Ted Smith is set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Grow Up Conference & Expo occurring Oct. 1-3 in Victoria, B.C. (Submitted photo/Ted Smith)

By Jennifer Olson

Cannabis award recipient states his most

Cannabis award recipient states his most crucial work is yet to come

Oct 2, 2023 | 7:00 AM

From humble beginnings as an environmentalist advocating for British Columbia’s old-growth forests, cannabis activist Ted Smith has dedicated his life to education, accessibility and legal reform.

He is now set to receive the well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Grow Up Conference & Expo happening Oct. 1-3 in Victoria, B.C.

Smith’s most notable accomplishments include founding and directing the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club (VCBC), Canada’s first cannabis compassion club, as well as writing and publishing a cannabis textbook called Hempology 101, now in its fourth edition.

In 2012, following a raid of the VCBC’s edibles bakery, Smith worked alongside cannabis advocate Owen Smith (no relation) towards a victory in which the Supreme Court granted an exemption to patients in Canada, giving them the right to create and consume products derived and created from cannabis.

Smith has organized educational cannabis clubs at university campuses across Canada, as well as numerous cannabis protests and educational conventions during the span of his career. His extensive knowledge of the Charter of Rights and Freedom has led him to advise cannabis lawyers and coach others representing themselves in court for cannabis charges.

living soil

Cultivating cannabis in a time of drought and climate change

May 06, 2024

Challenge with cannabis

Impaired driving rules unclear say medical cannabis advocates

May 02, 2024

celebrating cannabis

High Ground Festival aims to make cannabis fun again

Apr 18, 2024

Smith’s mission with the Cannabis Buyers Club has always been to provide safe, high-quality cannabis to people with incurable medical conditions. More than 8,000 members currently belong to the club, and it has survived eight police raids since its inception in 1996.

“For most people in the cannabis field, the draw of money is an incentive,” Smith said.

“It never has been for me. I got into this as an environmentalist fighting to save the old growth forests, with a focus on hemp as a solution and all of its potential uses. After writing Hempology 101, I began to meet patients [with incurable diseases] who needed cannabis.”

Smith noted he lived in a van when he started with a page and a few pamphlets.

“Everything I have now is from people who wanted to help me or contribute to my work in some way. It’s a true community effort here. The goal has always been community, it hasn’t been the accumulation of wealth,” he explained.

Smith and the VCBC are currently navigating four different legal processes in court, all the while keeping the club’s doors open to the public, seven days per week. Amidst having a workload (and legal battles) that would intimidate even the most tenacious of activists, Smith plans for a much bigger vision in the future.

“Once we get [the VCBC’s] kitchen and retail store going, we have a goal to have a palliative care village, centered on therapeutic plants,” Smith described.

“We would have a restaurant serving high-quality food in the hospice area, so that the general public could come and purchase food and herbal products to support the facility. We would also have different health services on site – everything from dental to X-rays to a naturopath, so that the patients wouldn’t have to travel to get medical care. We plan on building this facility in stages. We hope to work with First Nations communities as well, to integrate their medicines, beliefs and traditions. That’s the big picture.”

Smith envisions a reality in which small-scale holistic hospice centers are created globally, giving patients and their families a comforting alternative to cold, industrial hospital settings often found in mainstream health care. Receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award is quite the honor, but according to Smith, the real work is just beginning.

—

info@westernbuzz.ca