The medical marijuana movement is on a roll!

Kelly N Patterson

Grab your rolling papers, because marijuana may be coming to a clinic near you, sooner than you think!  To catch you up, starting with some of last year’s breakthrough successes in the enlightened marijuana movement:  New Jersey and Arizona joined 13 other sensible states in passing laws to legalize medical marijuana; 5 medical marijuana dispensaries will be opening in the nation’s Capitol this year (Yahoo! I would much prefer MY mayor smoking pot than crack!); 3 marijuana-friendly governors were recently elected in Hawaii, Connecticut and Vermont; new local initiatives in Wisconsin and Massachusetts have put medical marijuana on the legislative table; after much court-room drama, California improved their archaic decriminalization laws for minor marijuana possession; and even the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs acknowledged marijuana's therapeutic value in their latest policy.  But wait, there’s more! 

2011 is only 4 months old, and already this year, every member of Seattle legislative delegation to Olympia—all ten representatives and all five senators from the 34th, 36th, 37th, 43rd, and 46th Districts—has gone on the record to say that they support taxing, regulating, and legalizing marijuana.  On March 3, Rhode Island State Representatives Edith Ajello, Christopher Blazejewski, Peter Martin, Larry Valencia, and Donna Walsh introduced HB 5591, a bill that would tax and regulate the sale and distribution of marijuana within Rhode Island.  And this year, both Delaware and Illinois will have medical marijuana laws on voters’ tables.

To add to our 2011 buzz, See Change Strategy, an independent research firm, released (the first-ever) financial analysis of the legal medical cannabis industry in the U.S. on March 23.  This report, based on interviews with more than 300 industry leaders, projected the total legal medical cannabis market at $1.7 billion in 2011.  Stop!  Let that sink in:  $1.7 BILLION just in 2011 alone. 

Needless to say, this eye-brow raising report made mainstream news:  from the Wall Street Journal to The Huffington Post, and was even mentioned in the monologues of mega-popular late night hosts, Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno.  Yes, money talks!  Our economy, not to mention our health care system, could really use some of that money.

So in addition to mainstream America watching the marijuana debate on both CBSNews and ABCNews, the National Cannabis Industry Association, the first national organization dedicated to advancing the interests of cannabis-related businesses, held a pow-wow at the National Press Club, Capitol Hill, on March 30, with the See Change Strategy people and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) to discuss the federal legislative needs of the industry—critical, especially, for the hundreds of small businesses and thousands of employees in the industry.

All of this recent activity both on Capitol Hill and on American television sets confirms the 2010 Gallup poll that 46% of U.S. adults support making marijuana legal (an all-time record level of support!) And just so you know, statistically, support for  legalizing medical marijuana has been increasing by 1.5% to 2% annually, especially among Generation Y, so we should be looking at majority support, nationwide, in as soon as 2013 easy! 

I had a Pulitzer-prize winning, tear-inducing, heart-clutching, march to the Capitol conclusion to this piece but then, well…I got high.

Preparing for the launch of Wise Heart Books’ Wise Friend Program

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with the good folks at Wise Heart Books to engineer, compose and implement what we are calling our “Wise Friends” program.  We are simultaneously about to launch a series of value-driven children’s books (first in English, Español el próximo mes que viene! ) known as Wise Heart Books, as an income-generation tool for women, and simultaneously, to generate funds for our women and children’s community and education center in La Carpio, the slums of San Jose, Costa Rica.  (For more information about our work in La Carpio, visit here.)

Wise Heart Books is a socially conscious company designed by educators, parents, and artists to create books and educational materials that nurture the whole child: body, mind and spirit. Each book contains an important message for children, such as building a strong and healthy body or cultivating positive thoughts and habits, or developing love for oneself and the world around them.

The idea is that women “join” or sign-up as a “Wise Friend” (it is free!); Wise Friends are our special Wise Heart Books representatives, introducing our value-based books and our holistic mind-body-spirit philosophy to family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and their local communities, while earning money at the same time. This is a grassroots, stress-free, fun way to earn some extra income for a woman and her family, selling life-enhancing books and educational materials. 

Wise Friends can easily earn commissions from 20-40% of retail value-- all while working at home, when it is most convenient for them and their family.  Wise Heart Books can be sold online; at local community events; at local religious institutions and schools; at a local farmer’s market; via local businesses; or even at a neighborhood party—we are calling them “Wise Reading Parties.”

Thus, I have spent the last few weeks putting together a comprehensive but simple, user-friendly training manual which covers everything from making a business plan 101 to hosting a “Wise Reading Party” to online marketing 101 to help women get their businesses up and started.  And of course, these tools can be used for any business.

All sales of Wise Heart Books go directly to the Wise Friend who facilitates the sale, and to support children’s holistic educational projects around the globe by The Women’s Wellbeing and Development Foundation. 

If you would like to learn more, or become a Wise Friend, please visit: http://wiseheartbooks.com/friends.html

Ask me about pro bono nonprofit communications and marketing!

In order to expand our professional portfolio and create more connections with peer nonprofit organizations, 501(c)ommunications is currently doing some pro bono, project-based communications and marketing work with selected candidates. For example, we are currently working with Answer, a program created by the Rutgers University Center of Applied Psychology, on a social media marketing campaign.

About 501(c)ommunications:

Basically, 501(c)ommunications is a small, intimate, shared, professional and affordable, and multi-skilled communications and marketing team solely for non-profits-- created, produced and staffed by nonprofit professionals (meaning: we are experienced and sensitive to the needs and challenges of the nonprofit industry.)

Essentially, 501(c)ommunications caters to new, small and/or under-sourced NGOs who need professional multi-media PR, marketing, communications, and IT work done in order to maintain and/or develop their services and products, but cannot afford to hire full-time staff, or a team. We do everything from branding to project management.

Therefore, if you have a specific communications or marketing project that needs to be done yesterday, I suggest you contact me to see if your organization and your project qualify as a pro bono candidate.

For more information, contact me at Kelly@501communications.org