Leaving Leaf

After four issues, I recently decided to leave as editor of Maryland Leaf magazine. It was not an easy decision, but I was grateful to have had the opportunity to cover the booming medical cannabis scene in Maryland and to meet so many wonderful people in the industry. Most importantly, I was moved by the stories of the patients I profiled, and none more so than 4-year-old (now 5) Elias Hocine and his mother, Masha Chernikova.

You can read the full story online here, and I hope you do.

What began as a “patient of the month” column turned into a feature because I couldn't cut the story down. Then I realized it needed to be the cover story, because despite the growing acceptance of cannabis as medicine, many people still get queasy when they hear it is being used by children. The stigma endures, despite the fact that kids like Elias, who suffer from debilitating seizures, are having their lives dramatically improved by nature’s extraordinary medicine.

So while I will no longer be editing the magazine, I’ll still be covering cannabis, and not just in Maryland. As always, my focus will be on telling the stories of patients and their healing journeys, but I will also cover advances in cannabinoid science, the evolution of weed culture, and the visionaries leading the industry.

I wish the crew at Maryland Leaf all the best. And if you’re a medical cannabis patient with a story to tell, drop me a line.