Eugene weekly., January 14, 2016, Page 13, Image 13

ADAM AND LENI
TO PAINT LENI’S
TRANSFORMATION IN
LOAVES-AND-FISHES TERMS
DOES A SUBTLE DISSERVICE
TO THE ONGOING EVIDENCE
OF THE BENEFITS OF
MEDICAL CANNABIS ,
W H I C H R E M A I N S A M A S S I V E LY
UNCHARTED REGION OF
HEALING. IT PUTS THE
FREEZE ON THE SERIOUSNESS
OF THE SITUATION. WHAT’S
MORE, PROCLAIMING
MIRACLES OFFERS PSYCHIC
AMMO TO DETRACTORS,
PHOTO COURTESY ADAM JACQUES
COUCHING ANY MEDICAL
A DVA N C E S I N H I P PY- D I P PY
MYSTICISM AND MAKING
THEM, THEREFORE, EASIER
TO DISMISS.
with smaller attacks, to one seizure every four to six weeks,
Young says, and all of the smaller ones are now gone.
“She’s also trying to stand on her own,” Young goes
on, “and rolling over with purpose. She’s making new
sounds. She is incredibly engaged in everything, whereas
before she spent an awful lot of time in her own world. She
smiles. She giggles. Her cognitive abilities are improving
every day.”
What’s more, the Youngs have decreased Leni’s anti-
epileptics by 20 percent, with no increase in oil dosage,
no notable side effects and, most importantly, no increase
in seizures. “Adam gave me my child back,” she says.
“We have this happy little girl. Her quality of life is pretty
wonderful.”
CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM
When it’s suggested that Leni’s turnaround is nothing
short of a miracle, Young grows adamant. “Don’t say that
word!” she blurts with a laugh. This makes sense. To paint
Leni’s transformation in loaves-and-fishes terms does a
subtle disservice to the ongoing evidence of the benefits
of medical cannabis, which remains a massively uncharted
region of healing. It puts the freeze on the seriousness of
the situation. What’s more, proclaiming miracles offers
psychic ammo to detractors, couching any medical
advances in hippy-dippy mysticism and making them,
therefore, easier to dismiss.
Jacques cautions that cannabis, no matter how
miraculous-seeming the results, is not a cure. “It’s another
medication to improve somebody’s quality of life,” he
says. “And it seems to do that in spades, especially with
these kids. And it’s fantastic.” As one of the international
leaders in the CBD-strong cannabis movement, Jacques
finds himself part of a vague vanguard of holistic healers
— part doctor, part cultivator and part spokesman for an
ancient-new medicine that is still fitfully breaking into the
mainstream.
In the latter regard, Jacques remains cautiously
optimistic and skeptically realistic about the recent
advances in medical cannabis, noting that much remains
to be done in terms of legislation, scientific research and
cooperation with the established medical community. He
says, for instance, that he is nervous about the advance into
the industry of pharmaceutical giants like GW Pharma,
which is researching the means of breaking cannabis down
into its constituent parts for synthesis.
“They are not using the full cannabis plant extracts and
are pushing CBD-only solutions,” he says of pharmaceutical
companies seeking to streamline and monopolize cannabis
extracts. “By fractioning off cannabinoids and rebuilding
them into what they want, they can finally patent a plant
and hold patients hostage as to what they can legally use
and what their insurance will cover. It does not work
anywhere near as well as actual raw cannabis extractions,
but the money and influence they have are attempting to
make it the only choice.”
Jacques says he’s particularly wary of current pressure
on the Oregon State Legislature to fold the medical cannabis
market into the recreational market, effectively doing
away with medical cannabis providers. Should the medical
cannabis program go away, Jacques notes, his capacity to
work with kids like Leni would be abolished, reducing
him to a seller who cannot make a recommendation on
treatment for fear of legal repercussions. “The fact is,
people can’t go into rec stores and ask for advice,” he says.
“Without us sticking up for ourselves, we’re going to
get crushed,” Jacques says of medical cannabis providers.
“That’s what’s already happening in other states,” he adds,
explaining that should the medical marijuana program be
done away with, Big Pharma could step in “and take our
genetics, take the work we’ve been doing and get us out of
the industry. They want us to be recreational.”
Jacques, who is now up for the worldwide Most
Influential Person in the Industry award at the CannAwards
International conference Feb. 16 in Puerto Rico, says he
considers any recognition he receives as a mere means to
an end: promoting and furthering public understanding of
the medical benefits of cannabis in the lives of folks like
Frank Leeds and Leni Young.
“It’s kind of at the go-big or go-home point,” he says
of the fight against Big Pharma and other forces seeking
to co-opt the medical cannabis program. “Everything’s
a means to an end, and that end is helping people. I can
win all the awards I want, but it doesn’t seem to matter
to those people. I’ll never stop. I’m going to keep doing
what’s right.”
THE ROAD AHEAD
Leni’s mom Amy Young is equally vocal about the need
to preserve and expand upon the current medical cannabis
program. “From here, everybody deserves the opportunity
to have their doctor dictate their treatment instead of their
zip code,” she says, adding that her family had to move
2,700 miles to avoid legal repercussions for treating Leni
with cannabis.
As of now, Jacques says he believes he has the largest
library of CBD-dominant strains in the world, including
the highest CBD percentage yet tested, and he continues to
“dial in” more effective oil combinations for patients like
Leni as well as breeding new strains all the time. “I still
have huge breeding projects going on right now,” he says.
“Nobody’s going as hard at it as I am.”
Jacques says he hasn’t decided whether he’ll travel to
Puerta Rico next month for the CannAwards, which doesn’t
mean he shies from embracing his celebrity as a CBD big
dog. At the August conference in Seattle, he rolled up in
overalls amid the suit-and-tie set to accept his industry
award, looking to “take it back to Eugene, Oregon, where
it really belongs,” he says. “I feel that we’ve got the best
cannabis and the best growers in the world.”
Along these lines, Jacques says he looks forward
to gearing up for the advent of Oregon’s recreational
marijuana program. He has plans for a new greenhouse
on his property, and his grow rooms are currently cycling
through fragrant crops of frosty bud. “I want to be a name
out there,” Jacques says, smiling. “I’d love to be the
Ninkasi of cannabis. I think that would be great,” because,
he adds, any income earned from rec could further support
his medical cannabis pursuits.
“Every day the majority of my time is spent working on
the patients,” Jacques says. “I get paid by helping people.
I’m not making any money. I’m not growing this stuff to
grow money. Intention in the universe is everything.” ■
eugeneweekly.com • January 14, 2016
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