[polobum]

Hi,

For those of you that don't know me, my name's ****. I'm a medical marijuana patient with Crohn's Disease that just finished my recovery after surgery on my colon. I've been feeling great and rarely need to medicate anymore as much of my pain and appetite issues are gone, for now at least. I'm now able to begin work full time as I've just completed the end of my schooling. So that's me now onto the reason I made this thread.

I was raised some what religiously with a 10% or more tithe to the church to help others less fortunate. I have long since realigned my religious views and consider myself an atheist but that does not however change how I feel about the need to contribute to society rather than just take. I don't however like the idea of just donating to a charity or organization as I want to make a difference in others lives in a more personal manner and I believe my dollar will go further. I've enjoyed volunteer work throughout my life but currently don't have much time for it anymore with the hours I work.

There are so many things in the world that need fixing but right now I've decided I want to focus on something that's been a big part of my life and perhaps the only reason I was able to make it through school to have the job I now do. I want to find and help very sick people that use medical marijuana but have to choose between bills and medicine on a monthly basis. I'm most interested in helping those that are sick enough they aren't even able to work anymore.

I don't imagine any WTers here fit the bill of a person I'm looking to help as I don't imagine said person having a personal computer and internet access but I could be mistaken. I do imagine the WTers here might know of those that need help this badly and would help me get in contact with them. I would prefer people I will get to meet personally and at this point I'm will only be able to help a few people, maybe just one, so I don't think finding someone within my area will be a great challenge. I live and work in Irvine. I'm going to be talking with the Newport Beach chapter of ASA to look for patients as well.

So I would now appreciate help from this community to find someone to help or any input any of you have. If I made this thread in the wrong forum or it's not allowed my sincere apologies I just wanted to get maximum exposure.

[BrattonBasher]

A noble person, you are! I am fortunate, as I read a medical journal that said only 10 percent of people with my disease are employed at age 50. I am 47 and holding on to my stressful job with a death grip. I do not need your help, but I appreciate that there are people like you out there for others.

[Capt. Zigzag]

If I may make a suggestion.

Find a co-op which has a compassionate care program in place. And either donate, or hook up with one or two of their patients to hand out your compassion.

You could do this in person with the patient you adopt, or you could get a picture and let the co-op handle it. Kinda like feed the children. But without the administration charge. Or you could just donate to the general donation fund/bag.

If you chose to meet in person with the patient you sponsor, you can do it at the club, thus minimizing personal exposure.

Or you can become best friends. But the best avenue for finding a worthy recipient is going to be through the sources who have already worked through the kinks.

JMO

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[itchy23]

Originally Posted by Capt. Zigzag

If I may make a suggestion.

Find a co-op which has a compassionate care program in place. And either donate, or hook up with one or two of their patients to hand out your compassion.

You could do this in person with the patient you adopt, or you could get a picture and let the co-op handle it. Kinda like feed the children. But without the administration charge. Or you could just donate to the general donation fund/bag.

If you chose to meet in person with the patient you sponsor, you can do it at the club, thus minimizing personal exposure.

Or you can become best friends. But the best avenue for finding a worthy recipient is going to be through the sources who have already worked through the kinks.

JMO

-

Well said and a neat idea.

[polobum]

Originally Posted by Capt. Zigzag

If I may make a suggestion.

Find a co-op which has a compassionate care program in place. And either donate, or hook up with one or two of their patients to hand out your compassion.

You could do this in person with the patient you adopt, or you could get a picture and let the co-op handle it. Kinda like feed the children. But without the administration charge. Or you could just donate to the general donation fund/bag.

If you chose to meet in person with the patient you sponsor, you can do it at the club, thus minimizing personal exposure.

Or you can become best friends. But the best avenue for finding a worthy recipient is going to be through the sources who have already worked through the kinks.

JMO

-

Perhaps you could PM me some co-ops that have good programs like this close to me?

I have to admit I'm very bias against the more or less undocumented "charity" work some co-ops claim to do. I worked at a co-op almost a year ago for about a month. It took me that long to figure out that every word out of the owners mouth was bullshit, he made huge cash profits each week and even had a donation cup. He makes clever token donations which amount to about 5% of the cash he pockets each week. He goes through the whole nine yards going to ASA meetings and other events to "help patients" and has been interviewed by the media and is all around viewed as a compassionate good person and part of the movement here in Orange County.

So when someone so shady and fraudulent can have such a great reputation it makes me very wary of putting much trust into anyone. In the end I want to talk to the patient, see evidence of their need and hand them donations myself. I have talked to 3 different co-ops about this and every time they are completely unwilling to set me up with the patient personally, they are just willing to tell me they have many extremely needy patients and will "pass it along". They can't substantiate any reasons why they can't pass my contact information onto these "needy patients" and if those patients so chose they can contact me. This obviously sets off plenty of alarm bells in my head.

So I am all ears to co-ops that would be willing to pass my contact information onto the patients they know need help. Just no donation pools please, I just don't have faith any those anymore.

[squatter420]

I applaud your attitude and goals. It might be worth trying to establish a patient to patient care network. I have no idea how much time you have to devote but this might be a good way to bypass the questionable practices of others. Maybe even WT itself might like to help facilitate such an effort.

[666]

I keep being told that I don't know what I'm talking about, that this would never work, and that Dispensaries are not charitable orgs but non profits and then somehow the thread goes another way from there. Funny Wamm (the most famous of these, and about 3 or 4 others I've heard of over the years run just like this. ...

STANDARDS FOR CHARITY ACCOUNTABILITY
Council of Better Business Bureaus'
http://www.give.org/standards/newcbbbstds.asp


8. Spend at least 65% of its total expenses on program activities.

Formula for Standard 8:

Total Program Service Expenses
--------------------------- = should be at least 65%
Total Expenses

Example 1.):

Dispensary give away & % discounts total
--------------------------- = should be at least 65%
Dispensary expenses (money taken in)

Example 2.) ie

$260,000
------------------- = 65%
$400,000


This would suggest that said Dispensary in example 2 takes 400K to operate, and gives away, though free be's and % off 260K of cannabis. This would be "Compassionate Use" of the law as defined by Better Business Bureaus'
STANDARDS FOR CHARITY ACCOUNTABILITY. This also suggests that a dispensary COULD make 660K total but CHOSE to give away 260K of there money taken in. This would exceed the BBB Standard for Charitable Accountability.

Example 3.)

Say a Dispensary discounted to Vets, seniors and the catastrophic poor (Cancer, Aids, MS and the like + say 2x poverty level) at 20%. Say 15% of their patents qualified to those standers. This would mean: (Using the 400K figure again for "CODB" (Cost of doing business = rent, pg&e, payroll AND PAYING VENDORS = getting meds)

What this would work out to be was 400K x 15% =
(15% of total CODB that would get discount)
EG 60K
and they would get a 20% discount
60K x 20% = 12K in discounts



$12,000
------------------- = 3%
$400,000

This is a 'sloppy copy estimate' 'projection' - To give the reader a spread or idea of a way to pump in figures on all this.

One needs to find ways to raise the upper number, while not impacting the lower one. One of the known side effects of cannabis is that it helps one think out of the box.* Ie if one learns something (say math) THEN applies it while under the effects of cannabis, the short term memory disruption only halts the current thought process from becoming stagnant. Another words the long term (already learned) memory is not effected.

This is the same reason it works for pain - one 'forgets' one is hurting for seconds at a time. That is what is often reported by patients who say. "it doesn't stop the pain - it just puts it 'over there' for a while."


* "Efficacy of Smoked Cannabis on Human Experimental Pain" Mark Wallace, MD Associate Clinical Professor, Anesthesiology, Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego. National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics "The Mind Body Connection" 4.8.06 Santa Barbra CA The Fourth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics | Patients Out of Time


FYI.

[squatter420]

Actually I believe you have Brownie Mary and Anna in reverse. Brownie Mary is next to Dennis in the photo.