Pubdate: Mon, 04 Jan 2016
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2016 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Laurel Andrews

ALASKA GROUPS GIVE FREE CANNABIS TO SEVERELY ILL, VETERANS

While Alaska's commercial marijuana market slowly forges ahead, some 
residents aren't waiting for retail businesses to surface and are 
instead providing cannabis to the severely ill and veterans, all free 
of charge.

Alaska Green Angels is one of these groups that has been giving away 
free cannabis for the past year. It was started as reaction to what 
the group feels is a medical marijuana system that has failed its 
patients -- although the state disagrees.

On a Tuesday afternoon in December, a dozen of the group's members 
gathered at a storefront in Anchorage. A seemingly disparate group, 
they ranged in ages and appearance. One young woman wore a neatly 
tied ponytail; another man with tattoos on his neck huddled in a camo 
jacket; an older woman in jeans stood the entire meeting.

Their stories were similarly disparate. Some were military veterans 
battling PTSD. One woman had shattered her pelvis and broken her 
back. Another man had Crohn's disease and recently had a section of 
his intestine removed; another woman had a spinal infection.

The common thread between their stories was pain, and the treatment 
of their pain with cannabis.

Three of the group's founders -- Don "DC" McKenzie, Adele Tara, and 
Darby Andrews -- were among the group at the Tuesday get-together. 
The fourth co-founder, Angel Kirstene, was unable to attend.

A simple premise

Alaska voted to commercialize recreational marijuana use in 2014.

In the months following the legalization vote, businesses popped up 
claiming to give away marijuana. They asked people to make a 
"donation" for the product, essentially swapping the word "buy" with 
"donate." Three of those businesses are today facing felony drug charges.

Alaska Green Angels was created partially in response to what 
McKenzie called "predatory" practices against medical marijuana users.

"We strongly felt that there were individuals out there kind of 
acting with a real mercenary attitude toward the sickest people," 
McKenzie said. "It all just kind of coalesced ... to answer this need."

The Green Angels started with a Facebook group created by McKenzie last winter.

The premise is simple. Post a need for cannabis and one of the 
members with marijuana will respond.

Soon, the group's numbers ballooned. While they used to know every 
member, "those days are long passed," Tara said.

Now, the group's members are communicating with each other 
independently of the founders, Tara said.

Such was the case with Dakota Davis. Davis received his first free 
cannabis from a stranger who responded to his post.

Davis, 26, said that he had avoided marijuana after being honorably 
discharged from the Navy due to Crohn's disease. He had never really 
used cannabis and didn't like the idea of getting marijuana from 
"this black market thing."

Through the advice of a business professor, he got connected with the 
Alaska Green Angels. "These guys have been helping me out 
tremendously," Davis said.

He says he uses cannabis to alleviate nausea brought on by 
chemotherapy he undergoes for Crohn's. He also uses it in place of 
opiates, which he said negatively affect his mood.

"It's not a cure-all," Davis said, but "it really improves my quality of life."

The group insists their cannabis products are always free of charge. 
Under state law, one can legally give 1 ounce of marijuana to another 
person over the age of 21, though it remains a crime under federal law.

"We all agree that if anyone ever accepted any type of 'donation'," 
Tara said, miming quotation marks with her fingers, "we would 
immediately report them to the authorities."

About 10 people growing cannabis contribute to the group, Andrews 
said. Others provide the equipment or raw materials for edibles.

With the group growing larger, they are in a constant search for 
additional cannabis. McKenzie said they use their own resources and 
are "slowly going broke" with the endeavor.

Cannabis for veterans

Alaska Green Angels isn't the only group providing cannabis products 
for free in the state. The Alaska Veterans Cannabis Relief 
Organization, based in the Mat-Su Valley, also gives out cannabis 
products to veterans.

Keenan Williams, the group's president, said it began as a chapter of 
the national group Weed For Warriors Project, and has since branched 
out into its own organization.

Nationally, the Weed for Warriors group is seeking to move away from 
a reliance on prescription drugs, what Williams called "the VA's 
answer to everything."

The national group pulls from reports that support the idea of 
marijuana as an opiate replacement, such as the 2014 study that found 
that in states where medical marijuana is legalized, opioid overdose 
fatalities were found to be 25 percent lower than in states where it 
wasn't legalized.

Like the Green Angels, William's group relies on donations from 
Alaskans' own personal stash.

"We do not charge, will not charge, and do not accept any 
compensation at all. Zero," Williams said.

Williams says they've donated to a couple hundred veterans since the 
group was started in May. The group also helps vets set up their own 
home growing operation.

A third group, CannaCare, is also based in the Mat-Su valley and 
serves veterans. CannaCare works "hand in hand" with Williams, he 
said. CannaCare's founder, Rachel Lake, said the group hands out care 
packages once a month. All three groups say they also give out things 
like hygiene products, warm clothing and coffee cards.

With their donations, the Green Angels believe that they are filling 
a gap that the state created when it legalized medicinal marijuana years ago.

"'I pray that they never have to rely on it'

In 1998, Alaska became one of the first states to legalize medical 
marijuana. But, the state's system didn't provide for a legal means 
to procure cannabis -- people were allowed to grow and possess 
marijuana, but the state did not specify how a person would legally 
come across these plants, as distribution was still illegal, unlike 
many of the other states that provided for dispensaries.

After Alaska legalized marijuana, people were allowed to legally give 
away plants, or up to an ounce of marijuana. Medical marijuana 
cardholders still have no easy means to get cannabis if they are not 
connected to a source. The sale of cannabis, outside of the state's 
licensed system, is still illegal.

As such, there's little incentive to get a medical marijuana card. As 
of Dec. 22, there were 1,003 medical marijuana cardholders registered 
with the state, according to David Gibson, research analyst with the 
Department of Health and Vital Statistics.

The Green Angels want to fill in that gap. It also wants better 
access for patients -- tax break for cardholders and medical 
marijuana doctors who are "legitimate," instead of the "crackpots" in 
the state now, Andrews said. They also say there is a stigma for 
medical marijuana users.

"People that don't believe that there's a medical benefit to 
(cannabis), I pray that they never have to rely on it for a medical 
need ... But I do wish they would open their eyes and have a little 
empathy and sympathy," Andrews said.

With the state's focus on commercial, recreational marijuana, Tara 
feels like she has personally failed. She wondered aloud whether the 
group should have staged demonstrations to bring the public eye to 
the issue of medical access, while the regulations were being written.

The state doesn't see it that way. Regulators have said repeatedly 
they do not support a separate medical marijuana system.

Both Colorado and Washington have struggled to integrate their 
already-existing medical marijuana systems with the recreational 
marijuana businesses. Drawing on those states' experience, Alaska 
regulators decided two business models would be more problematic than one.

Marijuana Control Board chair Bruce Schulte said that he personally 
supports the idea of a tax break for medical patients, but added, 
"there's no way we can get there," at least until 2017, he said.

By law, Alaska's voter initiative cannot be substantially changed for 
the first two years. A medical tax break would amount to a 
substantial change, he said, given that the initiative is explicit 
about its $50 per-ounce state tax.

Retail stores can offer discounts, but that decision is left solely 
up to the business owner.

With commercial marijuana stores set to open during the summer or 
autumn of 2016, Schulte believes that the medical community has, in 
many ways, finally been served by Alaska after so many years of being 
left with few resources.

"I get the need, I sympathize ... I just don't share their concern 
that we've failed them," Schulte said.

Going forward, Alaska Green Angels hopes to become a stand-alone 
website, where people can connect with others in their community. 
Eventually, they would like to become a non-profit organization. The 
plan is to continue providing free cannabis in whatever capacity possible.

"Years ago, this was an unheard-of thing," McKenzie said of giving 
away marijuana. "Slowly we're attempting to change that paradigm."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom