Looking back on the past five and a half years since I first met Clayton, I am acutely aware of how much richer my life has been and continues to be because of this young man.
Clayton embodies the most important characteristic of humanity— the power of one. This one young man has and continues to change countless individuals’ lives daily. Countless!
April Hatch, Clayton Stallings, and Dolores Halbin at the 2022 Southern Hemp Expo learning about the many uses for industrial hemp.
Then, last fall, I got the Clayton call telling me we were going to smoke a lot of weed with a bunch of cops. Paranoia strikes deep, folks! Fifty-five years of fearing the infamous cherries on top of the cop cars doesn’ t just disappear when the laws change.“ I’ m going to need a Xanax and a shot of tequila to walk into a police department and smoke weed,” I thought to myself.
So we went to St. Joseph, MO, for me to participate in the Green Lab. For those of you who have not kept up with Officer Ryan Hutton’ s work, with the help of Clayton Stallings, the Director of Marketing and Content Development for The EVOLUTION Magazine, and April Hatch, RN, Cannabis Care Team, this group of amazing individuals has taken the Green Lab to police departments across the state of Missouri, allowing police officers to determine impairment in real time.
First, you go to a tent and smoke what a person would smoke with their morning coffee. Then, we all come inside and let a whole bunch of cops run us through sobriety tests. Twenty minutes later, repeat the tests. Then, they send us back to the tent to smoke copious amounts of cannabis and repeat the same sobriety tests at consumption, and again at 20 minutes.
The police officers, across the board, were completely surprised. In the first round, 97 % of us passed the initial sobriety test, and 100 %( when the officers were able to identify some physical disabilities with one of the veterans and me, just cuz I’ m old) passed.
The same with the overconsumption. After the second round, we were lined up in chairs in the front of the room, and each participant shared what they had consumed, giving the officers a chance to ask questions.
Most of the time, I am not too aware of my age. But, when I found myself in a line of 10 people discussing the cannabis they consumed and how, and I don’ t know what half the words said are, I know, I’ m old. When it came to me, I said,“ On round one, I smoked a joint. On round two, I smoked two joints.” Truth, but it got a chuckle from the room. Old school!
Clayton, April, and Dolores on their travels covering the Missouri cannabis industry and the national hemp industry.
It is easy, on many days, to forget I’ m old. My joints( of the body) remind me more than mirrors, as I rarely encounter one of those these days. Those who look upon me, however, see my age. They see my deepening wrinkles, my thinning hair starting to turn white. And yet somehow, Clay sees beyond, to what I have left to give, and for reasons I’ ll never understand, he wants to bring this old lady along for the ride.
Clay has brought me joy, laughter, wisdom, introspection, adventure, and so much more, and continues to do so. I couldn’ t be more grateful or blessed to call Clayton Stallings my friend. Thanks, buddy.
Dolores Montgomery Halbin, RN, BSN, and Ordained Nurse Minister, resides in SW Missouri. After her husband passed in 2015, she retired from nursing. She worked with the 2014- 2018 Missouri campaigns for legalized medical marijuana. She continues as a cannabis reform activist volunteering with Canna Convict Project and working toward Federal decriminalization through educational speaking and freelance journalism. Dolores Halbin, doloreshalbin @ gmail. com.
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