My Cannabis is Medicine, Not An Income Source

So my package arrived via Fedex yesterday and instead of the driver simply handing it to me, he asked about buying some of my crop. I had no clue what he was talking about. Jerry and I were finishing up the dome greenhouse we put in and I thought maybe he had assumed something. But no. He was talking about the cannabis I grow to keep my rheumatoid arthritis under control.

He danced around the subject as I kept saying I didn’t know what he was talking about. I don’t grow anything to sell. I turned my vegetable garden into a witch’s herb garden – pentacle shaped and that. But for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. Eventually, he told me what crop it was that he was wanting from me.

I was stunned.

I asked him where he heard I was growing cannabis. He said all the neighbors told him. Well, only my neighbor next door uses the word crop to describe anything growing, so I know it was him who told this oh so foolish man. I’ve never grown outside until last year when it was legal to do so recreationally. I only grew one of my allotted plants outside. Jerry grew his allotted amount so that’s what folks might have seen. We gifted what we needed to do to stay within our limits to family members who wanted some. That’s what I’ve always done. OMMP patients believe they’re to donate when receiving cannabis or clones. That’s not actually how the law is written, so I’ve never taken any donations, much to the consternation of some of the patients I’ve given clones to.

I keep clones around for my next grow. So, the lights are on over the cloner irrespective if they are used for the next grow, or for smoothie material. I grow some plants to harvest raw for my daily smoothies. So not everything grows all the way to flower. I reserve one plant for a hydro bucket. I harvest the leaf for smoothies and I tincture the root. The root in water is much easier to clean than when grown in dirt, so I decided one day to simply alleviate that by growing hydroponically. Duh. Besides, it’s fun to lift the plant up to see all the nice white roots that are growing.

But back to the oh so foolish Fedex guy. I told him I’ve been a cannabis patient since 2010 and it saved my life. He started stammering, and I cut him off. I told him that I turn everything I grow into medicine to keep me well. I told him that I’ve never sold any of it and I’m not about to start doing so now. I told him that I was uncomfortable with the conversation and he was to leave immediately. Then I told him never to come back on my property.

He left and I went back down the driveway to tell Jerry what had just happened. He was as stunned as I was. We can all legally grow four plants now in Oregon. OMMP patients can grow six as well as clones and smaller plants not in flower. Oregon allows patients to keep enough smaller plants on hand so that the grow process can be continual. This is important particularly if starting from seed because you have to wait for signs of gender to show before you know if you have a female or not. So patients have some wiggle room in the event they can’t grow from existing clones for some reason. Sometimes genetics become tired and you need to start again from seed. So we have enough room count-wise to do that.

Jerry will grow his plants outside again this year. I’ve reduced my grow down enough to compensate for his amounts and I only grow three or four plants into flower now instead of six. Clearly I don’t care if people know because I’ve written a book about my experience. But no one should be approaching anyone about buying their cannabis. Grow it yourself. You can now. It’s legal. Or go to a dispensary to buy some. They’re not just for patients anymore. Or at least until the actual retail outlets open. But it’s available everywhere in Oregon now. And if you live in a town where dispensaries are banned (which is ridiculous, but whatever), then the next town over will have lots of places to buy cannabis. Leave private people alone. And for the love of Goddess, never approach someone about cannabis who lives behind a series of locked gates. Except we didn’t put them in because of the cannabis, but because of trespassing neighbors.

But here’s the thing. If you are on someone’s professional grow site, there are all sorts of rules and regulations growers need to follow now. And I’ll bet selling to a Fedex guy privately isn’t included in those rules.

And no, I’m not going to turn him in to Fedex. And people: stop speaking in code about cannabis. And stop calling it marijuana.

~Blessed Be