Wendy Needs a Break
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Activism for Dummies , 101
Wendy Needs a Break
by Dolores Halbin , contributing writer
Wendy Turner deserves a break . For that matter , the entire Turner family deserves a break . The Turners were one of the first families to choose to leave everything they knew , splitting their family in half to keep a kid alive .
Coltyn Turner was in a wheelchair at a young age from Crohn ’ s disease and complications from the myriads of prescription drugs the child was taking when the family made the gut-wrenching decision to become Colorado medical cannabis refugees from their home in Illinois .
Coltyn Turner in Colorado . He had just turned 14 . He is age 24 now and the battle for nationwide legalization continues .
“ It was my dad and I who first moved out to Colorado ,” Coltyn explained . “ I had just turned 14 , so it was a very stressful and confusing time . Having to abandon my home just to live was brutal , and it is so absurd that people still have to make that choice .”
Illegally Healed , the organization founded by other refugee families , quickly found the Turners when Coltyn posed for a picture on the state line between Colorado and Kansas , holding a sign that said , “ I ’ d rather be illegally alive than legally dead .” The Turner family went on to found The Coltyn Turner Foundation , a not-for-profit , to educate on Crohn ’ s and cannabis . That was eleven years ago , and for eleven years , Wendy Turner has been telling her family ’ s story .
I am thrilled to work with Wendy Turner at an event center in the historic Kansas City West Bottoms . Every Saturday night we have a wedding . Granted , we ’ re working . Turner is the manager , and I ’ m the coat check , a much happier job than hospice nursing . We get to be around happy people together for a happy celebration , which is very new for us . In the past decade , every time I have been with my friend , it has been to tell our stories and educate people , legislatures , doctors , and anyone who will listen and cry . We do find joy in these events of sorrow and joy in the lifelong friendships we have forged on the cannabis battlefields . But these events take their toll .
I came into work last November and knew immediately that my friend had been crying . “ Todd Scattini called me from Germany . He asked me to go to Leavenworth and talk to a group of legislatures ,” Turner tearfully told me .
U . S . Lieutenant Colonel and 27-year Veteran Todd Scattini just recently came out of military retirement and took his family to live in Germany on assignment . Even from Germany , Scattini , who is on the advisory boards of the Veterans Cannabis Project , Kansas Cannabis Coalition , and the Hemp for Victory Foundation , is still working for us back here in the U . S .
I gave Turner a hug . The two days of crying pre-event had already begun . The wedding that Saturday night , November 19 , following the hearing Turner testified at , was huge — 375 people . There would be no time for the two days of after-tears until Sunday . The PTSD of reliving the experiences , over and over , for those of us whose families were torn apart in the Cannabis Wars is as real as it gets . I waited a few days to ask Turner how it went in Leavenworth .
Tommy and Wendy Turner are both true superheros when it comes to advocating for cannabis legalization to aid the health of those in need , including their son , Coltyn .
“ I couldn ’ t do it ,” she again , tearfully replied . “ Tommy had to .”
Turner has a Superhero ; her husband , Tommy Crull Turner , a veteran U . S . Army Specialist , retired . Tommy and Turner just celebrated their 25th Anniversary . Tommy does his own crying , just not when he is standing next to his wife . When he is next to Turner , he is her soldier .
There are two kinds of activists . Those of us who were drafted to the front lines because a family member ’ s life depended on cannabis . Some of us went to jail . Some got the death penalty , like my husband . Some 46 January 2025