant and testing each

individually on animals and then humans

noticing that only one gave a sedative

effect shulam discovered the

psychoactive compound responsible for

the marijuana hi the naturally occurring

chemical compound THC found in the

cannabis plant has a different chemical

makeup but fits the cb1 and cb2 receptor

sites perfectly magnifying the mood

enhancing effect normally caused by

indigenous cannabinoids such as an and

amide it is not just an and amide and

THC that act on these receptors there

are many other cannabinoids and

endocannabinoids that act directly or

indirectly such as 2 AG CBD CNB and THC

a amongst others and each has a

different effect on the body so the

cannabis plant and the reason the

cannabis plant has a therapeutic

response and living organisms has a

physiological impact on users creates an

emotional response has to do with the

fact that it has multiple unique

biologically and physiologically active

compounds in the plant the two most

prevalent compounds that we find in the

cannabis plant are tetrahydrocannabinol

or THC the other being CBD cannabidiol

now they are far from the only active

constituents in the marijuana plant but

again they're the most they're the ones

that we find most prevalent in the plant

over the next thirty four million years

man will evolved from primates and

nearly 99% of all species that ever

existed have been wiped out

8,000 years BC the plant has gone

through many changes and a relatively

new species roughly 250,000 years old

has become the top predator and the

first to drastically manipulate its

environment through thought desire and

determination a major leap forward will

be their agriculture of crops this will

lead to an explosion in technology the

ability for humans to live in groups

larger than 150 and is the basis of

modern civilization for now we are in an

ancient village located in an area of

modern-day Taiwan from this village

archaeologists have found hemp cord used

in pottery hemp refers to strains of

cannabis sativa that have been bred

specifically for its fibres and not for

its psychoactive effect this is the

oldest known use for the plant and marks

the beginning of human agricultural

crops in 1977 Carl Sagan stated that

marijuana may actually have been the

world's first agricultural crop leading

to the development of civilization

itself 6000 BC China cannabis is

recorded for its seeds and oil used in

food 5000 BC India stems were used for

fiber to make cloth it's fruit for food

and oil and its resin for medicine

[Music]

2737 BC Emperor Shang yang of China is

recorded for prescribing marijuana tea

for the treatment of malaria rheumatism

gout to help with the sharpening of

memory increased eloquence and the

stimulation of appetite the plant's

popularity as a medicine spreads

throughout Asia the Middle East and down

the eastern coast of Africa ancient

physicians prescribe marijuana for

everything from pain relief to earache

to childbirth throughout the world

cannabis is quickly becoming a wonder

treatment for hundreds of ailments and

disorders its popularity seems

unstoppable 1550 BC Egypt by 1550 BC

ancient Egyptians were very aware of the

medical properties of cannabis in some

ways way surpassing our modern knowledge

the APUs papyrus was written around this

time period and is one of the oldest

complete medical tax discovered so far

the book mentions medical compounds

containing hemp for many medical

problems including inflammation glaucoma

hemorrhoids epilepsy - wave of

depression and other psychological

problems and even in the treatment of

cancer it was noted the cannabis was not

a cure but treatment to help with the

symptoms of the ailments the mummy of

ramasees ii that was excavated in 1881

was found to have traces of cannabis in

its remains since then many mummies that

have been exhumed have shown similar

traces of the plant in their system

indicating that cannabis was part of the

culture and everyday life in ancient

Egypt

[Music]

say hat the goddess of wisdom is

depicted here with a colorful cannabis

leaf above her head these depictions

date back from thousands of years ago

207 BC China the hyung dynasty periods

hemp was being mixed with mulberry tree

bark to make a low-cost durable paper

used by the masses the Old Testament

mentions cannabis in the recipe for the

holy anointing oil Exodus 30 verses 22

to 23 the healer of a local renown will

infuse 9 pans of a plant known in

Aramaic is Kiana blossom the fragrant

came in to about six quarts of olive oil

along with essential extracts of myrrh

cinnamon and kasaya

Kiana bottom has been translated to mean

cannabis rendered from the traditional

Hebrew word cannabis interestingly the

first time the word cannabis 'm is

mentioned in the bible is in relation to

Moses and the burning bush when God

gives him the recipe for the holy

anointing oil the Roman Empire traded in

hemp they imported it from the far-flung

corners of the Empire and distributed it

around the world they used it for rope

sells clothes paper food and medicine

amongst others the demand was such that

the whole Empire was in constant

production and could never produce

enough

the power of the Roman Empire made the

plant commonplace across the globe ad a

hundred and sixty Greek physician

Claudius ghilane writes for the first

time in Europe about the plants

psychoactive effect : noted that ham

cakes if eaten in moderation produced a

feeling of well-being but taken to

excess they led to intoxication and

dehydration

[Music]

8400 hemp is cultivated in the UK with

the fading of the Roman Empire Europe

begins to grow its own hemp to replace

the Roman imports the Vikings used hemp

in nearly all aspects of life from

clothes to cells and their ships 900 AD

Arabs learned techniques for making

paper using the same techniques that the

Chinese used thousands of years before

them by the 12th century this paper

making knowledge was taken to Europe as

early as the 10th century the Persian

medical writer Alam Misaka recommended

that the juice of the hemp leaves be

poured into the nose to prevent seizures

in the 15th century the polymath Ali

Berardi claimed that the Epilepsy of the

Sun of the caliphates Chamberlain was

successfully treated with cannabis resin

1533 England King Henry the eighth

issues a royal proclamation that farmers

must put land aside for the growth of

hemp countries such as India China and

the African colonies are chosen for the

hemp growing potential as the British

Empire grows and the demand for ropes

sails fishing line oil paper medicine

and clothes increases 1753 the Swedish

botanist Carlos Linnaeus names the plant

cannabis for the first time more

specifically cannabis sativa

from the Latin meaning cultivated

he based the word on cannabis an old

Greek word for hemp in 1764 medical

marijuana appears in the New England

dispensary in 1840 Britain sir jr.

Reynolds chief physician to Queen

Victoria prescribes medical marijuana to

the Queen to aid with her menstrual

cramps in Victorian Britain medical

cannabis was being used for ailments

such as muscle spasms rheumatism and

epilepsy studies in 1840 by French

doctor jacquees Joseph Marui found that

marijuana suppresses headaches increases

appetite and aided people to sleep by

1850 in America cannabis based medicines

are available the u.s. pharmacy pedia

lists its use for over hundred separate

illnesses and diseases including pain

management as a cold treatment neuralgia

tetanus typhus cholera rabies dysentery

alcoholism opiate addiction anthrax

leprosy incontinence gout compulsive

disorders tonsillitis insanity excessive

menstrual bleeding and utrom bleeding

amongst others

Cannabis a simple plant classified as a

weed a plant that has an almost

symbiotic relationship with humans we

dispersed it around the planet and it

repays us with medicine food oil and

strong natural fibers a plant that has

shaped the modern world like no other

before it is about to be systematically

made illegal around the Western world

thousands of years of cultivation

medicine paper and clothing is about to

come to an end along with a safe

powerful medicine by 1914 in America in

response to the influx of Mexican

immigrants who use cannabis for its

psychoactive properties rather than the

medical use the Harrison Act in the u.s.

defined the use of marijuana as a crime

by 1915 cannabis begins to be prohibited

for non-medical use all across the

United States by 1927 the prohibition is

complete

if we look at the origins of cannabis

prohibition in this country they really

begin with the stigmatization of certain

races that were believed to be using

cannabis and even today those

stereotypes continue to exist they

continue to be perpetuated this is

really part of a larger cultural and

class warfare in our society and

actually has very little to do with

marijuana itself in 1928 recreational

use of cannabis is banned in Britain

cannabis was made illegal in the United

Kingdom on the 20th of September 1928 as

an addition to the dangerous drugs act

1920 however doctors were able to

prescribe cannabis for medical use until

exactly 43 years later when on September

28th 1971 the misuse of Drugs Act was

introduced in 1936 the American

propaganda film reefer madness was

produced to scare the American youth

away from cannabis the film incited that

cannabis causes madness and turns men

into rapists

[Music]

[Applause]

here's a word of warning to both old and

young pay heed to me before it is too

late there's a vicious plan that looks

so innocent but it stem comes from the

words of hey marijuana the devil's

flower if you're using marijuana and

made them 1937 US Congress passes the

marihuana Tax Act which criminalizes the

drug in response William C warwood

testifying on behalf of the AMA told

Congress that quoting the American

Medical Association knows of no evidence

that marijuana is a dangerous drug and

warned that a prohibition loses sight of

the fact that future investigations may

show that there are substantial medical

uses for cannabis his comments were

ignored by Congress as part of the

testimony for Congress to pass the 1937

Act derived from articles and newspapers

owned by William Randolph Hearst who had

a significant final interest in the

timber industry that manufactured his

newspaper in 1941 cannabis is removed

from the u.s. farmer Superior and its

medical use is no longer recognized in

America

so where are we now present day the

plant is still illegal across most of

the world

pharmaceutical companies fill the

medical gap with synthetic and toxic

drugs oil is being pumped from the

oceans our paper is inferior and hemp

can produce four times the yield in a

comparable time frame the worst of these

is the removal of a safe medicine 600

years ago the Arabs were treating

childhood epilepsy successfully with

cannabis today in a world of

overwhelming technological advancements

our children and adults are placed on a

plethora of toxic drugs that have little

to no effect and in most cases are

highly addictive

[Music]

my name is Charlotte Caldwell and I have

a little boy called ballet who has a

condition called intractable epilepsy

and he also in the highest spectrum of

autism Billie intractable epilepsy is

just that his seizures cannot be

controlled by epilepsy medications or or

by diet he's also a starless epileptic

which means that when belly goes on to a

seizure he can't come back out in his

own any type of seizure and the child is

a very very dangerous but in Belize case

the the status epilepticus bail is then

required a rescue med each time that

human done to establish seizure and he

also goes below and requires oxygen he

also the an advanced stage was just

developed this where he would only take

a seizures at night which again is a

real dangerous form he was taking him in

asleep

I tried to access the an evaluation or

an urgent medical evaluation here in our

own country but to no avail was told it

would be six nine months witnessed in

September in March 2006 when Valley was

sent home to die the first time with his

condition epilepsy I had found at that

stage what's called as a pediatric

hematologist in Chicago called Professor

nordley and he had saved Billy's life

after numerous tests when we arrived in

California and there was numerous tests

on valet they discovered a lesion on his

left temporal lobe they looked at the

lesion and through many different scans

the lesion the the left temporal lobe

actually controls your speech and memory

and in Belize case it would have been

most likely if they were to proceed with

surgery that bully would the would have

had to have removed all of his left

temporal lobe which would have meant

that Billy would have lost his speech

and his memory and his ability to walk

pack up his toys drunk from Moscow

cetera so after a long discussion was a

police a pathologist and could we

considered the fact that belly had been

through many antiepileptic medications

we discussed medicinal cannabis and and

I said yes that let's give it a go

what have we got to lose so belly

started forced on CBD the was the

doctor's advice he had a establish at

whether belly was the CBD responder or

not we tried a couple of different forms

of CBD oils till we eventually find one

that was looking like it was working for

ballet it was micro dosed very small

doses slowly over a period of time and

the first I think probably the first

time I actually realized that the CBD

was actually working for ballet was when

he was still having the same amount of

seizures but the the length of the

seizure was actually reducing which was

amazing for me even to get him to that

stage where he had a reduction in the

length of his seizures was just

absolutely amazing because that meant

that Billy didn't need a rescue meant

which was just fantastic for me because

a lot of the time he suffered quite

badly from the side effects of the

rescue medication he then started to I

noticed was some as well has eye contact

getting a lot better

becoming more aware of her surroundings

noticing things more paying more

attention to me more attention to his

books his toys

jigsaws etc he was it was like his brain

was making connections that I had never

seen before

and the but the really really great part

about it for me as well as Polly's mommy

was that I was sayin it was almost like

I was making my new song it was like

Billy had loved with me and I had been

his mommy for 11 years but I was

starting to see a different belly it was

like meeting a new song it was just an

amazing feeling and every week they went

past the seizures then started to reduce

in quantity and he started to improve in

all aspects of his physical ability and

and and his mental ability to finally we

got him where we couldn't go any higher

on the CBD but we had got ballet to 98%

seizure free which was absolutely

incredible we found good evidence not

quite as overwhelming but good evidence

for a variety of other indications one

was epilepsy and particularly children

with various forms of childhood

resistant epilepsy that can you can work

wonders for them it can actually stop

people having several tens of seizures

each day so that's so remarkable effect

in some people but not in everybody but

more studies need to be done on that

indication yeah kids were epilepsy yeah

I think we probably have about three

four kids that parents come in and they

buy tinctures and and you know the

doctor told them hey star with a low

doses and they come in and buy him and

they literally you see them like every

week and they're like it's so much

better than giving them like 10 pills a

day and

you know her in their stomach and you

know and not only that is the price

itself the other indication was for

Parkinson's disease

surprisingly there's been some very good

individual examples of cannabis really

stopping profound movements in

Parkinson's disease and can be

dramatically helpful for some people but

the evidence that it is across the cross

the spectrum is still rather lacking and

again it simply means those studies

haven't been done to confirm what helps

what dosage what type of cannabis how

often you have to take it what form you

have to take it in its those studies

that are lacking it clearly helps many

people with Parkinson's but the evidence

is still a little bit thin on the ground

to sort of formally recommend it my name

is Ian Frisell I have early onset

Parkinson's disease I was formerly

diagnosed in 2011 but I've been

suffering symptoms since about 1995 the

main symptom that I suffer due to

Parkinson's is tremor which affects all

four limbs my neck my jaw amytal sacrum

tremor I have dystonia in my feet which

causes my toes to curl under my foot and

muscular stiffness and weakness those

are all motor symptoms of the non-motor

symptoms lack of motivation is the worst

and most debilitating assistant symptom

that I have there are many other minor

symptoms such as loss of sense of smell

but those are my major symptoms my life

has changed quite dramatically since

diagnosis I hadn't decided to retire

from being a computer consultant and do

little property developments keep me

busy and to earn a crust I've just

bought this cottage as a renovation

project I've completely gutted it I

don't have symptoms I didn't relate to

my tremor which I've suffered with

mildly for many years I liked energy was

falling asleep during the day I had no

motivation and all of these things

turned out to be due to my Parkinson's

my symptoms have become more pronounced

following some dental work which led to

my diagnosis repeating these days I do

not work I simply don't have the energy

and I'm constantly battling like a

motivation it's one of the non-motor

symptoms of Parkinson's

I came to use cannabis through

researching natural tremor control on

the Internet

there are various foods that sits behind

dopamine but I tried them and got no

benefit I came across a number of

accounts of people with Parkinson's

using cannabis to calm tremor I was

getting desperate at this stage so I

asked a friend who I knew used cannabis

recreationally who'd get me something to

try I smoked a little and the effects

were almost instant it gave me a 90 to

95 percent reduction in trauma as a

bonus it also received my dystonia and

helping my speech I've used it ever

since

yeah as soon as you vape the cannabis

you do get the hit so immediately it

feels like Rush and then sort of five or

ten minutes later the relaxation kicks

in and I just feel the tremor melt away

really

yes I've personally seen cannabis

working the most dramatic I've seen is

in the context of Parkinson's disease

where people can have as a as a side

effect of medication or as part of the

Parkinson disease itself they're gonna

have quite profound tremors and

sometimes even wild movements of the

arms and you can give cannabis and it

can stop those movements so that's the

most dramatic and short-term immediate

impact so what's the science here the

endocannabinoid system is the largest

neurotransmitter network in our bodies

the main function of the endocannabinoid

system is homeostasis homeostasis is a

concept that most biological systems are

actively regulated to maintain

conditions within a narrow range

homeostasis is the regulations of the

body's functions and has been compared

to the concept of the Goldilocks zone

deriving from the story of Goldilocks

and the three bears

where Goldilocks prefers the just right

porridge not too hot and not too cold

just the right balance of both this

expression is used mainly to show a

planet like Earth that is just the right

distance from the Sun to sustain life

a position that is just right our bodies

conditions need to be just right for

ourselves to maintain an optimum

performance the body's endocannabinoid

system is a vital system for helping to

maintain homeostasis it helps the cells

stay in their Goldilocks and often

referred to as the modulation effect

this gives us a very good insight as to

how cannabis CBD and THC stop or calm

epileptic or Parkinson's fits and

tremors in one example under

cannabinoids are created when an

overactive neuron fires excessively such

as in the case with epilepsy the neurons

connected that are not affected will

send endocannabinoids to lower the

activity and bring the cell back to the

Goldilocks zone in cases of severe

epilepsy the endocannabinoids are too

weak and too few to overcome this

imbalance coupled with a fact that

metabolic enzymes such as F aah and ma

GL quickly break down and and amide and

to AG shortening their effects CBD and

THC are like a steroid shot to the

endocannabinoid system having a much

stronger effect than the

endocannabinoids themselves CBD and THC

RF aah and M AGL resistant meaning that

the effects last longer and are more

pronounced CBD also prolongs the effects

of endocannabinoids such as an and amide

this is why the flavor of foods

especially those containing milk such as

chocolate and cakes etc are hyper

exaggerated whilst on cannabis the

Ananda might breakdown is delayed by the

CBD and the THC meaning its blissful

effects last longer in turn the

modulation effects last longer and

afflictions such as fits and tremors

reach a point of homeostasis quicker and

are maintained for longer

although cannabis is not a cure for

epilepsy or Parkinson's it is an

effective treatment and it is so safe it

can be used by children without

any known negative side effects the

endocannabinoid system is often only

activated where and when it is needed

so when CBD is taken it goes in a sense

straight to where the problem is located

the cannabis oil again it was a very

slow process has I contacted Billy would

have never ever given you follow on eye

contact in fact it's just completely

avoid would have boiled G at all course

he is more interested in his

surroundings more interested in me

looking at me and a big thing for me was

he wants TM to react with me now he

didn't know how I tend to react but now

he was sort of beside you comment sat

down in the seat beside you set up at

the table beside you he will Hong Ki he

wants two to two and three accuracy he

he started this thing as well in Italy

of common and looking student your face

and staring into your face which I find

hilarious I remember the first time we

did it which was absolutely an amazing

the most amazing thing in the world and

and it made me also realize that there

was a little boy in there and he was

wanting to come out and he was going to

come out I just had to keep doing what I

was doing was I'm the medicinal cannabis

because it was just making him start to

express himself and it was just such an

amazing feeling as a mum wait for after

11 years not having any of that and then

all of a sudden he's he's he wants to do

got lost my so it was an amazing

positive moment I think the current

legislation in regards to kind of miss

Burgess on the criminal although there

aren't to my knowledge any studies which

prove the case from its medicinal use of

cannabis for Parkinson's and health care

professionals will tell you that it is

unproven those same help health care

professionals do know and some have

admitted that it can be useful in some

cases I'm one of those cases

I've asked repeatedly over the last two

or three years to be prescribed cannabis

and if you told that unable to do so yet

those same health care professionals are

quite happy to prescribe

powerful drugs with unpleasant known

side-effects which they know do not help

my symptoms that's just got to be wrong

when we think about the medical benefits

of cannabis we really need to understand

what what they are based on and it turns

out that the human body endogenous li

our own body produces identical or

virtually identical compounds to what

you find in the cannabis plant and the

neurotransmitter system that produces

and regulates those compounds is called

the endocannabinoid system it's present

in your brain it's present in your

organs is present in your skin its

present in upwards of 90% of your body

and wherever the endocannabinoid system

is its purpose is the same which is to

maintain or restore homeostasis your

body's natural balance so cannabis is

good for just about anything that ails

you and you know in the beginning when I

started talking about about cannabis we

didn't even know about the

endocannabinoid system people would just

say all but that hippie is crazy

he thinks cannabis is good for

everything right well it turns out that

that that cannabis is because what it

does is it has this modulating effect

where it restores your body's natural

balance the best example of the

modulating effect of cannabis that I can

get comes out of an Israeli nursing home

study where something like a hundred

nursing home elderly nursing home

patients were supplied with cannabis and

all of them reported improved sleep

decrease in nightmares right but the

really interesting thing was that those

who were overweight dropped weight and

came closer to their ideal body mass

index and those who were underweight

gained weight and came closer to their

ideal body mass index this is the

modulating effect of cannabis the

endocannabinoid system is the

explanation for why cannabis is good for

reducing cancer tumors easing epileptic

seizures a quelling

depression alleviating anxiety and

insomnia mitigating chronic pain there's

there are just an incredibly wide range

of medical uses for cannabis so 20 years

from now my prediction is that the

rediscovery and the Renaissance of

medical cannabis will be looked upon as

the most important medical development

since the discovery of germ theory

so there has long been interest in the

relationship between cannabis and cancer

for many decades it was presumed or it

was opined that cannabis might play a

role in causing cancer cancer the lungs

cancer of the upper arrow digestive

tract for instance and what we've seen

over time is that the data has never

substantiated that fear what is known

today is that the use of cannabis even

long-term does not seem to be associated

with the diagnosis of the sort of

tobacco-related cancers that many people

expected and in fact some of those

studies have shown that people that use

cannabis are actually less likely to be

diagnosed with some of these diseases

compared to people who don't use

marijuana at all so that's been a very

interesting finding and it's led some

scientists to further look into this

question of whether cannabis are again

the constituents in the canvas plant

might actually play a role in cancer

prevention or in mitigating the spread

of cancer now we have preliminary data

we have cell studies we have animal

models that show that cannabinoids

clearly can kill cancer cells we know

the mechanism of action and we have seen

these results consistently again in

petri dishes in animal models of course

the $64 question is whether cannabis

would provide those same sort of results

and activity in humans with cancer and

we don't know the answer to that

question we know that cannabinoids can

trigger apoptosis which is programmed

cell death and will admit cancer cells

and animals we know that it can do that

in a petri dish

we don't know the dosage that would be

required to safely and effectively

achieve those same sort of result

and humans and it's unfortunate we don't

know because absent the long-standing

politican abyss we probably would know

the answer to that question today my

name's Linc oxen

I've got breast cancer I was diagnosed

on the 28th of June this year with a

grade 3 aggressive tumor estrogen

positive her2 negative with extensive

lymph node involvement in under my

almond in my neck I found a lump and

went to see my GP and she said it was a

cause for concern and referred me to the

breast care unit I was lucky to get an

appointment the following morning so by

10 o'clock the next day I knew that I

had breast cancer because I could see it

on the scan she showed it to me and I

obviously said is it assist and she said

no and I said so is it cancer

she said yes they the tumor was big it

looked enormous

and there was extensive lymph node

involvement under my arms and in my neck

I saw the consultant on the Tuesday and

he told me that the tumor was 33

millimeters but it hadn't spread

anywhere else was just in my lymph nodes

and he told me I would need 8 rounds of

chemotherapy followed by a lumpectomy or

a mastectomy and then radiotherapy so I

went away and I did lots of reading and

research because I just wanted to know

what I could do for me because the thing

with cancer is it takes away your

control you're not in control anymore

and I don't find that very easy so I did

a lot of research and I knew about

cannabis oil CBD oil because of someone

that we'd helped through work and she

got non-hodgkins lymphoma and

chemotherapy hadn't worked it hadn't

killed the cancer so that she could

actually have a bone marrow transplant

and they sent her home to die

Claire family got her on to CBD oil and

when she went back for her scam aid they

weren't expecting to see her and B she

was cancer-free and able to have that

bone marrow transplant and everything I

read and online and and I got some books

as well just reinforced the fact that

CBD cannabis all seemed to work and I

thought I'm going to give this a go so

on the 7th of July I started to take it

I was seeing the consultant again on the

24th of July and he described the lump

then as palpable

which meant that it was soft well it

hadn't been soft it felt like the corner

of a table and so and from then on I

couldn't actually feel this lump at all

so it came to two days before I was due

to start my chemotherapy and I rang the

hospital and said you know I can't feel

this lump anymore can I have another

ultrasound scar and they said no so I

rang my GP and she referred me to the

local new field hospital and I had a

private scan which I paid for what I

didn't know was that the man who the

radiologist who did the scan actually

was part of the breast care team and he

had my original scans he'd asked for

them so he I could see in doing it I

could see on the screen that there was

still some tumor there and and he said

well actually it's smaller so I said how

much smaller and he said all in good

time when he'd finished his eyes were

like saucers and he said it shrunk do

you mind if I do a mammogram and I said

oh of course I don't

so he did a mammogram and then took me

in the office and showed me and the

original tumor 33 millimeters was now 11

millimeters and the lymph nodes which

had been 25 millimeters so they were big

like grapes we're down to ten and and

the mammogram where us before the tumor

was like a pebble

it was just hazing so the whole density

of it had changed completely so

obviously then I didn't really know what

to do because I was due to start chemo

on the Wednesday and in the end I had to

go down to the hospital on the Wednesday

morning and see the breast care team and

say look what am i doing I don't know

what to do now

and so they deferred my chemotherapy and

I saw the consultant the following week

after they discussed me at their

management team meeting and he said

obviously it's amazing this is amazing

but as clinicians we have to tell you

that we recommend that you have

chemotherapy so I said to him okay with

the grade 3 aggressive tumor left 8

weeks what would you have expected to

see on that scan and he said well it

wouldn't have shrunk so I said okay if

I'm prepared to take the risk will you

monitor me and they said yes we'd be

delighted to and so that's what's

happened since so now I'm down to about

5 millimeters and it's not a lump as

such it's it's 5 millimeters of cancer

cells I could show you so much history

when you know the one that just totally

burns me up is cannabis and cancer right

now now we know I've seen it with my own

eyes and you can go talk to you know

professor Guzman from the University of

Madrid and a whole army of other

scientists who have established that

that that cancer that cannabis stops the

growth of cancer tumors right so this

isn't new information the National

Institute on Drug Abuse knew this in

1974 they ran a study in 1974 that was

designed to show the cannabis causes

cancer the results came back showing the

opposite cannabis actually fights cancer

what did they do they buried the study

not only did they bury the study they

didn't refer to anybody they didn't send

it to the National Cancer Institute they

did nothing right three years later they

did it again another study design

show that cannabis causes cancer same

exact results I same exact results in

both categories the scientific results

and what they did with it so again it

goes into the dustbin right and then

several years later they do a third

study this time on lung cancer and they

figure out lung cancer smoke smoke

causes cancer we've got them this time

right

they hired a doctor named dr. Donald

tashkin to do the taskin study tashkin

examined the rates of lung cancer

amongst cannabis smokers tobacco smokers

and non-smokers he found the lowest rate

of cancer incidents in cannabis smokers

the second lowest rate in non-smokers of

anything and of course the highest rate

in tobacco smokers and there's a very

simple reason for that

despite the tar and other carcinogenic

substances that are in any smoke the

cannabinoids that were in the cannabis

smoke were so strong they fought cancer

so effectively that they completely not

only completely out laid the smoke right

but what pushed it in the other

direction of prevention my name is

Jacqueline Richie and I suffer from

breast cancer

I had the genetic crack one which

usually gives you tumors or fatally or

cancers so I had two triple negative

metal plastic cancer which is a really

really and on the other breast I had

another cancer h2 I'm here to positive

breast cancer there's some some of the

cancer that I had was just a lump on my

breast and then when I went to the

doctor's and had a mammogram they

discovered the lump on the other breast

as well because I had bilateral breast

cancer they realized there was a

possibility I would have the genetic

black gene so I was tested as well and

the treatment I've had is a radical

double mastectomy and chemo regime for

the two different types of cancers

effects are chemotherapy for me the

first time I had chemotherapy were

terrible I could hardly breathe I could

hardly move I what's about everywhere

with a plastic bag like this before I

started chemotherapy I already had a

couple of Muenster some problems I had

renal syndrome

she's bad blood circulation and fingers

and toes and I already had the IPS I was

chemical intolerant so I was identified

by ice floes and once chemo started that

was all a lot worse exasperated

everything

so when constant white feet constantly

freezing and originally I am I used

cannabis when I was younger to treat

anxiety and I suffered during Alexia and

I was younger as well so just it's

cheating heart when I was younger so

it's already a big realization about

your plant being used indefinitely but I

didn't realize about the cancer

it wasn't I started to start to know

that started realizing had done some

wood quite a lot research with regards

to the cannabis plan ants different

types of cancer so I started doing all

the research on that I actually managed

to get in touch with Rick Simpson yeah I

managed to get in touch with him through

a Facebook page so there was a

correspondence there and he just

directed me weird I needed to score to

go watch the movie and watch strains I

would need to grow and how it needs to

be growing hi to decarboxylated and to

the oil that i needs and now what all

the equipment I need to do he more or

less hunted me all the information that

I needed the day that I was diagnosed I

started looking to see if I could

actually get some cannabis oil and I did

manage to get small amounts of cannabis

oil and because I've managed to get

small amounts of cannabis oil I actually

put my surgery off they wanted to do

surgery immediately because of the two

different types of cancer so I put this

surgery often told me and from February

to me I used the oil whenever I could

get it but it was quite sporadic so I

ended up running out of oil nickimja

started growing up to that point I've

actually managed to do just the tumor

quite a bit and the pain from the tumor

had it disappeared as well I wasn't

getting pain from the tumor because I

couldn't procure any more oil I ended up

surgery radical double mastectomy and me

but from the time that I heard this

surgery I already had oil

certain wien for me by at that point

because from more or less just after I

was diagnosed I actually started brewing

a couple of plan

so I knew if I put things off a bit I

would have my own oil ready by the time

I started chemotherapy

so I used smart-1 oil by the time the

second chemotherapy treatment that

happens it was my own oil well I had

been there I had researched the stream

so I had two surgery on me

and chemotherapy started in the July so

like I said from the second chemotherapy

for all the rest of the chemotherapy all

the way through I took oil I took oil

and I have the pathology from my

mastectomy and they're really really

rare cancer that I had that was nearly a

five centimeter tumor the majority of it

was actually a necrotic tissue there was

just a few cancer cells and on the

inside of that and from the prognosis

they gave me from the pathology they had

my race or recurrence within the next

two years that nearly a hundred percent

and I'm sitting there over three years

now and I haven't had a recurrence as

far as I know and just before my last

chemo I had an appointment with the

oncologist and at that point an

ecologist had said to me that they'd

find a skull and a liver lesion and at

that point I was certain things in

myself

mm-hmm chemotherapy obviously hasn't

worked and I need to up my oil and tea

because I need to sort this out and I

said to my oncologist thing I'm just

going to do one more chemotherapy and

that's my chemotherapy regime finished I

don't want any more I don't want any

more allopathic treatment I'm going to

reach treat my skull of liver lesion

with diet supplements and oil and when I

finished chemotherapy I still had a

skull and liver lesion

a month later when I went down to

England after doing my diet and more oil

and a person for the full month and

being really really good and I went are

we going to in go and seek a full-body

thermographic scan and thanks to Rosa

I've got results back from a team of

doctors and the sets which are clear

you've got no evidence of disease

there's no office colon liver lesion or

anything there so I use a very very

happy woman a very happy woman I've been

made since those on and off ever since

then so yeah

you and I all know well so let me strike

a little closer to home

Sir John Reynolds who you may know

the personal physician to Queen

Victoria's household not only prescribed

for the Queen's menstrual cramps right

but also hailed it as the most effective

preventative and remedy for what we now

call Alzheimer's disease for which we

have excellent scientific evidence now

because cannabis helps prevent the

accumulation of plaque in your brain and

there's good hard science on on this now

so you can you can find a similar trail

through medical history for literally

dozens of ailments I think the most

surprising thing I've learned about

cannabis is the immense amount of good

it does for people working as a medical

journalist I began to become aware of

the fact that there was more and more

evidence emerging but it was only when I

actually got involved in the campaign

that I started to meet people who have

some of the most terrible medical

conditions are either diseases often

neurodegenerative diseases things like

Parkinson's or MS but also people who

suffer from things like spinal injury or

injuries or deformities or things like

um stenosis or scoliosis and you see

these people who have intense chronic

neuropathic pain which conventional and

very dangerous pain killers usually

opioids barely touch and you see how

their life is literally completely

transformed by the use of cannabis in

the United Kingdom cannabis is a Class B

drug

meaning that a person in possession of

cannabis could face up to five years in

prison and up to fourteen years in

prison for supplying this makes it

extremely difficult for anyone that

wants to use cannabis as a treatment the

United patients Alliance has been set up

to campaign on behalf for legal access

to medical cannabis to treat chronic

conditions every year the UPA puts on

events to raise awareness of medical

cannabis and to keep the conversation in

the public consciousness hi I'm John le

bling I'm political director of United

patients Alliance we are a medical

cannabis organization there are around

about 1 million medical cannabis

patients currently in the UK consuming

cannabis because they find that better

for them than prescription medications

and we support them we've got about

10,000 people who who we directly

support and we also lobby for change so

that we can get legal access to cannabis

therapeutics but they hundreds of

thousands of people that need it every

single one of us it United patients

Alliance is a medical cannabis patient

every single one of us and so I'm

someone who's suffered from anxiety and

depression for most of my life and I've

managed that adequately with cannabis I

mean some years ago unfortunately I got

into the wrong side of the law for

growing my own medicine

and that's kind of how I got involved

and United patients Alliance formed a

couple of years ago in 2014 and we're

all patients so I found a clock French

he's a multiple sclerosis sufferer he

was diagnosed when he was 24 and when he

came across cannabis he could reduce the

amount of opiate medications he was on

the tramadol and and and he was able to

replace that with cannabis and he was

able to start working today he was

actually more mote mile and in fact he

got so well he helped create United

patients Alliance and so we're here at

raising awareness the United patients

Alliance started is just a small group

of patients who use cannabis as a

medicine and we wanted to change the law

around that because we were fed

being persecuted and made to feel like

criminals for our choice medicine what

we actually did when we started tryna

lobby and change law by accident we grew

up this really lovely community of

people who are already using cannabis as

a medicine in the UK so now what we have

is a really good online community where

patients who are just starting out and

they kind of this charity journey they

can come and learn from other patients

about what strains work best for certain

things oil making methods and all the

sort of things that go along with that

it's a really good reliable source of

information because it's patients

learning from other patients and we're

creating a best practice within our

community so that when the law changes

we will have the knowledge they're ready

to enact and help as many people as we

can

[Music]

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quote about five minutes ago it's just

that it has passed absolutely all the

eyes have it you would use this Robbie

our politicians you must speak to your

MP today get your phone out email them

now let your elected representative know

that you came here today in support of

mission and that you believe that

cannabis needs to be regulated doesn't

matter who you work for it doesn't

matter or family want a raise what

matters is that we're all on the same

page for cannabis as medicine

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

my name's Kelly Blackwell and my son is

Darren Blackwell and in 2010 he was

diagnosed with leukemia two years later

he had a second cancer called Langerhans

cell sarcoma subsequently he had four

bone-marrow transplants in ten months to

try and prevent either cancer coming

back and unfortunately on his fourth and

final chance grin he developed three

catastrophic infections

he had no functioning bone marrow and

they told us of nobody'd ever engrafted

after 50 days so we got to say 46 there

was nothing there at all so we were sent

to hospice and my son was given

approximately three days to a week to

live Darrin start to get very anxious

because seriously facing his death

planned his funeral plans everything

about it and I decided to start

administering there a teacher that we

made out of cannabis mainly to alleviate

his anxiety that he was suffering from

and they were also trying to give him a

lot of morphine and he made it very

clear that he didn't want to die on

morphine he wanted to be compos mentis

so we started giving a cannabis tincture

and five days later and he's Bo Murray

kicked in at least 75 and he officially

engrafted it's a 104 they called him a

miracle because they had never seen it

before he was on no other medications

other than what I was giving you which I

have to keep secret because back then

then I was scared of social services and

losing my children and now losing the

one thing that you know what's helping

Darrin I had this published in April of

this year and it's a full complete story

of the whole journey it's not just about

cannabis so cannabis is no tiny 25 and I

wrote it hopefully because I want to

give people hope I want to give people

the chance to understand that there are

other other opportunities there you know

there are other options we don't have to

just go with what they tell us there are

other ways

you know Darrin is proof of that living

proof of us as our hundreds of people

here today

[Music]

the bill is to reverse an error in a

previous bill that said that cannabis

has no medical value the legislation on

cannabis at the moment is an ass it's

actually states that cannabis has no

medicinal value and this is contrary the

experience of 5000 years of the use of

cannabis in all the civilizations in the

world but if we get through that and

decide it has some release menus then

throwing from that is the possibility of

the sale of various products that are

already available but the world's tide

is turning against prohibition and we've

already seen the majority of states in

America 29 of them have a legalized

medicinal cannabis Canada is leading the

way Uruguay a whole range of countries

throughout the world are realizing that

we need a new policy the UK has one of

the toughest drug policies across the

Western world and we differ in

particular from the USA and many

countries in Europe as we know the

majority now of US states now legal have

legalized cannabis for medical use many

have also legalized it for social use

but we're not discussing that here a

dozen countries in Europe now have

legalized one way or another the use of

cannabis for medical purposes it's

interesting that Denmark passed their

law actually in November last year

legalizing medical cannabis Germany

passed their law through their lower

house in January this year we have

Ireland with their law going through

Parliament as we speak so the the move

towards recognizing the incredible

medical value of cannabis is I would say

becoming more and more rapid across the

world but the UK no change no change at

all so we're really getting left behind

here in a way the Lib Dems took a risk

we went out and advocated for reform and

we sought to appeal to

all those reform-minded voters who

absolutely see the nonsense in the

current position we didn't get that case

heard well enough in the general

election but in time other political

parties I think we'll see that public

opinion has changed and that

increasingly the public think the

existing also a ludicrous as they are

well the most important thing about it

about regulating cannabis would be to

restrict access to church to children

and I mean I'm a great admirer and I

would completely endorse the strategy

that you Justin Trudeau's adopted in

Canada where we're almost as in the same

in the same sentence the same we're

going to legalize cannabis he says we're

going to restrict access to it and I

think that is the way forward

now many people would argue that you

don't need to restrict access to

cannabis and should be treated like

cauliflower or carrots or tomatoes and I

was to have some sort of emotional

sympathy with that I think you think

you're being pragmatic about this in the

real world that's not a sensible

attitude and there's no doubt that if

cannabis does cause harm and you know

look again let's be honest cannabis can

cause harm only in a very small number

of cases but cannabis can cause harm

it's the psychoactive substance just to

suggest it can't will be foolish so if

it can cause harm then children are most

vulnerable and I'm keen to give this

place laws that make sense at the moment

most laws are prejudice which and

evidence free and the cannabis laws are

irrational unscientific and to a great

deal of damage they actually increased

create crime they increase abuse of

drugs and they waste a fortune but to be

the cruelest aspect of always a

prohibition all that seriously ill

people are denied their medicine of

choice and there's an abundance of

evidence that cannabis has a unique role

to play particularly in relieving the

symptoms of

a very cruel disease multiple sclerosis

we had a report on the medical benefits

of cannabis undertaken by Professor

Barnes for our inquiry and really we

rely very much on his report of

worldwide research to talk about that is

the issue of the specific medical

conditions for which cannabis is most

helpful and what he found is that there

is good evidence for medical cannabis

for conditions like chronic and in

particular neuropathic pain in dealing

with seizures for example in the case of

people with multiple sclerosis for

epilepsy in young children for example

and certainly for the symptoms of nausea

sleeplessness and so on that arise as a

result of people with cancer taking

chemotherapy so there are there are

those conditions anyway for which the

evidence according to Professor Barnes

is good there are a number of other

conditions where there is some evidence

that cannabis can be helpful it's truly

remarkable actually the extent to which

cannabis can help people with very very

different kinds of conditions yes I've

been involved with endow pain since the

early days but basically that campaign

is designed to make cannabis legal for

medical use without getting too

technical at the moment it's a Schedule

one drug and the misuse of drugs act

that means that it has no medicinal

value which is complete nonsense there's

overwhelming evidence that it does have

medicinal value many countries around

the world over half for the American

states have now recognized his use and

made it legal so for the government to

maintain that it's a Schedule one drug

of no medicinal value is it's nonsense

it's just the inertia in this country

and the prediction clearly in that

article was wholly misplaced but I think

in a way the difference between the

United States and the United Kingdom is

that they're much more devolved a style

of government where states have

considerable control over policymaking

in a whole range of areas facilitates

experimentation and innovation in

lawmaking and so you've had a few states

going out ahead I mean California went

out ahead on medical use of cannabis

some years ago now and have now voted

for legalization of recreational use

Colorado has had recreational use

legalized for two or three years now

and as people see that it's worked it

hasn't led to a collapse of morality or

law nor breaking or anything of that

sort

then it convinces other states that they

can try it but in this country it's

all-or-nothing you have to convince the

national government to do it and that's

much more difficult

in the u.s. cannabis is legal in nine

states for medical and recreational use

30 states and all have passed laws

allowing some degree of medical use of

marijuana California has a long history

of fighting for legalization since the

1960s and gained huge ground in the

early 90s with proposition 215

proposition 215 was conceived by San

Francisco marijuana activist Dennis

Peron in memory of his partner Jonathan

West who had used medical marijuana to

treat the symptoms of AIDS in 1991 Peron

organized proposition P the San

Francisco Medical Marijuana initiative

which passed with 79 percent of the vote

proposition P did not have the force of

law but was simply a resolution

declaring the city support for medical

marijuana proposition 215 was enacted

into law on November 5th 1996 by means

of the initiative process and passed

with fifty five point six percent of the

vote in favor since that time the

medical cannabis industry in California

has said as ups and downs but is now a

thriving industry adding billions to the

state's economy with the passing of

Proposition 64 in November 2016

legalizing the sale of recreational

cannabis for adults estimates based on

their current illegal market could mean

that California could see a rise in over

5.7 billion dollars in revenue from the

legalization of recreational cannabis

the ArcView group issues a report every

year on the International cannabis

market and we know that in the United

States cannabis legal cannabis is the

fastest growing industry in the entire

country

my name is Joshua I'm a manager here at

Coachella collective we are a medical

dispensary in California and we are here

to provide great medicine for patients

I'm a budtender or you could because

I've been considered the manager here

it's like a bartender mixed that with

somebody Nick when I first started doing

this actually I remember walking up to

my mom when I was 18 and telling her hey

mom look I'm a doctor you know I was

like I'm a pharmacist now I was like I

prescribed medicine to people all day

long

in ii see definitely as a medication the

way i look at it is herbal medicines you

know there's people that do straight

herbal medicines that are considered you

know voodoo doctors witchcraft talks or

whatever they want to be called and all

this other alternative medicine like you

know but they're still considered

technically a doctor because it's the

herbal medicine it's the same thing

cannabis is just an herbal medicine so I

definitely feel and relate that idea of

us being doctors that's being

pharmacists because that's what we do we

treat people i it's like a bartender you

know they say they have a what is it

bachelors in psychiatry right that's how

I feel sometimes when I'm here you know

my patients come in bad day good day

they come in and talk to me they tell me

their problem they tell me they're

stressing about and I recommend weed

that I feel would be best for them you

know sometimes people are having really

bad days and they don't they they don't

feel like talking as much so they want

something to mellow them out other times

some people are feeling really bad or

upset that they just want to have

something to make them have an uplifting

feel so you get something more of like a

citrus or something that has a more

upbringing feel to it originally when it

first came out when it was medically

walk into a doctor's office and you'd go

into the office and you first talk to

one the receptionist would probably be a

very attractive woman depending on how

it is because you know in California

there's a lot of backward doctors that

you know just give out wrecks like

nothing you know like oh you you're

sleepy you get some cannabis but then

there are doctors actually ask you more

you know thorough questions actually ask

you you know what are you paying and

your insomnia is nothing has to see if

cannabis is best for you and so it

really just depends on where that person

goes to get their doctor recommendation

which is really determined on the

process the change in culture you can

see it's a lot less black market

a lot more open see a lot more cost

obviously just being more compliant with

it you know just just more in the sense

of kind of just being accepting of it

it's it's a whole culture of like you

see even the older generation I used to

call all of us drug users and drug

abusers you even seeing them start

seeing and hearing about it and you know

it's very big with the Hispanic culture

that like that's something that would be

that would be looked down upon and be

frowned upon

heard also test was just like obviously

this is about the naturalness of it like

weed is very natural but it's also if

you you know you feel sick sometimes you

feel crappy and sluggish you need to eat

better you know you need to put better

things in your body you know weed is a

better alternative to any kind of

medicine you can be taking cuz pill

forms all this other stuff that they add

and all these you know Jill's and

powders and stuff that that breakdown in

your body like what's all that extra you

know compared to just burning of a leaf

my name is Kendrick Mejia aka poly Rob

and I am a producer and engineer and

co-owner of local astronauts local

astronauts is a it's a company which

consists of a collective of creatives

that's coming together for you know a

culture rebranding music production

video production and we really were

really about advancing the culture as we

see it and where we want to see it

within the next you know a couple of

years at 34 years old you know being I

consider the business prime of my time

you know before I never used to smoke

weed at all during my 20s early 20s mid

20s I never used to smoke weed in my

brain it was always a point of trying to

just stay abrupt and

and be just the first person moving and

I felt that weed was the exact opposite

of what I was trying to accomplish you

know all of my friends they smoke weed

which all due respect is great not a

problem it was just for me I didn't want

to feel sluggish I didn't want to feel

like I was the person that would just

forget things or you know just kind of a

cliche ideas of what you thought

marijuana you know would do to you and

this is only just my natural ignorance

of not knowing about marijuana so you

know fast forward you know to about a

couple of years ago you know I'm getting

off the plane after 18 hours of you know

doing a session in Ohio I get off the

plane and I come back to my studio in

Los Angeles another set of clients calls

me about three in the morning which is

this is like my peak hours to either

keep working or finish the day off like

completely finish today so they called

me they say hey man we're you know we're

in town we got off the plane early we're

in town so they pull up to my studio and

you know we proceeded to play music you

know talk a little bit about business or

whatnot and we just were enjoying each

other's company of course it's all about

five six in the morning so when they

leave they say okay we're going back to

the hotel we're gonna you know settled a

get some sleep wake up and let's

continue to discuss whatever it is we

need to do so fine so they've gone I

proceeded to lay down because now I'm in

the studio I'm not gonna travel home I

was just not traveling alone so I sleep

in the studio and I lay on my couch and

when I wake up however my face was laid

on the couch it stayed like that

completely like it was my entire face

was just was the shut-in just to one

facial expression and my and it was

drooping my face was very droopy so I'm

no I'm trying to wash my face with water

trying to figure this thing out and it

just

go so had to postpone the meeting you

know went to the doctor and a doctor

told me I had Bell's palsy and Bell's

palsy is pretty much in a nutshell it's

when your when your your brain nerves

don't react to your face you your face

you know nervous so you know it's

terrible and it comes from lack of sleep

you know in a stress stress that you

know you don't know you have you know

you can be working 1820 hours if you

don't allow your body to relax and

tranquilize you know you can you know

easily you know put your body into

almost like a semi you know semi stroke

I had to take pills I took pills for

about four days a muscle relaxants I

just wasn't into it wasn't into it at

all so one of my colleagues suggested

that I smoke marijuana you know the

accident they said have you ever tried

smoking where marijuana so you know

relax your nerves I'm like no I don't

smoke

and they're like you should definitely

try it like this is this is something

that can eventually turn into a major

stroke if you don't treat it properly I

thought about it for a minute then you

know other options of cannabis lotions

taking edibles some things like that so

I started to smoke you know smoke

marijuana and like literally immediately

after my face would just it would twitch

a little bit and then it would formulate

itself for me to be able to speak a lot

better and like even now but you can

still see bits of my face that are are

still working itself out and it really

it works some wonder it really puts my

face back in and so normal along with of

course proper eating and you know facial

exercises it allows me to kind of get

everything back into motion and I just

had a newfound respect for what

marijuana does I you know I have a

totally totally newfound respect and

then you know after

a lot more homework you know

social media is just open so after doing

a lot more homework I started to figure

out that it's just so many health

benefits for cannabis you know and I'm

definitely appreciative of being able to

have the opportunity to even get myself

back to normal you know the average

person if they're not on medication and

they have a Bell's palsy or cerebral

palsy or mini-strokes or you know

different you know different diseases or

symptoms like you know some of them are

so far gone they don't have the ability

to get back as it's like their body is

at that point where it's just it's a

breaking point so I was just I was lucky

to be able to have the privilege of even

have an opportunity to get back and you

know and it's changed the whole way I

kind of look at how I enjoy and endure

life as well you know I mean so it's

it's a beautiful thing for me now

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so I was inspired to to open Harborside

by the lack of a really responsible

professional dispensary when I came to

California there were dispensaries that

had been started by activists which were

very amateurish and there were

dispensaries that were started by people

who really just wanted to make as much

money as they could as quickly as they

could and they were ugly and scary so I

wanted to create a gold standard for

cannabis retailing to show that when

this activity is done with intelligence

and integrity that it can bring benefits

to communities instead of harms the

whole idea of Harborside from the

beginning was to create a truly

responsible professional cannabis

retail environment someplace that was

really worthy of the plant and so we set

out from from the beginning to sort of

create a temple to cannabis Harborside

started as a family business as we've

grown it's become bigger than than my

family could manage and we are now you

know growing into a real company a real

corporation but we always work hard to

maintain the same sense of caring about

each other and for each other that that

you would see in a family that we've

always had here at Harbor side we we

don't want to just create a new business

or even a new industry we want to create

a new kind of business a new kind of

industry that smashes the old models and

is really like committed to building the

kind of world we all want to live in a

world that's that has sustainable

practices in it a world that reflects

the diversity of human beings a world

that's fair to everybody and takes care

of everybody and so we try to do that

here and model that world we want to

live in the four-year experiment in

Colorado cannabis was first to

criminalized in Colorado in 1975

that was still illegal it was not a

criminal offense meaning that you could

not go to prison for possession only a

civil fine could be imposed in 2000 the

23rd man went to the States Constitution

may cannabis legal for medical purposes

anyone with a doctor's prescription

could now access cannabis as a medicine

in 2014

Colorado legalized recreational cannabis

in the 64th Amendment to its

constitution

since that time adults over 21 can

legally smoke or ingest cannabis on

private premises also people can grow up

to six plants and travel in state with

up to one ounce the Colorado Department

of Revenue showed that recreational and

medical cannabis sales reached 1.3

billion in 2016 8 out of the 12 months

in that year reached over a hundred

million and revenue which yielded nearly

200 million in tax 2017 soar rise to

around 1.8 billion in revenue

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as the rest of the United States is

seeing a rise in crime

Colorado is seeing a decrease in serious

crimes such as homicide and robbery

since legalization cannabis use in 12 to

17 year olds has decreased significantly

but adult use especially those over 50

have skyrocketed drug-related deaths

have decreased due to the decline in

opioid use and other hard drugs in 2017

three years after legalizing cannabis

Colorado had the lowest unemployment

rate in the country at 2.3 percent the

lowest since 2001 in 2015 alone the

state's cannabis industry created 18,000

new full-time jobs cannabis turns out to

be a stronger economic driver than 90%

of the industry's active in Colorado my

name is Pepe Breton and I'm the owner

CEO you flora which is a chain of retail

stores in Denver Colorado at the

beginning you know I was in corporate

America and I was kind of tired and I

always want to do my own business and at

the time I was searching for you know

what I can do business-wise that I can

be my own boss and at the time this

whole medical marijuana movement was

going like crazy and I said hey like you

know if you know drug dealers can do it

and are not so smart and like I'm sure I

can figure out how to do it so at the

time I partner up with a friend of mine

back route tomatoes and the one thing I

knew is that if you can grow tomatoes so

you can grow anything so I partner up

with my friend and I was like they're

like you know how to grow tomatoes with

scigirl marijuana for medicinal purposes

and yeah it just kind of started from

there I took a $30,000 investment to

we are now really recreational was what

took marijuana to the next level because

back then it was just about a hundred

thousand patients and you have you know

hundreds of dispensaries and once it

became recreational now you're talking

you know millions of people millions of

tourists so now it really has become a

legitimate industry that you know

creates millions of dollars of tax

revenue and you know hundreds of

thousands of jobs now and really has

helped Colorado economy tremendously you

know I think the best statistic that

I've heard is as far as crime coming

down they used to say that April was the

highest month as far as crime rate goes

and now with you know 4/20 being April

20th

they said this last year was like you

know the least crime and the month of

April definitely yes like marijuana has

taken some share from you know drinking

so maybe the people that were drinking

then now they're smoking and you know

typically when you're gonna be smoking

you just want to sit on your house and

relax you never see anybody you know

trying to get violent or crazy or you

know ballsy they're just you know cool

chill people I want to relax happy so

that's that you know that's a huge

positive when you think about marijuana

versus alcohol so yeah definitely

marijuana has definitely changed I'll

say maybe not the world now but

definitely has changed Colorado like

there's no way that without marijuana at

Colorado will be where it is which you

know we're one of the top states as far

as growth and real estate and I mean we

see thousands of people moving every

month from different states and probably

have about a hundred employees that are

those 100 employees like 70% of them

they come from different states and they

come because it's in this range

the United Nations meeting last April

the United Nations General Assembly

special session on drugs turned global

drug policy on its head and that was an

incredibly important meeting what the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

representative said was that

evidence-based public health policy on

drugs is here to stay the relevance of

this to medical cannabis is that in our

view there is now adequate evidence to

show that patients should have access to

cannabis for medical purposes the UN are

saying let's have evidence-based policy

in my view they are therefore saying

let's have legalization of cannabis for

medical use they haven't actually said

that but the implications of what they

said about evidence are very clear to me

and I feel the UK should therefore act

we need to regulate all drugs not in the

interest of the pharmaceutical countries

mainly the interest of the those who are

vulnerable we're taking them and

certainly if when cannabis is on sale

here there ought to be regulations to

prevent their issues by children by

pregnant women by people with mental

health problems we what we need is

cannabis that can be used without being

mixed with that hideous toxic killer

drug tobacco which is acerra be

responsible for so much harm in the

world and we can do that with a legal

market it can be used as a food as a

drink as a vapor and it doesn't need to

give you our hide having medicinal

effect nobody you know that's the way

the progress will be made at the moment

scientific research is inhibited by a

law that restricts research and

restricts its use in experimental ways

this whole subject area is packed full

of hypocrisy

fact that probably a lot of government

ministers smoke cannabis at a younger

age and yet are happy to condemn their

fellow citizens to a criminal record and

the consequence of lighting those

people's careers the fact that many of

those ministers will drink significant

quantities of alcohol which we know in

terms of an objective assessment of harm

is significantly more harmful than

cannabis and indeed many of them will

smoke as well so there's hypocrisy

everywhere to be seen and my plea is for

us to base our policymaking and our

lawmaking on evidence not on fear and

anxiety and Prejudice I said to my MP a

bureau so ago I have constant sort of

lobbying situation they might say to him

why can you not just place the

responsibility in the hands of doctors

you know doctors we trust doctors

they're trained they're professionals

you know will you rely on them at all

aspects of our health why can you not

just give it to doctors and say you can

decide whether or not to prescribe

cannabis and he said to me you put the

trouble is we did that they prescribed

it which it which is almost like

something it's almost like a Yes

Minister script you know it's just

ridiculous but that's the sort of

bigotry and an exam in transits so that

we're up against I strongly think we

should decriminalize cameras use there's

a lot of people who would benefit from

it if you think of all the thousands of

people in this country with chronic pain

from various causes all those people

with muscles spasm from endless causes

of stroke and brain injury multiple

sclerosis let alone those who anxiety or

epilepsy or nausea after chemotherapy

the numbers have tens of thousands of

people tens of thousands who could

benefit from cannabis at the moment

we're forcing them into the criminal

market we're making them criminals

there are one or two compounds that you

can legally prescribed but they're of

rather limited value in terms of their

usefulness for certain specific

conditions but generally speaking those

who use cannabis for medical reasons are

criminals because they have to buy it

illegally and I think that is appalling

it's really as time we change that and

we're behind now the rest of the world

in terms of the number of countries who

are looking at or have already legalized

cannabis for a whole variety of medical

conditions it's time the UK government

caught up with world opinion and world

evidence and may and decriminalize

cannabis for medical use

I think it's hypocritical to oppose the

use of cannabis even for recreational

use but particularly for medicinal use

well happily allowing the populace to

kill themselves with tobacco and alcohol

and whilst in the case of politicians

enjoying taxpayer subsidized alcoholic

beverages in the House of Commons bar

and pocketing profits from their

association with pharmaceutical

companies pharmaceutical companies who

opposed legalization because a this plot

is more effective from the drugs that

they produce and supply to the Health

Service exorbitant prices and be because

they can't patent to plan I mean the

world is twisted the crazy roller

coaster journey that that belly has

taken me on over the last number of

years has flagged up a really important

issue that has happened was a lower

country was in Ireland and was from the

United Kingdom for me as well and was

some seventeen hawlings Mme and Niemann

the CBD oil after belly Billy's blood we

are entered into a project where we want

to open research facilities here in in

Ireland and throughout the UK

first and foremost obviously the

legislation has to change it has to

medical cannabis has to be legalized for

medicinal purposes only research

facilities

have to be allowed to go and do this we

have to be allowed to demonstrate what

temperature or what what what strain of

the medicine is appropriate for what

condition was being allowed to do all

that within the UK and Ireland we should

be able to move on then and pump money

and the the the economy pump money money

into your horse but he's aunty education

and create more jobs it really as a must

but for me in in in my opinion belly is

knowing been on medicinal cannabis for

just over a year for me a deal is done

it's already legal so I I'm really not I

don't say you didn't be it

III don't see the discussions my world

and what my my message to the

politicians and to the doctors in our

country look let's just get on with the

job let's get this done belly is the

proof in the pudding medicinal cannabis

has given me back my right it's a mummy

to hope but the most important thing in

the midst of all of this is medicinal

cannabis has given bully back his right

to life my experience tells me I mean at

the end of the day I'm 69 I've got 10

grandchildren I've never taken drugs but

my experience tells me that this works

medicinally I believe that the

politicians should take notice of that

I'm not on my own you know there are

lots and lots of people if you look on

the internet who've had the same

experience and I know that's only

anecdotal but what we all what we need

is we need everybody to get together and

so that they've got lots of us telling

them that this is worked for me

and they need to change things they need

to legalize it for medicinal purposes

it's a plan that's a plan it's I just

think it's ridiculous it is a plan

whoever decided that plan should be

illegal they should be shot and I think

our government are being highly

hypocritical because GW Pharmaceuticals

well if he are a government for growing

in this country don't name and I've

heard it's about two hundred ton few

hundred plus ton of medical cannabis

that they actually grow it down in

England but not one part of its left and

written for any patients it's all

shipped other countries in the world for

medicinal purposes that's what makes it

so highly but we need to wonder how many

other market shares and GW

Pharmaceuticals so one of the questions

I'm always asked is why is this

criminalization policy this failed

public policy why does it continue to be

perpetuated why does it continue to

exist in America and and quite frankly

around the globe and while I can't speak

directly to the motivations of those

that are advocating for the continued

criminalization of cannabis you'd have

to ask those people yourself what their

motivations are my suspicion having done

this work for so many years is that the

criminalization and stigmatization of

cannabis and the users of cannabis it's

not so much about the plant itself it's

an outgrowth of a broader and ongoing

culture war where you have one segment

of the population typically that a

segment that is in political power

targeting another segment of this

population again typically those that

are poor those that are ethnic

minorities those that lack political

power and it's always been about one

segment of our population targeting the

other and attributing certain cultural

beliefs that they have negative beliefs

and negative stereotypes and applying

them to these other segments of society

and

using cannabis as a way to be able to

exert political and legal pressure upon

those segments of society it's not about

cannabis per se it's about the

stereotypes that revolve around those

who certain segments of society believe

use cannabis and that's really what this

is about today and that's what it has

always been about I can well understand

that some police forces decide that

there's a better use of their time in

chasing serious criminals rather than in

arresting people who are using cannabis

my hope is that all police forces would

decide that if they find someone using

cannabis for a medical purpose that they

would simply turn away and the more we

can do to persuade police forces of that

approach the better for these poor

patients who are suffering so much and

for ridiculous political reasons cannot

get hold of medical medical cannabis to

help them do we have five objectives I'm

not sure if I can remember them all off

facts but the first one is to end the

prohibition of cannabis as simple as

that the second one is to promote as a

matter of urgency in compassion the

prescription of medicinal cannabis by

doctors the third one is to introduce a

system of regulation and supply for

adults about cannabis to remove the

market filter from the control of

criminals the fourth one is to educate

about the the benefits of cannabis and

present and the fifth one is to

encourage the production of industrial

hemp so so really you know we're

interested in ending the prohibition of

cannabis in total but it's undoubtedly

the case of the most urgent necessities

to deal with the medical issue when you

look at the neuroprotection qualities of

cannabis and actually when you look at

mental health around the world two of

the most popular reasons for people to

consume cannabis is anxiety and

depression and we're not talking about

clinical anxiety

rushon we're talking about that which

gets you down every day the kind of

thing that you'll have a beer in the

evening because you want to calm down

before you get a bit you got your mind

spinning and all that it's it

that's vogue doubt that it's therapeutic

and in some ways it is medicinal to

everybody whether they happen to be

using it recreationally whether that's

what they call it or whether they

actually have a medical condition that

they're treating with it so we take the

view that all cannabis use has

therapeutic value as long as it's being

used in a safe responsible way and as

long as you know what it is that you're

using how you're using it what the risks

are and that's kind of where we're

coming from I mean what we're fighting

for is to gain access legal access for

our patients I mean I put my personal

belief is that a medical reason to

access this medicine is of primary

concern and that's why we're fighting

for it specifically this this cannabis

movement it's a global movement every

living creature on the planet has an

endocannabinoid system except insects so

every human being on planet Earth has an

endocannabinoid system every human being

can benefit hugely from this medicine we

have a natural right to this medicine

right mother nature made us to use it

our bodies produce it themselves so it

is a global movement and and we're just

beginning to to get the laws in the

shape that we want them to be in the

United States there's there's a whole

world of reform waiting and so my

message to to people of good conscience

anywhere is there's a time to deal with

this issue is now

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well the amazing things happened I'm

actually in remission so here I am no

treatment of any thought no chemo no op

no radio therapy just CBD oil and and

I'm in complete remission lymph nodes

are all back to normal I feel great I'm

the only person I know we wasn't had a

cold I'm convinced that that's the oil

that just balances my body and makes me

feel well

[Music]

today belly is is the only person was

suddenly United Kingdom and Ireland to

have a prescription on medicinal

cannabis police neurologist in or me and

Hospital in Belfast they agreed to

support belly and unrighteous

prescription so dr. Brent no hair has

been our family GP for many years Lily's

prescription and 7:10 Holdings MMA who

were supplying Billy has has has

medicine no supplier through Bally's

prescription via via the NHS

[Music]

you

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you