Rick Simpson’s journey with cannabis did not start as a movement, a brand, or a headline. He grew his first plants, seen in this photo, in Nova Scotia in the early 2000s, after a workplace injury in 1997 left him with chronic pain, neurological symptoms, and a growing distrust of pharmaceuticals. By 2003, after being diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on his skin, Rick did what many patients do when options feel thin, he went back to the plant.
That was the year Rick Simpson first began growing his own cannabis plants in Nova Scotia with a very specific purpose. He was not chasing potency for recreation. He was experimenting with extraction, trying to concentrate what the plant was already doing for him neurologically and physically. Using ether based extraction methods common at the time, he produced what we now call RSO, though back then it was simply cannabis oil made out of necessity.
In 2003, Rick applied the oil topically to his skin cancer lesions, covered them, and documented what happened next. Within weeks, the lesions resolved. This was not subtle. This was visible, undeniable, and life changing. Shortly after, in 2004, Rick informed his doctors that he was using cannabis oil, not as a supplement, but as his primary intervention. The response was not curiosity or collaboration. It was silence, dismissal, and in some cases, warning.
That moment matters. Rick did not hide what he was doing. He told medical professionals directly that cannabis oil was part of his care. Instead of being studied, it was ignored. Instead of being explored, it was pushed aside. So Rick did what compassion providers do. He kept growing, kept extracting, and kept giving the oil away to patients who had run out of options.
By the mid 2000s, Rick Simpson was no longer just a patient. He was a symbol of what happens when lived experience outruns policy. His name stopped being just a name and became shorthand for resistance, survival, and a plant that refused to stay quiet.
RSO is not folklore. It is a reminder that medicine does not always come from permission. Sometimes it comes from a backyard in Nova Scotia, a man who would not stop asking why, and a plant that answered louder than the system ever did. #CannabisHistory#RSO#FECO#RickSimpson
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