First Annual Statewide Patient Conference,
May 23-25
 

Please plan to attend our first statewide conference at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, a rustic but beautiful, world-renowned yoga teaching retreat nestled against the Helena National Forest. 
 
The event starts on Friday afternoon, May 23, and will end soon after lunchtime on Sunday, May 25. (Download and print Registration Form, Adobe Reader required.)
 
You’re welcome to attend any part or all of this conference.  On a “first-registered-first-served” basis, up to about 50 of us (potentially a few more, depending on weather conditions) will be able to stay at the ranch for the entire time, including two nights of lodging and all five meals.  Others can choose to arrange lodging in Helena, about a 17-minute drive away.
 
Information about conference costs, and how to reserve space and register, appear below – and the form you’ll need to register is attached for you to download/print.  But first, here’s our basic agenda, which we will update in more detail at the event approaches:
 
Friday, May 23
·         2-4 pm: Check-in/registration
·         4:20 pm: Official opening
·         4:45 pm: “Disasters in the Grow Room: How to Prevent & Resolve” (panel)
·         6:30 pm: DINNER
·         7:30 pm:  “Parenting in a Home with Medical Cannabis” (Angela Goodhope)
·         8:00 pm: Dessert… & “Cooking with Medicinal MJ” (panel show & tell)
 
Saturday, May 24
·         8:15-9:15 am:  BREAKFAST buffet ongoing
9:00 am: Letter-writing to Congressional delegation and others
·         BREAK
·         10:30 am:“How to Avoid Legal Problems” (panel includes experienced attorneys)
·         BREAK
·         1-2 pm: LUNCH:  panel-led discussion:
“How to Choose and Build a Relationship with a Caregiver”
·         BREAK
·         3:30 pm: Chris Conrad
“Tales and Advice from Gardens & Courts”
·         4:30 pm: Mikki Norris
“Maximizing Your Safety as a Cannabis Consumer: Lessons & Reflections from the California Experience”
·         BREAK
·         7 pm:  DINNER
“The coming year’s outlook for Montana patients and caregivers: organizing for success at the state Legislature & Congress” (Tom Daubert)
·         BREAK
·         8:30 pm  Live musicians and entertainment, outdoors with a bonfire (or in the Main Lodge depending on weather); enjoy the ranch’s giant hot-tub, etc.
 
Sunday, May 25
·         9-10 am: Annual business meeting of members of Patients & Families United
  Code of Ethics for patients & caregivers (discuss and edit a draft)
•Policy and standards for caregiver referrals and complaints about them
·         11 am: BRUNCH – with closing panel discussion, conference evaluations
 

·         2 pm: Training workshop: public speaking and media interviewing about medical marijuana and related issues
 
 
Our Featured Speakers:  Chris Conrad & Mikki Norris
 
Nicknamed “Johnny Marijuanaseed” by many, Chris Conrad is director of Safe Access Now, author of Cannabis Yields & Dosage, Hemp: Lifeline to the Future and Hemp for Health, and curator of the Hash-Marijuana-Hemp Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  He has qualified as an expert witness on cannabis more than 150 times in the California, other State and federal U.S. Courts.  His recognized cannabis expertise includes issues of hemp, personal use, medical use, dosage, consumption, religious use, cultivation, yields, preparations, pricing, sales and intent.  www.chrisconrad.com 
 
Mikki Norris has been an activist for drug policy reform since 1989.  She is director of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign, which advocates for cannabis consumers to come out of the closet to stand up for their equal rights (www.cannabisconsumers.org).  Since 1995, she has worked to put a human face on the injustice of the Drug War with her photo exhibit project, “Human Rights and the Drug War” (www.hr95.org), and her book, Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War (1998, 2000).  In 2006, she was a consultant on the California Cities Campaign, which successfully ran three initiative campaigns and two city ordinances making adult marijuana offenses law enforcement's lowest priority (www.taxandregulate.org).   In 2006, at the National NORML conference, she was presented with the Pauline Sabin Award “in honor and recognition of the crucial need for and importance of women’s leadership in ending marijuana prohibition.”  This  year, she and her husband began publishing the cannabis-themed newspaper, The West Coast Leaf (www.westcoastleaf.com).
 
 
Conference Costs & Reservations
 
To register, please download and send the enclosed form with your deposit -- $35 per person – to:  Patients & Families United, PO Box 1471, Helena, MT 59624.
 
Deadline for receiving your reservation and $35 deposit per person:  Friday, May 9!
 Thereafter, we cannot guarantee space – but will do our best.
 
 
COSTS:
 
Full conference, including 2 nights lodging and all 5 meals….                      $225 per person
            Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast lunch & dinner, Sunday brunch
 
Lodging Friday night only, with 4 meals…                                                   $160 per person
            Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast lunch & dinner
 
Lodging Saturday night only, with 3 meals (lunch, dinner, brunch)…          $140 per person
            Saturday lunch & dinner, Sunday brunch
 
Attend full conference with all 5 meals but with no lodging…                     $60 per person
            Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast lunch & dinner, Sunday brunch
 
Attend all Saturday sessions with all 3 meals, no lodging…                         $40 per person
            Saturday breakfast lunch & dinner
 
Attend most Saturday sessions with 2 meals                                                 $30 per person
            Saturday lunch & dinner
 
 
 
 
Important Final Caveat About the Conference
Gatherings sponsored by Patients & Families United adhere fully to all aspects of the Montana Medical Marijuana Act and other state and local laws.  Striving to improve the law, to make it more workable for patients and caregivers, is one of our most important purposes – but until we succeed we also focus on helping people learn how to function safely and legally.




Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.
2008 PFU ConfRegistration1