Weedist Women: Madeline Martinez

 

Weedists: Meet Madeline Martinez

“Weedists are the people who are out there fighting the good fight and these are their stories.”

I met Madeline Martinez when I first moved to Portland, Oregon in 2001.  I was unemployed and looking for something to do.  I was also new in town and had no idea where to find any weed.  What was then Portland NORML needed help making signs for the upcoming Million Marijuana March, so I volunteered thinking that someone there might steer me in the right direction.  Little did I know that my life was about to take a turn that would not only forge a great friendship but a crazy commitment to work to end cannabis prohibition.

We became fast friends and quickly learned that our skills complemented each other well.  We joke that together we make one complete person.  We share a common culture and a passion to end cannabis prohibition.  Madeline told me her dreams; she allowed me to make them my dreams, too.  We have worked hard to make them come true.  Our hard work has paid off, and we have seen some of those dreams come to fruition.

Fast forward to 2009, when Madeline became the first Latina elected to the NORML Board of Directors; that was a big dream.  In 2010, we hosted the national NORML conference, which was another dream realized.  The World Famous Cannabis Café is the dream we are living now – and soon, the biggest dream of all – the end of cannabis prohibition.  Madeline is my compadre, mentor, inspiration and the reason I got involved in the cannabis movement.  I am forever grateful.

How did you become involved in the cannabis movement? 

In 1967, I had my first experience with cannabis.   I am a hood rat from East L.A, and we hung out in carports, which was perfect on hot summer nights.  One night, one of my girlfriends had a joint, and we smoked it.  I can say that night profoundly changed my life forever in so many amazing ways.  Something clicked in my head and I realized that cannabis could help me cope with anxiety and depression. Looking back now, the discoveries I made on that night bring a smile to this aging face.  I’ve never regretted it once.

I am a news junkie, especially at election time.  I read and watched Oregon’s Measure 67 campaign initiative grow and decided to get involved as a petitioner. I contacted what was then Portland NORML and began to collect signatures.  Measure 67 passed and became the current Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA). I was very interested in the progress of the implementation of the OMMA and started visiting my legislators, advocating for patients’ and OMMP registrants’ rights.

What do you consider to be one of your proudest moments in your work as a cannabis activist? How did it come about, and how do you see it affecting cannabis reform moving forward?

I have had so many proud moments and an enormous amount of firsts in my years as activist. In November of 1999 I received OMMA card number 500.  After a six-month struggle with Kaiser Perm ante, I became one of Oregon’s first Kaiser -approved OMMA patients.

After petitioning with PDX NORML, I dedicated more time to the organization and became the Associate Director. A couple of years later, I was elected Executive Director, and we changed the name of the organization to Oregon NORML.

Oregon NORML was one of my most successful projects. Our goal was to become part of main stream society. We did become a large part of Portland’s main stream. Oregon NORML grew to be the largest NORML chapter, as we used to say, “in the known galaxies,” once boasting almost three thousand dues paying members.  Our twice monthly card-holder meetings  had up to three hundred attendees; it was an amazing time.

 On Friday, November 13, 2009, without realizing the historical value of what we were doing, we opened what is now the World Famous Cannabis Café.  On that day, the magnitude of the manifestation of my life’s dream was overwhelming and humbling at the same time. We made history. It was with the support and hard work of the Board of Oregon NORML and so many more volunteers who shared my dream.

Now, with three-plus years of history, the cannabis café has led to many changes in the perception of medical marijuana in the City of Portland and far beyond. Cannabis consumers can actually consume cannabis in a pleasant social environment safely and legally. Research shows that the there has been no increase in traffic accidents or teen use since the OMMA has been implemented.  Even the local Portland Police Bureau refers patients to us!  Many similar businesses have opened not only locally but across the country.

As a woman involved in this movement, have you seen a shift in how women are perceived here?  How would you like to see that change, and how do you see it happening?

Women have taken a huge step forward and are very quickly becoming assets to the cannabis conversation. More women are coming out of the closet to their families and in the media.  Women are now being interviewed about cannabis on national day-time talk shows, no longer ashamed of the negative stigma associated with marijuana. Many women are the sole providers for their families.  So, they stay home and use the once “poor man’s” drug of choice. But now even soccer moms are admitting they enjoy bongs, joints and eating edibles. And, I am ever so proud of my sisters across the country.

In the near future, I would like to see women work to reform the terrible DARE programs and start to speak to our children frankly and honestly about drugs. My new dream is to replace DARE with the SAFER drug education model for all America’s children.

How do you think that legalization in Colorado and Washington will affect efforts in Oregon?

The reality of legalization has changed the American mind set forever. Cannabis is now viewed in a different light that of a money making commodity.

What projects do you have for the upcoming year?   How do you stay motivated?

I continue to work to end cannabis prohibition. I am currently working with a group of progressive Oregonians on legislative and initiative language.

My motivation is the hundreds of thousands of law abiding citizen that are incarcerated – 80% for simple possession. It is the young parent who loses their child for being a consumer or worse yet, a registered medical marijuana patient. But most of all, I keep fighting for our children’s future.  Once marijuana is legal, then industrial hemp can save the economy.

One day soon, prohibition will be over.  Aside from the obvious, how will that affect your life?  Will you go on to another cause?  What are your cannabis related dreams post-prohibition? 

Once we end prohibition.  I plan to work to have a World Famous Cannabis Café everywhere.