Healing Sweepstakes to the Mile High City

One couple gets a winner’s tour of the Mile High City— and some pain relief.

Earlier this year, NORML and Freedom Leaf teamed up on the Presidential Primary Membership Drive for national marijuana reform. The campaign included a sweepstakes with the grand prize of a weekend trip for two to Denver, sponsored by My 420 Tours and Colorado Cannabis Tours. More than 2,000 people entered the contest; the winners were Glenn and Mindy Miller of Springfield, Ohio.

Medical Challenges

The Millers were so excited about winning the sweepstakes that they decided to celebrate their wedding anniversary at that time, from October 14-17. Glenn has chronic medical issues because of complications from back surgery he had in 2010; he suffers nearly constant pain due to a bisected nerve in his ribcage, which can be so painful that he’s often unable to wear a shirt. Glenn’s doctors have prescribed him a plethora of medications, many of which are dangerous opioids like fentanyl. He says that the opioids no longer dull the pain, and only help him sleep for a couple of hours before they wear off and the pain returns, waking him up. Neither Glenn nor Mindy had ever tried medical marijuana before their sweepstakes trip to Denver.

Taking the Canna-Tour

MassRoots is the largest marijuana social media platform for cannabis users, and the first stop on the Millers’ Friday tour was the MassRoots office, located on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. The Millers were given MassRoots hoodies and other swag by Hayley Thomas of their user support team, and got advice on which dispensaries were best to visit. Afterwards they participated in a cannabis cooking class hosted by Colorado Cannabis Tours (which also offers classes in pottery, painting and pipe-making).

My 420 Tours booked the Millers into the downtown Convention Center Hotel, which features a public smoking area for guests to enjoy legal marijuana, and also provides vaporizers in each room.

Grand-prize winners Glenn and Melinda Miller got an all-expenses paid trip to Denver from Freedom Leaf and NORML.

That Saturday, the couple went on a four-hour bus tour that starting at a totally packed Cheeba Hut and rolled on from there in a cloud of smoke. “I’ve never seen that much bud,” Glenn exclaimed. The tour visited two retail locations, the River Rock adult-use store at 990 West 6th Street and the Medicine Man dispensary at 4750 Nome Street. The couple was amazed at the legal prices, and snagged an eighth for $16 and several Mary’s Medicinals THC/CBD transdermal patches at Medicine Man.

During a consultation with a budtender there, it was recommended that Glenn take one patch, cut it into four pieces and then apply two pieces at a time to his “pulse points to help get the medicine into the bloodstream.” After the day’s tour ended, the couple headed back to the hotel to try their new marijuana-based medicine. “It was amazing how fast and how well the patches worked on my nerve pain,” reports Glenn, who slept comfortably through the night. “No other medicine has ever helped me sleep that long.”

That Sunday, the Millers went to the Mile High Marker at the State Capitol and the Denver Museum. “It’s an absolutely beautiful city,” Melinda raves. “It was so nice to take a personal vacation, and great for Glenn to try medical cannabis.”

A Greener Future

Following the event-packed sweepstakes trip, the pair have looked for a way for Glenn to use medical cannabis in Ohio. Although a medical marijuana law was passed there in June, the couple doesn’t have much faith in its effectiveness. “It doesn’t allow personal growing or edibles,” Glenn says, “and it doesn’t take effect until 2018.”

The good news is that the Millers are “actually considering moving to Colorado, or maybe Michigan,” says Melinda. In the meantime, however, Glenn has little choice but to continue taking opioid medications for his chronic pain.

More than half of the states has adopted some form of medical marijuana, and with several legalization measures on the 2016 ballot, Glenn and Melinda’s relocation options are only going to grow.

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