MississippiMedicalMarijuanas.com, and the Veteran Cannabis Support Program (VCSP), is proud to announce that our first Veterans Mass Certification event held in Jackson, MS on April 30th 2023, was a resounding success!
With nearly 130 Mississippi veterans being processed through the event, we were both humbled and elated, to help bring awareness to the need for fair, equal, & affordable access to medical cannabis in the veteran community.
The stories that were shared by the veterans who were certified at the event, brought many of our team, volunteers, partners, and practitioners to tears. Their stories only served to strengthen our resolve to continue to fight for veteran’s access to medical cannabis, and continued access & support for the veteran community through the MississippiMedicalMarijuanas.com platform, the Veteran Cannabis Support Program (VCSP), and future VCSP certification events.
Unfortunately, while our goal was to certify 250 veterans on Sunday, the near total media blackout of this event and it’s mostly minority-owned featured businesses & minority speakers, by the blatantly biased & prejudiced Mississippi media who refused to do any stories leading up to the event to let the veteran community know …
… In combination with the false, inaccurate, and unverified information which was spread across social media by unqualified and self-proclaimed “patient advocates” who placed personal politics and their own need for attention, above the needs of the veteran patients they claim to represent …
… We were not able to meet that goal in full.
The shocking lack of accuracy, due diligence, professionalism, or basic consideration for the collateral damage the posts from these delusional “advocates” would have for the veteran community, unfortunately, led to nearly 60% of the veterans scheduled to attend the event for certification, canceling their appointments due to reading or hearing about their misleading, false, and libelous statements.
Fortunately, God made attorneys… Uncle Sam made those attorneys veterans … and those veteran attorneys did not take kindly to their brothers & sisters in arms being misled, & losing the opportunity to become legally certified medical cannabis patients for free. To the veterans who will suffer even longer now due to these embarrassing & dangerous “patient advocates”, our legal team is actively monitoring them, their posts, and their groups, and we will be addressing their actions in Court to help ensure individuals like them are not able to continue doing harm.
One of the speakers who flew in to witness, participate in, and speak at the event, was US Air Force veteran Cherissa Jackson.
Ms. Jackson is a leading & nationally recognized veterans patient advocate for medical cannabis, the CEO of We Decode, a best-selling author on veterans & PTSD issues, former Cheif Medical Executive Officer of AMVETS, and one of the premier subject matter experts that has worked closely with the VA on medical cannabis research.
Seeing the media blackout & attacks by these Mississippi “patient advocates” on the MississippiMedicalMarijuanas.com platform, and the Veteran Cannabis Support Program (VCSP), Ms. Jackson stated,
“Seeing hope in the eyes of the veterans I met at the Veteran Cannabis Support Program (VCSP) Mass Certification Event gave me even more inspiration to continue advocating for veterans’ education about, and equal access to, medical cannabis & medical cannabis based healthcare treatment options.
Providing options & safe natural alternatives like plant medicine, to replace destructive opioids and pharmaceuticals, is essential to saving our veterans from the horrifying suicide rates sweeping through the veteran community today. Cannabis is medicine, and that natural medicine is saving and changing the lives of the brave warriors I have the honor of calling my veteran family.
The Veteran Cannabis Support Program (VCSP) is enlightening the veteran community to this safe healthcare alternative, and most importantly, showing the veteran community through the VCSP program and their initiatives like the mass certification events … that VETERAN LIVES MATTER, and that veterans have NOT been forgotten. Each veteran at Sunday’s event, felt special and respected throughout the event, which attests deeply to the mission of Veteran Cannabis Support Program (VCSP).”
Thankfully, however, as word has spread throughout the veteran community in the days following the event from veterans who attended & were certified, many of those veterans who canceled their appointments have reached back out to us, explaining their reason for canceling, and requesting certification.
As such, our team has worked tirelessly over the past several days to work with them, and ensure that we can accommodate them at the next VCSP Mass Certification Event.
As Kathy Hegwood FNP-C, owner of Curative Cannabis Clinic, and one of our amazing VCSP-certified Mississippi practitioner’s who has championed veteran’s rights to medical cannabis, and who was a key certifying practitioner at Sunday’s event said,
“I believe our Veterans are one of the more underserved populations regarding healthcare. I am honored to be able to assist our veterans who realize that the Veterans Cannabis Support Program (VCSP) is a first step toward changing their present healthcare issues. Without MississippiMedicalMarijuanas.com and the VCSP’s efforts, many veterans may become stuck in a system that is not beneficial to their well-being. I only hope we may be able to reach more veterans seeking alternative healthcare treatment options such as medical cannabis, by increasing the visibility of the VCSP, and providing new avenues for treatment, education, and support for veterans in need.”
The veterans who attended the event as winners of the random draw, as well as the veterans who arrived not realizing it was not a walk-in event, were all accommodated. During Sunday’s event, not one Mississippi veteran was turned away, and our VCSP partner practitioners stayed until every single veteran received their certification & was assisted (if needed) through the Patient Portal to ensure they submitted their applications correctly.
We are also extremely proud to announce that we have started hearing back from the veterans certified on Sunday, letting us know that their cards have already begun being activated!
In fact, our first veteran was activated within 24-hours of being certified on Sunday, and made their first purchase as a LEGAL medical cannabis patient at VCSP-certified dispensary Magnolia Greens in Brookhaven, Mississippi on Tuesday May, 2nd 2023! This veteran also used his new VCSP ID card to receive the 15% off on his purchase that VCSP-certified dispensaries guarantee to VCSP-approved veteran patients.
MississippiMedicalMarijuanas.com, and the Veteran Cannabis Support Program (VCSP), would like to thank our partners, volunteers, speakers, practitioners, and sponsors, for helping make this incredible event happen for the veterans in Mississippi who have sacrificed so much.
VCSP Certified Dispensaries:
VCSP Certified Practitioners:
- Curative Cannabis Clinic
- Alchemy Medical
VCSP Certified Growers:
VCSP Partner Businesses:
- ElysianMed
- FlyPoet
- Blue Collar Consulting
- C.O.R.P.
- We Decode
VCSP Event Speakers:
- Roman Alexander Wellington
- Representative De’Keither Stamps
- Senator Kevin Blackwell (Unable to attend in person, statement made in absentia)
- Teresa Teran
- Dr. Dennis Sanders
- Treena Keel
- Derrick Mackmeer
- Cherissa Jackson
- Clarence Cocroft
- Dr. Jovie Bridgewater
Our Incredible Partners & Volunteers:
- Jackson Meadows
- Mr. Todd W.
- Mr. Mark H.
- Mrs. Haley Tucker Higgins
- Mr. Hegwood
- Mr. & Mrs. Gary Beck
Photography & Cinemaphotography:
- Editorial Photography – Yusef Saleh
- Documentary Cinematography – Rod Hinton (CEO) – A Clear Vision Productions
We would also like to thank the dispensaries & growers (not yet VCSP certified) who shared the event information, or expressed interest in becoming VCSP certified to support the Mississippi veteran community and the Veteran Cannabis Support Program’s future veteran certification events:
- Noble Labs
- Pine Belt Medicinal
- Medcan Mississippi
- The Magg Dispensary
- Smoke In The Sip
- Bee’s Buds
- Herbal Alchemy
- Southern Grown Therapeutics