Cannabis use is very personal. It seems like everyone has a story. I love hearing these stories and how cannabis adds to lives. I’ve heard people talk about how it adds through better sleep, more relaxed relationships, more fun, more social interactions, more creativity, more freedom from pharmaceuticals. The list goes on and on.
My story is that cannabis helped me with my cancer treatments. I chose surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation to fight HER2+ breast cancer. The word “treatment” doesn’t seem right. Treatment should be a spa treatment, or window treatment instead of a soul-crushing, body-killing cocktail of chemicals. People talk about “fighting” cancer. My experience is that there is no amount of strength or willpower that will fight the effects of cancer and chemicals. All you can do is get through it. That’s where the choice comes in. The choice of how you want to be when this is over. Cannabis helped inform that choice for me.
Facing challenges, you have a choice. With cancer, my choice was not about the treatment or about whether my hair was going to fall out, whether I would feel sick, or even whether I would survive. I had watched an acquaintance turn bitter during her ultimately terminal fight with cancer and I didn’t want to become like her. Instead my choice each day was to become a better person. I chose joy, love, integrity. There was an image I saw that stuck with me — a woman walking through a field of flowers with a trail of glitter following behind her. I think about leaving sparkles in my path to brighten up everyone else’s day.
With chemotherapy, in addition to killing cancer, the drugs also produce myriad effects in the body. Nausea, fatigue, constipation, numbness in fingers and toes, anxiousness, hair loss, are all side effects and for each one of these there is another pharmaceutical to manage the effects. These pharmaceuticals create a waterfall effect so that you can end up taking drugs to manage the effects from all the drugs. A friend gave me some cannabis concentrate (RSO) and suggested I try it to replace some of the pharmaceuticals. I was amazed! Using a plant, I was able to eliminate all of the additional pharmaceuticals. Why didn’t my doctor suggest this? Why was this not part of the standard of care? Why don’t more people know about this?
While still undergoing cancer treatment, I bought some land and began building our farm. We assembled a fabulous team and have been growing amazing hand-crafted cannabis since 2017. The values I choose for my daily life are also the same for my business — joy and integrity. We treat our employees, customers and vendors with respect. We do the right thing. This is evidenced by paying a living wage, offering health insurance and paid time off, paying our vendors on time, building relationships with our customers.
Our commitment to excellence shows in our product. Our flower is consistent, clean and amazing! Even though we are a relatively small farm, our customers are loyal. At the farm, we focus on growing the best product we can. Our team is lean so we focus on efficiency and quality. Doing the right thing the first time is what we strive for.
Our slogan at Alibi Cannabis is “Nothing Shady”. The cannabis consumer and community sense companies and people who cut corners. We are here for the long run, building a brand, a business, and a product that our customers get excited about. Being authentic, genuine and real is part of who we are. Our product reflects that. We don’t take shortcuts, choosing to do what’s right for the plant, our team and our business.