The Human Solution No one should go to jail for a Plant!

Joe Grumbine was only 18 years old when he first became aware his life had a purpose bigger than himself. That’s when a freak accident left him in a coma for 3 days and without the senses of smell or taste for over 10 years. The entire experience gave the young man a profound appreciation for the little things in life that people often taken for granted. While watching the faces of those who loved and supported him he also came to realize the profound impact a single person can have on the lives of others.

Joe’s grandmother instilled him with a love nature and plants and as an enterprising
youngster he began making money selling the bounty of his garden and worms from his
compost pile.

As Joe began to mature, he began studying the medicinal properties of the herbs he
was growing in order to heal himself of the asthma, bronchitis and other lung issues that
had plagued him since childhood. He immersed himself in study, accumulated a large
library of reference material, and began to experiment with making salves, tinctures and
poultices. Before long he earned a reputation in the neighborhood as a healer. Friends,
and friends of friends started coming to Joe looking for natural cures for a variety of
ailments. His remedies worked far better than even he dreamed they would. As his
reputation grew, he began to teach classes on medicinal herbs and organic gardening
techniques.

While Joe had used cannabis recreationally, it was while working with cancer and AIDS
patients that he first began to realize its extraordinary healing properties. The catalyst
that finally spurred Grumbine and partner Joe Byron to open a medical marijuana
collective back in 2008 was the death of a close friend to brain cancer. “I saw how a few
drops of cannabis tincture under his tongue provided relief where morphine failed,” says
Joe, “And I knew others who could also benefit from this incredible healing plant.”

Grumbine and Byron’s collective provided low and no cost medicine to patients who
couldn’t afford it and even established a patient outreach program that helped those in
need with food, transportation, wheelchairs, and medical equipment.

Always an advocate and activist, Grumbine founded The Human Solution, a nonprofit,
grassroots organization that supports cannabis patients, providers, and especially
prisoners of the drug war, and works to educate the public on medical marijuana issues.
While offering support to others caught in the crosshairs of convoluted legal system
surrounding medical cannabis, Joe Grumbine never dreamed that fate would put him in
the position of needing that same support.

“Getting in trouble with the law was something we never envisioned because we read and understood the law,” says Grumbine. “We followed the law and trusted that we were
protected by the law. That’s what laws in America are supposed to do. We couldn’t
have been more wrong.”

In 2008, a Riverside County sheriff pulled Joe over while he was transporting medicine
from the collective. Seventeen trips to court and four prosecutors later the case was
dismissed with the court finding that “Mr. Grumbine was acting in accordance with
California Law.”

That should have been the end of it, yet five weeks later 120 armed SWAT officers
stormed 17 locations. Joe, his wife Liz and daughter Candace were handcuffed for hours and held at gunpoint, helplessly watching the police trash their home Many were arrested that day including volunteers, employees and even some construction workers who just happened to be contracted to do some building work. A year went by with no charges filed, until December 2010 when only Grumbine and Byron faced multiple felonies including tax evasion and illegal drug sales. Despite neither having any prior convictions and cooperating with the authorities the entire time, their bail was increased to $120K and $300K, more than the county recommends for kidnappers and child molesters.

Joe’s latest trial is set to begin in July 2011. Despite prosecutors trying to bully him into
a taking a felony plea bargain, Grumbine stands ready to fight. “I haven’t done anything
wrong,” he says, “I am not going to say I committed a felony. I cannot believe that a jury
of my peers would send me to jail over this benevolent plant.”

It’s a brave stance, as real jail times looms should he lose the gamble. While many things in Joe Grumbine’s life remain uncertain, the love, support and admiration from members of The Human Solution, the organization he created to help others, is a constant. Decked out in the group’s signature green “Solidarity Ribbons” supporters have overflowed courtrooms in support of their hero and are expected to do so again as he faces his biggest challenge yet, the challenge to keep his freedom.