TODAY IS NATIONAL REGISTRATION DAY AND 6.5 MILLION ELIGIBLE CALIFORNIANS ARE NOT REGISTERED TO VOTE

We subscribe to email alerts and articles from Courage Campaign, an online organizing network that empowers more than 750,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country. As a leading multi-issue advocacy organization, Courage Campaign's work is supported by thousands of small donations from our diverse community. Today I received this email which I wanted to post, in hopes some who may read this pass it forward, and those who are eligible to vote and have not yet registered to please do so. The coming election is a very important one, the policies of the two party's vary widely, and if you will not exercise your vote, to try to change the things you can, then do not complain after the fact.

From Sarah Callahan,CEO Courage Campaign:

Did you know that Californians can now register to vote online? It’s true, and it couldn’t have happened in a more important year.

My five year old son, Jack, is a wizard with my smart phone, even he could register on it. But he won't be eligible to do so for a good 13 years. For his sake and all the other kids whose futures are at stake, please take 90 seconds and register.

Whether it was Kamala Harris winning the Attorney General race by less than 1% in 2010 or Prop 72 -- which would have provided near universal health coverage -- losing by less than 1% in 2004, a handful of progressive voters can decide an election. So, elections often come down to who is registered.

As you read this, 6.5 million eligible California are NOT registered to vote. If you're one of them, change that fact in 90 seconds with brand new, online voter registration.

Already registered? Send an email to someone you know who might not be. Did they recently move? Did they just turn 18? Do they always intend to register but never find the time to locate a form and get it in the mail? California just solved your problem, and anyone with a driver's license or other form of state ID can take part.

Unsure if you're registered? Register anyhow. If you're already registered at your current address, you won't be registered twice and there's no penalty.

Today is National Voter Registration Day. Take this moment to make a difference by registering yourself or making sure someone else does.

In 2008, six million Americans couldn’t vote because they missed the registration deadline. Don't let this happen to anyone you know!

Winning this year will mean a dramatic victory in our fight to reclaim California from corporate power. Passing Prop 30 will refund education by asking the top 2% to pay their fair share. A yes on Prop 37 will give you the right to know what's in your food, rather than enshrining Monsanto's right to corporate profits. And defeating Prop 32 will stop corporate lobbyists and SuperPACs from buying our democracy and silencing the voices of working people.

Register.

Yours in the fight for a better California,

Sarah Callahan, Chief Operating Officer
Courage Campaign

Paid for by Courage Campaign Issues Committee.

You Never Know

Not long ago Corey, in one of his daily emails, wrote that he’d been approached by a new fellow at the Camp, giving his name and telling Corey he’d been looking forward to meeting him because he had been reading his mothers (mine!) blog, Californiamama. Corey was really surprised but thought it was pretty cool! So did I! You just never know when you navigate this global highway that is the internet, just who might thumb a ride!

I’ve been keeping this blog for about 8 years now, only starting it so I’d have a journal of sorts, complete with pictures, to show Corey once he was out, that he might enjoy reading, of our time spent here in southern Cali, this journey our family is on. My memory isn’t the best, and even going back, and re-reading posts from years back, there is much I’ve forgotten, but the posts brings back all the occasions, all the memories of the time. The young man told Corey he came across my Blog as he was searching for information that might help him, he had been sentenced to prison and was anxious to find out as much as he could in advance. He had at first found some reference to me and my blog on the website Prison Talk Online (PTO), where many years back I had posted questions and at other times answers to others entangled in the justice/prison system. It’s a wonderful reference site, with excellent information, posts, you name it, for both State and Federal prisoners families, ex-offenders, and those soon to be entering the prison system.

Anyways, from there, this young man, anxious to learn all he could that might help him prepare him for the journey into the prison world that he was about to enter, found my blog and began to follow it, telling Corey those posts where I wrote about my visits with him, and about the prison system, did indeed help prepare him for what lay ahead, gave him some degree of comfort apparently. I am happy if I was able to help ease in any small way the fears and anxieties this young man was feeling, as he faced the prospect of perhaps years away from his wife and newborn baby. I haven’t yet met him, but hope to on one of our visits over to Lompoc. I saw him last weekend, Corey pointed him out as he came into the visitation room and into the welcoming arms of his wife and small baby. I didn’t want to interrupt their private, too short but oh so special time together but hopefully will have an opportunity to make his acquaintance another time, they look like a lovely young family. I agree with a comment I had read from a woman to anothers post, "We never know who's life we can influence, inspire, and give some hope to."- Sandy Beals

“Toss your dashed hopes not into a trash bin but into a drawer where you are likely to rummage some bright morning.” ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

PRISON ETIQUETTE

This weekend we were having a new glass shower door enclosure installed so had agreed we’d instead visit Corey next weekend, with both a Saturday and a Sunday visit. But after getting an email from Corey on thursday that suggested he would welcome a Sunday visit if the installation went well, and if we found ourselves at loose ends Sunday, we decided to drive on over to spend the day with him.

When we arrived we were 10 minutes early, the sign at the prison states no visitors are allowed on the lot until 8 am, but depending on the guards on duty, often we, and other early risers, get there 10 or 15 minutes early and have been “allowed” to come on site. We HAVE been booted out a few times as late as 5 minutes till the hour, so there’s always a little anxiety as to whether you’ll be allowed to stay or forced to leave and return later, after the hour. That actually happened the weekend before last, when we visited Corey. We had pulled into the Camp parking lot just 8 minutes to the hour, we and another visitor who had arrived just prior to us, a pretty and always friendly Hispanic gal who drives up from LA. The Visitation Room guard had arrived and was getting his things out of his car, and signaled to his watch, shaking his head and directing us to leave, as he’d just done to her. As we made our way back out the mile long driveway to the main highway we passed two other cars coming in. Both were “regulars”, wives of inmates, one who drives down from San Francisco, another up from LA, in order to visit every week. We’d signaled to the first gal as we met her that we’d been turned around, but she and the visitor behind her continued on down, seeking to take their chances I suppose.

Rod and I then drove back and forth on the highway that passes the prison, just killing time, counting down the remaining minutes (!), as there is no other place to park that is close to the Camp entrance. When it was finally 8 on the hour we drove back down the mile long driveway, turned the corner into the Camp parking lot to discover 5 other vehicles parked, and the visitors all in line! The two cars (and 3 more) that had come in just as we, and the other visitor who’d been first to arrive , were leaving, had not been asked to leave. Seems the visitation room guard had already gone inside the building and didn’t see them, or didn’t feel like going back outside to boot them out. THIS is the frustrating part of dealing with prison rules. Rod and I, although we had arrived before these other visitors, then had to take a place further back in the line.

Well this is when Prison Etiquette comes into play. Those who are regular prison visitors know there exists a certain, unwritten, but "understood" etiquette involved, when it comes to visiting at a prison. Or they SHOULD know. We saw the first gal, the one who had been the first in the lot that morning, & been ordered to leave, HAD taken up her spot at the front of the line. She had just, apparently (!), marched up to the front of the line, standing in front of the others in line, declaring she’d been there before anyone and was taking her rightful spot! Ha! Good for her! The other two women, who had come in just after us, were there in line behind her but neither appeared willing to let us get in line in front of them, though they both clearly knew they should have offered. It was disappointing to see them ignore good manners and etiquette, it seemed petty. Often, in the past, over at Taft when confronted with this situation, we would always give way to anyone who had come before us, we all were very respecting of prison etiquette as we’d come to know it.

Now I realize, trust me, this probably seems petty to anyone on the outside, not having to deal with an issue like this on a regular basis, and believe me, over these years I've learned not to sweat the small stuff....but there are a few things, such as this, that do make me think "what the ??" when I encounter them. Because in this case, what this means is the further back in the wait line you are the less likely you are to secure your preferred seating area (if you have one, and most us ‘regulars’ do) AND the less likely you are to find a good assortment of edibles in the first come/first served vending machines inside. Preferred sandwiches, fruit, salads, etc, may well be gone by the time you are processed. Again, to those in the free world these are things you take for granted, and will view this as silly. I’m just hopeful none of you will ever have to take this journey and have to deal with small issues like this in addition to the much bigger issues of a loved one in prison. You see, to our loved one inside, waiting for these visits, they also look forward to favorite food selections, there are no vending machines with such "goodies" inside that they can access. To those who make the effort to rise extra early, make the long drives up, down, or over, in order to get to the prison early to secure a good spot in line (hopefully to be amongst the first 3 to 5 people….and some “groups” can be as large as 5 and 6 in themselves), it IS a big deal.

Other things that would appear on a list of “etiquette” for visitors, if one were ever to be posted, would be not allowing ones children to scream or run amuck in the visitation room (we understand how important it is to bring the children, and those of us not bringing children visitors are happy to see them there, but there is a limit to how loud we can or want to shout so OUR inmate can hear us and vice versa - and there IS a prison rule re parents responsibilities at visitation); not pulling or pushing your chairs around, making a loud scraping noise (always LIFT to move your chair!), respecting the privacy of other visitors and not taking up seating right next to them (especially if you have children or newborn babies) when there is other seating a little further away. These are among the most obvious and am sure there are others I’ve taken for granted so can’t think to actually list them. However, like in the REAL world, there will always be those that could use a class in etiquette, or just plain good manners. It would make everyones day just a little bit better.

“Treat people as you would like to be treated. Karma's only a bitch if you are.” ~Author Unknown

GOODWILL HUNTING


One of my favorite places to shop, for the past 9 years now, since discovering the great deals combined with “lending a helping hand” (what a fabulous win/win!) HAS to be Goodwill Industries. I have to admit I never frequented a thrift shop and only on a rare occasion a Consignment shop prior to Coreys arrest and our relocating over to Spokane to be near at hand to be of support and as much assistance as we could be. It was in our off hours as we would wander (we used to walk a LOT! those dark, depressing, stressful days of our son’s prosecution!)or drive the streets of Spokane, that we ‘discovered’ shops like Value Village, or Goodwill Industries, as well as various small, cute second hand shops known as “consignment” shops. A few in Spokane I recall were Plato's Closet and another on Washington St, close to an apartment we'd rented for our stay in the city. I found I delighted in brousing the endless (it seemed) racks of used clothing, household goods, furniture, well, you name it, it was there!. And the amazing deals I would score! Leather jackets for $5, great designer label shoes that only needed new insoles or a good cleaning for only $3, ladies jeans and asst pants and tops and sweaters ranging from 99 cents to $3. Who knew?! Well I came to realize MANY folks knew, those who had a need or a thirst for a bargain, or just a new treasure…like they say, someones junk is someone else’s treasure!

It was when we moved to Taft and I shopped the local GW store there that I became virtually ‘addicted’! The money that is spent in Goodwill goes to fund job programs and training for those in need (and in these times there is a great need!) and also provides clothing and just about everything you can imagine a need for, to those on a strictly limited budget. I felt good in contributing to the cause, as well as in making my own donations of household items or clothing we no longer wanted or needed, but which were still in great shape.

Over these past 9 years, where ever we have found ourselves, either just visiting for a day, a weekend, or simply passing through, we will always take a little time to stop in at a Goodwill Store if we pass by. I have purchased brands like Ralph Lauren Polo or Chaps and Faconnable, in like-new condition for $3 at GW stores. I have purchased many sets of beautiful 400 and 500 count cotton sheets and pillow cases, made in Egypt or India, KS, for less than $3, also at GW, they are stunning. I have added many beautiful pottery bowls and pitchers to my collection, why I simply cannot begin to tell you all the amazing bargains I have scooped.

I also find wonderful deals on Ebay, a sight most are more than familiar with! Lately I’ve scooped up some great J Crew, RLPL, Faconnable and Ermenigildo Zegna (Coreys favorite brand) shirts for under $10,and that includes shipping costs! Some in Brand New condition, some in used but "like new" condition. I find myself wondering why anyone would be paying full retail for such items when such bargains are available? If you are reading this post, and have never considered shopping a Goodwill or Thrift store (though I must warn you, some “thrift” stores are not nearly as immaculately clean and organized as Goodwill stores are, so be forewarned!) DO consider it. You might call it part of your plan to lessen your footprint on the planet, recycling, or just donating to a very good cause.

"Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift?" ~ Cicero

RULES

We've come to appreciate the relaxed and almost casual visiting procedures at Lompoc Camp. I’d have to say it’s the most relaxed prison visiting room we’ve been in. So far (knock wood!), it would seem the Visitation Room guards’ only concern when it comes to clothing, ie, what the visitors may and may not wear, is that there are no open toe’d shoes. While this was always a no-no at Taft Camp as well (although the first few years we were there open toes were allowed, as long as the shoes had enclosed heels, or a backstrap) the Warden suddenly decreed in the last year we were there all shoes must be fully ‘enclosed’. No toes visible to the eye! At Taft visitors were not allowed any hooded clothing, no hats, no scarves, no white shirts/ tops, no sleeveless tops, no leggings, no khaki or gray colored clothing, no shorts, no zippered jackets.

Well at Lompoc anything goes pretty much, other than too short skirts or plunging necklines. I’ve seen fathers come to visit wearing cargo shorts, white t-shirts, baseball hats, and flip flop sandals! It is sooo refreshing to see this, to not have to worry and go thru a mental checklist as one leaves for visitation, as to whether or not you are in compliance. It makes things much much easier. However, because Rod and I are clearly “institutionalized”, after visiting our son for the first 7 ½ yrs at Taft, its become habit to stick to the Taft rules. Besides, we’ve been told by other visitors we’ve talked to at Lompoc, it really all depends on who the guard is for the day, everything is subject to change at a minutes notice, so why mess with it, and risk being turned away because of some silly rule we are already so familiar with.

It was during our visit Saturday we couldn’t help but notice the guard jump up from his desk, and stride purposefully across the room to where a young couple was visiting. We couldn’t tell what was going on but next thing we knew the guard was taking the inmate outside, and the young lady was left to wait. After awhile the guard returned, but not the inmate. He was nowhere in sight. A good hour or more later the inmate finally returned, and checked in at the desk with the guard. A conversation ensued but we couldn’t hear it. We learned later the guard had observed the inmate chewing gum (rather,‘allegedly’ chewing gum) and this is against the rules. The fact the young man was allowed to return to his visit tells me the guard was mistaken, or else, and unlikely, they decided to just warn the inmate this time.

The other incident that happened this same day occurred when a middle aged woman arrived to visit around 1 o’clock. She signed in and went outside to the patio area to find a table. As she walked out there the guard made a phone call and within minutes two officers (likely 'Security"), walking very quickly and again, purposefully (!!), entered the building. After a discussion with the guard they went out to the parking lot and from where we were seated, right in front of a big picture window, we could see them checking out a car in the lot very carefully. Soon they returned and next thing we knew they had gone out to the patio and returned, escorting this woman out of the building. She did not look happy.

After a few minutes the Supervisor for the visitation room arrived, and along with the guard, demanded everyone’s attention. He proceeded to ask that everyone, visitors and inmates, go outside to the patio, he had something to say to us. Very curious! Have never had something like this happen before! Once we were all assembled outside he went on to lecture us on the rules of the facility and how serious it is to break them. He reminded everyone that breaking the rules subjects one to having their visit terminated, perhaps even permanently. He reminded everyone no contraband was allowed into visitation, how breaking this rule will subject the inmate and possibly the visitor to arrest and prosecution. He warned everyone that someone was always bound to see these types of goings on and would report it, rest assured. He then went on to say how the low single strand wire fence that skirts the roadway around the prison camp is a physical, do-not-cross barrier, no inmates are allowed to cross it without permission, that they all know that, and if they do it is considered an escape attempt. Many of us are all looking around, and I, like many, are whispering “what fence, where is this fence?” to Corey, who turns and points out in some westerly direction. Anyways, after a good “talking to” we are all allowed to return to our visits.

It wasn’t until later in the afternoon we learned this woman we’d seen escorted out, has allegedly driven down a back prison property road, her boyfriend or husband had met her there, and approached her car (clearly on the other side of this ‘fence’ the guard had talked about) to retrieve some contraband items she had brought for him. It seems they had then agreed to meet in the visitation room after he had gotten everything put away. Well someone must have observed the goings on, and did report it, the visitation guard was alerted that if this car (they had the license plate #) showed up to call security.

Though these incidents took away from some of the conviviality of our visit, and most everyone seemed a little more subdued after our lecture, we picked up the threads of our conversation, from when we had been “so rudely interrupted” and moved forward. Really, just another day in the life...

“In some peculiar way, indeed, the rules were now beginning to seem quite logical. It was then I knew that I had been in India long enough.” ― Tahir Shah, Beyond The Devil's Teeth

COUNTDOWN TO COREY'S RELEASE

ONLINE COUNTDOWN

Last Saturday morning Rod and I arose early at 4 am, to shower and dress, then make the 2 ½ hour drive over to Lompoc to visit Corey for the day. We count ourselves as very fortunate to be living close enough, still, after all these past 8 ½ yrs, to be able to visit him almost every weekend. Since he transferred to Lompoc and enrolled in the RDAP, we have somewhat further to drive (the drive to Taft from Bakersfield was 40 minutes, and those 5 years we lived in Taft it was only a 10 minute drive to the prison) but it is an enjoyable enough drive and we relax with our morning coffee and enjoy the constantly changing scenery.

When we pull out of our driveway these early mornings it’s still dark out and very quiet, seems the whole world is still asleep. But as soon as we turn on State Hwy 119 after leaving our neighborhood, we join the mostly large semi trucks and the standard white pickup trucks common to those working in the oil industry, travelling this busy highway this time of day. Within an hour the sky lightens as the sun begins to rise over the Central Valley. The emerging dawn is always my favorite part of the drive, its such a treat to watch the dark become light, the brilliance of the sun as it breaks in the east. As we crest the Coast Mountain Range the view of Bakersfield, out there in the distant desert, is beautiful to behold.

I still remember when Corey first arrived at Taft Prison, after a long year in tiny, windowless cells in Spokane County Jail, followed by several similar stopovers along the way to Taft, how I almost cried with joy when he told me, his first nite at Taft, he had walked out to the yard and could see the lights of Bakersfield in the distance! How beautiful it was! This was monumental at that time, having had NO views,and little real "space" to breathe, nothing but cramped, tiny, dark interior spaces in which to live for the previous full year.

As Rod and I neared the coast we looked forward to the fog, and the cooling temperatures. Such a nice reprieve this time of year in particular, when it is still so very hot in Bakersfield. Some days the foggy mist appears gradually, an almost living entity, filmy and opaque, slowly drifting up, over and through the hills and canyons. Other days, like last Saturday, it’s almost like hitting a solid “wall”, it comes on so suddenly, one minute you have nothing but clear road ahead, the next you are enveloped in white and find yourself utterly alone in the opaqueness, barely able to see beyond your nose!

At the end of our visitation day, around 3 pm, when we leave the prison camp for home the sun has long been out, and its an entirely different experience driving back in the bright, sunny afternoon. We have our little routine, always stopping at a Starbucks at Santa Maria, just 20 minutes northwest of Lompoc, for an iced coffee and slice of lemon loaf (for me) and a cranberry scone (for Rod) for the return trip. We then find our favorite country music station on the radio, and settle in as we drive and re-visit the conversations engaged in during the course of the day, the stories we’ve all exchanged, any news Corey has relayed to us about his current week in the DAP, any news Rod and I might have from the course of the previous week.

These weekend visits are still the highlite of each week, for all of us. It’s Corey’s one day in the week away from the restrictions of daily, routine prison life, his opportunity to enjoy vending machine goodies that aren’t available outside of visitation, and mostly a chance to see and interact with someone other than the other men and supervisors he shares space with 24 hours of every day. For Rod and I, these visits, this regular interaction with our son as he serves his lengthy prison sentence, have achieved what we hoped they would, our intended purpose in relocating here to California. I really don’t believe had we stayed behind Corey would have remained as grounded as he has, nor continued to feel in so many ways, still a part of the world beyond the fences. Because of this, despite the 10 years he will have been 'away', we feel confident he will more easily merge into normal life upon release, and more easily move forward, successfully, with his life.

When he was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison for selling marijuana, Corey was young, and so naïve in many ways, as he struggled to deal with the prospect of what the next decade of his life would be. It broke my heart to watch him struggle with the reality he was dealing with. Those truly were the darkest days of my life, his fathers life, Coreys life. The fear of the unknown being the worst of all. As other friends and family fell away over the years, for whatever excuse or reasons, Rod and I resolutely remained committed to making sure our son knew without any doubt we would always be there for him, he need never fear being forgotten or left behind. We knew this was perhaps the most important thing we could ever do, the uncompromising stability our being close by, visiting regularly, would give him, in such a topsy turvy, upside down world as the prison world. Again, we were and always will be, SO grateful we were in a position to be able to do this, many families simply cannot alter the mostly inescapable fact of the separation, of having lives and relationships torn apart, when a loved one goes to prison. We have been here to support Corey, to fight for him when those times arose (and trust me, there have been many times we’ve gone head to head with prison administrators and staff over the years), and simply put, share our lives, as mundane as they often may be. This may not make sense to many, but this perhaps will always be the time in our lives I will always be most proud of. This immutable challenge we faced and overcame.

“Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.” ~ Gail Lumet Buckley

The Marijuana Myth: What If Everything You Think You Know About This Plant Is Wrong?

On September 12th a friend included a link on her Facebook page to an article in the Huffington Post written by Laurel Dewey. The article was very interesting, informative and its conclusion fully in line with my thoughts on the matter. I personally hold a firm conviction marijuana should be/must be, decriminalized, and find it encouraging to find more and more articles coming out affirming the herbs benefits, all in strong contrast to the Govt's lies and propoganda, used to perpetuate their War on Marijuana according to their own agenda, that has been mostly responsible for the massive increases in our prison growth since the mid 1980's.

I agree with the scientists and doctors who are advocating and leading the fight to revise marijuana's classification in the DEA's Definition of Controlled Substance Schedules as a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 3 or less classification, thus removing the criminalization and prosecution that result in long prison sentences, for those who choose to use it. If you aren't familiar with the Controlled Substance Act or the DEA's (Drug Enforcement Agency) Controlled Substance Schedule you can easily google it for more information. For now, here is the article I wish to post and hope many will pass it forward as well.

September 12, 2012

Laurel Dewey/Author, Betty's (Little Basement) Garden and the Jane Perry mystical crime thriller series


The Marijuana Myth: What If Everything You Think You Know About This Plant Is Wrong?

Posted: 09/04/2012 3:38 pm

What if everything you were ever told and believed about a subject wasn't true? What if the well-meaning, trusted and respected people who told you those lies were just parroting the propaganda that they heard?


That's the exact dilemma I found myself in about three years ago. For most of my life, I bought into the grim and terrifying stories I heard about -- dare I say it? -- marijuana.

Whether they called it doobie, reefer, pot, Mary Jane or plain ol' weed, I believed all those ominous voices when they warned me that marijuana could cause everything from brain damage to a craving for stronger drugs (i.e., the "gateway" theory.) And so as I got older, I just kept repeating the same marijuana mantras to others, convinced that I was right. "Marijuana is dangerous," I told others. "Only brain dead stoners use it."

Someone once said to me, "the further you get away from the facts, the easier they can turn into a myth." Boy, is that the truth. It all started three years ago when I decided to finally research marijuana. If anything, I was determined to prove to myself and others that my concerns were valid. Living in Colorado where medical marijuana was legal to possess and grow once you qualified for a "red card", I was surrounded by "pot shops." Thanks to Amendment 20 in our State Constitution, these dispensaries grew and flourished faster than it takes a medical marijuana bud to mature. In Denver County alone, there are around 400 medical marijuana dispensaries, outnumbering the 375 Starbucks statewide. I freely admit that I mocked these businesses and rolled my eyes at the people who frequented them. So, on that summer day nearly three years ago, I decided to dig into this controversial plant and arm myself with even more information that would support my anti-marijuana stance.

But a strange thing kept happening. The more I dug into what some opponents refer to as "the green menace," the more I continued to find research studies I wasn't aware existed. Some of these studies had been buried -- perhaps purposely -- and made scientific claims about Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa that I found almost too good to be true. For example, I read a 1974 study (published in 1975) that was conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University that proved that the cannabinoids in the cannabis plant shrunk cancerous tumors and killed cancer cells, leaving healthy cells alone. Even though it was there in black and white, I still didn't buy it. So I kept investigating. I found that when I used the Internet search terms "cannabis+indica+healing+benefits," I got a whooping 220,000 websites. When I added the word "medical" to that group of words, the field increased to 452,000.

For the next six months, I spent every spare moment researching "the Devil Weed." Putting it bluntly, I was shocked. There was absolutely nothing "devilish" about it. All this remarkable information had been out there, waiting to be discovered and all I had to do was agree to view it with an open mind. I learned that Cannabis Indica had been compounded into liquid extracts in the late 1800's and up until the early 1900's. These extracts were recommended by medical doctors to alleviate everything from teething pain in infants to reducing the pain of arthritis and menstrual cramps.

I found out that contrary to what I'd been told, nobody has ever died from using marijuana in the thousands of years this plant has been available. In fact, I had no idea that its medical use dated back to around 2700 B.C. and was called a "superior" herb by the Emperor Shen-Nung (2737-2697 B.C.). I discovered that while I had been demonizing marijuana, thousands of people worldwide had been quietly and effectively curing or relieving a multitude of health problems, including Crohn's disease, migraine headaches, chronic depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, dementia, epileptic seizures, Parkinson's disease and even AIDS. The more I researched and talked to pro-cannabis physicians, patients, researchers and historians who studied the plant, the more I heard incredible testimonials of recovery from illnesses and mental imbalances in addition to, as one patient told me, "just a better outlook on life."

And that's when I uncovered information that really challenged the stories I'd been told. People were using this "weed" to get off of opiates, alcohol, tobacco, heroin, cocaine and other powerful drugs. Thus, it was gaining traction as "an exit drug," instead of the "gateway drug." Seniors were also secretly using it to improve their cognition. Wait...what? How is that possible? Didn't marijuana make you a "brain-dead loser"? No, not according to the scientific data I discovered. The opposite was true as researchers found that the plant allowed neurogenesis in the brain -- the growth of new neural pathways, even when the brain had been damaged by age or trauma.

I understood that smoking the herb was the least effective way to gain the vast array of medical benefits from its use. I learned that doctors, lawyers, CEOs of major companies, accountants and other highly trained professionals used marijuana daily and felt it vastly improved their wellbeing and ability to handle stress. I found out that a respected medical doctor, Dr. William Courtney, encouraged patients with chronic illnesses to juice 10 to 20 fresh marijuana leaves daily. This concentrated green drink was not psychoactive and flooded the body with cannabinoid nutrients that helped reverse degenerative diseases.

Putting it mildly, the information was mind-boggling. And that's when I realized that there was a story to be told. Nobody had ever written a fictional novel about medical marijuana that didn't include "stoner" stereotypes or pander to fear. It took me another five months and hundreds of hours of one-on-one interviews with medical marijuana patients, caregivers, growers, dispensary owners and experts within the cannabis industry to develop what would become Betty's (Little Basement) Garden.

The book focuses on 58-year-old Betty Craven, a strikingly beautiful former Texas beauty queen who is a staunch Republican and widow to her equally conservative career military husband, Frank. Betty's only child, a son, died in his mid-20s from a drug overdose. When we meet Betty, her life is in suspended animation. The walls are closing in around her. All she has left that she loves is her award-winning flower garden and the remnants of equipment left over from her failed gourmet chocolate store. When she comes to the shocking conclusion that her entire life has been wasted, a rebellious spirit that Betty has kept hidden, explodes to the surface. Her conservative world spins 180 degrees around as she comes face-to-face with her biggest fears. And one of those fears is marijuana. The path she chooses is paved with secrecy, eccentric characters, toe-curling love, life-changing events, and a connection to her unconventional, basement garden that she never could have imagined.

My intention when I wrote Betty's (Little Basement) Garden was to show the truth about the medical marijuana industry in Colorado. It's not all sunshine and lollipops. I don't sugarcoat the realities of working in the cannabis world, nor do I romanticize what it means to be a grower for a seriously ill patient who depends upon your green thumb to make his or her medicine. The book illustrates a massive shift in the "anti-pot" propaganda that I grew up hearing and believing. My hope is that it's not just an entertaining story; my hope is that it's also enlightening for those who read it and believe the way I used to about this ancient herb. As Betty Craven says, "There's nothing more liberating than releasing a limiting belief."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of Laurel Dewey's post referenced a 1974 study from the University of Virginia. The study was actually conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Author website: www.laureldewey.com

Marc Emery's Huffington Post article

Canadian marijuana advocate and US Federal prisoner, Marc Emery today sent me his just published article (see below) that will appear in The Huffington Post, Blog Section. Marc is serving a 5 yr prison sentence for filling orders and selling marijuana seeds to US customers, although the Federal prosecutor herself let slip the DEA's true intent was to stop Marcs political activism and voice for change as he has fought for many years to legalize marijuana and end the drug war. I think its important that I post the article today. Hes correct, it is indeed a tragedy for all Americans (other than those who profit from it) that we will see no change in the President's or the DEA's War on Drugs no matter who makes it to the White House this fall. It is sad indeed so few Americans overall lack the interest or pay any attention to, and actually choose to believe the US Govts propoganda RE this war, that they fail to understand the unfathomable amounts of tax payer dollars funding the massive US prison industrial complex continue to secure America's place as the worlds largest jailor.

Here is Marc's article:
Another Presidential race and another disappointment in ending the war on drugs. The prohibition on cannabis, psychedelics, opiates, or whatever people want to put in their body, has really been a terrible policy for all Americans.

This worldwide prohibition, which gets its impetus and raison d'tre almost exclusively from the U.S. federal government, has enabled the proliferation of violent drug-distribution gangs and cartels everywhere on Earth. In America it has sucked vast amounts of taxpayer funds to wage the war, and as much or more of the personal earnings to pay for these prohibition-inflated-priced substances that tens of millions of Americans -- and perhaps over a billion people worldwide -- desire.
With its lucrative profits in our age of omniscient materialism, prohibition attracts millions of teenagers into the world of gangs and cartels. It motivates millions of young adults worldwide to become prostitutes or gang members, endangering countless lives. Prohibition has destabilized several nations of the world: Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, several West African nations, the United States and beyond. Prohibition brings ruin and degeneration wherever the policy is enforced.
Every human being on Earth loses in this war.

I'm serving a five year federal sentence in Yazoo Federal Prison in Mississippi for sending cannabis seeds from my desk in Vancouver, Canada to consenting Americans, some of the tens of millions of Americans who just want a little bit of homegrown pot to smoke without having to buy who-knows-what on the street from strangers. Of course, on the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) press release issued the day of my arrest, Karen Tandy, the head of DEA, did not actually mention my "crime" of selling seeds when referring to me as one of the 50 most wanted drug trafficking targets in the world, but in fact referred to my political activities to end prohibition and promote legalization in five instances.

Many of the inmates in this federal prison are serving absurdly long sentences in what is expensive (to the taxpayer) and unfathomable cruelty (to the sentenced and their families). Several in my unit are here for life sentences without possibility of parole; one received life without parole for a mere 99 grams of crack cocaine!
Barack Obama has done nothing to alleviate this prohibition punishment system, despite his having smoked marijuana and used cocaine. He has made the drug war even worse. Of his many damning failings in ignoring the cruelty of the drug war is that he has issued the fewest pardons (under 25) of any full term president of this century, and just ten for drug offenses - and one sentence commutation in his four years.

When Americans had the opportunity to vote for a courageous, principled primary presidential candidate earlier this year, virtually none of them supported Republican Ron Paul, despite his frequent statements like the one at his rally (attended by 4,000) in Seattle earlier this year when he said, "If we are allowed to deal with our eternity and all that we believe in spiritually, and if we're allowed to read any book that we want under freedom of speech, why is it we can't put into our body whatever we want?"

Ron Paul has introduced bills to legalize marijuana, legalize medical marijuana, legalize industrial hemp, end the drug war, stop funding the drug czar's office and end cannabis prohibition entirely. Yet the tens of millions of Americans who still have their voting rights -- and who have a family member among the seven million Americans in prison, or on parole, bail, probation or supervised release, along with 22 million Americans still alive with criminal records for previous drug convictions -- continue to vote for the same miserable failed drug warriors for President.
Mitt Romney has never commented on the drug war and its loathsome damage to families, the public safety, its exacerbation of police corruption, gang proliferation, street violence, exploding prison populations, and the staggering waste of taxpayer money. It's a safe bet that Mitt Romney wants to maintain the status quo. He has no record as a reformer.

Ron Paul, in supreme contrast, has promised to pardon every serving and previously convicted nonviolent federal drug offender along with ending the federal drug war. Now that's reversing the pernicious effects of the drug war! And it's not something that Obama or Romney even care to discuss. In fact, they actually laugh at the idea while millions of people worldwide continue to suffer from the U.S.-based war on drugs that has spread around the globe like a cancer.

America missed its one great chance to end the drug war by ignoring Ron Paul as their choice for Republican nominee. Of course, in resignation to this fact, I'll endorse the Libertarian ticket of former New Mexico governor Gary Johnston and California Judge Jim Gray because they understand the importance of ending prohibition. But unfortunately, unlike Ron Paul, these two fine gentleman who would end the drug war don't have a prayer at the polls in November, worthy as they are of the support of every American who sees the madness in the current U.S. drug prohibition policy. It's the responsibility of every voter to remind Obama and Romney that the war on drugs is destroying lives at a cost that can't be afforded, and it's time for real, honest change.

This post is part of the HuffPost Shadow Conventions 2012, a series spotlighting three issues that are not being discussed at the national GOP and Democratic conventions: The Drug War, Poverty in America, and Money in Politics.
HuffPost Live will be taking a comprehensive look at America's failed war on drugs August 28th and September 4th from 12-4 pm ET and 6-10 pm ET