Recent release “For Country and Cannabis,” from Page Publishing author Al Byrne, documents the experience of a young warrior growing old as a different kind of combatant and his adventure from Boston to the Caribbean, Rhode Island, Vietnam, Hawaii, California, the Indian Ocean, Ohio, Virginia, and Florida.
Al Byrne, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, has completed his new book, “For Country and Cannabis”: a five-decade-long history that teaches readers about government lies, malfeasance, and injustice to groups of U.S. citizens and individuals who wanted the option of using therapeutic cannabis as part of their treatment protocols.
Author Al Byrne earned a BA in economics from the University of Notre Dame and was the starting wing on the ND Rugby team for three years. Completing the four-year Navy ROTC program, he was commissioned and served on a destroyer, USS “Gyatt, DD-712”; as a navy adviser in Vietnam; at various U.S. naval installations; and as a navy Seabee before retiring with twenty-four years of service.
A lifelong cannabis advocate, he was the co-director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws for several years and the national secretary from 1989 to 1992. Al co-founded Patients Out of Time Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational charity, in 1995 to teach the US medical and nursing community about the therapeutic uses of cannabis—in accredited settings. He co-produced the award-winning video documentary “Marijuana as Medicine” in 1997. Al was instrumental in the founding of “The Medical Cannabis Institute,” an online accredited cannabis education syllabus designed for registered nurses and medical doctors. Al is a US representative for patient advocacy for the Europe-based International Academy of Cannabis Medicine.
In 2007, Al cofounded Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access, a national all-volunteer Veteran service organization responsible for negotiating the first positive Veterans Health Administration medical cannabis policy in 2010. VMCA has since won legal status for cannabis treatment for PTS(d) in numerous US states and territories.
Al has co-hosted VMCA’s “Veterans’ Voices” for over seven years, now as a podcast on YouTube and Facebook. He lives in northwest Florida with golden retrievers and is a member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Disabled American Veterans.
Al writes, “Cancer kills by causing so much pain, weakness, and physiological disorder to the affected system that the very act of eating can become revolting to impossible. If you add to this nightmare the deliberate poisoning of the cancer patient, a procedure called chemotherapy, the resulting reaction of the human body can, and often is, total incapacitation. All of us have had some experience with vomiting. Think of the worst nausea you have ever experienced, a seasickness so debilitating you swear you would rather be dead, dry heaves on and on like with the alcohol poisoning the morning after a drunk night. For my dad, a cancer patient, the waves of dizziness and pain burned his guts not just for an hour or a day but many days or a week straight.”
Published by Page Publishing, Al Byrne’s intriguing tale is a love story that offers a glimpse into the rigors of a navy career and a look at a legal, social, and financial war waged over an herb.
Readers who wish to experience this remarkable work can purchase “For Country and Cannabis” at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.
For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.
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