community. However, its 35-year old history was coming to an end. La Clinica had 6 years of tax liens totaling $6,000 and 90 days to pay it or government seizure. Huerfano County native, Travis Nelson refused to let this be the end. He had fond memories attached to it. His mother used to work there and it's where he first
first learned to file patient charts and answer incoming calls. So, Travis reached out to members of the community and growing industry and raised over the $6000 needed to save the building. But Travis' ambition and efforts to revitalize a building grew to include his county with the intent to impact a nation.
With a building to use, Travis assembled together a trio to include endocannabinoid expert, Dr. Uma Dhanabalan MD, MPH, FAAFP and land owner and grower, Sam Fairs in order to present a pilot project that will study Cannabis science (including the affects of Cannabis on opioid use, addiction and overdose) and renewable energy with La Clinica being the cornerstone of a 6 site, multi-campus program.
Fighting The Opioid Epidemic
In April 2017, Travis presented "Southern Colorado Land and Cannabis Research Opportunity" along with Sam Faris and Dr. Uma Dhanabalan MD, MPH, FAAFP at the Colorado State University-Pueblo's Institute of Cannabis Research conference. This also evolved into an article that is under consideration from the Academic Journal of Cannabis Science. With that said, the presentation was well received and rallied a large amount of support and participation of volunteers to form Helping End the Opioid Epidemic project (HEOE). Travis was elected as President of the HEOE in March 2017 and devotes a large amount of his time and efforts focused on this mission to fight the opioid epidemic.
After a successful presentation, Travis stated, "Where do we go now? It’s such a big task. We’re talking about bringing in 6 campuses. But I thought about in that article, there was one sentence that stated we will start a program to stop opioid addiction and overdose with medical marijuana.”