Interview Ana Mª Gazmuri - ExpoGrow 2016 Irún

Transcript of the interview with Ana María Gazmuri:

We are with Ana María Gazmuri, actress and communicator...she has acted in theatres, Radio and Television, and has been involved in cannabis activism since 2012, especially in therapeutic cannabis.

In 2014 she created DAYA Foundation in Chile with the aim to conduct projects to review medical cannabis use.

Tell us, what is DAYA? Where did the idea come from? What is your relation with cannabis, which made you create DAYA and its Foundation?

Well, we started DAYA in 2013 although it didn't have legal personality until 2014. DAYA is a sanscrit word that means “Compassive Love”, and it is from this place where DAYA Foundation was born, as a response to public demand of information as a first instance, also of education on cannabis and its use, particularly its therapeutic use and as a response to the needs of thousands of families suffering from diverse pathologies who haven't found a cure with conventional treatments, especially cases of refractary epilepsy, oncologic diseases...which are really difficult to cope and who have found a crucial help in cannabis.

So, DAYA Foundation was born as a response to these needs, it is a non-profit association which tries to take account of this ethical imperative.

We try to stress the enormous therapeutic potential of this plant on one hand, and the suffering derived from many situations on the other hand, especially in regard with diseases.

We though that what was ethically correct was to make this option viable, and it all began with educating the community.

So Daya Foundation was created to serve, trying to point at the needs, worries and reality of patients, and we started by implementing medical cannabis, without forgetting wider drug policies... It's not...I don't hink they can be separated.

Many people have told us: “Why don't you just deal with medical cannabis? Why are you worried about other things?” It's impossible for me to separate them.

We believe that if health is our worry, health as a public good to be protected, a responsible regulation is the way to protect health and ensure the access to medical cannabis.

What made Ana María Gazmuri to get into this?

You were an actress, presenter...which was the starting point?

Well, apart from my career as actress and social communicator I also studied holistic therapies. I studied transpersonal psychology, buddhist psychology, reiki, flower therapies...

So, I've always had this interest on wellbeing, health, understanding the phenomenon of diseases and health, it's in this scenario where I had contact with this more powerful tool.

I knew the plant since I was very young...it has always been a very fluid, non-stigmatized relationship, with no prejudices in my family environment, but when I first started to be aware of its true therapeutic potential and as I studied more and more, I decided to start it...it comes from...it is something gradual. I started by counseling patients, so they began to get the word out:

“These guys know about medical cannabis, go and look for help, for guide”...so our house soon became an institution, where people were coming in and out all day long, that's when we said “well, how could our arms be even longer? How can we impact and make it become a reality? Not only for a few lucky ones who can contact the very few people who knows about it but, how do we democratize it?”

That's how DAYA and all our work were born, which are mainly focused on two aspects: Working directly with the community, treating patients with doctors, therapists, we offer speeches, home-growing and medical preparations workshops, and on the other hand, we also have research projects.

We've already made the first legal crop in Latin America, then the largest crop in Latin America, and we now have the first protocol of clinic trial approved, our very first one, for oncologic breast and lung cancer patients with cannabis extract, of course standarised and produced by a national laboratory especialized in phytopharmaceuticals.

So, we created this platform to boost this development, working with the community on one hand, and also researching. It's not one thing or the other one...both things can be done simultaneously.

Yes, that's something we saw yesterday at the Forum, right? During the presentation of the Spanish Observatory of Medical Cannabis. We need both things. Both research, as is being conducted by the Observatory and its doctors...

Absolutely, that's why what I was mentioning is so important...even the title of Cristina Sánchez speech: “From the laboratory to the clinic”. The urgency of getting out of the lab, which is important, but as important as the needs of patients today. We have no time to waste.

We have kind of a motto which says “pain can't wait”.

There's no time, suffering is happening today, and we can help a lot with the plant itself as it is today, with simple preparations.

We know that we need standarisation and regulated, safe products for more complex pathologies, for the health of patients, and it also must be done, and we're doing it too.

Firstly, this is a medicinal plant of domestic use, which any family can grow at home and relieve plenty of conditions with it, and, as I said, for more complex diseases, more cannabis-based products are needed, made from the whole, natural plant, we know that synthetic equivalents like Dronabinol or Marinol are not as effective, it's not the same at all.

So, we try to work on all this, offering legal asistence to those patients whose rights have been violated and also trying to impact on policies, because we must socialize this and transform it, not only citizenship but also those ruling the country, because unfortunately citizenship does not usually take decisions.

But well, it can create enough social pressure to influence those taking decisions. And that is a very important task that we're doing along with concrete action on patients.

It's clear, they are two basic aspects. There is a wide range of action and all aspects must be taken into account...

You told us before about your crops. How was that experience? Which were your feelings? How did you manage distribution of extracts and buds among patients?

Well, that must be properly understood. We are not distributing anything to patients. What we have done is cultivating the plants to have raw material for phytopharmaceuticals for clinic trials...

For the patients, via home-growing, which is what we defend and push for. And these other crops, larger crops would have not... I mean, if we'd submitted a petition for growing and distributing to patients they would have said “No", where is scientific evidence of what you're doing?” Regulations are very strict in Chile.

Any phytopharmaceutical must meet the same requirements than any other conventional pharmaceutical. Clinic trials, their different phases...pre-clinic phase, phase 1, phase 2...I mean, these are the rules of the game so we said well, we'll go that way and that's what we're doing now, but it is long and the sooner you start...

The sooner you finish.

The sooner you'll have results and good products, cheap and according to the reality of our region, the economic reality of patients, which is quite different from the situation in Europe, different from what happens in the USA, it's another reality...

Have you started your trial already? What is the current phase?

The protocol was approved this past week with...impecable, they congratulated us, because it was very...especially the informed consent was highly appreciated because it was very...a scientific committee is in charge of evaluating it, so we're going to start the first clinic trial in Latin America,
at least since a very long time.

Doctor Mechoulam conducted a study in Brazil during the 70s, right? Well, we're retaking... other countries in the Region want to do the same, but these are slow processes.

We started quite a while ago with our crops and are now ready to implement during the next two months 175 oncologic patients to participate in this first study.

You're actually causing a stir at international level...how is the international community reacting to this process?

We see great interest. It has been also important for us to realize that sharing our experience in Chile has motivated and encouraged civil societies from other countries to organize and act, and that's where many groups are working, also... encourage citizen empowerment. Understand that this is not an elite discussion trapped between 4 walls, or speaking to activism speaking about itself, right? This must be known because we are talking about relieving pains and improving the life of millions of persons, right? Prohibition has had fatal consequences, great social harm, one of them impeding people from relieving their conditions with this plant, and that's something that must be immediately corrected.

That's our point and we try to work on all aspects. It has been a true revolution in our life, we'd never worked so hard...

It's a complicated field, right? Against the current most times...

It is complicated and against the current indeed...when we started, prohibitionists were a bit inattentive, so we started and they soon realized about our progress, so today most resistance comes from conservative elites who are seeing their status quo, own interests and business model compromised. That is a serious threat to them.

Sure.

So, these are the shadows that we're facing today...it is hard and tough, but every single time that you doubt or feel tired, like “why am I here? It's terrible to get such...” at that moment, communications from patients, their gratitude, the testimony of how their lifes are changing.

Even that wonderful thing of getting news from families who tell us that their relative is gone, and despite that fact they write and say thank you for letting him pass with dignity, relaxed and connected, something impossible without cannabis.

That surely gives you power to...

That's where you get all your courage from. When you meet a mother whose child has epilepsy and has been suffering 40/50 daily seizures for years, without a normal life...all really traumatised and suddently they start using a cannabis extract and instead of 40/50 seizures they see 1 or 2, life changes completely.

And when a mother tells you: “Thanks for bringing my daughter back to life”,
we as organization, I don't say it in personal terms, say we don't care about problems or difficulties, they're insignificat when compared to what it all implies, right? That's our motivation. Our team is present in 11 cities, in Santiago, we have 30 doctors working right now, more than 100 volunteers...all motivated by this “Compassive Love” for building a more generous, kind and empathic society... not only to normalize the use of one plant, but also to change our paradigm of wellbeing, of health.

Horizontalising the relation between doctor and patient, right? This relation, this asymmetry that most times. That's important, right.
...puts patients in a position of vulnerability, of being humilliated. But, patients have a lot to say here and they must be respected, right?

Against comments like”there's not sufficient evidence” we say “that's correct, we accept that, there are not as much evidence as we'd like, we have some, but not as much as we'd like”.

We are working to have more, and in the meantime, the experiences from patients are a valid source of knowledge. You can't say that it doesn't work because you have no clinic trials which demonstrate it, especially when 100 patients are telling you “it has improved my life”.

So, we believe that both things, science and medicine based on evidence and direct experiences from patients are crucial.

Of course...Ana María Gazmuri, thank you very much for your project, it is very interesting and we wish you every success in DAYA Foundation.

Thanks, very kind...and good luck for you too. Thanks.

Thanks.