Chapter 43 “the scramble for immunity: thank you cannabis”

The other totally effective immunity source against Virus # 26 was cannabis and not simply a puff for a novice. As with measles and chicken pox it took time to complete the research on this rather strange anti-viral tool but through the preliminary research and anecdotal evidence what we did know as the outbreak of Virus # 26 spread globally was that consumption of cannabis on a daily basis at a minimum potency rate was the key. The quantity had to be in the 90-gram range per month of which 60 parts had to be THC and 40 parts CBD. For hashish the monthly consumption needed to be 23 grams. And the consumption had to have been for at least a year or so.

Most progressive physicians knew that cannabis products strengthened the immune system generally speaking but were taken aback at the fact cannabis was a Virus # 26 killer. Somehow and some way the endocannabinoid system was activated by the cannabis to attack and kill the virus. The synthetic cannabis produced by Big Pharma offered no immunity. The cannabis consumed had to have both CBD and THC in it. Hemp seed oil was ineffective as it only had CBD with a miniscule component of THC although it was relatively easy to convert a hemp farm into a cannabis farm

Demand shot up and supplies were cleaned out in countries and states where cannabis was legal but for many it was a desperation buy and too late as the cannabis must have been in your system for approximately a year. So as the mortality rate increased demand for cannabis decreased but there was a sufficient supply in the system to supply current users and those with enough money to isolate for a year and consume cannabis daily.

The general response after several months of political bickering was to nationalize cannabis production and import vast quantities of cannabis product. Jamaica, Pakistan, India, Mexico, Morocco and Columbia narcos became very wealthy through the exports of hashish and cannabis. Yesterday’s drug lords became respectable businessmen. Homegrown outdoor cannabis was generally weaker in temperate climates and not sufficiently powerful to offer Virus # 26 immunity unless the strain was a potent one which growers quickly caught on to, The result was that cannabis was the new gold rush and farmers finally regained their rightful stature as vital to society’s survival.

The regular pattern in the First and Second World was to create a national rationing programme. Present your card at a cannabis rationing station and off you went.

Those whose chip in the shoulder indicated that they had had measles and chicken pox were unable to purchase unless it was for a family member.

The upstanding Canadian corporate elite hightailed it to their summer retreats to isolate and consume cannabis for a one-year period. Being used to privileged treatment they managed quite successfully to bribe “the right people” for a one-year supply.

Third world countries had a higher measles and chicken pox infection rate so supply issues were not as big of an issue as they were in the developed world. The Perry Como sweatered Bill Kruger and his highly pickled wife Mitzy immediately dropped their measles and chicken pox vaccination obsession and against all of their ethics spread around enormous amounts of their Foundation money to cannabis grow-ops. There is money in them thar hills! That’s all the Krugers were ever after.

Although Virus # 26 killed millions at least everyone knew what was going to save their bacon and it wasn’t social distancing, handwashing and not touching your eyes, mouth or ears. Believe it or not it was a plant that had been used in medicine for over 5,000 years.

The cannabis magic bullet had some interesting effects on demographics in the First World. The measles and chicken pox afflicted seniors were in their 60’s and 70’s and there were not many of them left! The cannabis consumers could be split into medical users and recreational users. The recreational users were in the 18-50-year-old age bracket but the majority of those were in their twenties. Medical users could be any age. Society was split between youth and a declining tranche of baby boomers.

Poetry Corner: “downtown Treblinka”

Downtown Treblinka

Hemmed into the office towers by the awesome guard posts of corporate ideology
the weary beaten stagger
staggering into Calcuttian cubicles
to be transported to prosperous futility
whisked by gleaming vehicles financed at the public expense
only marred by the spots of the unhappily assimilated
broken by their own black boots
stomped through lack of humanity
lined up on the wall of advanced humility
or
cutthroat bestiality
experimented on by clever wizards
soothe by taxed juices and coloured flashes
that numb
and bring “round the clock relief
to the voluntary prisoners
and arthritic stricken

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “Empty Ballad”

Empty Ballad

he basks in the spotlight
an angel
feels so proud of himself
and the throngs surround
call for more
the critics rave
Only Time knows he is nothing
only words an music of an era
a face on an album cover

Actually they hate him for he is nothing like them
more than they know they will ever be
his reality crushes their dreams
but his words are their fantasy
He is nothing
his words are nothing
they are nothing
but for one moment
they
believe

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “Honeymoon in Saratoga Springs (circa 1961)”

Honeymoon at Saratoga Springs (circa 1961)

Well it certainly was quite a day
let’s go to bed

Wait!
I’ve got to brush my teeth

You already did

Come on let’s go for a walk

But it’s two in the morning

Oh all right
turn off the light and look the other way

OK

Robert K. Stephen



Virus # 26: Chapter 42: “the scramble for immunity; thank you chickenpox and measles”

Chapter 42 “the scramble for immunity; thank you chickenpox and measles”

Medicine holds few surprises for me as a physician. Just when we thought we had licked a disease like polio, measles, smallpox, chicken pox, syphilis, or rubella then up pops Ebola, AIDS, SARs, MERs, COVIDs and Virus # 26. Countless hours of research and testing are required and we often succeed with some pharmaceutical to conquer the intruder. And make no mistake Big Pharma made fortunes for their successes but then there were disasters along the way such as DES and thalidomide.

But there were countless citizens of the globe that had no access or funds to buy Big Pharma and others that did have the funds to bypassed the poison Big Pharma offered and sought natural remedies such as supplements, cannabis, herbs and spices along with yoga and meditation. There were also some that refused vaccination due to their apprehension about its contents.

For Virus # 26 I had mentioned earlier that those who had suffered through measles and chickenpox were immune to Virus # 26. So many researchers had succumbed to Virus # 26 the research on why the non-vaccination for measles and chicken pox was an immunity against Virus # 26 was never really completed and subject to thorough peer review. But enough research was done along with the compilation of anecdotal evidence to validate the preliminary research conditions. Why did having these childhood diseases give person immunity to Virus # 26 was not well understood other than it had to do with giving the immunity system some necessary fuel to attack and kill the virus.

The result was that almost all the boomers were immune but by 2030 most were dead or seniors in their late 70’s. And then there were the antivaxxers and a great bulk of the global population that were never vaccinated against chicken pox and measles.

I had the measles and chicken pox like most boomers where in the 1950’s and 1960’s moms took their children to homes of their friends with children who had the disease so as “to get it over with”. It was not widely understood in those days how dangerous measles could be and I narrowly escaped death and debilitating mental illness after contracting measles encephalitis. Then again once vaccinations were introduced in the 1960’s people who saw what thalidomide did failed to realize the toxins in vaccinations could be just as malicious. You were screwed as far as Virus # 26 went if you had the vaccinations for measles and chickenpox. My daughter Alexis at my insistence did not have the vaccinations and went through both the measles and chickenpox. My son who had the vaccinations died and my wife who also had them died at the hands of Virus # 26.

You might have thought that the antivaxxers were some tiny minority but you would be surprised to realize there was a network of doctors who were terrified of the toxins in vaccinations and gave falsified documents to parents showing their children had been vaccinated against both chickenpox and measles. In can only be guessed that in North America and Europe where such vaccinations were mandatory there were several hundred thousand that escaped the needle. Also the many refugees who had flooded into the First World countries in the 2000’s never had these vaccinations.

Unfortunately, there was no way this immunity could be transferred by blood transfusions from an immune to a non-immune.

The antivaxxers were vindicated and thank God my Alexis was safe. Then again so many in the Second and Third World were safe as they had not the funds to pay for such vaccinations. They had never trusted the Mitzy and Bill Kruger Foundation enough to give them their arm nor accept their offer of “Free Sterilization” with $200 U.S. cash as an incentive payment.

Poetry Corner: “The eternal sandbox”

The eternal sandbox

Young and innocent
time consuming frivolity
equality of youth
shattered
the dinky toyed hours

pens and suits
boots and hands
a mild game struggle
children vs. children
life kept on that harmless level
fun and simple
lost and baffled in gaming politeness
forgetting who the real enemies are

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: All we get are the coffee grinds

All we get are the coffee grinds

the mighty converge in golden dimensions
lapping on champagne and spooning caviar
forging a new world for the benefit of all

charades for fools and the scribbling bloodsuckers
fantasizing
vomiting streams of foulness
to be lapped up by deceived optimists

applauded from the blackrobed rotunda
let it be known he died not in vain
but let it wait if it must
there is a better world beyond
no rush here
chapter and verse are cheap
let no new sheppards arise
lest they upset the flock
or the Index

Rules of Production
need not be disturbed
Red or White
you know it never changes
raise rise peak
no room for the weak
Hail statistical efficiency
new breakthroughs
new hopes
a new world
a new man
self glorification at such a cheap price
the infinite birthday party drags
with infinite toasts to the
snappy suited apostles of shit

Robert K. Stephen


Virus # 26: Chapter 41 “no money left folks”

Chapter 41: “no money left folks”

As Virus # 26 rolled into countries in the First World they had little money or gold left in their treasuries after spending cast sums on propping up the social and economic system ravaged by the COVIDs. Most of it was spent to avoid a collapse of the social order and of the financial system during the COVIDs. What was left was used to keep a declining infrastructure operational. Roads, water, sanitation, police, transportation, hospitals, schools and the shaky food supply system.

The most damaging First World Virus # 26 implications was the inability to bring about any sort of effective social distancing or finance a propaganda system or keep the unemployed funded. Businesses were still running but as so many had no jobs to go to there was no money to support them or businesses for that matter.

With no social assistance to the unemployed desperation increased and so did crime and political extremism. However due to its deadly nature the virus reduced the number of people requiring subsidization. Its high kill rate reduced the burden on the state as there were many less people to support and provide social assistance to. There were the survivors and there were the dead and some that were trying not to be dead by ingesting the magic bullet cannabis.

What money there was still good but many of the wealthy throughout the world had made large purchases of gold bullion and coins should matters deteriorate.

Hospitals still operated and were crammed with the dying. Once you were infected there was a 99% chance you would be dead within 72 hours so most simply died in their homes realizing the hospital could do little for them but dope them up so they passed as peacefully as possible.

By 2031 a year 86% of Canada’s population was dead so the need for governmental support seemed far less needed the with the COVIDs. This high death rate in Canada was more or less the norm where cannabis was legalized but higher where it was not legal such as the majority of U.S. states.