| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
| Stoney: “You can save yourself a ton of pain if you just SHINE.” |
Colorado’s Stoney Haze McStonerson is proof that not only can marijuana activists be intelligent and effective — they can also be quite easy on the eyes.
Stoney is many things, but shy isn’t one of them. A determined and influential ambassador for the movement, McStonerson is president and founder of the Colorado Chapter of American Cannabis.
Stoney’s the girl next door, if the girl next door were a beautiful, intelligent stoner.
“I am proud of my life and the wisdom I have gathered along the way,” Stoney told us. “I learned before most of the people I knew that changing who you really are inside to fit into the ‘normal box’ does not work!
“You can save yourself a ton of pain if you just SHINE,” Stoney said. “Whatever, whoever and however is not going to matter in the end if you are happy.”
Stoney discovered early on that marijuana helped her with bipolar issues.
| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
”I began self-medicating with cannabis at a pretty young age to help me deal with mood swings,” Stoney, 35, told Toke of the Town in an exclusive interview.
“I probably really honestly noticed when I was diagnosed bipolar (in my 20s) and stopped smoking to comply with my psych doctor’s attempt to medicate me with his prescribed cocktail of pharmaceuticals,” she told us. “The results were stable but I was never truly comfortable, nor was it easy to be in my own skin, not to mention the persistent kidney problems after four or five years. I always came back to smoking cannabis.”
| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
McStonerson is concerned that in a gold rush precipitated by the mainstream realizing how profitable medical marijuana can be, helping patients sometimes gets put in the back seat.
“This fight is to me, about my rights, but the most important aspect of medical cannabis is helping patients feel better, and NOT so much how the state can tax it,” she told us. “It is and should be a win/win situation. The saddest part of it all is the fact that greed has gotten in the way of compassion for human suffering.”
Coming Out of the Cannabis Closet
Stoney said one factor keeping legalization from happening sooner than it might is the “damned right wing smokers that refuse to come forward and take a stand.”
“One of my personal friends is a perfect example,” she told us. “He makes over $100,000 a year, owns his own business and is a closet smoker because of what others might think and the stigma attached to cannabis.
“This mentality needs to change for laws to ever work in favor of the fight for legalization, and that starts with education,” Stoney said.
| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
Forget the Negativity
Sure, Stoney’s pleasant to look at, but there’s a lot more to this lady than her beauty.
“The biggest ‘no, no’ with me is objectifying me as a woman. I don’t appreciate negative and judgmental people,” she told Toke of the Town. “I find it to be exciting and more appealing for someone to approach me with a real and true interest in me as a person and go from there.
“The right things to do are be positive, upbeat, and interested in more than my physical appearance,” she said. “But I don’t like the idea of a person’s appearance making them unapproachable, either. I am friendly and sweet, so if and when you do see me, please feel free to come up and introduce yourself and say hello.”
Props to Larry “Bonner” Lippert
Stoney is president of the Colorado Chapter of American Cannabis, an organization originally founded by patient Larry “Bonner” Lippert (R.I.P.), who is her number one marijuana hero.
“I first met Larry a year or so ago, and he moved me so much with his amazing story and his courageous fight with cancer,” she told us. “We talked every two weeks for the last five months of his life. During that time he asked me to take over the Colorado Chapter of American Cannabis.
“He was truly my inspiration and drove my passion to help others,” Stoney said. “He passed on November 7th of this year, and the cannabis community that knew him mourned him greatly.”
| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
‘My Passion and My Life Commitment’
“American Cannabis is the center of everything I do,” Stoney told us. “It is my passion and my life commitment.”
The history and story of American Cannabis can be found at http://www.americannabis.org.
“I urge Toke of the Town readers to please take a look at the site and the information within,” Stoney said. “It is a true story of a fight by ordinary people and it will inspire you — possibly leave you feeling compassion where you did not realize realize you would.”
According to Stoney, the Colorado Chapter of American Cannabis has seven specific goals, “and others that come and go as the laws change and progress is made”:
| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
• Unify the voice of change. Support other pro-hemp groups in your state whenever possible. Make efforts to help those who will otherwise suffer until changes are made.
• Promote the truths about cannabis, and begin dispelling the “Reefer Madness” that our government created.
• Know your state’s cannabis prohibition history, current legislation pending, local and state officials that are for or against industrial hemp.
• Knowing what you’re talking about is very crucial. Accept the responsibility of studying. Garner each person’s knowledge of all the aspects of what this reform will mean for our country, economy, and environment.
• Each chapter is a networking beacon, and must rely on their fellow chapters for special skills, advice, and support. “The greater our numbers become with active members, the greater our chances of finding a fellow member who practices a skilled trade or owns a particular kind of distribution company that can provide materials for the rest of us,” Stoney said. “This gives us buying power to get better prices as a group.”
| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
• Volunteer work, community contributions, Adopt-A-Highway, fundraising for charities, schools, etc. “Showing an otherwise unapproachable individual that you care about their world is a wonderfully powerful show of character,” McStonerson said.
• Knowing why American Cannabis was established is the most important part of all, according to Stoney. “Each chapter will represent this, but in is own shade of green,” Stoney said. “That’s why we decided to stay away from rules and regulations, but expect our chapters to communicate, build friendships, and eventually depend on each other like family.”
Hemp For Victory
“I find it completely ridiculous that in this time of need, and with our failing economy, we are not utilizing this diverse plant to boost our job market,” Stoney told us.
“The government is so busy trying to figure out how to make money off the medical marijuana movement, they have forgotten the sister plant, Hemp! We could cash crop hemp and make paper, use it for insulation, clothes, natural fuels and oils, and the list goes on and on,” she said.
| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
”Using all the resources of this awesome plant would also create new jobs and could boost our economy,” Stoney told us. “Our government’s focus is off. They need to first figure out a way to affordably license medical marijuana before they worry about taxing it, and focus on the real future for our economy: Hemp!”
Onward and Upward
“I just recently applied to Colorado State University to finish my bachelor’s degree in forensic science/anthropology,” Stoney told us. “I am very excited about that.”
“I am also trying to find someone to design an idea I have so that I can get it mass produced and out to the cannabis consumer,” she said. “It is one of my inventions; a very cool device.”
Stoney is running for Miss High Times 2011; you can rate her pictures here. “If I am not chosen this year, it will be my last year to try,” she said.
| Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson |
How To Help Stoney’s Work
Stoney invites everyone to join her at the Colorado Capitol for a pro-cannabis rally, Dec. 26, 2 to 5 p.m.
Coloradans, especially those in the Denver/Pueblo/Colorado Springs areas, are invited to get in touch with Stoney and to join American Cannabis if interested.
Stoney’s email address is [email protected]. You can visit her personal American Cannabis Colorado website; it’s very informative.
Toke of the Town salutes the lovely, effervescent and politically active Stoney McStonerson!
“One Love, One Heart, One Goal” ~ Stoney Haze McStonerson