While walking and talking around the Emerald Cup you certainly knew you were in cannabis country. However, it was the overall approach to lifestyle change and well-being that caught my attention immediately. Veterans who want to attend an event of this magnitude requires much mental preparation, especially when dealing with grumpy security who are bitter about not partaking in the cannabis being passed around them. It’s not like there were people looking to help Veterans at the event, this was a cash grab for most growers to sell as much weight as they can before the January tax hike.
Just getting in to an event can be hard on a veteran, I for one was very glad to be walking around with my microdose of plant-based medicine. My medicine was one of the only things that got me through the day and once I was in the event, I realized all the veterans that I was conversing with were choosing the same medicine I was. We see it in @veteranswalkandtalk all the time. I would never be able to do these events before cannabis. Never have I been so sure that I am on the right path then I felt walking around meeting random vets all on the same mission and on the same medicines. We met with the Sacramento director of our veterans walk and talk group @veteranswalkandtalksac and I asked straight up what kind of medicine the veterans he was with were taking in order to get through the day. What I heard was my own medicine regiment being recited back to me: Rick Simpson oil, mushrooms and smoking lots of good cannabis when needed. But the incremental and consistent dosing is everything.
We do not go to festivals and celebrate pharmaceuticals, we go and celebrate the fact that we are there, that what we are doing is right and worth risking what we love for. Many of us take those risks with our well-being, financial situations, or our custody just by advocating for the plants that are helping us. Sacrifice to stand on the shoulders of those that came before us.
The mission up there was difficult but rewarding, I feel renewed on my path. I want to thank Emerald cup, and all the people there. I want to close by saying that compassion is what cannabis was built on it, it is what veterans walk and talk was built on. I see many people in our space eager to get back to that. I have always said the more veterans that turn to this plant and plant based health, the more leaders emerge. Any veteran reading this know that you don’t have to listen to anyone telling you how to take care of your health. Cannabis and plant-based wellness is the way to take back control and to feel like you are in power over your own health and well-being. There is nothing to fear, psychedelics and cannabis will not make you lose control it can give you control. Come walk and talk with us. We will show you how.
Colin Wells
Colin Wells is an Army Infantry Veteran and served 4 years, including a 13 month tour in Afghanistan from July 2009 – August 2010. As a child he was a voice actor on Steven Spielberg’s Animaniacs, where he played “Colin” a character based on himself. He also created and produced the documentary “Laughter Under Fire: An Open Invitation into the Mind of a Combat Veteran”. www.Laughterunderfire.org
Contact Colin S. Wells by emailing him at LaughterUnderFire@gmail.com.
