Cancer can strike any individual, regardless of age, gender or level of health. Scientists have identified the causes as well as the processes involved in this killer disease. Sadly, however, we still have a long way to go before the miracle of a cure is discovered. Among the most common forms is breast cancer.
According to breastcancer.org, in the United States an estimated 266,120 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in 2018, along with 63,960 non-invasive cases. Although commonly known to affect women of a certain age group, men are diagnosed with the disease as well. More than 2,000 cases in men were expected this past year. One in eight women is expected to develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. This type of cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed. Women who are ages 45 and over have a higher risk of developing this illness.
Surprisingly, 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of the disease. Genetic mutations, rather than genetics, trigger these instances as a result of the aging process and living conditions. Death rates for women with breast cancer in the U.S. are higher than for other types of cancers aside from lung cancer. By the year 2000, the number of cases had begun to decrease due to the use of hormone replacement therapy. Recent improvements in technology have given rise to better preventive measures toward fighting breast cancer.
Mark Adams has experienced how difficult life gets for people with cancer and their families. His mother fought hard against cancer and passed away in 2003, and that changed his focus in life. Mark founded Mother’s Finest Seed Company with the intention of making nature-based medicine more available to those who need it the most.
Mark’s work is dedicated to the memory of his mother. Cannabis medication eased her final days. Mark recalls, “We overheard a nursing administrator recommending cannabis for another patient, with the caveat that it was not available. I read Dr Grinspoon’s entry in the Harvard Medical Encyclopedia and was convinced it would work for my mom. Mom had been living in Boston and had no access to cannabis as a medicine. I had been living in So Cal and using an online site called OVERGROW to learn about all the different varieties and had been growing cannabis for myself since 1989.” Mark has been working on better seed varieties since 1999.
Mother’s Best Seed Company was launched in 2018 at the Boston Freedom Rally. His decision to launch it at the rally reminded him of getting kicked out for smoking cannabis back in 1986. It is a powerful experience for him now, smoking cannabis and selling seeds in a post-prohibition environment. For him, that has been one of the company’s biggest milestones.
Mark started his first seed company in the early 2000s, representing other seed growers. Today, his company offers a variety of products like cannabis cultivars in seed form. The company provides Canna Gift Boxes for both first-time growers and seasoned farmers. They include starter kits for growing seeds. Mark’s personal favorites are Festival and DurbanC99 hybrids. For him, the right way is to grow organically, and he recommends growing in a biodynamic way, which means going all-natural with non-chemical inputs. Water supply for his plants are not mixed with chemicals or other types of growth enhancers. Growing is done in small batches, and seeds are all hand-picked.
With the trend toward legalization signalling a kind of gold rush in the cannabis industry, small companies or businesses can sometimes be overwhelmed by bigger organizations. Small growers with problems in financing sometimes have no choice but to sell some of their stocks to bigger companies in order to come up with funding.
Mark considers the closest of fellow growers as family. “We have been growing cannabis non-stop since 1999. Small-batch and specific breeding goals keep us ahead of our brothers and sisters in the seed business. We don’t report to any corporation and have complete control over what we provide. We have access to some of the best cultivars in the world due to our personal relationships in the canna industry. In the early 2000s, we spent seven years in Mendocino, crafting outdoor cannabis for our collective. We were surrounded by the current leaders of the industry. Those folks are our friends. We feel incredibly lucky to have the mentorship we have had.”
Leave a Reply