Marijuana gives man new lease on life

Paul Stanford had lived a life of error, missteps and regrets, one laden with betrayals and failure. Then, on November 3, 1998, Oregon voters approved the medicinal use of marijuana.

And in this way, he was saved.

Paul Stanford's business is medical marijuana, and he is the nation's leading gateway to the drug. In Oregon, Hawaii, Michigan and three other states where it's legal, he charges a small fee for access to friendly doctors. People walk in as customers and leave, mostly, as patients.

It's an idea that has garnered him thousands of dollars, or, depending on who you believe, millions. His Hemp & Cannabis Foundation has established clinics or travelling practices in 20 cities in six states, with plans to expand. In 13 years, Stanford, 50, has climbed out of a hole of debt and into the warm lap of the nation's medical marijuana community.

Stanford isn't just a marijuana-licence distributor. He's also a gifted grower whose plants have earned him first-place awards at medical marijuana competitions in the United States. With such a green thumb, several patients have designated him as their pot grower, and he's responsible for 80 plants at a warehouse in southeast Portland.

But the questions persist: Is Paul Stanford the beleaguered-yet-sincere advocate for marijuana that he presents himself to be? Or is he something else?

Stanford's eyes flit about a cramped storefront in southeast Portland. He's surrounded by true believers, the men and women of the pro-cannabis movement who have stood by him and his cause for nearly three decades. If he were a politician, this would be his hard-core base.

Stanford, his bulky, six-foot-three frame uncomfortably tucked into a small folding chair, is fronted by a table full of the accoutrements of the medical marijuana trade. There's no fresh bud, but there's lots of hemp: hemp oil and hemp lotion, and even hemp shampoo.

The pro-cannabis rally is the site of the launch of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, Stanford's 2012 ballot measure intended to legalise, tax and sell marijuana. The room reeks of pot, the goods in the hands of a few people who likely got their first legal toke after walking out of one of Stanford's clinics.