Cannabis Pioneer & Champion Paul Stanford

"This is a 33 minute video from June 2016 of the first office meeting

at our clinic headquarters in Portland, after the takeover. 

My wife videoed it with her phone."

“They haven’t paid me a penny,

but they’ve taken everything I’ve owned in my whole life.”

Paul Stanford

Paul Stanford is in danger of loosing his medical marijuana clinics after decades of work helping over a quarter million patients USA due to a hostile corporate takeover. One of the reasons many of us can go to the corner store to buy our pot is the almost half century of work by hemp pioneer and cannabis champion Paul Stanford. 

Paul and his wife Theresa have helped patients legally get the medical marijuana they need to heal and the information on how to best use it for their health issues. This evolutionary work in the face of insane prohibition laws has made Paul a target for the greed in weed that’s taking over, unless we stop it now.

The Stanfords and their crew have done such excellent jobs helping patients that big business came two years ago to take everything from their clinics to Paul's name. They're doing it through a series of court maneuvers. Paul explained in an email to his patients:

“…we are locked in an ongoing court legal battle for our medical clinic, Empower, from a hostile corporate takeover by an Israeli-Canadian energy company, Adira Energy, which is partially-owned by billionaire speculator, George Soros. Since June 2016, we have been in a David versus Goliath legal drama and outspent on attorneys by more than 10 to one.

The Israeli-Canadians took control of the medical marijuana clinic at a 15 minute hearing that had not been scheduled. I was told to report to the would go into court just the day before, an unscheduled or ex parte hearing. My lawyers appeared, but they advised me to not come because they did not know what the Israeli-Canadian raiders would file or do. The trial is currently scheduled for March 11, 2019 in Multnomah County Court, Portland, Oregon, case number 16CV18448. Turns out that they’ve outspent me 10 to 1 on legal fees.”

It is imperative that at least the cannabis dispensaries and recreational shops donate to Paul's legal fund so they can continue to help people heal. This corporate takeover makes patients records public, private information for sale, with not even a fraction of a penny of it going to the Stanfords or, more importantly, THEIR PATIENTS.

Another multi-decade cannabis / hemp activist, Kris Krane, who is also a journalist at Forbes Magazine, wrote a powerful article earlier this year The Cannabis Industry Needs To Support Advocacy. Here's Why

"This industry didn’t expand because of a memo issued by a deputy attorney general, or because some governments simply decided they wanted to benefit from the tax revenue that legal cannabis could bring their states. It happened because of the decades of work by marijuana reform activists and policy organizations, without whose efforts today’s businesses could not exist.

Today’s cannabis businesses, whether they realize it or not, are part of a long-standing movement to end cannabis prohibition, a movement that I am proud to have played a small role in advancing earlier in my career. With the industry under renewed attack from drug warriors in Washington, D.C., it is imperative that today’s cannabis business leaders, many who have only known the “good times” under the protection of the Cole Memo, heed the lessons taught by the early pioneers of the industry and recognize their essential role in the broader reform movement. Their very existence as businesses depends on it."

How is it that with a lifetime of doing his best and beyond to support the legalization process, Paul Stanford, founder of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, THCF Medical Clinic and Empower Medical Clinics is fighting for his patients privacy which can be sold for $100 each, his business and everything he has? 

Fortunately he has Theresa as his wife so we know they will make it through, yet, they sure could do with some help, especially from the industry that they helped build. Paul's email to his patients continues:

“It is an incredible, modern David and Goliath story. and below are links to 3 articles from the Huffington Post, Salem News and Ganjapreneur that detail this complex international business deal which includes decades of research and patients medical records. I was informed and have to tell my patients that the possible new owners would sell patients' private medical records for tens of millions of dollars. There is a 4th article below on how they can sell private medical records. The previous clinic location are being run by Adira Energy who has taken control in an unusual financial move called a "reverse merger."

The first appeared in the Salem News, written by Bonnie King in August 2016:

““The activist formerly known as Paul Stanford"

Paul Stanford was fired June 10th. BLINDSIDED, he would say. He received a certified letter from S.M.A.A.R.T., the corporation he owns a majority of, telling him he was out.

For reasons wrought with legalese and plenty of supposition, the S.M.A.A.R.T. board of directors opted to remove him, without ever even calling a single shareholder or board of directors meeting.

On June 9th, the lawyers representing Adira, a Canadian/Israeli petroleum and natural gas company, asked the Multnomah County Court in Portland for a TRO (temporary restraining order) against Paul Stanford to “stop imminent harm” and because they weren’t able to “take the company public in August.” That meant no access to his office, or his bank accounts.

The possible loss of future financial gain for these Canadians was apparently enough for the judge to agree, as she made her ruling in less than 20 minutes. LESS THAN 20 MINUTES.

“The Judge caused harm,”Stanford insists. “Harm against an honest business. The impact is far reaching.”’

The next one was written by Angela Bacca published by The Huffington Post

“While the Canadian cannabis business is booming, LPs have turnedtheir focus towards establishing dominant market shares in the United States aswell. Where Canada has a total population of nearly 35 million, in California alone,which legalized marijuana in 2016, there are nearly 40 million people and a massivealready-established market. A company commanding hold on both the American and Canadianmarkets could generate billions.”

I edited Bacca's article to expand and clarify a few crucial points, with hyperlinks to sources. Ganjapreneur reported:

Longtime Activist New Fighting For Livelihood In Ongoing Hostile Takeover

Ganjapreneur by TG Branfelt:

"The lawsuit stems from Stanford’s desire to do two things: raise funds for a ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2014 in Oregon and take his medical clinics company, Presto Quality Care — which operated dispensaries in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Michigan, and California — public. Stanford said he was approached by Canadian venture capitalists about investing in his company, and in May 2014, he agreed he would work with them to launch Presto on the U.S. over-the-counter market if they agreed to give him $400,000 for the ballot initiative."

The Guardian explains how each person's private medical records are worth over $100 each. Our privacy policy said that these records would never be sold. Now, via a million dollar preliminary court injunction, unscrupulous dishonest corporate raiders have been given your private medical data, entrusted to us by you.

"In a new report from the Century Foundation...“The patient is not really a component of this because their name and connection to the prescription have been stripped off.” But other forms of data, such as information from fitness devices and search engines, are completely unregulated and have identities and addresses attached. A third kind of data called “predictive analytics” cross-references the other two and makes predictions about behavior with what Tanner calls “a surprising degree of accuracy”."

I have difficulty conceiving why Paul has to even ask for help to raise legal fees to keep his clinics and his patients medical information private. So far, he's spent over $170,000 fighting a hostile corporate takeover. The raiders have spent over 10 times more on their extensive legal team. If you are in any position to help, please contribute to his GoFundMe campaign.

Of course, knowing Paul and Theresa, they are already rebuilding. Paul reports:

"We have set up a new clinic on Sandy Blvd. in Portland, just off of NE 28th Ave, to compete with our old business, as we fight in court to regain control of Empower Healthcare.

Please call our office if you need to renew for your OMMP card.

If you are not in Oregon, we can refer you to another physician.

Our number is 503-235-4606 and our new address is 2712 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland, OR 97232.

This is our new website:  http://paulstanfordmedicalclinics.com/ "

"If marijuana business leaders recognize their role in the reform movement, and support those organizations whose work has made this industry possible, we will be able to ensure not only the survival of this emerging industry, but we will set the conditions needed to allow it to grow and thrive into the future."

"Kris Krane is co-founder of 4Front, a leading investment and management firm in the cannabis industry. Follow 4Front on Twitter or subscribe to its newsletter."

As the cannabis / hemp industries follow the wisdom of cannabis champion Kris Krane we will succeed in implementing the hemp solution. Hemp / cannabis can solve so many of our problems. The peace pipe may even have an impact on our gun violence and suicide rates (yes, that’s why it’s called the peace pipe).

It's time for Cannabis Common Sense!

If you are in any position to help, please contribute to
Paul's GoFundMe campaign

Smoke 'em if you got 'em in California

In the name of freedom, this is a great time to be alive in California.  Cannabis users are rejoicing in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the state. The courts actually ruled in favor of We The People last month and there is an air of joy in LA that I've not experienced before. 

The court has joined the people saying the federal government does not own us in this the land of the free and the home of the brave, even though we support it with tax dollars, personal accomplishments and voter participation.  

We are not their cattle. They do not "own us" as fulfillment to the debts of dead people, i.e. the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 and counterproductive UN Drug Treaties from 1961.  They do not have a right to control our consumption of a plant.

We The People have determined to save ourselves with the simple hemp solution in issues regarding Fukushima, medical marijuana, global warming, the economy and whatever else it takes to fulfill our responsibility to secure life at least 7 generations ahead.  Restoring hemp to full participation in nature's process is a wise course of action.  

The source of this celebration, which kicks into full gear with September's much awaited THC Cup, September 15th & 16th in Hollywood, is the recent court decision regarding storefront and mobile dispensaries.

The SF Gate reports:

"An appeals court in Southern California recently struck down Los Angeles County's 2-year-old ban on dispensaries, ruling that state law allows cooperatives and collectives to grow, store and distribute pot. However, in a separate case, an appeals court said federal law pre-empts municipalities from allowing dispensaries.

Pot clinic advocates say government bans disregard the state law passed by voters in 1996 that allows the use of medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Judge-says-Riverside-County-can-t-close-pot-shops-3760927.php#ixzz22mfPOGBX "

From the recent court ruling on medical marijuana that at least reads like the folks on the corner are legal too since they are mobile dispensaries:

"Subdivision (e) of section 11362.768 expressly contemplates that a “medical marijuana cooperative, collective, dispensary, operator, establishment, or provider” may have a “storefront or mobile retail outlet.”  Page 9, Paragraph 1 https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://statecasefiles.justia.com/documents/california/court-of-appeal/b233419.pdf?ts%3D1341255677&chrome=true

Also from the above link court decision document - Page 19, Paragraphs 1-3

"A complete ban, such as County's ordinance at issue herein, stands in an entirely different relationship to California's medical marijuana law than a temporary moratorium, general regulations applicable to all business operations, and reasonable restrictions on the location of medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives. We conclude state law preempts County's ban.

DISPOSITION

The order granting a preliminary injunction is reversed, our stay of the injunction is dissolved when the remittitur issues from this court, and the matter is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Defendants are entitled to their costs on appeal."

Here's a few relevant links to the decision.

Court Decision - 2 links to confirm text

http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/AMCC_Appellate_Court_Decision.pdf 

http://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2012/b233419.html 

I am not alone in my observation that life is radically better and more hopeful here on the US West Coast, considering what is going on in our sister states of Oregon, and Alaska. 

http://www.marijuana.com/news/2012/07/california-court-of-appeals-cultivates-pro-marijuana-collective-decision/ 

"As many California medical marijuana collectives breathe a deep sigh of relief, pot clubs in L.A. have been given the green light to operate – thanks to the Second District Court of Appeals decision in California on Tuesday. The court issued the groundbreaking ruling in the County of Los Angeles v. Alternative Medicinal Marijuana Collective or AMCC.

The second district Court of Appeals affirmed that medical marijuana collectives are allowed to operate under existing California state law. They further went on to reject any and all bans that the local municipalities may have imposed on these medical marijuana collectives."

We're having a celebration at the USA Hemp Museum to celebrate the end of prohibition in California this weekend, Saturday & Sunday, August 11 & 12 at the USA Hemp Museum, 1358 S. Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA to discuss "where do we go from here?" Richard M. Davis, the museum's curator and founder, can help you find a doctor for your medical conditions that qualify for medical marijuana.

All are welcome. 30% 501(c)3 donations to the World Cannabis Foundation are appreciated as support for the museum.  

Like the title of this article says "Smoke 'em if you got 'em in California."

Hon. Robert P. VanDeHey - Save Lives - Free Dana Beal

September 11, 2011

Hon. Robert P. VanDeHey

Grant County Courthouse

Post Office Box 89

Lancaster, WI   53813-0089

Re: Dana Beal

I am writing in support of the patriotic hero Dana Beal, who has been fighting for the rights of sick and dis-advantaged people his whole life.  Dana is a heroes’ hero who should be free to do his missionary work.  He is a man of the peace pipe, the same peace pipe that Calvin Coolidge smoked with the Native Americans.  It is a mistake to have Dana Beal in jail. I am certain that hemp farmers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and hemp merchant Benjamin Franklin are ashamed that the Declaration of Independence was not made into law.  It's sad how the children of the American Dream are dealing with prison, homelessness, poverty and uncertainty when something as simple as adapting a document signed by Dana's ancestors, our ancestors, that would protect us from government created cruelty for victim-less crimes.    

Dana’s been part of my life, an inspiration, for over 25 years, going back to my participating in his Million Marijuana Marches in New York City, longer if I count the years of just going to the rallies, having fun and learning as much as I could about how to save the world.

When Dana and Sister Somayah Kambui produced the first march in Los Angeles, he made a way for me to help out so I could continue the conversation about why we should stop the drug war and use hemp’s 50,000 products and the five million jobs that can come from it to help make the world better.  Medicine, paper, building materials, foods, energy, fabrics, there are so many non-toxic uses for this marvelous plant. 

Dana’s introduced me to the powerful peace activist David Crockett Williams who’s helped me co-publish both the free energy book DEPALMA, FREE ENERGY AND THE N-MACHINE by MIT professor and inventor Bruce DePalma and PRELUDE TO INTIMACY by Earth Day co-founder and wrongfully imprisoned Ira Einhorn about his years on the run. 

Thanks to Dana’s introduction I was able to assisted hemp activist Richard M. Davis of the USA Hemp Museum with his Hemp For Victory book series A GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION [Dana’s on page 41], THE WONDER HERB [Dana’s on pages 75 &148] and THE TRILLION DOLLAR CROP [the only reason he’s not in that one is the economic papers were long and filled up the 250 page printer imposed limitations.  He will be in part two on the subject of hemp as an economic empowerment tool.]  Some days I feel I can trace most of our problems back to prohibition in some form. 

I’ve seen him speak truth to power many times, even in cases where who he was talking to had a gun and the right to shoot him.  Dana is one of the most courageous men I’ve ever known.  I’m short too and he taught me a lot about how to stand tall in the face of opposition.  There is so much unnecessary opposition to a plant that can do so much to help so many people.    

Dana’s work in Ibogaine, nature’s solution to Iran Contra crack, cocaine is powerful and dynamic in scope.  A lot of problems that our young people are dealing with can be solved by this simple plant that serves as a right of passage from youth to adulthood.  In addition to the internal mental health benefits these plants offer, a simple program that gives people a chance to work with the soil, growing plants like Iboga and hemp, would do a lot with the mental health epidemic we witness on Maury and the Jerry Springer shows 5 days a week.

Dana has so many more souls to positively influence.  I’ve put what Dana and those he introduced me to, to good use.  I just finished a proposal on how to use hemp food to solve the UN declared world food crisis and am helping produce a series about the economics of hemp (Jay Greathouse & Gatewood Galraith) on the 20 year radio/video show Casper Leitch’s, Time4Hemp, broadcast M-F on American Freedom Radio Network. during the months of September and October with a series on hemp food during November and December, 2011.  I’ve been able to co-produce a series of web videos on the subject of how to use hemp to solve our problems for the USA Hemp Museum and the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute.  Were it not for the decades of encouragement that Dana has shared with me, I’d still be thinking inside the safety box, instead of beyond to what is true. 

Like Gandhi making salt so that his people can live free, Dana’s whole purpose of being is to do the right thing, co-creating the highest good for all concerned.  Dana with hemp is exactly the same thing as what Gandhi did with salt, only hemp is a little bit more complex. 

In the 90’s when I lived in Harlem, Dana’s wisdom and council helped me use hemp and computers to keep the Crips and Bloods drama out of Harlem at the time.  Many folks commented that if it was there nobody knew it was going on.  I’ve been out of NYC since ’98 and I hear it’s gotten worse. Because of the drug war, there are over 29,000 children under 5 who recently died for the want of hemp food (used to heal other famines) in Somalia.  We’ve made the hemp peace pipe illegal and wonder why we have problems with violence and war. 

As a result of the drug war, I’m experiencing America like I never imagined it could be.  Here in Los Angeles there are about 10,000 homeless children who could be housed, their parents provided with jobs by locally grown and processed hemp building materials.  The zero job growth experienced last month in the nation could be replaced with a job bonanza of new hemp products on the market from farming to consumer satisfaction.  

Dana and marijuana/Ibogaine reminds me of the Barbara Streisand character in Yentl and education. 

      Like it was illegal for Yentl to learn, it is illegal for Dana to use hemp, unless the court decides to throw out the non-violent drug cases so it can focus on real crime. 

      Like it was illegal for Yentl to read books intended for men, it’s illegal for Dana to use hemp, intended for other countries like China, not home. (Hemp is legal in China, the world’s leading economy).

     Given the breath of ailments that hemp helps heal, how could he settle for just a piece of healing sky from the pharmaceutical industry when there is a huge sky of herbal healing alternatives that work better in many cases with zero deaths associated with use.

Dana is guilty of doing what any caring soul would do.  DON’T JUST SIT THERE – DO SOMETHING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

     What would you do if you knew effective medicine was illegal?

      How many people must one watch die in misery when a simple, natural, zero deaths hemp joint can bring so much relief and peace? 

      What would you do if it was illegal to research new applications?  Must we still be pulling the blinds because the neighbors might see?

      What if you knew what would help a sick person but had to risk jail to get it to them?  Would you risk your freedom?

     What if the patient was you, or a family member, or a priest? 

That’s where Dana is in his life, jailed for doing the right thing, getting medicine to sick people.  He’s answered each call for the highest good to the best of his ability.  It’s an unfair position to put such a righteous soul in jail.  It’s like the Romans jailing Jesus or Birmingham, Alabama jailing Dr. Martin Luther King.  ‘Taint fittin. It just ‘taint fittin’ to jail such a righteous soul.  He’s done no man any harm and helped millions benefit by being the leading marijuana voice in New York, the biggest market.

Like Dr. King and the FBI, Dana will be vindicated by history and the Will of the People.  The future will see him as a persecuted soul who gave his life to free the future from the failed politics of the past.  Please use the full mercy of the court and free Dana. 

Dana is needed to help the world implement the will of the people, which is to end hemp prohibition and re-institute the truly successful program HEMP FOR VICTORY, that could finance itself.  For example, the president recently proposed a jobs proposal for over $400 billion, maximum net 2 million jobs or $200,000 per job.  $200 billion invested in a Hemp For Victory program would produce 5 million jobs (50,000 products times 10 companies per product times 10 employees per company) or $40,000 per job.  Given the level of product innovation hemp offers, the reality can exceed this projection based on the $1.7 billion medical marijuana field already exceeds the 10x10 calculation.

Dana was so missed at this year’s Global Marijuana March that his absence has served as a lightening rod to push us over the edge to where the majority of the people are in favor of stopping the drug war.  He picked up in the liberation movement where South Africa’s Steven Biko left off.

The Declaration of Independence was a document to assure people freedom from oppression.  It’s a shame it’s not law in truth because it if it were law, the drug war would be illegal by violating our right to the pursuit of happiness, which is only an illusion.  But it is law in spirit and the drug war is making fodder of the people by every indicator. 

I recommend you engage in a dialogue with Peter Christ, one of the co-founders of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition to learn about the need for the courts to restore sanity to justice.  We need to focus the criminal justice system on criminals that create harm, not healers and children and other innocent souls just interacting with nature. 

Here’s one more reason we need Dana Beal Free.  There are a lot of sick people from World Trade Center Illness.  The fallout was as toxic as drain cleaner.  Medical marijuana can help with the suffering and disengage the trigger for violent health episodes.  Stress kills and medical grades and higher reduce stress while hemp food provides vital nutrients. 

The City is lying when they say it’s just the first responders who are getting sick.  The first recorded case of World Trade Center Illness was 42 year old attorney Felicia Dunn Jones on February 10, 2002.  Asbestos does not wash out and the dust settled over everything.  The EPA lied on 9/13/11 when they said ‘the air is safe to breathe and the water safe to drink.’  New York, his homeland, needs Dana Beal to help people with the untold diseases from the toxic substance mixture they were exposed to 10 years ago.  In incubation period for chemically induced cancers is 10-15 years.  For more on the subject I wrote an article in the book HEMP FOR VICTORY: THE WONDER HERB by Richard M. Davis.  [pages 94-98]  

How does hemp help with World Trade Center Illness?  Hemp has a history of helping with respiratory and digestive problems.  The blend of toxins makes the situation worse.  Dana is at Ground Zero of World Trade Center Illness.  He needs 50 tons of marijuana to begin to deal with the crisis that the heroes of 9/11 are dealing with, all the heroes which include anyone in the area at the time.  They were heroic enough to survive.  Dana needs to be leading the city in a hemp planting program to help clean up the toxins there. And of course the work of Rick Simpson should be applied here and elsewhere.

PLEASE - Don’t make the same mistake that was made with the great and dynamic author, publisher and activist Peter McWilliams.  Peter was a victim of murder by court order.  He was an AIDS patient who choked on his own vomit being denied by court the medical marijuana he was using to control his nausea.  If your soul is torn for a rationalization to stand up for the Will of the People which is the right thing, McWilliams explained in his book title ‘AIN’T NOBODY’S BUSINESS IF YOU DO: THE ABSURDITY OF CONSENTUAL CRIMES IN OUR FREE COUNTRY.

I am prayerfully confident that you will judge in favor of the people and FREE DANA BEAL.  Millions of lives are depending on your decision.

Thank You

Sincerely

J. Nayer Hardin

Computer Underground Railroad Ent.

cc:

Byron Walker

P.O. Box 10

La Farge, WI 54639