Written by Christopher Meyer | 10:05 am on December 17, 2011

Some lies become so loud and pervasive they hold more command than the truth.

A little harmless make believe is well and good, but when delusion engenders violence, and when such imaginings destroy lives and economies those lies must be stopped.

Not by accident do these ideas remain popular opinion. Mechanisms of our government, industry, and news media work to perpetuate these myths throughout the world.

Supporters claim they operate for the good of the public, but in fact spread propaganda aimed at appealing to emotion and fear, rather than logic and rationality, and the result is a public that has formed their opinions while seeing a fearsome falsehood sold as reality. (more…)

Written by Christopher Meyer | 10:17 am on November 26, 2011

Political candidates shape themselves to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Appealing to emotions, the hot topics become issues about which people have very strong opinions.

No matter what level of public service, every elected official must attempt to assess the wants, needs, and opinions of their constituency in order to appeal to the greater share.

Since morality often creates the strongest opinions, subjects that are seen as criminal, unwanted, or improper such as socialism, Islam, and ‘illicit’ drug use will generate bad press for a candidate if they advocate for them outspokenly. Such press will harm their chances of being elected. (more…)

Written by Christopher Meyer | 10:43 am on November 10, 2011

This blog was nominated for the 2011 Westword Web Awards for categories ‘Best Activist Blogger’ and ‘Best Use of Social Media by a Medical Marijuana Center’. Truly the nomination is an honor in itself. Thank you Denver for the recognition.

I would like to take this occasion to explore the future of such activism and what we can expect from the marijuana movement in the year to come. (more…)

Written by Christopher Meyer | 7:29 pm on June 21, 2011

Almost imperceptibly the change began taking place, but marijuana is entering the mainstream conversation in ways that it hasn’t in the past.

Even the recently crowned Miss America is on board with medical marijuana, and Miracle Grow wants to produce nutrients for the industry.

With many influential politicians and public policy makers becoming outspoken about the failure of the drug war, other countries are beginning to notice (like in this simple New Zealand story), and whether you are for or against marijuana, it is undeniable that buzz about cannabis is everywhere. (more…)

Written by Christopher Meyer | 11:23 am on May 17, 2011

To homogenize anything or bring it into realm of the normal one must bring it out of the fringes of culture and perception.

Marijuana and the people who use it have in recent history sat at the edges of society. While cannabis has been a part of human culture for thousands of years in the Near East, and in North Africa where major human civilizations began, cultural and modern societal factors have led to the marginalization of cannabis itself and its users. (more…)

Written by Christopher Meyer | 1:43 am on November 12, 2010

This comes regarding a recent (Nov2010) decision to disqualify up to 2,000 Colorado medical marijuana patients from legal access to safe, alternative medicine because the doctor they visited had some restriction regarding their practice of medicine. Often these sorts of restrictions have nothing to do with malpractice but relate to different fields of medicine the doctor can practice and allowances for oversight of new doctors.

After over a year of working in the medical marijuana industry and having watched various legislation, city councils, and rulemaking boards decide how Coloradans’ constitutional right to medical marijuana will be regulated, I am fully aware not only of the difficulties faced in recovering our right to alternative and non-traditional medicine but also how many obstacles there are to making our voice heard when decisions that directly affect us are being made. (more…)

Written by Christopher Meyer | 9:43 pm on July 4, 2010

If we must take responsibility for our health and the health of our communities, how do we determine what it means to be healthy? The question seems oddly obtuse. I hear you say, “Chris, healthy is simple. Healthy is when you feel good, when you are not sick, and can expect the same when you wake up tomorrow. ”

“Okay,” I respond, “If that is what it means to be healthy, if being healthy is that simple, why is it so difficult for so many people to be healthy, or to make healthy decisions? ”

The difficulty, as I see it, is not that we don’t have a general knowledge of health in our common sense, but that in application what we call “health” today has dissolved into half-efforts and reactionary measures to what is already unhealthy. (more…)

Written by Christopher Meyer | 9:25 pm on

As the Medical Marijuana Community begins to make itself felt and heard, and as Denver Relief participates in this movement I will begin posting blogs to discuss my perspective from inside the industry. Their intent is not to advertise, promote, or otherwise propagandize. Rather I would like to discuss the movement itself, and consider what it reveals about us socially, how it provides contrasts to the way things have been done. Medical Marijuana is profoundly representative of a set of people who are now and finally expressing their desire for control over their own existence. More than just expressing their desire for safe access to an effective medication, Medical marijuana patients are showing us that they want control over their concept of what it means to be healthy.

I will not discuss ideas of grand conspiracies to control the mind of the American people, because I think such ideas are the result of a paranoia common to all humans; the fear that something has mounted itself up against us. Rather I would like to look into ways in which we have trusted each other, and ways in which that trust has been violated. (more…)