About PJ West

Hemp Food and Fashion Activist…Gardener…Medical Cannabis Patient

My long time passion is Mary Jane

I came into cannabis for medical reasons and found that there were so many ways that the cannabis plant could be healthfully brought into my passions of heath, food, and fashion.

When I first discovered using cannabis for medicine I was in a chronic poor health situation that I have dealt with since childhood and was desperately searching for alternatives to the drugs and surgery offered to me by my doctors. Cannabis turned out to be the ideal gentle yet powerful plant medicine for my ongoing condition and who would potentially be using it for a very long time if not the rest of my life. I discovered all the ways to use it medicinally by going to medical cannabis farmer’s markets that existed where I was living at the time and meeting farmers and other patients. Within cannabis, I also discovered a cultured community that was refreshingly inclusive and also in a major transition from prohibition to modern legalization.

I also soon discovered that to have regular access to all the ways that I consume I needed to learn how grow my own cannabis to make my own infused edibles, topicals, juices, hash, and tinctures.

Through self-discovery of how to process and use cannabis for my body, I have been able to care for such health issues as chronic back pain, migraines, muscle spasms, depression, anxiety. With one plant I am able to reduce my body pain, balance my nervous system, and relax enough to be present and enjoy the moment.

I discovered cannabis was also food.

That changed my world a little. Hemp, is a nutrient dense food that added easy to digest protein and a good source of balanced fatty acids that don’t exist in all plants. I added it to my diet and became obsessed with all of the ways I could “hemp up” my recipes.

One step beyond eating hemp, I also started eating my medical cannabis plants. That taught me a most valuable lesson of how potent cannabis is in all its forms, even if it’s not making you feel high.

Then, I met a handsome, fashionable man who was wearing all clothing made with hemp.

I was sparked by that idea and I decided shortly after that I would try doing the same- only getting new clothes that were made with hemp while trying to stay true to my personal style. It took a lot of shopping to find the hemp pieces that are in my closet now. The quest has taught me much about the different kinds of limited hemp textiles and where they come from. I’m still on the quest of hemp fashion all the time and hope to inspire others to think about how to bring hemp into their fashion choices.

My ambition is to keep spreading the hemp message started by Jack Herer who has inspired so many including my self to help bring cannabis into the modern age after decades of prohibition.