As we head into 2018, we find ourselves, in this part of the world, embarking on a journey that’s been millennia in the making.
Cannabis—possibly our oldest cultivated plant ally, a camp follower to the core, a plant in which we have a receptor system designed specifically for—has taken to the mainstream and garnered the attention of a global audience of patients and detractors. Its future begins here, in California, the nucleus of contemporary cannabis culture,
From a grounded state of an
8 to 1, CBD to THC ratio, this is what I see as I look back at how we got here and where we are going.
We have smashed taboos and proclaimed, through experience and wisdom, now supported daily by new medical science discoveries, that cannabis is a medicine and is the key to reclaiming autonomy over one’s health and vitality. Through this, we have unlocked the power of cannabinoids, following our nose into the therapeutic abilities of terpenes, embracing the entourage effect of whole plant medicine. Understanding how and why our endocannabinoid system functions and is tuned through cannabis has reopened alliances with the rest of the plant and fungal worlds. Cannabis is the great potentiator.
California cultivators grew more cannabis this past season than any place ever has. It’s been a full-scale agrarian takeover, monumental and unrivaled in the history of plant medicine.
Yet this is a moment of duality and uncertainty. Medical or adult-use? Renegade or regulation? Raging against the machine or assimilating with it? The challenges this new era poses, especially to the localized economies and individual members of the cannabis community, are daunting. Yet this move to legality demands creativity, community and collaboration. Innovation spawns from perceived catastrophe. The unbounded ability for the cannabis community to shine is exciting to imagine.
It is my belief that we, myself included, are doing the bidding of the plant herself. We have placed her in our bodies, minds, communities, economic and political systems. The abundance of resource, the catalyzing of effects medical discovery and the community support created by this moment is real.
This is what brings me the most joy contemplating this inevitability. We get to show the world how this is done. So in true California fashion, let a wild rumpus begin!
Patrick Anderson is a lead educator at Project CBD and patient consultant at Emerald Pharms.
