Ventura - Jesse Venturas Marijuana Manifesto

Copyright 2016 by Jesse Ventura with Jen Hobbs

Foreword 2016 by Steve Kubby

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Brian Peterson

Cover photo credit Lauren B Photography, 2015

Print ISBN: 9781510714243

Ebook ISBN: 9781510714267

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

To my dear friend Tommy Chong, who has taught me a great deal about cannabis, and to all those like him who have been unjustly persecuted because of a plant.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Steve Kubby

M y life journey has included studying the amazing medical benefits of cannabis firsthand, then dedicating myself to cannabis policy reform, and, now, developing new products and technologies for overall health and wellness of every human being.

I was born in El Paso, Texas, and in 1968 and at age twenty-three, I was diagnosed with malignant pheochromocytoma, a fatal form of adrenal cancer that required surgery.

Following my diagnosis, I began to consume cannabis to alleviate the symptoms, and eventually I experienced personal proof of remission of one of the most deadly forms of cancer. Dr. Vincent DeQuattaro, a professor of medicine at University of Southern California who treated me with various operations, chemotherapy, and radiation, said this in his Inside Edition interview about me and my experiences: For him to survive this long with a tumor is a miracle. I attribute that miracle to cannabis.

In 1975, my cancer returned. I had my second tumor surgery, and then another in 1976. In 1981, I had further surgery and was given radiation treatment at the Mayo Clinic. Prior to my 1981 treatments, the cancer had spread to my liver and beyond. The diagnosis had a 100 percent mortality rate within five years.

After thirty-five years of continual cannabis treatments, I am now entirely cancer free. No one else in the world can make the claim to have beaten my form of cancer. That is why when I look at medical data, I believe that my recovery is entirely due to cannabis.

During my recovery years, I studied the unjust marijuana laws in the United States that threatened the freedom and the very lives of so many Americans. I learned how to advocate and organize those who had the vision to change these laws. I met people who would make considerable personal sacrifices to protect the rights of others, and people who were willing to take whatever actions were necessary to prove it. I knew I had to take action as well.

For years the police told my wife, Michele, and me, We dont make the laws, we just enforce them, and, If you dont like the law, then change it. So in 1996, I played a key role in the drafting and passage of Californias Proposition 215 (otherwise known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996), the first ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana in the country. Now, twenty years later, twenty-four states have followed suit and now six or more will soon allow full adult use. But back in 1996, it felt like we were dreaming when voters ultimately approved the use of medical marijuana by a stunning 55.6 percent to 44.4 percent.

In 1996, when law enforcement officials were well aware that Prop 215 would legalize marijuana, these officials pulled together to announce that Prop 215 was only an affirmative defense for seriously ill people. I was outraged by law enforcements efforts to gut 215, and I decided to run for governor and speak out publicly about this terrible assault on our American values and principles. Fortunately, the Libertarian Party was anxious to help and even gave me their first-ever unanimous nomination.

From that point, I campaigned for Governor of California, hounding my opponent, Attorney General Dan Lungren, faulting him as a Republican who ignored states rights and refused to uphold the results of the election.

Lungren and his buddies were not amused, however, and my wife and I soon found ourselves under surveillance. We would learn later that the four agencies investigating us were doing so based upon an unsigned letter that alleged something we were already admitting publicly, that we were growing our own medical marijuana. Our friends warned us to be careful, because the word was out that the police intended to punish us. Angry that such tactics were being used against us, we vowed to turn the tables and create the perfect test case to uphold 215 and expose these rogue police and prosecutors who were attempting to overthrow it.

With the help of our attorneys and activist friends, we carefully documented the medical marijuana garden my wife and I had started and even sent a notice to the police, via our garbage. We knew we were under surveillance and we knew they were picking through our garbage and would find the note. In the notice, we informed them that I had cancer, and that my wife and I both had doctor recommendations, and that we were growing our own medical marijuana as specifically provided by the new law. Our trash note even invited the police to come to our home and inspect our crop.

Although the police later admitted receiving this letter from us in our garbage, our status as bona fide patients meant nothing to them, and they continued to go through our garbage and peek through our windows until January 19, 1999, when twenty heavily armed SWAT team members raided our house with laser-guided assault weapons and body armor. You may wonder why such a brute show of force was required against an unarmed third-party politician and his wife attempting to lawfully assert their rights, but we can only speculate that the police were afraid we would flush our entire garden down the toilet in the few minutes gained by an armed invasion of our home.

Our garden met the standards adopted by the City of Oakland, California, which in turn were based upon the 7.1 lbs of medical marijuana the US government gives every year to each of the eight federal medical marijuana patients. Under the Oakland Guidelines, we were allowed 144 plants each, or a total of 288 indoor plants, which were expected to produce a one-year, seven-pound supply. Along the walls leading to our garden we posted a copy of 215 and the Oakland Guidelines, as well as a recent notice from the attorney general that if patients presented credible evidence of a physicians recommendation, the police should just take some samples and photos and leave the garden intact.

None of this meant anything to the police or prosecutors who arrested both my wife and me, treating us as common criminals and demanding $200,000 in bail. Suddenly we found ourselves guilty until proved innocent and stripped of virtually every protection guaranteed by the Bill of Rights to every American. Remember, we were not disobeying any law, but attempting to uphold lawfully the rights won in a democratic election. Unless we defended our right to grow our own medical marijuana, as specifically granted in our new law, those cultivation rights would quickly be lost.