If you’d lived in the United States in the early 1900’s, you would have been part of a fierce debate about alcohol. For many years there were people in Washington DC, and all across the country, who believed that alcohol was a drug that was so bad for us, that for our own good it should be totally banned. Eventually, that argument won out. In January 1920, alcohol was banned for sale or consumption in the United States. It was outlawed by a Constitutional Amendment. The 18^th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States prohibited the existence of alcohol.

The era that followed saw a tumultuous response to the ban. It included bootlegging, the rise of organized crime that controlled the underground alcohol industry, and the sale in stores of what was knows as “medicinal whisky.” Eventually, 13 years later, the 21^st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States repealed prohibition.

A hundred years from now, when a historian is recounting the history of Cannabis and Cannabis products in the United States, what do you think they’ll say about where we are today on the timeline of events? To help answer that question, and to tell us perhaps where we’re going with the future of cannabis products – like CBD, hemp, and  Marijuana – Aileen Bennett is joined by two of Acadiana’s leading exponents of Cannabis products and of Marijuana, Dr Chad Rossitter and Travis DeYoung.

Travis DeYoung

Travis is probably the better known because he’s been the focus of both media and law enforcement attention for a good chunk of early 2019. Travis opened a storefront called Cajun Cannabis in the spot where Radio Shack used to be, on Johnston Street. Travis opened Cajun Cannabis to sell products made from the non-psychoactive version of cannabis plant material. That is, cannabis products that won’t get you high. These products were made legal by a 2018 Federal Law called The Farm Act. The Farm Act legalized growing Cannabis and processing it into products like hemp and CBD oil. However, for some reason, local law enforcement didn’t believe the Federal law applies to us, and they seized Travis’s cannabis products and arrested him. Today, Cajun Cannabis is back open and in business.

In a growing number of states – and in the entire nation of Canada – Marijuana is legal. That’s the same Marijuana that according to Federal Law is a schedule one drug. It is defined, federally, as having no medicinal value and a high potential for abuse.

The active ingredient in marijuana is called THC. That’s the chemical that gets you high. THC is also the acronym for a medical doctor’s clinic, with offices in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Bossier City, and Lake Charles. THC stands for Total Health Clinic. The name and the link to the active ingredient in Marijuana is intentional. Total Health Clinic describes itself as a “plant centered” medical clinic whose doctors are licensed by the State of Louisiana to prescribe medical marijuana.

Dr Chad Rossiter

The founder of Total Health Clinic is Dr Chad Rossitter.

Photos over lunch at Chopsticks restaurant on Ambassador Caffrey Parkway in Lafayette.

For more lunch excursions into alternative medicine in Acadiana, check this out.