Support Cannabis Growers, Support the Community

I am an Episcopal
priest. I have worked for more than 25 years in Santa Barbara County, and
throughout the state, as a chaplain in detention centers, as a drug/alcohol
counselor, a mental health clinician, and a rape crisis advocate. I have worked
in jails, and I have represented juveniles. With my extensive experience I have
seen the obscene abuse on the poor and people of color in our courts and jails
because of the war on cannabis.

At Central Juvenile
Hall, I heard the stories of so many children who were taken from their parents
because of cannabis, resulting in families that were permanently broken.
Heartbreakingly, some children, to this day, never heard from their parents
again. I’ve seen the bias of drug policies that fuel mass incarceration for generations
of communities of color. I’ve dealt with sexual assault cases of minors whose
rapist only received a slap on the wrist, maybe six months in jail, while cannabis
cases are sentenced to years and years.

The effects of Reefer
Madness on our society never cease to amaze me. Most of us are survivors of the
insanity from the criminalization of cannabis. How many have had to hide their use
of cannabis because of the fear of “losing it all” or being arrested for
something with less effect than alcohol, and which can be used for medical
issues and anxiety? Something that helps untold numbers of people with the pain
of cancer and other serious diseases.