As a practicing counsellor focused on clients with anxiety, depression and relationship issues, Salimeh Tabrizi sometimes felt a sense of frustration at hitting walls in talk therapy. She was inspired to take a closer look at energy work when she was introduced to ayahuasca, a powerfully hallucinogenic plant found in the Amazon. She saw how much this plant was helping people and was intrigued. 

Ayahuasca as a guide

Tabrizi was inspired to create the Cannabis Hemp Conference (CHCE) after much research, soul searching and meditation. Coming from a place of respect for the feminine energy of the cannabis plant - which Tabrizi described as angry and fed up with being abused and prostituted - she set out to identify problems and solutions around knowledge, stigmas and acceptance of the hemp plant.

The first event took place in 2015 and has quickly become a Vancouver staple for those in the medical cannabis community. From the start, it was always meant to be an educational platform. It was always about the patients and how to support them. As Tabrizi met more medical cannabis patients and advocates she was continually inspired by their dedication to advocacy. 

"The conference is a place for a dialogue around connection and positivity." Tabrizi says. "The problem is the repression of land medicine. The solution is to bring people together to discuss these ideas." She calls the event "a solution summit" where people can activate each other with love, joy and hope. This year 25% of the presentations will be dedicated Psilocybin Mushrooms, Ayahuasca, MDMA, and LSD and other powerful plant medicines and psychedelics for medicinal use. “Cannabis (legalization) is through and we have a lot to do there, but what's next?” Tabrizi asks. 

Cannabis Hemp Conference Speakers

The 2018 CHCE brings together the top national and international thought-leaders and visionaries of the Cannabis industry who are committed to social and environmental responsibility including Ethan Russo, MD, a board-certified neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, and Medical Director of PHYTECS, a biotechnology company researching and developing innovative approaches targeting the human Endocannabinoid system, Mandy Zwicker and her daughter Cheyenne who went though 6 cycles of chemotherapy, 3 surgeries without success before trying cannabis and finding hope again. Dr. Natasha Ryz, PhD, MSc, BSc, is the Chief Science Officer (CSO) at Zenabis, a federally legal Licensed Producer (LP) group in Canada, and Dr. Perry Kendall who is renowned as one of Canada’s leading public health professionals. Dr. Kendall served as BC’s Provincial Health Officer from 1999 to 2018. 

See the full list of speakers here. 

Finding a higher purpose

After the very first 2015 event, Tabrizi travelled to Peru for more research into plant medicine, she saw first hand the destruction of the rain forests and realized that she could use her platform for even more positive missions. After the second event in 2016, she travelled to Brazil where she was so inspired that she formed the Amazon Coalition Inc which is an organization whose goal is to help protect the rainforest, which experts predict could be lost within 40 years. Proceeds from the CHCE are funnelled into the Amazon Coalition Inc. 

Tabrizi describes the CHCE audience as made up of people who want to do good in the world "How do we open everyone up to their soul mission?” She muses. 

There are several workshops planned for the conference; one on cooking with cannabis, one on organic growing methods, another on making infused topicals, one on cannabis extractions, one on medicating pets and yet another entitled Cannabis Strains for Different ailments. Register for those workshops here. 

The 4th annual Cannabis Hemp Conference and Expo is scheduled for September 28th – 30th, 2018 in Vancouver, BC. Tickets available here.