Reflections ►
My Buddy Clayton
One who sees beyond wrinkles, graying hair, and brings this old lady along for adventurous rides.
by Dolores Halbin, contributing writer
I was sitting in“ The Duck” last week watching the rain come down in sheets, listening to the steady drum beat on the roof of the camper, like it has most days since I arrived at the river. I had just finished reading my friend Clayton Stallings’ article in the May edition of The EVOLUTION Magazine,“ How Did We Get Here,” when my phone rang. Clay, just checking in on me, wanted to talk about our June 2025, Sixth Anniversary edition of The EVOLUTION Magazine: six years, and so much change.
Over these past years on the battlefield to free the plant that can cure the world, we have made many friendships and bonds. As I reflect on“ How Did I Get Here?” I know that answer. I am here because of Clay. I don’ t remember the first time I met most people in our tribe, but I remember when I met Clay.
We were in St. Louis in the fall of 2019, weeks before the first licensees would be distributed, attending the NORML fall conference. I had heard of The EVOLUTION Magazine, a new magazine, but had not seen a copy yet. I was there with The Canna Convict Project, speaking on a panel alongside co-founders Christina Frommer and Chris Smith, and Jeff Mazinsky, who had been tirelessly campaigning with us since his release from a life sentence without the possibility of parole for basically a roach in 2016. Mazinsky served 22 years. A petition brought to Governor Nixon’ s desk, sponsored by our grassroots movement, Show Me Cannabis, had over 200,000 signatures. Jeff was a free man.
That weekend in St. Louis, Mazinsky and I were still quite raw. Recovering from sentinel events in our lives takes time.
The medical petition, A2, was a grueling four-year campaign of telling my sad story and making people cry, starting in 2014. Mazinsky and I had spoken together since 2016, but that NORML conference in 2019 was the last time we spoke publicly about our lives. Mazinsky soon after got married and bought a Harley, and he has been literally making up for lost time. We both needed to move on.
After this final, highly emotional panel, a tall, good-looking young man approached me and introduced himself.“ I’ m Clayton Stallings. I work with The EVOLUTION Magazine.” He asked if he could call me.
Early the following week, I received a call from Clay.“ Is this a good time to talk?” he asked me.“ Sure,” I said, grabbed a cup of coffee, and prepared for an interview.
However, that is not what happened. Instead, Clay spent the next hour with me on the phone explaining how and why I needed to write a story about myself. He was doggedly persistent. I was doggedly resistant.
Clayton Stallings, the Director of Marketing and Content Development for THE EVOLUTION Magazine.
In the end, Clay refused to take no for an answer, and I sat down and wrote my first article for The EVOLUTION in November 2019. I believe I submitted around 3,000 words. It took Bill and Victoria Cromwell, our beloved editors, quite a while to train me to write concisely. Bill prefers 900 words, but I end up sending in 1,200 to 1,300. Victoria manages to make at least 100 disappear without a trace. We worked it out.
In January of 2020, I signed on to write a monthly column.
Clayton didn’ t stop at turning me into a writer. He continued to call and take me along for all the rides!“ I got you a room in the B & B in Nashville to attend the Southern Hemp Expo! Then we will go to Kentucky and visit the Hempwood Factory and walk through the hemp fields!”
A few months later, this was followed by a phone call telling me he had a ticket for me to Las Vegas for the giant cannabis expo and to the award ceremony for Coltyn Turner at the top of the Fontainebleau Hotel. He took us down Lincoln Street, and we made so many memories.
Then there was the morning Clay called me and said,“ Come on, I’ m taking you to jail.” For those who missed that article, after being pulled over in Kansas with a roach six months earlier, Kansas issued a warrant for my arrest six months later, with an extradition request granted by Missouri. For a roach. So, rather than needing to bail me out at some inconvenient time or wait 10 days in a Missouri jail for the Overland Park Police Department to come and get me, Clay and our friend April Hatch took me to jail in Olathe, KS, and stayed around to bail me out.
38 June 2025