Pubdate: Thu, 14 Apr 2016
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Nick Miller

RIP SACRAMENTO MEDICAL-CANNABIS ACTIVIST RYAN LANDERS, 1971-2016

"My Goals Are for the Sick. That's Something I Cannot Compromise."

There was a time not so long ago when partaking in marijuana wasn't 
easy: It was often challenging to purchase, it definitely wasn't 
lawful to drive around with it in your glove compartment, the bud 
itself wasn't lab-tested for dangerous chemicals and you took a risk 
every time you sneaked a toke.

So, in year 2016, if you enjoy the privilege of medical cannabis, you 
definitely have Ryan Landers to thank.

Landers was one of the founding fathers of medical cannabis. 
Worldwide. In 1995, he worked with the likes of Dennis Peron to file 
and get voters to approve Proposition 215, the first-of-its-kind 
initiative that legalized medical pot. In 1999, High Times magazine 
named Landers its activist of the month. And, over the decades, the 
advocate worked on issues such as Senate Bill 420, which essentially 
laid the framework for medical-cannabis dispensaries as we know them.

When patients crossed paths with the law, Landers was there to 
testify in their trials as an expert witness.

The activist was brazen, and known for lighting up joints anywhere 
from the White House to the state Capitol. He was the buttoned-up pot 
warrior, always cleanshaven and wearing a suit-and this earned him 
respect from lawmakers and district attorneys.

But he was a patient, too, a sufferer of HIV who looked to cannabis 
to alleviate pain and nausea.

In the fall of 2010, I hung out with Landers for more than a month 
for a cover-story profile. We drove to a debate in Oakland, with 
departed fellow activist Joy Cole (rest in peace), where Landers 
argued against Proposition 19, a contentious initiative that would've 
legalized adult use of cannabis. At the time, Landers said it 
would've made things tougher on real patients who needed pot for 
medical purposes.

He and I enjoyed long chats in the offices upstairs at A Therapeutic 
Alternative, a Midtown pot dispensary. We sat together at patient 
support meetings, too, and even went to cannabis comedy shows.

It always surprised me how he was opposed to legalization of 
recreational use in 2010. And, although I never spoke to him about 
the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which probably will be on the ballot 
in November, my hunch is that he was against it, too. And this 
haunted him, since so many of his contemporaries in the activist 
world supported legalization.

"You think I want to fuck it up for everybody?" he confessed to me 
back in 2010. "My goals are for the sick. That's something I cannot 
compromise." And he never did.

Sadly, Landers left us earlier this month, on April 2. He was only 44.

This past Friday, dozens converged on a funeral home in north 
Sacramento to praise Landers and celebrate his life's work. He 
impacted so many-including this writer.

In this world of Ted Cruz and constant threats of federal pushback, 
Sacramento definitely needs someone to grab the baton and finish what 
Landers started. So, if you enjoy cannabis and all the freedoms that 
come with it in 2016, take a moment to toke and remember a guy who 
fought to make that freedom possible. Take a moment to remember Ryan Landers.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom