Tuesday 30 December 2014

Confusing the Roles of Consumers, Compassionates & Criminals

In 2005 I used to get outdoor from a buddy.  He and his dad grew it in their 'back 40' and sold it throughout the year.  It was some cheap strain undiscript of cannabinoid content, but it did the trick~ or so I thought.  They even bought one of those at-home vacuum sealer things to store the portions in the freezer.  I paid that guy $60 for 7 shoddy grams of medicine about once every two weeks.  I didn't know until I shared a doob with a co-worker that I'd been smoking moldy weed that whole time.

That was almost a decade ago and 7 grams of Cannabis still costs me $60 ... and that's from the "criminals" who sell it on the street.  Hmmm ... maybe not so criminal if inflation hasn't hit them yet?  Yes I realize I'm admitting a crime here, but the point of this blog post is to shine a light on the criminals, the compassionates, and we the consumers.

I'm a consumer who will be 41 very soon, and the only pill I take is a seasonal allergy pill.  Every other ailment I have can be remedied with one of my Cannabis concoctions.

That very statement should illustrate to you very clearly WHY Cannabis is still illegal.
I used to be on many pills:

I had the pill for my stomach acid~over $1 a pill
I had the pills for my depression~over $1 a pill multiplied by however many he prescribed
I had Ibupr*fen for any aches & pains~took one at first onset
I had Gr@vol for the my insomnia~don't take too many or my legs would twitch
I even bought this multi that was supposed to maintain liver health while I was on all of the above pills.  Laughable gullibility and yet I'm not alone.

Now for the compassionates.  This is where it gets confusing.  Pay attention  :)  Because of a court order, Health Canada had to provide access to Cannabis for it's legal cardholders.  So this they have done, in the form of compassionate legal producers who are under very strict guidelines.  But in actual practice, price, and production ... these LP's are light on the compassion and heavy on the price.  Heavy on the profit.  They refuse to give any discount for multiple grams, most refuse to give lower prices the way the Designated Growers did.  And all in all ... they don't produce the same plant.
Plants of almost all kinds, love human interaction.  I've written of this before, how plants do better when read to, meditated with, given love and tender loving care.  Studies have proven this without a doubt.  But none of the Licensed Producers with their white coats and super sterility have time for TLC.  That's not part of their job description.

For me, it's like comparing those gross pre-packaged store bought butter tarts to the ones my mom or sister make.  No friggin comparison.

Now ... let's finally get to the criminals.  Though ... you'll soon see that they at times confuse roles with the compassionates.  Yes that's right.  We all think criminals are only in it for money.  But that's the thing about labels.  To some, the friend of a friend who helps me out should be in jail.  But to me, that person has saved my life, my brain, my biology, my family relationships, my future happiness.

I have depression.
Cannabis treats it.
Pills do not.

So remember the $60 I spent on the moldy weed way back when?  Well it's still that price, only considerably better quality. That price gives you one gram free too.  When you buy more than that you get more for free.  I know ... crazy-assed criminals.  For as long as I've been partaking in my city, the deals are as follows:  buy 7 get one free~buy 14 get 3 free~buy 28 get 8 free.  So if you want to infuse some butter or oil with an ounce of this plant, it doesn't cost you a bloody fortune when purchased from a 'criminal' ... but it'll break you if you buy it from an LP.  Not that you could buy that much from an LP at a time!

I have a friend who paid a pain specialist $300 to recommend Cannabis.  He then hooked her right up with a company called TILRAY.  He didn't tell her about the other dozen or so LP's ... just immediately hooked her up with the one.  I've heard this same unethical story with this same LP about two other legal cannabis users.  Kickbacks?  Ski trips?  Gift Cards?  I thought only the pharmaceutical reps gave gifts with prescriptions to the Docs!!!

And yet, I see another side of that too.  I mean, Health Canada may have provided ample access to it's legal Cannabis card holders, but they forgot to educate the Doctors.  So, we have a program to provide a medicine to Canadians with a Doctor's recommendation but we have no Doctors who know about said medicine.

Destined to fail?
Destined to fail on purpose?

Could it be that Tilray is educating our Doctors?  Seems only natural that very soon, Canada's MMPR program will mirror our Pharmaceutical industry.  Doctors learn about the pills they prescribe us from pharmaceutical reps.  Will each LP have Cannabis Reps who go around shmoozing Doctors with lunches and clever sample packs the way Pharma Reps do now?

I am one of many who are soon to be over 40 and pharma-free.  I am not alone.  Soon I'll write a book about this too.  I already have total strangers who are now friends who are willing to share their pill history with me, in an effort to educate the world.  Humans helping humans.

We live in capitalism where almost every single industry is about profit. The medical industry is very much about this, and yet I will herald it's greatness on the daily. But I feel that we as a Canadian society have to decide if we're willing to give up our health for someone else's profit.  We all deserve control of our own health and the medicines that ameliorate that, and we shouldn't have to pay a fortune to do it!  Growing this plant for our own personal use must be allowed.

If you agree with me, you don't have to preach about pot to anybody. Just say one factually amazing sentence:

CANNABIS HAS A ZERO DEATH TOLL & is cheaper to grow than Tomatoes :)








Saturday 27 December 2014

2015: Canada Legalizes Cannabis

Short & Sweet:


The New Year is mere days from now.  I feel hopeful ... do you?

Life is good.
About to get better.

2015 is the year Canadians take their country back from the capitalist pigs who are dismantling our greatness one provincial export at a time.

From Saskatchewan's Wheat Board to Nova Scotia's Fishing Industry Guarantee, Harper is showing his abhorrence of Canada.

We should set him free.

This is the year of the Election ... the one that will take it back.

Please vote Red, Orange, or Green ... the colour of my dreams ;-)

This is the year we change our export from dirty Oil to Medicinal Cannabis & Hemp.

Hemp Hemp Hooray!!






Sunday 21 December 2014

Adhering to Employment Standards ... Optional in 2014?

I want to be a writer someday.  I guess I write now.  Does that make me a writer?
I keep taking jobs that are easy for me because I just want to be able to work enough hours to pay my rent and feed myself so I can sit on this couch and write.

I used to challenge myself more with my careers.  I used to be a salesperson.  I gave new meaning to the "fake it till ya make it" saying.  I pretended to have confidence and be eager to sit with each new customer.  But I was faking.  Pretending.  Faking it hoping to be on the way to making it.  Hoping they'd buy what I was selling.  Hoping they wouldn't ask too many questions about the product.

But I don't do that anymore.  I'm simply not able to.  Nowadays I get anxious and my heart rate elevates a few hours before I go to work.  I didn't know what any kind of a panic attack felt like until I turned 40.  I thought shit was supposed to get easier with age and experience!

I get anxious because I lack self confidence ... even still.  If confidence were a big mountain, I'd be three quarters of the way up.  But I'm at the part with the treacherous footing, the loose rock, the crevices calling my name.  I know I'm intelligent.  I personally financed a million dollars worth of cars with one of the banks when I was in the Car biz.  That's nothing to sneeze at.  But I still doubt myself and my abilities every single day.  That doubt is compounded even more when I look at the job ads.  Before long, the fog settles over me and I become engulfed with self-doubt.  Swirling around in my brain are words like 'dummy', 'not qualified', 'not educated', 'not hire-able'.

Lack of confidence can undermine your intelligence faster than amnesia.
It's done a number on mine.

I am finding though, that this habit of taking the easy jobs is biting me in the ass.  I work two part-time jobs at the moment.  The one follows Employment Standards to the letter, and the other one has broken code four times in the one month I've been there.  They've taken almost $40 out of my pay check for alleged "cash shortages".  They expect to pay me liquor serving wage while I'm cooking for kids' Birthday parties.  And those parties are usually only a 2 hour shift ... rule is 3.  I also keep getting asked to come in on my own time to correct paperwork.

NEW RULE:    If you own or manage a Business in Canada, you need to know and be tested on Employment Standards YEARLY.


I'm all about Employee rights.  If you're an employee ... I got your back.  It's the only way I know. I've only ever been an employee.  Never been an employer or a Business owner.  But I've worked for more than I'd like to admit.

Some people are ashamed of the number of sexual partners they've had.
While I'm ashamed of how many jobs I've had.

I've decided that we need a Social Study done on Employee Rights in Ontario.  Calling all University and/or College students in Human Resources, Political Science, or any other program that deals with Employer-Employee relations.  Survey your fellow students.  Survey your parents.  Survey every Employee you know asking them if their Employers have always followed Employment Standards.  

The past ten years has seen me bounce from minimum wage job to minimum wage job.  I'm happily now above that at both jobs~ though one is significantly higher than the other.  But I can tell you that my City sucks for Employment Standards.  The biggest coffee conglomerate in this city is owned by one family who screw their Employees over on the daily.  Been there;  got dismissed without cause for showing them the Employment Standards website highlighting the rules they had broken.  That's right, you cannot be fired for questioning employment standards.  But that just means they'll list a different reason like "operational measures".  I swear some Businesses in Ontario have a separate miscellaneous column on their accounting program for monies they screwed kids out of.

We need to start educating our youth about this stuff.  What has "Romeo & Juliette" ever taught any Grade 9 student other than the fact that kids had sex way back then too!  Change the curriculum to teach your kids what their rights are, what their deductions are for, and how to read their pay checks. I've worked with several University students who had no idea what "Vacation Pay" was, and didn't get theirs after they left because they didn't ask for it.

I'm a proud Canadian.  As soon as we vote the Blue out, we'll be tops again I know it.  But we need to start treating the minions better.  They'll never make robots to stir your double double or cut your hair with a perfect fade.  They'll never create an automated device that you can tell your sorrows to and know that it empathizes.  Ew can you imagine what a therapeutic massage would be like from R2D2?

Employees are humans.  Humans have rights.
Let's help the humans in Canada get the respect they deserve!

Saturday 20 December 2014

Hunter Hayes ... An Influence for the Good

Our world is awash with influences, too many of them for our youth.  So many artists seem to push our kids to emulate them, and in doing this, our kids change themselves into someone else.  The world of music is no different.  But there are influences for good too, and I witnessed one in action and still feel the good vibes some eight days later.

Last Friday afternoon, at my awesome job I got to have coffee with Hunter Hayes.  Well ok ... maybe not actually HAVE coffee ... but I served java to the lucky girls who had coffee with this talented young man.  Have you heard of those "pop-up restaurants"? Well, with help from Keurig the coffee people, Hunter Hayes' team transformed a corner of our concrete fortress arena into a comfy cozy Coffee House.  In came the couches, tapestries went on the tables, and hot chocolate and Keurig coffee pods were provided with marshmallows too!

I've been lucky enough to watch a few meet 'n greets at work, and I've met a few musicians myself. What was different about Hunter was his genuine interest in all forty of those girls in the Coffee House.  His replies to their questions were not rehearsed, nor were they hasty.  He made sure all queries were answered, actually asking for just a few more minutes when urged to finish up.  By this time, my duties were done so I just watched in wonderment from the back of the room as Hunter made sure to engage each and every one of those girls.  That's a big deal for a young girl.  I know this because I used to be one  :-)

When it came time for the pictures, every girl's hand was shaken and every one's name was asked.  It may become a blur to Hunter after so many hugs but for these girls, it seemed like he singled each one of them out and acknowledged their greatness.  I cannot count how many girls passed me giggling and gushing ... feeling on top of the clouds for that one moment in time.  Take that motivational speakers!!!  You got nothin' on Hunter Hayes!

That brings me to Miss Jill.  I call her this because she called me "Miss Dianna" while we worked.  I think that's a 'southern thing' ... not sure though.  I found it cute.  Jill tours around with Hunter and leads the meet 'n greets and Coffee House experiences before each show.  I'm now following Jill on twitter and I can see that they are a very busy team as she posts pics of each venue they play.

I'll be honest with you, Miss Jill had more of an influence on me than Hunter did.  You may know people like Jill and her team.  They're "make-it-happen" kind of people.  The fact that they were late arriving that day, didn't seem to really bother Jill~ if it need, she didn't show it.  I could feel and see a positivity in Jill that I admire and wish to emulate.  Then I saw Jill post this:

"Better to lose count while naming your blessings than to lose your blessings to counting your troubles."   #attitudeofgratitude

The people who travel around with our artists are a special kind of trooper.  Their ability to adapt--whether inherent or honed-- is a skill they all seem to possess.  Being in the vicinity of and in contact with people like this inspires me, and makes me hope their attitudes are contagious.

Thank you Miss Jill .. mucho respect my friend.


Watch HERE and see just how talented Hunter Hayes really is.  Betcha you'll be singin' it for hours!

Thursday 18 December 2014

Stephen Collins ... the 7th Heaven Pedophile


I used to watch that show.  Jessica Biel was in it.  I used to admire the relationships that she had with her on-show father played by Stephen Collins.  It reminded me of my own great relationship I have with my daddy.

How is this man still free?  He admits in an upcoming 20/20 interview that he not only exposed himself to a ten year old, but he also made a little girl touch his penis on the couch as they watched television.

How is this man not in jail?

I feel simply sickened after watching a brief segment on the view with Katie Couric where she stresses that Stephen insists the last time this happened was in 1994, and isn't an ongoing thing.

How is this man still free?

And what makes me feel utterly sick to my stomach is that neither Katie nor any one of the ladies on the View asked about the victims.  Not one.

Are they okay today?  Are they still alive?  How have they dealt with this disgusting abuse?  Did that little girl go on to be friends with Stephen's daughter?  Did she ever spend the night again?  How did HIS SELFISH SEXUAL ACT affect her?

I'm writing this post right now, because I must get it out of my head.

Let's say that the victim didn't deal with this abuse, and became a super-sexualized teen and young woman.  Society, her parents, their friends et al would likely judge her.  They would likely judge her parents as well for her behavior, asking "where in the world would she learn such behavior?".


Stephen Collins made that little girl hold his erect penis when she was either ten or thirteen.  That was likely the first time she'd ever touched one. I can't bring myself to watch the segment again to confirm the age.  It is moot.

Can you imagine that?  I recall at 13 my girlfriends and I talking about sex at a sleep over and we didn't even know that the penis went all the way inside our vaginas.  Needless to say, sex ed in the Catholic school board is severely lacking.

This little girl was a friend of his daughter's.  They watched tv alone on the couch.

Does she blame herself?
Has she blamed herself for the past twenty years?

Our future actions are decided based on our past experiences, and in this case, abuses.

I feel sad for both of these victims.  Nameless ... Faceless .... Victims.

Stephen Collins likely feels better now that he has come clean.

How do his victims feel?

And why isn't anyone asking this question?


Tuesday 2 December 2014

Well-Matched

Have you ever had that moment ~be it with friend, sibling, lover, or mate~ where they say or do something random that illustrates how well-matched you are?  Like-minds I like to call us.

This happened to me earlier today with my hunni.  We were discussing the recent fuk-up with the Ontario Government, where last week a few hundred assistance payments were inaccurate, excessive, or non-existent. This was to the tune of $300,000. dollars.  Perhaps a small chunk in the big pic.

On the CBC the talk is more focused on over-payments than non-payments.  That's odd isn't it?  We live in the days where you get more viewership talking about fellow citizens getting too much of something, instead of getting nothing.

My hunni said:

"All they care about right now is getting the over-payments back from people.  Do you hear anything on there about the people NOT getting their checks?  Because there were some of them too!  But no they're not gonna talk about the guy with five kids and five dollars to his name!"

We were in the car.  I just looked at him and thought to myself:

I am exactly where and with whom I should be.  Damn I love him :)