making a fool out of himself that is.
I attended the Eagle River Youth Coalition “How Do You Feel About the Impact of Medical Marijuana on Youth?” forum last night in Eagle Colorado (GORGEOUS DRIVE!) with Shan and Chaz Moore, James McVaney, Audrey Hatfield, Mark Slaugh, and Jason Lauve. For asking “How do you feel?” about something, the forum was NOT designed for 2-way communication regarding how folks felt. Questions were to be submitted on 3×5 cards and read by a moderator. Police were on hand, 2 Eagle Police Officers, and the School Sheriff reserve officer. The organizers were very gracious, and gave us space for materials to place to display and hand out.
Chaz, Shan and James all squashed into the lil ol Jeep Liberty I have on loan from the insurance company (great lil rig by the way….I want one!) and got there early and had opportunity to visit with the shop owners.
Sweetleaf Pioneer is the LONE dispensary in Eagle, and what a unique position they are in. They are the only MMD in the city of Eagle. They have had to go to great lengths to maintain their business in Eagle, and have worked diligently with the town council. Well…..Eagle has a population of about 4,000 – and population density wise – I felt like I was right back in Lincoln Montana. Small town, small town mentality.
Some new town council members were elected this past spring – and all hell broke loose for Sweetleaf. Suddenly, they are “evil” and must be banned, after jumping through ALL the hoops and spending all the money. Social ostracism is a huge problem for patients in Eagle, and supporting the MMD has been strong, but very down-played, as the patients do not want to suffer persecution.
Sure would be nice if we could get past all this “judging” stuff and just be who we are huh?
Anyways…….I understand the situation, being from itty-bitty-ville myself. It’s not one you go storming the barn on. If we woulda showed up there waving signs all over and raising a big stink, we would not have done Sweetleaf Pioneer or their patients ANY favors. Please folks, when you go do advocacy, get the feel of the situation before you open your mouth. Trust the folks you are helping with their feel for the community. What works in Denver or Colorado Springs will most certainly not always work in smaller communities. That’s why these folks live here……to get OUT of the city and big city ways.
So…..back on topic. We opted for NOT having a big scene outside – and groaned along with the audience. We had made contact previous to arriving – and pretty much stunned them with fact. They agreed to briefly introduce Chaz at the forum, as it had all been “scripted” before, and we felt lucky for that!
Guess what? You too – can groan along and yell at the screen. As soon as I get the videos uploaded, I will share. I may have to upload them to my MTConnectMagazine acct on YouTube as my CoConnectMe one isn’t approved for anything over 15 minutes yet. Be sure to like and follow them both on YouTube.
I hope you folks will take Southers to task – and do it PROFESSIONALLY. Calling somebody names and threatening them is not conducive to open dialogue.
I believe we all feel it went very well actually. After the hours of lies and mis-information, we were released, and went to the hall where the display tables were.
I have to tell each and every one of you out there – I am SO PROUD of Chaz Moore. That young man has come a long way – and Cannabis is serious medicine to him and he represents as well. The high school superintendant spent quite a bit of time questioning Chaz, and in the end said “I believe of all the people I have met using marijuana, you most certainly are a definite candidate I can support and get behind.”
That was the High School Superintendent. I was SO TICKLED! Chaz was phenomenal and has become a GREAT advocate to speak on patients rights. The youth there flocked to him after the session, and the two young men spent quite a bit of time questioning Chaz and his father. I spoke with them after they left Chaz and the Cheerleader cross country runner girls went to talk to Chaz and Shan. The young man I spoke to wants to be a pilot in his future, and was a VERY sharp young man.
His eyes were opened people. I simply reinforced it with “You’re bright – go check your facts. You can look up anything that was said here tonight on the internet. Go make your own decisions based on fact and knowlege.”
He already had…..after talking to Chaz. This is a young man who just talked about losing his peers to drugs. Not as in death, as in pals, and change of interests. Seeing and meeting Chaz was monumental to him, and witnessing one of Chaz’s seizures cinched it for those kids. I really enjoyed listening to them question Chaz and Shan. The girls were very concerned about what Shan goes through being Chaz’s parent….and asked GREAT questions!
SO SO PROUD OF YOU CHAZ! You were a ROCKSTAR last night!
Keep it up buddy!
Videos seem to be loading on the MTConnectMagazine Channel……More coming soon!
I hope you folks will pat Chaz on the back. That young man is going to do WONDERS for our community. He is coming a long way – and has more at stake here than MANY of us. If you ever see or witness one of Chaz’s attacks – you will never question him again. EVER.
It kind of bothers me that anybody would ever question treating children……with what the alternatives are out there. If we TRULY believe Cannabis is safe and effective, why would we not want our loved ones or most precious to have the benefit? Cashy Hyde is on my mind and in my heart every day with his brain cancer, please meet him at http://www.cashhydefoundation.com
He is my special boy….and so is Chaz. THEY are who will truly be our emissaries……as children will be who change our future.
Kids are NOT stupid……it’s about time we treated them with respect and give them knowledge and power to educate and win. Those kids from the DADS campaign last night convinced me of that. They’re eyes were opened……WIDELY.
Thank you Chaz……love ya buddy and proud to have you on board! If you folks don’t know Chaz – or need more info – please visit his site here: http://www.iambillsmith.com/
http://www.csindy.com/IndyBlog/archives/2011/02/04/school-reverses-course-student-told-to-stay-home-after-using-mmj
The Moore family plus a guy
MamaConnect
