After Ditching Morphine For Marijuana Elderly Man With Arthritis Dances With Grandkids Again
March 10, 2023
Bonno
After 14 Years In Prison For Licensed Medical Marijuana Shop, Californian Finally Released
When medical marijuana was legalized in California in 1996, not everything was made perfectly clear and regulated for those operating in the industry. One of them is Luke Scarmazzo, who with his business partner Ricardo Montes opened the first licensed medical cannabis shop in the Central Valley.
"It was an uncertainty, it was an unknown," Scarmazzo told CBS. "It was something that hadn't been done before so there were a lot of what-ifs. We knew we would get some pushback because the Central Valley tends to be more conservative but we couldn't imagine what ended up happening."
What did happen? Scramazzo and Montes were harshly sentenced to 20 years in prison for running a business that was illegal under federal law.
"There was some loose regulation but nothing that was exactly how you should operate so we took the route of 'Let's go above and beyond on regulation,'" Scarmazzo said. "But when the city realized what they had done they called the federal government."
And while Montes was granted clemency by President Obama and released in May 2017, Scarmazzo’s petition was inexplicably denied.
On Feb. 3 after nearly 15 years in prison, Scarmazzo was released with help from Mission Green, a campaign led by The Weldon Project.
“Today, after serving nearly 15 years in prison for operating a cannabis dispensary, I was granted my freedom,” Scarmazzo wrote on his Facebook page. “The feeling is surreal. We’ve worked toward this day for so long. This was a huge victory for my family, friends, community, and the entire cannabis movement. I’ll take a moment to enjoy this, but make no mistake, there’s still much work to be done—my people need to be free—and that hard work begins now.”
Instead of being resentful, Scarmazzo decided to use his energy to help others who are in the same situation he once was.
"It's very important to me to make sure I get everyone incarcerated for cannabis out of prison," said Scarmazzo. "I don't want any more sons or daughters to lose a parent or son or daughter to a non-violent cannabis offense. It's not right, it's an injustice that continues to happen today."
Delta-8 THC, a chemical component of the cannabis plant, occurs naturally in small concentrations yet can produce mild psychoactive effects similar to delta-9 THC (the compound that gets you high).
New industrial methodologies enable delta-8 THC to be converted from CBD derived from hemp. Products developed as a result of the 2018 federal Farm Bill that legalized hemp are therefore not subject to the same testing requirements as cannabis, creating a legal loophole.
Myles Leon, 17, a Smithson Valley senior was arrested at school in October with what he says was a delta-8 vape pen, writes Texas Tribune, taken to the Comal County Jail and later on released on $5,000 bail. Under the Texas criminal system, Leon is considered an adult and now faces felony charges based on the unproven assumption that the vape pen might have contained delta-9 THC, which is illegal cannabis.
“They instantly just think it’s [illegal] THC. I don’t think they really care about the difference,” Myles said in December. “Because even I said that it was delta-8 and it didn’t matter. They’re still gonna arrest me anyways.”
Teens found with vape pens proven to contain delta-8 face a similar penalty for getting caught with cigarettes or alcohol.
Is cannabis helpful for alleviating arthritis-related challenges? Although there are no ultimate studies that have proven cannabis benefits various conditions, testimony of patients is what matters the most, or should.
When it comes to arthritis, many people swear that medical marijuana helps with painful inflammation. One such person is a 68-year-old man from a town north of London. He wanted to protect his identity and asked for his name to be changed when interviewed by Express.co.uk. Robin, the outlet called him, has two grandchildren and has been dealing with severe arthritis for about five years.
Shortly after being diagnosed, his body “started to deteriorate,” and he ended up on crutches. For four years, Robin relied on morphine to get through the day, but still felt like he was “going downhill.”
Then, things changed when he reached out to Mamedica, a private cannabis clinic in central London.
Great Britain legalized medical marijuana in 2018. The need for cannabis as medicine was highlighted by two cases involving children with severe epilepsy. Billy Caldwell and Alfie Dingley both used cannabis oil with low THC to treat their diseases.
Despite legalization, medical marijuana usage is low. About 17,000 registered medical marijuana patients usually use private clinics, not the NHS, because the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend NHS physicians prescribe medical cannabis because of a lack of research proving its medicinal benefits.
For Robin, however, weed was a “life changer.”
"Within three weeks max, I wasn't using morphine, as it had started to kick in properly,” He said. “After five weeks, I thought, woah - I could get around, and everything was changing. The cannabis is much better than any morphine."
"Over the last six months or so, things have changed to such a huge degree,” Robin, who now only relies on a stick for walking, added. “I went out this weekend, and my granddaughters were shocked that I could dance. It's been a life changer."
Mamedica's managing director, Jon Robson, told the outlet there has been a spike of interest in their service, with even younger patients seeking medical marijuana to ease anxiety, stress, and depression, and now accounting for 40% of their prescriptions.
