Written by Many have written articles about Charlotte Figi and what she’s given to the world of Cannabis, but that wouldn’t be giving this tiny icon proper justice. On April 7, 2020 she earned her wings as many with Dravet Syndrome do, ending an era in the Cannabis Industry that focused on the tiny icons and how plant medicine radically changed their lives. In my Journey, in a very odd way, Charlotte was the messenger that CBD ingested would help me. But, it was so indirect I must expand as we’re entering mid-November next week, and the celebrations show me that this beautiful child is slowly becoming a faded memory and that Epilepsy Awareness is no longer front and center in the Cannabis Space as it was when she was alive and sending a message just with her presence, so I’m writing today to flip on switch on that and remind everyone of why we’re all in this.
It wasn’t a pleasant day in September 2013 when a Korean roommate first gave me CBD. He made all types of herbal medicine and was extremely hard to understand; an acupuncturist, he didn’t even know that what he was giving me was the same plant that I would smoke, even after I discovered what he called “Can’t eat it all” was cannabidiol, he still refused to believe it was from “Pot”. After all, there’s a huge difference between herbal remedies and what we Westerners consider medicating if you think about it.
This seldom seen YouTube video explains it all.
This 2016 video all Cannabis Industry members and anyone considering being a patient should watch -
Six years after that video was taken, I’m now the daddy to two girls with Autism that both lost their father. I’m the grandfather to 2 more young kids and the Father Figure to yet a 3rd daughter of my love, Anne Mari. I was in the midst of a severe battle for my life while this happy-go-lucky video was taken – and had yet to meet my girls, who came into the scene only after I brought Genevieve cannabis oils from a compassion program I ran. The only reason I became a compassion provider is I was shown the way by Henry, the guy I talk about in the video, and I was shown that giving had allowed Charlotte Figi to overcome outrageous hurdles in her life, and that gave me HOPE.
If you don't know where you came from, you'll never know where you're going...
I was released from a world in which seizures controlled my every move. I was given freedom like never before in late 2013, but it was after paying some brutal costs along the way, the toll came with fees that included countless broken bones, and even my teeth being knocked out of my face while crossing a street in 2012 the year before I got the information that would lead to seizure control and a life again. I know I needed to be humbled, and that incident will forever do the trick – looking in the mirror without your chompers on will remind you how real Epilepsy is and how dangerous it can be, as well as how fortunate you are to be alive.
She Changed our world with her smile, with her grace, and now the memory of her face...
Charlotte Figi made the entire world stop for a moment and stare. Sure all the media fanfare allowed this to happen, but one kid and her ability to be happy again and have a life again made everyone think twice about how we live our life, but what it did for people in Cannabis was to create a wave that allowed a lot of people to prosper.
Some of us found new medicine, and while doing so also found an industry we could call our own.
As I watch that industry grow, there is one thing that troubles me: failure to remember the how and why properly. How did this industry come to be, and why are we in it? At one time, people applauded the kids and couldn’t wait to see the next patient story, but as we’ve progressed, the industry applauds the next storefront or huge operation. It awaits the next grand opening, the next EXPO, or the next juicy piece of gossip to talk of.
We owe patients more than this, we owe the people that bring forth the ability to have an industry, at the bare minimum, the products they need to get by. As recreational laws pass, the Charlottes of the world also have passed.. away. We can’t forget the contribution they’ve given us, the love they had in their hearts and eyes, and how these kids changed the industry forever.
To me, Charlotte Figi lives on in every single patient that has received help and hope through my fingertips. She even lives within Genevieve’s Dream and her Carousel Challenge, all someone has to do is watch the YouTube video from 2016 from before I met my girls to see that one child caused me to go berserk online looking for ‘The weed she used’ as I would type. It led to me having to hang up my hat as a legal researcher and Civil Rights Lobbyist representing disabled kids, I was booted off legal cases I was representing due to motions that stated I was working ‘under the influence of a schedule one drug’ due to my internet posts looking for ‘The weed Charlotte uses”.
Recently in 2022, I was named by High Times in the May Edition as one of the Top 100 most Influential People in Cannabis for 2021. Before I knew who Charlotte was, I didn’t even know ingesting Cannabis was necessary to stop my seizures. I didn’t know what Cannabidiol was, I didn’t know what an Endocannabinoid System was, nor was I aware that there was much more than THC in the plant I loved to smoke.
It’s safe to say that there’s no other individual that’s ever been in the Cannabis Industry to have the impact on me that Charlotte Figi had.
There would be no “Genevieve’s Dream” in the making, nor a “Carousel Challenge” – my family “The Cannabis Love Story” wouldn’t exist.
There would be no Global Cannabinoid Research Center.
Cancer would have killed me in 2015 or 2016 at the latest.
Thank you, Charlotte; I think about you almost every day.
In November, I believe we should be celebrating her life and what she gave to us all by posting her images and articles with the hashtag #EpilepsyAwarenessMonth
Epilepsy isn't the most pleasant subject, but Stopping Seizures helped create today's industry.
So did AIDS, due to Dennis Peron & Company, but we'll save that for another date.
Cannabis is Medicine.
Thank you for reading Mike’s Medicines,
Mike Robinson, Cannabis Patient and Researcher. But, most of all, Genevieve and Sydney’s Daddy.
May the Angel of Cannabis forever Rest in Peace, we love you Charlotte
