The Ruckus Rant: Unity in the Community

Unity in the community. Those words have been in my head a lot lately. It’s something that is seriously lacking in the Nevada Cannabis Community. I’ve noticed lately that the “community” has just been doing things for themselves. They have forgotten why we are in this. To help people.

I understand that A LOT of time and money is going into everyone’s businesses (dispensaries, growers, production houses, laboratories, magazines…) but the end result of all this work should be ending people’s suffering. From fighting cancer, epilepsy, and PTSD to just getting high after a rough day, our end result should be to help people live more comfortably! There needs to be more unity between all of us to make this happen.

I recently had a conversation with writers from another cannabis-based magazine here in Las Vegas and the accusations that came out of stealing stories and readers and being “competition” was just astonishing to me. Las Vegas, compared to many cities is a small one. There is only so much to write about here. If you’re covering the same thing that must mean it’s something the people NEED to know. Feel good about that! If people are reading more than one magazine, that means they will be better informed, leading to better health and safety for cannabis users! I don’t see a problem with that. I think it’s a wonderful thing and I’m honored to be a part of it. I recently explained my passion for what I do and the fact that we are helping others to a few other local media members. One I got through to, the other was just blinded by his own bullshit and couldn’t see the light for having his head way too far up his own ass.

I noticed at the Champs and Glass Vegas conventions last month another perfect example of this. At Champs, it was mostly corporate people trying to sell their products. Nothing wrong with that, but it was all strictly business and competition. At Glass Vegas, it was artists enjoying sharing with each other AND selling their art. The sharing and community I felt there was undeniable. The feeling at each place was like night and day. I left both conventions happy, but learned a whole lot more being with people who were freely sharing with each other.

What I’m getting at is that the money will come for all of you who are investing in this venture, but until then please remember why we are here in the first place. Advocates and activists have been fighting for years to get us to where we are now. Their goal was to HELP PEOPLE not to make a pile of money off the suffering of others. This is America. I’m all for people coming up and receiving reward for their hard work. But please remember that this plant is here to ease the suffering of the people (and animals) of this planet. Working together, we can accomplish these goals of helping people AND getting the return on your investments. The fight is not over!!! We still have a long way to go. Let’s take examples from the Jack Herer’s, Rick Simpson’s, Eddy Lepp’s, and all the others who have been fighting to make life better for EVERYONE through the many many uses of cannabis. Working together makes change.

I look forward to seeing everyone at The Cannabis Cup, let’s teach each other what we have learned and start making even more changes!

Rob Ruckus is a Nevada medical marijuana patient, and budtender at Inyo Fine Cannabis, a long-time Las Vegas resident and cannabis activist, star of A&E’s Bad Ink, musician and host of Ruckus on the Radio.