Meet Doc Ray: Cannabis Legacy Grower & Medicinal Craft Practitioner
Photos Courtesy of Author
Doc Ray is one hell of a warrior. He's been raided, beaten, shot, stabbed, dragged, locked down and blown up. As a seasoned veteran and leader in the cannabis community, he’s seen the good, the bad, and the ugly unfold in this industry. Over his lifetime, he’s gone to great lengths to protect the plant and its integrity. In the cannabis community, he’s seen as quite a force to be reckoned with – a Vietnam war veteran and cannabis leader who won’t stop until all veterans and medical patients have full and equal access to Mother Ganja herself.
I had the incredible opportunity to sit down with him and hear his timeline of stories – from the initial puff he ever hit from a joint, to the first book he ever picked up about how to sex cannabis plants.He reflected on memories of outlaw interactions and stories from his days in the “Wild West of weed” throughout the town. All the while, he was unknowing of just how influential his passion and drive had shaped the cannabis community over the past decades.
The Vietnam War and Cannabis Culture
The timeline of Doc Ray’s exposure to cannabis is as classic as you’d imagine any scenario in 1970s Northern California to look like. Doc smoked his first little pinner joint as a young teenager who had already endured the last 5 years in the Vietnam War. In 1972, he was an amazed 16-year old who saw his buddy’s secret grow hidden in the Northern California forest. By ‘74, he was reading a book about how to breed cannabis plants and learning about sensimillia cannabis and landrace strains from Mexico.
“As I was growing up, friends around me were drinking alcohol and stealing pills from the medicine cabinets,” he reflects on his early days as a consumer and how negative the stigma was back then when caught in the act. “The church prayed the Satan out of me the first time I got caught smoking weed,” he noted, “But even then, I knew cannabis was all up and down in the Bible.”Doc had a significant understanding of how sacred cannabis was, especially considering his personal use of it medicinally. By the time he was 21 years old, he had experienced a drastic amount of severe traumatic brain injuries from the war.
Through each use of cannabis, he realized the immediate therapeutic relief and relaxation it provided him. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the many debilitating side effects war veterans experience, aside from chronic body pain and aches from any previous injuries or harm. In a post-war era where many veterans sought therapeutic relief options, Doc turned to Mother Ganja to help better his well-being and calmness.“This plant was there for me during a time in my life where it was either I take the mountains of opioids and psychotropics or find a more natural alternative.” When he began feeling a noticeable difference in his body, Doc Ray set out to not only medicate with cannabis but experiment with different specific cultivars that catered to these symptoms he regularly suffered.
The Art & Care of Cultivation
Doc’s clear connection and love for cannabis goes beyond the plant itself and extends to the craft of cultivation. When asked what it was like cultivating cannabis for the first time, “It’s a sort of euphoric approach we take in prepping the soil alone, that commercial doesn’t ever consider.The love we give to handle, dry, and cure the plants – it's all a different process.
Mendocino cultivation is its own renowned process and culture. There’s an art and love to this that is disconnected from the rest of the industry.”Oftentimes, he’s had a hard time witnessing and experiencing some of these shifts and changes to come out of this budding new industry. “It’s offensive for someone like me to see 1/8th mylar bags that do nothing but destroy the flower in the process of bringing down our Mother Ganja for greed instead of the benefit of people. Until we get that right with legalization, it’s gonna be a train wreck.”
Green Mountain Boys: The “707 Outlaws” of Mendocino County
In my conversation with Doc, I mentioned how I spent some time near Ukiah, Mendocino last year cultivating on an outdoor cannabis farm. His eyes immediately lit up with nostalgia. “Sis, my name is all over that town,” he grinned and took a long drag of his joint.Doc proceeded to set the scene of how the Wild West of weed played out in Mendocino 30 years ago.
Throughout the entire battle of the War on Drugs, Doc Ray was a victim of DEA raids, break-ins, and robberies around his illicit grows.He was seen as a guardian of the valley and part of the “Green Mountain Boys.” It was about a baker’s dozen group of all ex-forcers and military veterans who rode through Mendocino and hung around together – secretly growing one of the largest, mass cultivations and controlling the large pipeline of weed trafficked.
At one point, they had nearly 28,000 plants hidden from the US Highway 101, and farmers in the Northern California community could rely on as much as $9,000 per pound for the finest OG Kush.Yet despite the extreme risk and trouble that loomed for these legacy growers, Doc and the men in this group knew that this risk to reward came from love. “There was a love in this community that the commercial industry doesn’t have. It’s a lack of understanding.” But as the pot prohibition continued on, the Green Mountain Boys got more and more fed up with the fight.“
9/11 was a pivotal moment for us all. This group of 707 outlaws came together closely from the frustration of the DEA hammering down. The market got more brutal with prices dropping and farmers getting raided. We were a rag-tag group of guys who weren’t gonna take it anymore.
After getting beaten and raided more than enough times, Doc wanted to hide away from all that he'd found himself so deeply involved in. He went rogue for about six years (around 2003-2009), keeping low while re-shifting his focus and motivation for providing access to cannabis medicine for veterans, as the state of California reformed its legalization through regulation.
A DRG Original: Blue Skunk
Back in 1992, Doc got his hands on Skunk #1, an indica-dominant cultivar grown in the Emerald Triangle from his good friend and genetic breeder, Dave Cooper. Doc Ray specifically loved this strain for its rapid, relaxing effects that took the edge off his daily aches and pains within minutes.Fast forward 14 years later, Doc is smoking the bud from the notable Blue Dream. He received a classic cultivar from another breeder, dear friend and mentor Lynn Ryan.
Back then, Doc loved this cultivar for the same incredible features Blue Dream is favored for today – a cerebral and uplifting high with a delicious taste and sweet smoke.After smoking both Skunk #1 and Blue Dream and noticing the effect it had on his mind and body, the next step was a no-brainer for Doc. He crossed these two cannabis cultivars he favored and as a result, bred an original chemovar that combatted all of his PTSD symptoms. “I’m a simple man sister, I didn’t want my head to mess with me and my back to hurt anymore. That’s why I crossed this.”
Art Courtesy of Casey Renteria
Doc Ray Genetics for Veteran Relief
Known as Blue Skunk, this Doc Ray Genetics' original is bred to alleviate the PTSD thought process and “let go” of trigger moments that come up for veterans. It's a cultivar that Doc is on a mission to provide to the entire veteran community, “So others can have my plant for their wellbeing.”Doc continues his work and efforts as a pheno-specific cannabis breeder. He’s exploring how to patent cultivars, claim intellectual property (IP) of his genetics, and help protect small-scale growers and their plants. He currently has three unique cannabis cultivars in his genetic library, each with their specific effects and features bred to combat common PTSD effects.
Today, he is not only an expert medicinal craft cannabis practitioner for over 40 years but Doc is involved with Humboldt Alchemy. It's a collective of independent cultivators in the Emerald Triangle who stand to support each other through the hardships of legalization and defining a place for them in this legal market.Doc Ray is a part of Humboldt Alchemy to support independent powerhouse players and craft farmers and deepen relationships built over the industry’s challenges. “We are the brands and award winners in cannabis. We’re growing what they will be seeking in 5 years.”
Keeping the Plant to the People First
With his decades of expertise, Doc Ray has seen many viewpoints, perspectives, and people change as this new industry found its footing. But there’s one point he hopes all those involved within this community and industry understand first and foremost – “It’s always been about the plant for the people first. Not the money.”Hearing his stories about hiding and growing out in the Emerald Triangle – I can’t even begin to fathom the labor, let alone anxiety that would come with running an illicit and successful underground cannabis empire. I asked him when or if he ever began to see hope or signs of a better and legal cannabis community. “Was it ever gonna get legalized? I thought I was gonna take it to the grave.”
Despite the laundry list of brutal setbacks and challenges faced, it hasn’t stopped Doc from finding his own way to support and connect both the veteran and cannabis communities.“I truly believe veterans and cannabis have been simultaneously coexisting since the ‘60s. Even before. I believe both veterans and cannabis use will pave the way for a legal industry and continue to stay at the forefront for decades. I see how the craft and veteran community have joined closer forces to work together for federal descheduling.
We must remove the plant from any type of control. This matter should be handled the same as firearms, potatoes, or fricken' alcohol.”There is no doubt that Doc Ray has been through an immense amount of difficulty in his lifetime, but with the help of Mother Ganja and his authentic and genuine heart of gold, Doc lives on the mission to continuously help and give back to his community.
As I wrapped up our conversation, I tried to find the best way to thank him for all he's endured and worked hard to carve out in this industry. His reply to me is one I will always have downloaded in my memory, “One day you’re gonna be a gray-haired old lady and I want you to pay it forward and remember sitting with me and how I paid it forward. This is what it’s all about. Teach somebody else about the love and reason why we did it.” It’s a mission I promised Doc I’d live by, and it’s a hope we share with the rest of the cannabis community.
