ABOUT US
Education. Advocacy. Normalization.
Cannabis Patients Pacific Northwest(CPPNW) has been organized as a 501(c)(3) not for profit health education organization, that provides education to health care professionals, professional organizations, the legal profession, and the public at large, about medical cannabis, the laws, and its potential value in holistic integrated medicine. The organization provides consumers with evidence-based information so they can make informed decisions about the medicinal use of cannabis. Our goals are to increase the knowledge base of both dispensary medical consultants and medical authorization providers. We continually review new research and share this with the public.
We provide classes and forums to educate the public about what types of cannabis are working for various conditions and the routes of administration available: tinctures, topicals, transdermal patches, drinks, edibles etc. CPPNW brings in guest speakers to educate the public about the current science of cannabis.
FOUNDERS
David Benedicktus (Nurse Educator)
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David is currently an instructor at Portland Community College and Lower Columbia College in Cowlitz County Washington, where he teaches courses in community education programs on the Neuroscience of Healing and Resiliency, Moving from a Disease Management to Health Promotion System, Navigating Health Insurance Systems, Preventing Cognitive Decline as You Age, and Cannabis and Your Health.
His courses and lectures review the neuroscience of trauma and the relationship between trauma and adaptive lifestyle choices which can lead to chronic disease and addictions. He also offers classes, training, and individual consultation on patient advocacy in the healthcare system and how to create an integrated holistic health care plan.
Jeremy Robbins
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Jeremy Robbins has a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Oregon and grew up as an athlete. When a tragic bicycle accident in 1999 left him paralyzed from the sternum down Jeremy found himself ingesting 45 pills daily, for years. Post-surgery life was both mentally and physically exhausting. Jeremy wanted a better quality of life for himself and finally spoke with his doctor about the potential of Cannabis use. Jeremy has now been a medical marijuana card holder for over 15 years and eventually become a caregiver and grower for others in the chair community. His advocacy work with Cannabis Patients PNW has been instrumental in providing access to cannabis concentrates for medical patients in the PNW area.
BOARD MEMBERS
Carol Stiff
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Carol Stiff moved to Brush Prairie, WA in 2010 and met our president, David Benedicktus, and vice president, Jeremy Robbins, at the Clark College class “Cannabis and Your Health”, and was instantly convinced about the medicinal value of cannabis. Carol’s health issues were migraine, joint pain and insomnia.
Carol’s background is plant tissue culture research and education. She was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and lived on a dairy farm until she started college. Carol has attended and worked at 6 universities (Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, LSU, Idaho, SFASU, Washington State), and has degrees in bacteriology, horticulture, forestry, adult education, and is certified to teach K-12. Carol is a Master Gardener graduate (2011 – Clark County, WA), a Certified Medical Marijuana Consultant (2017-present), and has an Adult/Child/CPR/AED First Aid card (2019) and a Washington State Food Handler Card (2019).
Once Carol received her medical marijuana patient card, she started experimenting with the tissue culture propagation of medicinal cannabis. Cannabis is not an easy plant to tissue culture and each strain seems to have its own nutrient and hormone preferences. Carol’s company, Kitchen Culture Kits Inc., sells a medicinal plant kit that can be used for cannabis culture.
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Besides running her own business, Kitchen Culture Kits, Inc. since 1998, Carol was a founding member and treasurer for the American Council for Medicinally Active Plants (ACMAP) 2009-2017. She also started the non-profit, Home Tissue Culture Group, and served as president and CEO for several years.
Megan Marchetti
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Megan moved to Oregon in 2008 to enter the medical cannabis community and to work towards the decriminalization of cannabis. In pursuit of that goal, she was one of the owners of Oregon Finest (OF), she was a board member of Oregon NORML, and a founding member of the Oregon Cannabis Association where she lobbied at the state and federal levels for cannabis law reform.
When Megan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, she utilized cannabis as one of her main treatment plans and continues to work to find effective and safe ways for people to use cannabis to heal themselves.
Tom Lauerman (Farmer Tom)
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Farmer Tom was born and raised in San Diego. He grew up surfing, skateboarding and downhill mountain bike racing which led to a lifelong love of the earth and all things outdoors.
Tom also grew up with a deep appreciation for cannabis. Because of it's miraculous healing ability for any of his sports injuries and it's relaxing proprieties, it's driven his mission to ensure that everyone has access to this amazing plant's many benefits.
Tom is still a farmer with a passion for growing organic fruits/veggies and organic cannabis, as well as educating people on how to grow organically for themselves.
The vision for his current lifestyle started back in 1999 after a raid of his Collective Garden where he was arrested for possessing 448 plants.
He and his wife Paula had a common vision of a sustainable cannabis organic lifestyle. Eighteen years later here they are, sharing their vision with the world.
Tom hopes to continue educating future generations on organic farming and cannabis activism through his company, Farmer Tom Organics.
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