I founded and run a nonprofit organization, The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation (THCF), and an affiliated political committee, Campaign for the Restoration & Regulation of Hemp (CRRH), and they are the official producers of our TV show. Our goal is rather sweeping, in that we are working to end adult cannabis prohibition, restore industrial hemp and help medical marijuana patients.

In addition to our TV show, my work on these two nonprofit corporations has led to each of them developing their own associated projects. We have a web portal to these various projects: http://www.hemp.org

THCF is a 501(c)(3) under the IRS' designation as a charitable and educational organization. THCF's projects, in addition to the TV show, include THCF Medicinal Gardens, where we grow a limited number of Oregon patients' medical marijuana, THCF Medical Marijuana Museum, which collects antique medical marijuana containers, packaging and books on cannabis, Hemp News, a newspaper and online publication since 1992, our annual Hempstalk Festival in Portland, Oregon ( http://www.hempstalk.org ), and perhaps most notably, THCF Medical Clinics, which has offices in Portland, Seattle, Denver, Honolulu, Hilo and Riverside, California. Doctors work at our clinics helping very sick people get state permits for medical marijuana. We also go to Bend, Spokane, Durango, and Kauai once a month to see patients. We are opening a new doctor's office in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada in early 2008. As of late 2007, THCF Medical Clinics have helped over 24,000 patients obtain a medical marijuana permit in 5 states. THCF Medical Clinics continues to grow at about 50 percent a year. We have 7 doctors working in our various clinics.

CRRH is a federally registered political committee, a 501(c)(4) under the IRS' designation, working to end adult marijuana prohibition, allow adults to grow their own without a license, restore unregulated industrial hemp, and to legalize, tax and regulate adult marijuana sales. After years of study and with the input of dozens of experts, I developed a regulatory model to legalize cannabis, the Cannabis Tax Act. We are currently preparing to launch a petition drive in Oregon for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act in the Summer of 2008, which will bring this issue to a vote in Oregon in November 2010. For more info, go to: http://www.cannabistaxact.org

Cannabis Common Sense is the TV show that tells the truth about marijuana and the politics behind its prohibition. Over the 11 plus years Cannabis Common Sense has been produced for cable TV and the Internet, we have had hundreds of film clips from movies, the news and documentaries on cannabis, plus tons of guests, and several co-hosts. The show has streamed on our websites, www.crrh.org , and has been carried on Canada's Cannabis Culture magazine's www.pot-tv.net and the Dutch magazine's website www.highlife.nl ... Past co-hosts have been attorney Paul Loney, Dr. Philip Leveque, Lanny Swerdlow, and former police detective Don DuPay. Currently, we have Tim Pate providing musical accompaniment and co-hosting, and Dr. Thomas Orvald MD co-hosting as available. A partial list of our guests over the years includes 5 shows with Marc Emery, two shows with Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, 4 shows with Lawrence Cherniak, multiple shows with Elvy Musika, Todd Mikuriya, Fred Gardner, Rob Kampia, the North American Hemp Car tour, the Japanese Hemp Car, Madeline Martinez, Russ Belville, Joe Pietri, John Sajo, and four shows with Jack Herer.

The first edition of Jack Herer's book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," was written in my house in 1985. I gave Jack Herer and Chris Conrad a lot of quotes from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson that I found doing research in libraries, and which Jack and Chris put in "The Emperor..." and Chris Conrad made almost all of the final chapter of his book, "Hemp: Lifeline to the Future." I'm in the acknowledgments of both of those books.

I write too, and publish a newspaper called Hemp News. I have written articles in several magazines, including several in High Times, and in a book, Hemp Today. I mainly write non-fiction, but some poetry too.

I legally grow medical marijuana for sick people with state permits in Oregon, under the auspices of THCF Medicinal Gardens, and I give the cannabis away for free. Every patient gets a pound and a half a year. I quit smoking and now vaporize marijuana with my own legal permits. Vaporization is a process without smoke or burning that is much healthier and doesn't smell like smoking.

I went to school in China for two years, and speak and read Chinese. I have imported hemp paper and fabric in cargo containers from Europe and China. According to The Great Book of Hemp, I imported the first hemp fabric and hemp paper in several generations to the USA from China, with my companies Tree Free EcoPaper and Ropewalk Paper & Fiber. While running these companies from 1990-97, I have been blessed to be able to spend some time with Willie Nelson and Woody Harrelson.

THCF also donates to other groups. THCF gives $500 per month to UNICEF for AIDS orphans in Africa, in addition to donations to other cannabis-oriented organizations and causes.

I believe in win-win scenarios, and will not do something to make another person "lose." I like to bicycle, hike, travel, read, and swim. I am an optimist and have a positive mental attitude. I was in the Army and am now a disabled veteran, though I was never a military type. I like playing trivia based games on the Internet; I often tell people that I am quite trivial.

I am a political activist. I worked in the Oregon state legislature as an aide to Senator Kate Brown in 1997. On March 22, 1982, back when I was 21, I was arrested in an act of civil disobedience for blocking a train carrying hydrogen bomb warheads to the Trident submarines at the Bangor Submarine Station in Washington state; I wrote an article about this in the Yippie! newspaper, Overthrow. I have advocated, organized and/or worked on a dozen different initiative campaigns to end adult marijuana prohibition, restore industrial hemp and establish medical marijuana in Oregon and Washington state from 1984 to 2000, and will get back to that again soon. We shall overcome!

Here is a poem I wrote that I am proud of.

Black Eagle's Prayer

Great Spirit help me walk in all the directions.

Mother Earth help me see all of your affections.

Help my soul to understand all of our connections.

Help my heart to smile and accept all rejections.

May the elders teach me to make my wisdom strong.

May the grandmothers show me how gentleness belongs.

May the grandfathers guide me to illuminations that aren't wrong.

May the people know the introspection of our peaceful song.

Water, I ask you to help all love flow.

Wind, I ask you to hear our song grow.

Fire, I ask you to see where we all go.

Four legged and winged relations, I ask you to share what you know.

My unborn relations live life fully, for all are born to die.

My sons take care and do not be afraid to cry.

My daughters take care and never fear to try.

My children take care not to let life pass us by.

All my parents, let us strive to know all creation's eternal worth.

All my sisters, let us strive to nurture the blessings of our birth.

All my brothers, let us strive to spread happiness and mirth.

All my relations, let us strive to protect and honor Mother Earth.

by D. Paul Stanford

Michiganders go to clinic seeking pot to dull pain
http://stash.norml.org/2008/12/05/michiganders-go-...

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CNN's Joe Johns reports on one man's efforts over a quarter of a century to legalize marijuana use.

CNN covers me. Pinch me and wake me up. Not ideal, but good over all. I can't complain, or shouldn't anyway.