An Unexpected Surprise, and more Lobbying for Senate Bill 269

 Veterans gathered with Senator Menendez before we take the petition to the Governor and spread out to lobby for the day.

February 22, 2017  was Veterans Lobby Day at the Texas State Capitol. It started out with a huge surprise to me, followed by a press conference and the culmination of the first trip to the Govenors office with the 1,314 signatures from Texas veterans supporting a whole plant medical bill here in TX, SB269.  



I was given this award, much to my incredible surprise.  Here are some pics, and what they wrote.

And I got to be a team leader, so here are pics of my list and the offices we went to. We had excellent response from all the offices we went to.

Some pics from the press conference, going into the Governors office and pics from lobbying.

 Fellow veteran Jav carrying our petition

The Governors clerk receives our petition.

 Proud to be in the company of these amazing fellow

canna warriors.

Cliff Duvall... ground zero for Texas Veterans. 

The First of us to get involved publicly in the cannabis movement here in Texas.

That moment you walk out of the Govenors office and are surrounded by amazing fellow veterans! 

A video of the day
https://www.facebook.com/eric.espinoza.589/videos/10211926270694532/

Until next time....

Manya's triggering letter

Greeting Friends and Readers,

At the end of my last post I had planned to come back then and write about her. But it was more then I could handle at the time, so I have delayed it to now. Sick in bed with a nasty cold, and having had a good session with Crystal, it is time to move this out of me to share with ya'll.

Manya and I have been friends since we were 19 and based on NTTC Corry Station in Pensacola Fl. We were 'suite' mates. We shared a living room with 3 rooms with 3 ladies off of it in the enlisted barracks.  We saved each others lives several times over the decades.

As this blog has related, I finally came forward and have been getting treatment for the things that happened, but Manya hasn't.  She has only gotten more isolated from any sort of relationship,  I have been talking to her about stepping forward and getting treatment for her PTSD. She has lost all trust in humanity.  I can certainly understand why. After you read this letter, you will see into the pain of an untreated MST survivor.  Her own words can say more then I can.  She has been dealing with this alone (except for myself and 2 other friends). Now, she is finally contemplating coming forward and getting the help that she so desperately needs.

She has finally told her mother what happened. But she is still afraid of treatment. I continue to pray for her and talk with her weekly.  She writes me a couple of times a week and I generally call her back.  This letter triggered me terribly.  I needed a session with Crystal to deal with it, and to continue to help my friend. I asked her if I could post this letter here and she said yes as no one would ever know that it was her.  So, here it is..

WARNING, EXPLICIT, UNCENSORED, UNTREATED MST RAGE AHEAD
TRIGGER, EXPLICIT RAPE, BEATINGS

Heartbreaking. Her rage is deafening.
I love my friend, and I ask for prayers for her...

Over and out,
Myst

Texas Legislature back in Session

Hello Friends and Readers,

It has been a busy time since I last wrote. I went to the Veteran's March in Austin. We had a even bigger crowd then the year before!

The new year is over a month in, and we now have less then 4 months to try and change the laws here in Texas.  I have been busy in the off season though!  In December I was elected to be Deputy Director of Houston NORML, and I joined Montgomery Country NORML, and became the Veteran's Outreach Director there. It has keeps me busy going to meetings and preparing fellow citizens for this 
session,

The above graphic is from a article that came out in the Dallas Observer. It was on the cover!  The article was called "Onward Cannabis Soldiers" and interviews some of my veteran friends.

During the fall, Madesyn Mueller tracked me around to several events I was at, and also spoke with other members of the Texas cannabis moment. Her documentary about Operation Trapped is called The Texas Fight. Please take a few minutes to watch it. She did a super job!

Earlier this week I went to Austin for the Constituent Advocacy Day. Numbers of attendees is between 350-375. Last year was 300.  There are some excellent bills that have been introduced as well. Especially SB369, a full medical cannabis bill, that has PTSD and chronic pain as two of the qualifiers.

Here is some helpful info and links to news reports:

Alert! 

Our bills in the Senate have been referred to the following committees: 

Civil Penalties, SB 170 --> Criminal Justice (email the chairman and committee members here to ask for

a hearing).

Medical Cannabis, SB 269 --> Health and Human Services 

(email the chairman and committee members here to ask for a hearing).

BREAKING NEWS: Rep. Joe Moody, the author of HB 81 (Civil Penalties) has been appointed Chairman of the 

House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee! This is very good for us as it ensures that we will have a timely hearing 

by that committee. The bill has not yet been referred, but 
when it is, we'll send you a notification. For now,

 please email your legislators in support of this bill. (Once it's referred to committee, we can begin contacting 

committee members about supporting the bill.)

Attached you'll find a few photos from the event. If you have photos you'd like to share, please send

 them to me or post them in our Facebook event page.

Here are links to some of the news stories about the event: 

• Cannabis at the Capitol: Pot Supporters in Texas Rally for Responsible Marijuana Advocacy Day
• Pot advocates start another round at Capitol
• Hundreds of Texans try to convince lawmakers to recalibrate marijuana laws
• Texans head to Capitol for marijuana law reform

==========

I got to meet with Brian in Representative Metcalf's office, and Stephen in 
Senator Nicols office. Both gentlemen were very kind and understanding. 
I appreciated their taking notes.

It is always extremely difficult to tell my story to new people. It is.. triggering 
and emotionally charged. But I have to turn the negatives of the past in to a 
positive now.  I had a group of 'newbies' with me, who had never met nor 
talked with their legislator before.  I had lots of anxiety built up around 
meeting them and having to 'tell strange men my story'.

So I am greatly relived that first visit it over. BUT... I didn't get to meet with 
either of my actual legislators, so I have to go back and face the lions again, and
tell more strange men my story.  <sigh> It really is.. so.. hard. to have to 
remember what was done to me, what was taken from me.. and why.. and how. 
All of it. Cannabis allows me to participate in life. It was an exit drug from so 
many things. And now, it allows me to tell my story in a way to help others. But 
DAMN, it gets hard. I long for the day I can garden like I used to, and know that
my fellow citizens are able to use a botanical that eases pain, sorrow and give me
 the ability to talk and not be in constant pain from my shattered limbs without 
being a pharmaceutical zombie.

I did have a bed day yesterday as my shattered ankle was throbbing like crazy.. 
and I had set an appointment with Crystal my Vet Center therapist before I went 
to Austin. I knew I would need to decompress. As always, Crystal was very helpful.
She is very proud of the progress I am making. She can see that my work as a
cannabis activist here in Texas is both taxing and helping me externalize those
 But.. there is more..

it is Manya... 

But.. I will write about her in a bit in a separate posting. I have been in 
communication with her a lot since just before Christmas. Manya and I have 
been best friends since we were in the Navy together on Corry Station back in 1977. 
I am a survivor, but she is still a victim,

over 30 years later, and she has never gotten therapy. She needs it badly.

More about this soon.  

Pray for her, pray for Texas, pray for our great nation and pray for our world 

planet. Pray for

COMPASSION

Over and out,

Myst