Jack Schramer

Name: Jack Schramer

Occupation: Framing/Construction

When and how did you become an advocate for cannabis?

I became an advocate for cannabis when I was in my early 20s. Although I used it for recreational means for years prior, I became aware of its medicinal qualities on my life as well as my spouse’s life. It was beneficial to a back injury I had acquired snowboarding, and in pain management in general—which I greatly preferred over an opioid prescription from my doctor. I had seen a lot of my peers fall into addiction shortly after high school, as heroin is readily available in my region. I realized cannabis is a healthy alternative to all the drugs—prescription and recreational, which are extremely dangerous to your mental and physical health.

How has cannabis benefited your life?

Cannabis has benefited me in many ways. In a big way, it seeded my friendship, and eventual marriage to my wife. After smoking cannabis we would have deep and bonding conversations and a common activity provided a sense of companionship. In a way, I think it enhanced the time we spent together and built our relationship with laughter and free thinking. It also helped me relax when the stress of living in the low economic environment that occurred in 2008 and years after. I feel many people seek an external means to manage stress, and with alcohol and prescription drugs many people find themselves addicted and harmed by the substances they choose. Cannabis is far less habit-forming, and in my opinion completely healthy.

What’s your greatest achievement to the cannabis cause?

Aside from signing the petition and eventually voting for its legalization. I would say being involved in the first potentially successful presidential campaign [Bernie Sanders] that has openly called for the complete federal legalization of cannabis.

Who do you look up to or admire?

I look up to the one candidate running for president who stands by the issues that affect us all. The candidate who has a grass roots movement of people ready to change our destructive policies that continue to bleed the wealth from the middle class of this country, Bernie Sanders.

If you could change one thing about the way cannabis is viewed and/or treated right now, what would it be?

If I were to snap my fingers and change something today, it would be the stigma that still surrounds cannabis. The years of prohibition and misinformation has stained our culture toward treating cannabis as a dangerous, addictive and restricting substance. I often find it socially inappropriate to smoke cannabis at a party. Alcohol is celebrated as a perfectly acceptable activity while cannabis still has years to go before the reputation built over years of jail time for its possession and its effects causing “lazy unproductive behavior.”