Topic: December 8, 2019

Imagine explaining the intricacies of growing cannabis by literally spelling out the industry’s specialized terminology. Or helping someone to purchase cannabis by spelling the name of every strain. That’s been the experience, until recently, of hearing-impaired growers of medical marijuana and the wider population of deaf cannabis consumers. A small Southern Oregon farm, Home Grown ORegonicX, is developing sign language specific to cannabis, which its creators hope will one day become accepted parlance. “Trying to find people to help and explain growing techniques to our deaf community is like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” says grower Lindsey

Working for East Fork Cultivars of Takelma, Anna Symonds, a 38-year old professional rugby star, visits many dispensaries, conferences and public platforms to tell the story of the positive healing and recreational uses of CBD. Especially telling was her recent visit to Lakeview — Lake County was the reddest Oregon county in the last presidential election — where she trained budtenders in two dispensaries on the latest details and discoveries about cannabis, especially CBD, then gave a well attended talk at the public library. There, Symonds learned, were two ladies from each of the two major churches, desiring to learn