1. An Integral Frame
for Medical
Cannabis
Leadership
Regina Nelson
rknelson63@gmail.com
Cannabis Patients Union

2. Missing / Central Argument
If ALL human beings have an endocannabinoid
system, an important physiological system critical to
homeostasis, known to react favorably to
cannabinoids, shouldn‟t We ALL be aware of this
system AND our medical professional have a
comprehensive understanding of it?

3. Leadership Studies
Connection
“Telling the biography is an important
leadership behavior.”
Sharing one‟s personal story is then an act of
leadership within itself.
Shamir, B., Dayan-Horesh, H., & Adler, D. (2005). Leading by biography: Towards a life-story approach to
the study of leadership. Leadership. London: Sage Publications.

4. Stigmatization
(Why it‟s important to consider these issues)
 Cannabis Patients are in a “liminal phase”
Patients find themselves, “between and
betwixt” living an experience in which they do not
belong to the society they were previously a part of;
and one in which cannabis use has been accepted
and normalized.
 Victor Turner
Thinking of one‟s self as normal, means “incorporating
standards from wider society and meeting others‟
expectations about what we ought to be. The concept
of stigma is therein a device that ensures the reliability of
the interaction order by punishing people who do not
conform to moral standards (Hathaway et al., 2011, p.
455).”

5. Intro to Integral Theory &
Wilber
Ken Wilber (2007) elucidates, “No matter
how high-minded, idealistic, or altruistic a
cause might appear—from ecology to
cultural diversity to world peace—the simple
mouthing of intense support for that cause is
not enough to determine why, in fact, that
cause is being embraced (p. 24).”
Wilber, K. (2007). The Integral vision. Boston:
Shambhala Publications, Inc.

6. In a movement driven by cannabis activists, most of
whom are patients and experienced with its use and
symptom relief, where the majority consensus among
medical practitioners is that advocacy is a poor
substitute for the dispassionate analysis of evidence-
based medicine (EBM), and media portrays cannabis
users as those who „just want to get high,‟ cannabis
patients have yet to be recognized as knowledge
bearers and leadership, who have much to contribute
to this debate.

7. The social status of marijuana is much as Hathaway, et
al. find, “that [cannabis] users might alternatively be
viewed on a normative continuum that has shown
signs of shifting in the theorized direction of greater
sociocultural acceptance (or indifference) of the
practice, while retaining vestiges of social disapproval
that contribute to maintaining a „culture of control,‟”
as espoused by Goffman (Hathaway, 2011, 453).

8. Integral Frames
Few scholars discuss the use of this
framework in developing an organizational
model focused on cultivating leadership
potential from within a marginalized
membership and for the organization to be
centered on the needs of the collective
membership using an Integral approach

9. AQAL—Four Quadrant Frame
Table 1: AQAL Overview
UL UR
Interior Individual Exterior Individual
Consciousness Behavioral
Subjective Learning Objectified Learning
LL LR
Interior Collective Exterior Collective
Cultural Social
Intersubjective Learning Interobjectified Learning

10. Integral leadership
considers the needs of
others, knowing that
knowledge and change Empowerment
are co-created in
learning situations Be positively influenced by community
UL
Interior Individual
Consciousness
Subjective Learning
Come to
Enhanced coping understand
with Health Compassion one‟s own
OR Stigmatization story
Self-Reflection

11. Physical Health
Reassess cultural values
Behaviors and norms
• Concealment Achieve cultural
• Revelation acceptance
UR
Exterior Individual
Behavioral
Objectified Learning
Clinical training that
highlights the patient Improved Physician-
experience Patient Relationships

12. Patient Support
Build Community
Groups
Community Gardens Patient Alliances
LL
Interior Collective
Cultural
Intersubjective Learning
Rescript the dominant narrative
About what it means to be a
Cannabis Patient Local and National
Educational
Program

13. Public education and
Increased increased general
cannabis knowledge about cannabis
research/cli use/users
nical trials
LR
Exterior Collective
Social
Interobjectified Learning
Expansion with other affinity groups:
cancer support, industrial hemp, et al

14. Leadership Opportunities
AQAL
Table 1: AQAL Overview
UL UR
Interior Individual Exterior Individual
Consciousness Behavioral
Subjective Learning Objectified Learning
LL LR
Interior Collective Exterior Collective
Cultural Social
Intersubjective Learning Interobjectified Learning

15. Integral Medicine
Integrative medicine asserts a person‟s
interior states (i.e. emotions, psychological
state, imagery, and intentions) play a crucial
role in both the cause and the care of
physical illness, as well as the cure.

16. “How a culture (LL) views a particular illness—with
care and compassion or derision and scorn—can
have a profound impact on how an individual copes
(UL) with that illness, which can directly affect the
course of the physical illness itself (UR) (p. 91).”
Arguably, cannabis patients are marginalized not just
by how society views (LL) their illness (chronic pain,
PTSD, AIDS, among others), but also by how society
views the use of an illegal drug as treatment.
It is an act of leadership to stand against social
conventions challenging healthcare providers with
one‟s own embodied experience—an experience
often sought in desperation when conventional
methods failed to provide relief.

17. Integral Organizations
When organizations are developed using
Integral frames provide a space for the
marginalized to share their stories, first with
each other and then with others who may
benefit from their knowledge.

18. Integral Organizations
(only a few examples)
 W.A.M.M. (Santa Cruz, CA)
 Harborside Health Center (Oakland & San
Jose, CA)
 New Mexicann (Santa Fe, NM)
 Tumbleweeds Health Care (Tucson, AZ)
 World Famous Cannabis Café (Portland, OR)
 The Human Solution (Perris, CA)
 New Mexico Cannabis Patients Alliance
(Albuquerque, NM)
 Among many others

19. Conclusion
Using an Integral model and design for
developing a patient-centered organization
supports (individually and collectively) an
avenue for knowledge exchange, the potential
to develop a sense of community, and offers
leadership opportunities. As patients become
empowered leadership, there becomes a
tremendous capacity to reach beyond the
cannabis community with a message of care
and compassion that is worldcentric.

20. Regina Nelson
Mark Pedersen
Cannabis Patients Union
303-505-0591