Being from Iowa I never received much encouragement for my career choice. I have been part of the cannabis culture for fourteen years, and in that time I have seen next to zero progress in the push to legalize. My family and friends have criticized me for standing up and speaking out, which I can understand, as I have been incarcerated for cannabis myself.

People fear the government. They lie to us, they never do what the people want, and they fix the system to work to their agenda. However this is not enough to prevent me from being an American and speaking my voice.

I have contacted every organization I could find. They all tell me the same thing, “write your legislator”. I took their advice. What I got was an insult to my intelligence. Lies and fascism are what this state operates on.

In January of this year the Gallup poll was taken showing 87% of Iowans supporting medical marijuana. The following May, the Iowa Senate passed Senate File 484, which would expand the cannabidiol medical act to include medical marijuana and other qualifying illnesses. Unfortunately, the House ignored it.

I asked Iowa State Senator Tim Kraayenbrink if he were willing to support this bill as I have family that would benefit. He told me that he has a niece with epilepsy so he can understand my situation. Cannabidiol is legal for epilepsy in Iowa but patience have no access to it. He stated that he was unwilling to support the bill, however, as it was too loose and that there was “no appetite” to legalize in Iowa. I asked him what was too loose about the proposal and he had no comment. I then asked him if he was familiar with the Gallup poll and I stated to him that I believed his statement about “no appetite” was arguable. He stated that I was headed in a direction in which no one wins. I told him thank you, happy Thanksgiving, and left him alone for the Thanksgiving weekend.

I later asked him if he would support a bill eliminating marijuana from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. He told me he was unaware of the bill but would review it and get back to me. He has yet to do so.

Everyone in Iowa is acting like epilepsy is the only illness in the world. To me it’s downright discrimination. “Whites only” on a bathroom door is unacceptable. “Epilepsy only” on a God-given plant shouldn’t be seen as any different. I’ve lost too many family members and friends to both the grave and prison. This is no longer a trivial matter. This is war. And as the saying goes, “the pen is mightier than the sword!”.

So arm yourselves people. Write your legislators.

You can find them here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find.

Spark a dialogue. Let them know that we mean business. And if the pen is mightier than the sword then keep in mind that social networking should put a nuke to shame.