Update: NJ Weedman's Jury Nullification Trial

Ed Forchion a/k/a NJWeedman  

Battles for Freedom

as his Lawyer, John Vincent Saykanic, Esq.

Files Historic Legal Defense Brief

on 4/20 - Cannabis Day

Mount Holly, NJ - As medical marijuana smokers around the globe celebrate "4/20"-- an internationally recognized date for the celebration of cannabis--Ed Forchion, aka NJWeedman and his lawyer, John Vincent Saykanic, Esq., will be filing a historic legal brief in New Jersey's Burlington County Superior Court, battling for not only Forchion's freedom but for the rights and recognition of marijuana smokers everywhere  (Indictment No. 2010-08-066-I). The filing is historic as it challenges New Jersey drug legislation and may change how the state's medical and criminal marijuana laws are enforced.

On April 1, 2010, Ed Forchion was arrested in Mount Holly, New Jersey with a pound of cannabis in the trunk of his car.  A Burlington County grand jury indicted Forchion in August of last year for violation of the State's drug laws. In October 2010 he pleaded not guilty.   He faces more than a decade in prison if convicted.

Forchion is a dual citizen of New Jersey and California, and he has been evaluated and approved by a medical doctor in California to use marijuana (and has been given a California Medical Marijuana card, which was valid on the date of his New Jersey arrest).  Mr. Forchion also operates a medical marijuana (dispensary) Temple in Hollywood, California called the "Liberty Bell Temple II."

In December 2010, Superior Court Judge Charles Delehey permitted Forchion to challenge the constitutionality of the state's marijuana laws, which makes marijuana possession illegal (and a Schedule I drug)  because it purportedly has no medicinal value.  At the same time, New Jersey is implementing a medical marijuana program for the treatment of needy and ill citizens since New Jersey became the 15th state to legalize the use of medical marijuana on January 18, 2010.

The legal brief raises eight grounds explaining why the indictment must be dismissed.  These include that Mr. Forchion, as a practicing Rastafarian, should be granted a religious exemption under the First Amendment (and Equal Protection Clause) to possess marijuana since marijuana-known as ganja in the religion-operates as a sacrament and is an integral part of the Rastafarian religious ceremony.  Since American Indians are granted an exemption to utilize peyote (a Schedule I drug) in their religious ceremonies, and since  the Brazilian church Uniao do Vegetal (in New Mexico) is permitted an exemption to utilize the sacramental tea ayahuasca (also a Schedule I drug), Rastafarians should be afforded the same religious exemption and equal protection.    

Other issues raised in the brief are: that marijuana should no longer be classified as a Schedule I drug (with the hardest drugs such as heroin, LSD, etc.) since even the State of New Jersey now recognizes its medicinal value; that Forchion should be able to possess the marijuana on the grounds of "medical necessity" since he is a medical marijuana patient (approved in California, one of his two residences); and that the New Jersey marijuana laws do not provide adequate notice that he could not possess his required medicine (and religious sacrament).  

Saykanic says, "It's not only un-American that Rastafarians are discriminated against for their sacred religious views, but it's outrageous that the alleged 'illegal' drug that is their sacrament has now been acknowledged by the State to have great medicinal value, yet they continue to be persecuted."  

Saykanic also says, "The war on drugs is a complete failure and the most glaring example is the law illegalizing marijuana.  The question to be asked is not whether marijuana should be legal but who is making huge profits (and gaining political capital) by propagating the war on marijuana and other drugs?  The failed war is a ridiculous waste of taxpayers' money and a denial of basic American privacy and liberty rights.  Ed's case could well be the beginning of the end of drug law tyranny. "

"The state of New Jersey has made a mistake in classifying marijuana as just a criminal substance," avows Forchion.  Forchion says he uses marijuana for medicinal and religious purposes. Marijuana is frequently used for healing and ritualistic purposes in Rastafarianism, a religion he practices.  Forchion will move to represent himself at trial.

As detailed in his book release, "Public  Enemy  # 420," Forchion has a history that spans decades in his quest for his right to smoke marijuana legally.  A cult figure in the marijuana legalization community, he achieved media notoriety when he was arrested for smoking marijuana in front of the entire New Jersey State Assembly in 2000, and garnered a national platform when he fired it up at Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA during the Republican National Convention. 

Forchion has since become one of the most vocal and recognized members of the pro-pot movement. He is the founder of the Legalize Marijuana Party of New Jersey and has run previous campaigns for Governor, U.S. Senate, Congress, the State Legislature, and the Burlington County Board of Freeholders.

To read more about Ed Forchion a/k/a NJWeedman and support the cause, go to

http://www.NJWeedman.com.

View his video interview about his pending case at

http://www.vimeo.com/22490539.    

To view the legal brief, go to

http://www.njweedman.com/challenge_brief.htm.

Why House Bill 756 Is Bad for North Carolina

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I recently learned about a bill that is trying to be passed that could threaten a persons ability of getting a fair trial in a possession charge.

House Bill 756
"Spectral Fluorescence Signature Drug Analysis"

The Bill being proposed is wanting the Nartest NTX2000 Drug Analyzer to become the standard for drug testing in North Carolina.

http://www.nartest.com/en

The problem with this particular device is the validity of it's testing procedures. In the North Carolina Bill, there is a certain protocol established within it's wording that takes away the defendants ability to question the validity of the test.

 Drug-testing kit is source of appeals:
http://www.ncmoratorium.org/News.aspx?li=5076 

http://www.wral.com/golo/blogpost/8398751/



Ill show you: This is taken from the Bill:

Criteria for Admissibility. – The results of a Spectral Fluorescence Signature Analysis are admissible as evidence in court under this Article only if the analysis meets both of the following requirements:
 
(1) It is performed in accordance with the rules of the Department of Health and  Human Services.

(2) The person performing the analysis had, at the time of the analysis, a current 29 permit issued by the Department of Health and Human Services authorizing the person to perform a Spectral Fluorescence Signature Analysis using the 31 type of instrument employed.
 
(c) Inadmissibility of Analysis Results. 
The results of a Spectral Fluorescence Signature Analysis of a disputed substance alleged to be a controlled substance performed in accordance with this section are not admissible as evidence if:

(1) The defendant objects to the introduction into evidence of the results of the Spectral Fluorescence Signature Analysis of a disputed substance chemical analysis of the alleged controlled substance; and 

(2) The defendant demonstrates that, with respect to the instrument used to analyze the alleged controlled substance, preventive maintenance procedures required by the regulations of the Department of Health and Human Services had not been performed within the time limits prescribed by those regulations. 


Now there is nothing there to question the admissibility to invalidate this particular drug test. You have to take it from the "Companies Word" the people that make the equipment that it is 100 percent accurate.

In the case of Wooten v North Carolina, a lawyer questioned the integrity of this particular testing procedure, Originally Mr.Wooten was convicted of possessing cocaine, he appealed it saying his attorney should have questioned this new technique, but didn't. I am not sure if he won his appeal for a new trial based on this at this time.

The point is, though Wooten or anyone has the right to question the validity now, if this Bill passes, your right to question it will be taken away. All you can ask is if the person testing the substance is qualified to operate it, that maintenance has been performed on the machine, and that the tester has a permit to test. other than that, you have to take the word from the company that sells this machine that it is 100% valid.

Here is a link to Wooten v North Carolina. It is on the bottom of the downloads section.

http://marijuanamanifest.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&rowstart=15

Here is a statement from the defense attorney in Mr. Wootens appeal:

The State’s evidence does not even describe the method of analysis the NarTest machine uses or how it works; the evidence is simply that you put the substance to be analyzed into the machine and the machine uses ‘florescence’ to determine what the substance is and prints out a result. The State did not present any evidence independent of information for the Nartest’s manufacturer which would establish its reliability; although such evidence might exist, it is not in the record before us. We cannot find that the NarTest machine is sufficiently reliable based upon the evidence presented.

------------------------------------------

b. The error in admitting Investigator Cahoon’s opinion testimony and report that the substance was cocaine rose to the level of plain error. Because trial counsel did not object to the introduction of Cahoon’s opinion
based on the NarTest machine, this Court must perform a plain error analysis. The identity of a controlled substance allegedly possessed is an essential element of the charge of possession of a controlled substance. State v. Ledwell, 171 N.C. App. 328, 331, 614 S.E.2d 412, 414, disc. rev. denied, 360 N.C. 73, 622 S.E.2d 624 (1995). The State carried the burden of proving that Mr. Wooten possessed cocaine. Expert testimony is required to prove that the evidence is in fact a controlled substance. State v. Llamas-Hernandez, 363 N.C. 8, 673 S.E.2d 658 (2008) (rev’d per curiam, 189 N.C. App. 640, 659 S.E.2d 79 (2009) for the reasons set forth in J. Steelman’s dissent) (“Crack cocaine has a distinctive color, texture, and appearance. While it might be permissible, based upon these characteristics, for an officer to render a lay opinion as to crack cocaine, it cannot be permissible to render such an opinion as to a non-descript white powder.”) The jury could not have found that Mr. Wooten possessed cocaine if the trial court had properly
excluded Cahoon’s opinion testimony and report. 

II. MR. WOOTEN’S TRIAL COUNSEL WAS INEFFECTIVE IN THAT HE FAILED TO OBJECT TO INVESTIGATOR CAHOON’S TESTIMONY AND REPORT, BASED ON AN ANALYSIS USING THE NARTEST MACHINE, THAT THE SUBSTANCE IN QUESTION WAS COCAINE.
 
Standard of Review
“To prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must first show that his counsel’s performance was deficient and then that counsel's deficient performance prejudiced his defense.” State v. Allen, 360 N.C. 297, 316, 626 S.E.2d 271, 286 (citing Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.
Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674, 693 (1984)), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 867, 127 S. Ct. 164, 166 L. Ed. 2d 116 (2006). In order to establish prejudice, “[t]he defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 80 L. Ed. 2d at 698.
________________
In the event that this Court finds that the trial court’s admission of Investigator Cahoon’s opinion and report that the substance was cocaine did not amount to plain error, Mr. Wooten asserts that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his trial attorney did not object to the admission of the opinion and report. It is unreasonable and deficient for an attorney to fail to object to the admission of an opinion which is based on a machine which has never been accepted by a court and where no foundation was laid as to its reliability.

CONCLUSION

For the reasons set forth above, the defendant, Latrell Wooten, respectfully asks this Court to order a new trial. Respectfully submitted this, the 20th day of January, 2010.

-------------------------------------------------------

The company that makes the Nartest NTX2000 Drug Analyzer, NarTest, has offices in Tallinn, Estonia and in Raleigh, North Carolina (US). They gave 15 Nartest NTX2000 Drug Analyzers to various police departments around the state to field test their product.

I am sure they got quite a conviction count for it and swear by its ability in the field, and how it saves the government money in lab costs. According to Nartest's website, "Costs 10 times less than drug testing in lab" (Unless challenged) Make sure to tell your lawyer to challenge it.




Now the bill says that other testing procedures can be utilized such as the Duquenois-Levine Test. The thing is, then they are back to square one and have to pay the labs on top of using the Nartest product which means more money spent. Either that, or the defendant will have to pay for independent testing...

Prosecutors are becoming aware that Duquenois-Levine Test  can be invalidated with a court certified drug test expert.  The problem is most defense lawyers are not aware that they can question the validity of these drug tests, and have evidence dismissed in a court of law. 

Bottom Line is: You Do Not Have To Take The Deal! 


An evidential hearing can have marijuana cases dismissed. You just need a court certified drug test expert. They can provide everything an attorney could need to assist them in having marijuana thrown out.

If you want to learn more about the science in drug testing and how to defeat a marijuana charge, visit my other website.

http://marijuanamanifest.com/forum/index.php

I am working with several experts and lawyers putting out valuable information using scientific techniques that can invalidate a drug test. We even have acquittals to back us up, and referrals from attorneys who say that they used the information on Marijuana Manifest, and had evidence from cases dismissed.

One of my associates is ex FBI Agent Dr.Fred Whitehurst who was a whistle blower against the FBI forensic labs for putting someone away for 10 years due to faulty lab work, as well as exposing major inadequacies at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's (NCSBI) forensic labs.

I am also working with Pulitzer Nominated Author John Kelly, who wrote a book partially funded by the Marijuana Policy Project called "False Positives Equals False Justice" John Kelly, was trained by Fred Whitehurst to help attorneys get marijuana possession charges dismissed due to invalidated testing procedures.

http://www.mpp.org/assets/pdfs/library/Report-Final.pdf.

The money spent on this Bill will be wasted, and a lot of people can wrongfully go to jail if the Nartest NTX2000 Drug Analyzer should make a mistake.Tax Money will be wasted if the results are constantly being challenged and further testing is required.

To make a point, if you are facing a marijuana charge, challenge the evidence whenever a Nartest NTX2000 Drug Analyzer is used, and make sure the state pays for it.  The best part is, even if they did other testing procedures, they can be invalidated. 

This is just another really good example of how millions of dollars will be wasted on marijuana prohibition.


There is a finite number of cross comparisons in its database, the potential for false positives is possible due to that fact that they haven't tested this device enough on a multitude of substances out there that could flag false positive.

It says it can detect if a substance is marijuana, did they field test it with every single plant out there to be sure no other plant but marijuana will be detected positively? I doubt it. Yet we are supposed to put our citizens freedom at stake at the word of a company, then have Congress write and pass a Bill in which we cannot question their testing procedures?

Please do not let them pass this bill. Spread the word, and tell Congress of North Carolina to spend that money on something to help the state, not imprison them.

The Peter Davy Strain

Killer Bud -

This is an interview with a gentleman named Peter Davy in New Zealand. This has not been as easy as I might of expected. Once I started doing the research for this article, I have been on an emotional roller coaster, and I cannot help but empathize for him and his partner. If I ever met a man that deserved a second chance at life, to be left alone, and let him grow, Peter Davy will be the first person to come to mind.


10 years ago Peter was told he had about 5 days to live, the doctor did a cat scan and found a huge tumor at the base of his brain. He went to the hospital 5 days later thinking he would never see another sunrise or his wife and 2 kids again. They did some further testing and it was a tumor of the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and not the brain itself.


He ended up leaving the hospital, they did not operate on him, but gave him an experimental drug to keep the tumor from growing anymore and help get it under control. The drug had a nasty side effect for him, and he was unable to keep anything down. For over a year he continued to take this medication and endured the uncontrollable nausea that went along with it.


Up to this point in his life he never consumed marijuana for medicinal purposes, when he finally did try it again, he was no longer nauseous!
He started to gain weight, and function as a productive person once again.


After realizing the marijuana was helping him, he started doing intensive research on different cannabis strains, and started cross breeding them for seeds to develop strains that helped his condition, as well as creating a strain to help his partner with MS.


He acquired rare/possibly extinct seeds from all over the world and was on the brink of having a couple of strains that could of helped many people when the cops came in, arrested him, and took all his seeds, plants, and research away from him.


He was convicted of growing marijuana for "illicit purposes" and sentenced to prison. He is supposed to turn himself in on all days April 20th.

Jailing Peter Davy will also mean a death sentence for his partner, who suffers from advanced multiple sclerosis.
Judge Neave only reluctantly bailed Peter Davy until sentencing so that he could arrange to sell all their belongings and pay for her to die slowly in a rest home.



Once he is incarcerated he plans on going on a hunger strike to make a stand against the unjust treatment and incarceration of people who out of necessity benefit from medical marijuana.

Peter Davy - 


"I will be going on a hunger strike the moment I am given a prison sentence and I absolutely do not want to be force-fed under any circumstances. I will also be refusing all cancer medication.
"I am 100% committed to continuing with a hunger strike until I am dead," said Peter Davy. "I hate confrontation and I hate publicity, but I have nothing to lose and somebody has to make a stand... or nothing ever changes." 




There is a video of Peter and his partner Tracey on his website, it goes over a lot of what I just wrote, I just wanted to tell it from my perspective, but I strongly encourage everyone to visit his site and hear it from his own words. It is quite moving.

Free Peter Davy!

If you would like to read more about Peter Davy, please visit his website:                              

Free Peter Davy

Peter Davy's focus is also on his scientific research that had been confiscated and rotting away in a evidence locker. He wanted to convey  his focus on describing his work developing different strains more so than his situation, because it is that important to him. So I am picking his brain and trying to help him get his research out there. So now on to the Peter Davy Strain:

Killer Bud -

Okay, so I am not a scientist, but I have been studying up on cannibinoid receptors, seen a few well made YouTube videos explaining how the cannibinoids work inside the brain, the receptors accepting it like it was a key in a lock.
Pretty basic really, that said, if it gets beyond my comprehension, I still want you to explain things, because someone else might get it and it will help others.
One of the things I have been trying to wrap my head around to try and understand about hybrid strains, is how do you go about initially developing a strain and narrowing down certain CBD's for specific maladies.
I understand using yourself and testing the strains, and trying to mentally evaluate how it is making you feel. What other scientific techniques are involved when it comes to determining the certain amounts of CBD's inside a specific strain?

Peter Davy -


The way it makes me feel is actually my number one criteria. In my opinion a lot of medicine is back to front. They produce drugs that in theory should do all sorts of wonderful things but in real life don't work or have horrible side effects. So personal evaluation is actually my front line technique.

There is a lot of research behind that simplistic approach. I researched indigenous strains from all over the world, going back hundreds of years, tracing the spread of cannabis genetics across the world. I wanted the original parent plants... the original genetics... from where cannabis originated. The more pure a strain is then the easier it is to work with from a breeding perspective.

The reason for wanting the pure strains is because they are the strains that were traditionally used medicinally and spiritually by indigenous tribes people for hundreds if not thousands of years.

I have studied plant medicines (cannabis is only recent in the last twelve years) all my life and firmly believe that we (Western civilizations) are only just starting to discover new medicine plants that Eastern tribes have used and known about for thousands of years.

All the really traditional use of cannabis as medicine came from India primarily... extending up into Nepal and Tibet... and sideways into China and the Golden Triangle. This seemed to be the birthplace of cannabis as a medicinal drug. So these are the strains that I went after. Pure tropical plants.

We now come to a critical point. Already, right at the start, my research is diverging away from other people who purport to be Medicinal Cannabis researchers. Nearly all the current research in the world today is concerned primarily with high CBD bushy strains that are most closely associated genetically with Pakistan, Morocco, Lebanese and Afghanistan varieties of cannabis.

If you've researched cannabis as much as I have then you should see a problem already. These are all traditional DRUG PRODUCING countries that supply the worldwide recreational cannabis market. Their plants represent specialized inbreeding to produce fast flowering, bushy plants with a high commercial value for producing hashish. They have absolutely no direct lineage to medical marijuana lines.

Yet these are the plant types that almost every researcher in the world is working with and I say THEY ARE WRONG!!! The whole reason they are getting results that are all over the place (as is happening) is because they are working with inferior genetics in the first place and the wrong sort of cannabis plants.

The correct line of plants is the pure tropical lines. They take up to eighteen months to flower, they grow into small trees, they have small calyxs generally but not always, the seeds should fall not stay attached, thin leaves and a mild lemon taste and smell are all desirable characteristics of true tropical strains.

Many years ago I discovered that these strains have an effect completely different to the mind numbing hammer blow of today's hybrid cannabis plants from Holland. That hammer blow may be quite good for killing pain and getting a good night's sleep but it isn't much use for trying to lead a normal life.

It seems to me that so called "scientists" have completely muddled the true genetics of cannabis strains and have all gone off down the wrong path and researched a strain of cannabis that is more of a tranquilizer than Valium. I'm not convinced we need anymore tranquilizers out there. If you're sick and run down then you need to "kick start" the brain into action... not put it even further into sleep mode.

So long before I ever get anywhere near the "personal evaluation" phase I'm already looking for specific genetics, specific phenotypes, specific country of origin. In my head I know exactly what I'm after. I know the look, the taste, the effect.... it's like a familiar favorite jacket. Whenever I find it the effect is like coming home to an old friend. I know it's going to be a good day.

When people ask me what alkaloid or cannabinoid I'm specifically targeting I always tell them THCV. This is just for the sake of simplicity. I don't have any scientific equipment for measuring cannabinoid content. The NZ Police won't allow me to possess any chemistry or scientific gear. Everytime I've tried to buy chemistry equipment the NZ Police have interfered.

There are approx. 80 different cannibinoids in a marijuana plant. Scientists have really only researched two... THC and CBD... and this research is still in it's infancy. To the best of my knowledge ALL those cannibinoids activate the CB1 and CB2 receptors in the human endocannabinoid system. Some cannabinoids will activate only one recptor... some both. Some even BLOCK the activity of other cannibinoids or actually block a receptor... or they may have synergies that enhance a reaction when in combination.

For this reason you can see that it is absolutely ridiculous to extract or synthesize a single cannabinoid like delta-9 THC and then expect it to mimic the totality of action of the medicinal use of a cannabis plant. The same logic applies to products like Sativex which may well be made from a complete plant extract but it is only a snapshot in time of a very specific cannabinoid ratio with no scientific evidence of any description that they have the CBD/THC ratio correct for any specific illness.

All I know from my own subjective viewpoint .... and from watching the effect on others.... is that many of the PURE tropical varieties have medicinal characteristics that are completely different to the commercial strains. I have guessed that the difference may be due to high THCV content so that is what I say when people ask me. It may well be some other cannibinoid but I have ALWAYS said that it is the BALANCE of cannibinoids that is important. The ratio is the key.

My plant breeding efforts have been focused at adjusting this ratio and also trying to "fix" desirable medicinal traits as I come across them. For the sake of simplicity I have called this trying to fix THCV but as I've explained..... it may well be some other elusive cannibinoid that I've been tracking all these years. I know the effect... I just don't have gas chromatography to identify the ratios.

Personally I think the pharmaceutical companies are just greedy and haven't got the science even remotely right. I think about the human body like a combustion engine. If we call gasoline THC and we call oil CBD then we see immediately how stupid it is to focus on one over the other when the engine needs both to work. That is a very simplistic approach yet it clearly demonstrates what I'm trying to say.

In a gasoline engine there will be an optimal ratio of gas to oil, and I think there will be an optimal ratio of various cannibinoids to specific diseases.... rather than a single cannibinoid used as a silver bullet like the pharmaceutical companies are trying to do.

The simple truth that all the world Governments are trying to duck around... is that the giant multi national pharmaceutical companies are a failure. Many of their drugs simply don't work and actually make people sicker. There has been a worldwide trend for twenty years back towards more natural remedies that have more of a "balanced" effect. Plant drugs in other words... which is what most modern medicines come from anyway.

The pharmaceutical companies have been fighting this trend tooth and nail because it eats into their profits. Now cannabis has become the battle line all over the world. It is the pharmaceutical companies that are petitioning Governments to keep cannabis illegal except in pharmaceutical form. This is the real war on drugs.

The pharmaceutical companies recognize that cannabis has medicinal potential in so many areas that it represents billions and billions of dollars as a prescription drug.... but nothing at all if people are allowed to grow different varieties for different medical conditions without having to pay the drug companies a cent.

"Let me be clear about that. The Medical Marijuana issue came about because that is the real explanation for what I was doing... not the pack of lies the police told." - Peter Davy 

That is what the war is really about. Governments and police forces are just puppets fighting for the greed of pharmaceutical companies. Make no mistake about it... this is about money... not medicine. The medical science has already been proved.... that debate is over.

This is a money grab plain and simple. A fight to dominate and control a billion dollar industry that is going to revolutionize vast areas of medicine. 

Killer Bud -

You mentioned breeding a strain for patients with MS by making it reduce seizures/shaking yet not so much the mental buzz part, how do you go about that if you don't have symptoms of MS to compare in a self analysis of the strain?

Peter Davy - 

I'm glad you mentioned Multiple Sclerosis because that is a pet area of research for me. It is true that cannabis has been proved in any amount of double blind placebo trials to help with pain, incontinence and spasms from multiple sclerosis sufferers.

That is not what gets me excited about cannabis though. It is far more important than symptomatic relief from suffering. Let me be very clear about this so that there is no mistake. The very latest research (I can provide links to the relevant research documents) into the endocannibinoid system has identified properties in the cannabis plant that actually fight the diseases that cause Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Aids and cancer.

The CB1 receptors in the neural nervous system are particularly good at fighting pain and spasms but the CB2 receptors are part of the immune system. New research using rats has identified a possible link between cannabinoids and the protection of neural sheaths in the brain. MS attacks the neural sheath. Studies with rats infected with a MS analogue have shown that cannabis drastically reduced the speed and progression of the MS disease. There is even very limited evidence (one study only from memory) of neural sheath regrowth, possibly from activation of CB2 receptors.

This is ground breaking cutting edge medicine. There is no other drug in the world that has this property. Cannibinoids have also been proved conclusively to shrink all sorts of cancer tumours and again I can provide links to all the latest research.

** For more information regarding Peter's research, please visit his website for referrals.

This is huge but everybody has got so confused by the recreational cannabis debate and the judgmental symptomatic effect debates... they have missed the real important science. We are talking about some of the worst diseases in the world that have no known cure. Yet along comes a plant that has actually demonstrated in laboratory conditions that it can have a beneficial influence on prevention, delaying and maybe even curing (who knows?) some of these diseases.

That is what really excites me. How dare any Government or police force in the world stand in the way of that sort of research. It is absolutely disgusting and a crime against all of humanity. There's a crime being committed alright... and the crime is being committed by the Government. A Government that forces it's own citizens to suffer from deadly diseases while not only denying them symptomatic relief but also denying any research other than from huge pharmaceutical companies driven by profit not science.

In terms of my own personal circumstances... my partner is dying of Multiple Sclerosis. She has a very advanced and aggressive form of the disease. The perfect volunteer subject. I have never been in a position to offer cannabis to my partner because the police have always busted me long before I had enough for a proper clinical trial.

I had every intention though of slowly and carefully trialling my MS strain on my partner over the winter period (we are approaching Autumn now) because that is when my partner is most ill. Personally I thought it was an ideal situation to prove conclusively for my own benefit one way or another if cannabis could help MS or not.

I had five different strains that I specially bred down different lines to adjust the cannibinoid ratios. I achieved this by breeding selectively back to points (countries) of origin trying to get the purest strains possible specific to old established medicinal heirloom strains.

If the police had not busted me then that research would have begun by now and my partner could well have been feeling a lot better. What the NZ Government has done to us both is cruel in the extreme. I was hurting nobody, I was not selling cannabis, nobody knew about my research... and it was for as good a cause as you could possibly get.

I challenge anybody, anywhere on this planet.... to prove that my research is misguided or not useful. I live with a dying woman and I watch her suffer every single minute of every day. Nobody else has done a damn thing to help her, other than the usual symptomatic drugs that really only scratch the surface at improving quality of life for my partner.

I don't have any money, I don't have a laboratory, I don't have anything except my brain... so I put that to the task and I've been trying my best to find something.... anything... that might help my partner and slow down the progression of the disease.

By coincidence I was already working with cannabis as a medicinal treatment for the tumour of the pituitary gland that I already have. When I met my partner I was already knee deep in research into the effect of the endocannibinoid system on the endocrine system (which is regulated by the pituitary gland). I knew nothing at all about any of the research into Multiple Sclerosis and cannabis.

I was amazed that quite by chance my own little pet scientific project not only overlapped into Multiple Sclerosis but MS was actually more important and could yield far more significant results in terms of identifying true medical strains of cannabis.

Call it karma, or call it coincidence... or say that everything in life happens for a reason. All I know is that somehow the absurdities of life brought my partner and I together at the exact moment that the world began to wake up to the true medicinal properties of a plant that was right under their face the whole time.

I say my research is timely and relevant. Furthermore this isn't some pie in the sky theory. I'm a very practical person who likes to prove things... not waffle on about theories. It is my desire to conclusively prove my science that has got me into this predicament with the police.

My seed exists. The police has it. How much more proof do they need? Just grow my damn seed and see for yourselves. My plants aren't ordinary plants. They're special medicinal tropical strains. They have different properties to commercial strains. They're smoother, nicer, not so strong, no zombie effect.... and I need to know how they work on Multiple Sclerosis.

Those strains and seeds are MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY!!! I created them with God's help and they don't belong to the Government or the police or anybody else. I have a legal entitlement to register my cultivars just like any other plant breeder.

The NZ Government is stealing my research and my Intellectual Property. they are so vindictive they will destroy my research gene pool just to try and say it was worthless. Just to try and prove they're right by sheer brute force.

They are wrong though. I know what I'm doing. My science is rock solid. My gene pool is worth a lot of money. The GW pharmaceuticals Sativex line began with a very similar gene pool of seeds.

The NZ Government is stealing from me and trying to bury my legitimate research. This is a crime against every person around the world with a debilitating terminal illness that might one day benefit from the research done by people like me.

The best medicinal properties of cannabis lie in the rarer tropical DNA lines. You heard it here first. This is my research and I am the leader in the field at a plant breeding level.

You heard it here first. 

Killer Bud -

Are the original tropical strains indicas or sativas?

Did you cross breed between the two?

It is interesting that you have focused your research on strains from the lesser known indigenous areas where it was primarily already considered medicinal more so than recreational.

Can you explain how the process works when you create a hybrid plant to make THCV more potent or less potent in the next generation? I am just going to focus on the THCV to avoid getting confused amongst the other many different CBD's. I am just curious how the process works in make the plants more or less potent.

To bring it down for instance, do you cross breed it with another plant that has a less strong affect? Thereby creating a medium between two different plants?

I guess most folks are always in the mindset of like you said make it like a mind blowing hammer, where it seems you are trying to create an effective yet moderate variety that makes you feel better but still functional. I am following you correctly on that?

Over the past 10 years, how many generations have you been able to grow and develop?

Before having your plants and seeds (research) taken away, how close were you generation wise to of accomplishing the type of strains you were working towards?

If I was to try a perfected Peter Davy strain, could you describe what would it of tasted like and felt? What about the other strain you were working on for MS, what would it of made someone feel like? 

Peter Davy - 

In answer to your questions regarding breeding I will deal only with the facts regarding my own research. Firstly the police say they seized approximately 10,000 seeds off me. That sounds like a lot but it is tiny. It is less than a peanut butter jar full of seed. A very small peanut butter jar.

I once worked in a hemp seed processing plant. Hemp seed is cannabis seed. It is the same plant and they cross genetically. Every day we used to get in truckloads of pallets of sacks of seed. We had hundreds and hundreds of sacks of cannabis seed. Just to give some perspective. Cannabis is an agricultural crop that is normally grown like corn in large fields.

The Dutch are the ones who made it seem like individual plants and individual seeds are so representative when in fact they aren't at all.

Out of that 10,000 seeds approximately 7000 are my own true hybrid strain. A true hybrid is produced by first inbreeding two distinct lines until they breed true. In fact you get a better hybrid if they not only breed true but are starting to show signs of inbreeding mutation, such as sterility and hemaphrodism.

All my plant breeding is done strictly according to Gregor Mendel's theory of inheritance using the punnet square approach. That is a separate subject that I won't cover here but anybody can look it up on the internet.

My hybrid strain is a cross between a Golden Laos farmhouse strain from the Hmong hill people of Laos and an even rarer Thai strain that became extinct in Thailand in 1985. The Thai strain is one of the very original parent plants used to create the Californian "haze" strain.

These are both pure tropical sativas that had the properties (effect) that I was looking for. Unfortunately I had the seed but have never had the opportunity to grow my hybrid strain because the police took all the seeds. The hybrid was meant to be the parent for the new cross I was hoping to make with landrace high THCV Malawi.

I really only work with pure tropical sativas. I had other seed that people gave me or I had sent by mistake (the sender mixed up the seed or was just trying to do me a favour by including free seed) but I rarely grew it except for comparison purposes.

For example I had a few purple skunk seeds and for some reason people seem to go crazy over purple plants. I used these as a comparison group to compare with my sativas because I found the purple colour a nice obvious "trait" to use for practising my "trait fixing" techniques.

I have tried the usual indica X sativa crosses which is pretty much what everybody else in the world is doing. Frankly I hate them. The results are unpredictable and the F2 line is always a nightmare. Worst of all is recessive indica genes that are almost impossible to eliminate once you have them in a line.

These indica crosses are what destroyed most of the great sativa lines in the first place. In years gone by the most common cannabis worldwide was pure sativa lines from Mexico, Thailand and Colombia. Then the commercial smugglers worked out that they could cross these plants with Pakistani and Moroccan cannabis to get huge bushy hybrid plants that took only half the time to flower. That way the commercial growers could get two crops in one tropical season instead of just one. That was the end of the great sativas. The genetics of many tropical strains now have recessive indica genes and are ruined.

It isn't just about medicinal properties when you start talking about breeding. Indica strains are fundamentally flawed from the start. They are extremely prone to budrot, botrytis... and any kind of fungal disease. All it takes is a tiny bit of moisture or rain.

Tropical varieties are used to rain almost every day. It doesn't hurt them. So right there at the horticultural level you have an issue in terms of plants at the polar opposite extremes of the disease spectrum.

So I don't really like any indica at all to be honest... and indica to me represents CBD (though not always... there are very high THCV Afghan strains).

Potency is a bit of a subjective value. I've seen the same cannabis knock one person to their knees yet have almost no effect on somebody else. This is very true of pure sativas. This is one of the great medicinal qualities of the cannabis plant. It really does affect people differently so there is enormous scope for creating strains specific to certain people or certain diseases.

For my own part I don't like heavy skunks high in CBD. I simply don't smoke them and I don't consider them useful at all. They make me lethargic and they make my brain stupid.

I don't actually believe any of the Dutch hype about the super high knockout THC values of modern commercial strains. Oh I believe they're high THC but I don't believe it's a new thing at all. I've tried some of the strongest Dutch strains out there like White Widow and AK47 but I find them quite weak compared to some of the pure sativas.

Probably the strongest cannabis I've ever smoked was a scrawny little landrace Indonesian sativa with tiny little buds. Probably one of the most pathetic looking cannabis plants I've ever seen yet it had absolutely killer potency.... though in a different way to your standard Dutch hybrid.

None of that smashing numbness that leaves you sitting there in a daze wondering what hit you. The Dutch stuff would kill me. I used to do extreme rock climbing without ropes after smoking pure Thai. Real mountains with real instant death if you made a mistake. I'd hate to do that on anything that slowed me down the way the Dutch stuff does.

A good sativa should be very mild to smoke, almost menthol (lemon taste yummm) and actually pleasant. Instead of a harsh taste you actually enjoy it. It should give an instant burst of energy making it impossible to keep still. There should be an overall feeling of being at one with the world around you and an almost overpowering feeling of creativity.

That feeling of creativity means all the correct synapses are firing instead of shutting down. To me that correolates to a drug that is increasing neuron activity rather than blocking it. In diseases like MS it is this increased neuron activity that is the Holy Grail of medicinal Marijuana.

I want to activate dormant synpases and hopefully guide the physiology of a system into stimulating neural networks and maybe even protecting or actually encouraging regrowth of the myellin sheath. That is what I'm all about.

I personally don't believe that you can increase potency by crossing two lesser potency plants. It's just that the calyx formation is completely different in indica plants so that the active cannibinoids are much more concentrated into a smaller bud area.

When you cross an indica with a sativa it may seem stronger... and test stronger... because all the glands are more concentrated together and the hash type properties of an indica means it is producing more of these glands. I'm not convinced that it is any more potent at a truly fundamental level. There's just a lot more of the active ingredient.

Once again I come back to my argument of finding the right medicinal strain for the disease or person. It isn't a matter of one size fits all.

At the end of the day I could theorise all day long but the proof is in the pudding. The real test is to simply grow my own strains and compare them to whatever else is available. I'm not hiding my research under a rock.... it's right there available to test. The seeds exist... my cultivars exist. Pretty easy to start doing some testing and see if I'm full of crap or not.

I'm calling the Government's bluff. Go ahead and grow my seeds for yourself and do a clinical trial comparison.

As for how close I am/was to completing a Medical strain. Well it's a moving target. There is always room for improvement and even once I produce a strain I'm happy with... it still takes at least seven breeding cycles to get it true breeding with all the desirable traits fixed. In that respect I had a long way to go because the police killed the parent plants. That leaves only my F1 hybrid (in that particular line) seeds that would need a huge amount of work to breed the F2 line back to pure p1 lines. In fact that would be impossible if my parent lines hadn't been pure lines in the first place.

I did have other pure parent lines from Nepal and Tibet mainly but had not had a chance to work with these yet as the plants are twenty foot high monsters and impossible to conceal. 

Killer Bud -

It is my hope that people are going to walk away from this article realizing that there was a lot of hard scientific work involved, and how we may never know how many people this potentially could of helped.

Especially since some of your stock are from such rare strains. What you have accomplished could not possibly be replicated ever again.

Peter Davy - 

The police have all my seeds. I take it seriously and all my seeds were kept in a temperature controlled fridge in a container packed with desiccant (absorbs moisture) in carefully labelled pill containers. When the police got the container they got all the seeds I had.

All my best work was stolen six years ago by the police when they cleaned out a much larger seed collection I had been working on for five years. That had stuff I've never seen in a seed bank or in any photos. All hand collected by a botanist friend (now retired) in the country of origin. Indonesian and Colombian plus genuine Durban Poison collected from the side of the road on the outskirts of Durban.

None of that seed can ever be replaced and that gene pool is now lost forever.

Killer Bud -

I will put contact information out at the end of this article for people to contact New Zealand's Minister of Health to make a plea on your behalf to restore what belongs to you, and give you the ability to continue your research unhindered from the threat of persecution. It is my hope that you will gain many more supporters telling the Minister of Health that you have growing support beyond the boundaries of your country and it is growing.
 
The Minister of Health's name is Tony Ryall correct? 

Peter Davy - 

That is correct. Thanks. I'd really like my seeds back. Seriously I had the best weed. For at least seven years I've refused to smoke anything except my own stuff because it was simply so superior. If there is one thing I know about... it's how to grow cannabis. 

**If you would like to show support for Peter Davy please contact the Minister of Health, the Honorable Tony Ryall  at:

 Honorable Tony Ryall

**The Minister of Health has the authority to give Peter Davy back his seeds and let him continue his research with medicinal cannabis unhindered from persecution.  With your help, maybe we can make this a reality, and the world will no longer have to go "what if?." 

It would be a tragedy to never see the medicinal benefits of his years of hard work because they rotted away in an evidence locker.