Nearly two dozen states from coast to coast are slated to participate in the second annual National Cannabis Patients Awareness Day on Monday, 710, Oil Day.
7/10 Oil Day is a new cannabis holiday focused on cannabis oil.
It will feature rallies and gatherings in multiple states across the country, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming.
It was founded by the New Jersey-based medical cannabis patient advocacy group Sativa Cross. The event aims to call on state legislatures to expand rights for medical cannabis patients. They want to unify the collective advocacy efforts in states across the US.
The event also seeks to raise awareness about the harms caused by the corporate takeover of medical cannabis markets nationwide. It includes serious access issues, high costs of medicine, and too few options in limited licensed states.
Sativa Cross founder and event organizer Edward “Lefty” Grimes said he believes that medical cannabis patients have been “sold out” to large, Multi-State Operators (MSOs) and greedy corporate interests. It is especially true in states that still criminalize home cultivation, like New Jersey, where it is a felony.
“These large multi-state operators are focused on profits, not patients,” Grimes said. “Patients cannot afford the over-inflated prices. In some states, like New Jersey, patients are denied the right to grow their own cannabis for a fraction of the cost.”
Taking Back 710
“We are taking back 710 from corporate cannabis and making it about patients,” he added.
Oregon co-organizer and longtime cannabis advocate Paul Stanford is participating in the 710 Oil Day awareness for a second year. He believes substantial efforts are still required in his state and across the country to expand patients’ rights and legitimize medical cannabis in the US healthcare system.
“Integrating medical marijuana into our health care options and regular recommendations will radically improve our care,” Stanford said.
Cannabis was once an integral part of the US Pharmacopeia. But years of misinformation and prohibition have impeded research and set progress back.
(More on that in my book Cannabis 101!)
Lefty says the vision for the event extends far beyond a singular day of action.
“Ultimately, our goal is to get all 50 states to participate and organize awareness events at their State Houses,” Grimes said. “Patients face diverse challenges throughout the country. But by uniting our voices, we can empower advocacy efforts, use the momentum toward accomplishing important reforms, and build on each other’s successes.”
The New Jersey event will feature a rally at the State House in Trenton. There will be speeches from activists and other guests. The event will include a dab bar, complimentary food and cannabis, a raffle, and more.
Celebrating Oil Day
710 Oil Day, like most holidays, has become a reason for the cannabis community to celebrate buying, selling, and smoking weed in all forms. Concentrates can be used in a variety of glass pipes, percolator bongs, glass dab rigs, vaporizers, and also ingested in edible form, along with many other methods of consumption.
It is not considered a specific day for patients in general. It developed in the more advanced cannabis markets where cannabis oil opposed to flower, is more readily available. Making cannabis oil is an advanced process versus the simple growing of plants. Thus, it originated in Colorado and Washington State. They were the first two states to legalize adult use recreational cannabis.
Oil Day is like Easter if 4/20 is Christmas in the Stoner faith.
