The World Is In A Strange Place, Cannabis Could Help

Hello, I hope you are doing well as you read this!

I want to clear the air on something here that's rather important.  I have very strong personal beliefs on a lot of things in this world, and cannabis is the one I have the strongest beliefs in for it's potential to help heal ailments, bring people together, and help people relax.  We need this in society, especially in the current landscape of things.  (This is not a dig against the current President Donald Trump, I actually support a lot of, (but not all) the things he is currently doing for us.  One major one being cracking down on ILLEGAL immigration, which I've always thought was an issue, and always held the belief that... It's illegal immigration for a reason.  True, legit immigration is needed to keep us growing as a country, but having more stringent requirements I think is necessary, as well as at the same time making it easier to immigrate.  This is a topic for another day, though as I know it sounds contradicting.  I assure you, where I come from it is not.  Example:  Stringent being more in depth background checks for safety, not intelligence levels or results on a test, especially for individuals who do not know enlgish, although I think there should be a requirement for them to learn it at a decent level to be able to communicate with people in the country.)

Now, with this said, I do believe adult use should be legal for reasons of personal freedoms for those who wish to partake recreationally.  Anything I say now, or in the future regarding the differences between the two, does not mean, nor will it ever mean I am against recreational cannabis.  However, with this said I do believe legalization for personal use is lower on the spectrum of importance.  I think President Donald Trump knows this too with his willingness to even answer the question about rescheduling live on air, which doesn't legalize, but reschedules, changing the landscape across the country about the efficacy of this plant.

Here's what I hope happens with cannabis, I hope it's at least rescheduled (my hope in descheduling dwindles by the day personally).  I hope it's legalized medically and the incorporation of cannabis into the medical sector should be ground breaking, allowing all state legal operators to stay in existence without the requirement for FDA approval for non-traditional forms of medicine such as cannabis flower.  I know personally, that with the medical program I am in, we don't have flower, and only have "prepared final products", these include but are not limited to, tinctures, tablets, concentrates and vapes.  The bad thing with the concentrates, imo, is that it's stronger than flower.  I feel fower should remain on the shelves once the rescheduling process goes through, although I do have a feeling it will disappear in the medical market, and maybe altogether, if they crack down on non-medical, with "non traditional" form factors when it comes to administration of THC/CBD.  

I believe this because from experiencing what is offered here in the state of Iowa, a lot of the products just contain too much THC for me personally, while I would do better with a mellower use, such as flower.  Low THC flower for me personally, right around 5-10% would suffice.  I will advocate for this while trying to work with legalization efforts, should I ever be able to find a chapter somewhere her local that I can be a part of, or just online advocacy for the plant.

The plant itself is what cures, I think we need to stay away from prepared products as much as possible, as that adds other elements into the mix.  Again, please, realize when I say things like I just did, that doesn't mean that I'm against those things.  I just think the lower THC, with better intake control (when considering how much cannabis to consume) is necessary, and I believe lower THC would be better for most medical applications.  Concentrates and vapes are highly concentrated, which for a lot of people I'm sure that's what they need.

The reason I use Iowa as an example, I know we are very restrictive here.  Not all medical programs, and probably msot medical programs don't look anything similar to the one in Iowa.  I'm not here to talk limits on a 90 day period.  It's fine the way it is, since we have the ability to purchase more if a medical provider believes it's necessary.  I'm here bringing up an example of what a national medical program could look like, if implemented in a conservative way, as Iowa is very conservative by nature.

TL;DR

I have a lot of personal opinions on a lot of matters, with a focus on cannabis advocacy.

I believe President Donald Trump is doing well currently, with an America first agenda which is fantastic, and actually falls in line with a lot of beliefs I've had such as America needs to be self sustained in every industry, with as little dependance on any other country for any reason.  At the end of the day, if we have a worldwide conflict (not saying we will, not saying I want this, I'm saying it's a possibility, and not because of any one administration in the current, past, or future.), your enemies will not be sending you life saving things, or will withold items they know are pertinent to your economy survivng.  Credit where credit is due.  I just hope he was serious about at least discussing or making an official stance on cannabis rescheduling.  This will give us definitive answers, which the industry needs, yesterday.

Cannabis should at least be medically legal at this day in age, it's been proven to help a lot of people in general, or with ailments.

Cannabis if/when legalized for medical or recreational purposes, should not end up with a "preparations only" model, restricting the most natural forms like flower.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Anytime before consuming cannabis, please speak to your healthcare provider about consumption, pay attention to state laws and stay compliant as to not risk your livelihood due to a plant.  The cannabis industry is soon to be accessible in safe avenues, as it should have been for a long time now.

-Scott Petheram