Remembering Tracy Curley
This past Saturday the cannabis community suffered a great loss in the passing of Tracy Curley. I met Tracy for the first time briefly last year at Lift Toronto, and the only phrase that accurately describes her spirit and presence is larger-than-life.
To those in the Toronto cannabis activism scene, or even other activism hubs across the country, it was hard not to know who Tracy was. Back in the times when recreational legalization was far from a certainty, and patients were fighting against government after government that refused to provide reasonable access, Tracy was a tireless advocate for the plant, and for patients. She managed the Kindred Cafe, a now-closed consumption space for patients to medicate without fear of stigma. Even after the Allard court case and recreational legalization, she still fought for patients and continued to call out the many shortcomings of legalization as it relates to patient access.
From her content on how to bake with cannabis, to her many appearance on Pot TV’s Toronto based programming, to Toronto events such as the annual 4/20 protest and the Global Marijuana March, Tracy made endless contributions to activism and drug policy reform. As events like the Treating Yourself Expo gave way to the current wave of cannabis business conferences, she continued to advocate for patient needs such as the lack of accessible places for medical patients to consume cannabis. She also provided for patients by way of the Wake N Bakery where she used her cannabis edible expertise to provide what the legal medical system could not.
It is due to advocates like Tracy that legalization came to pass, thanks to her endless energy and tireless spirit. In an environment where we tend to hear more about stock prices and export agreements than about the needs of patients, and some CEO’s reinforce rather than work to combat stigma around cannabis, her spirit is needed more than ever to remind everyone of why we sought to end cannabis prohibition in the first place.
Rest in power Tracy.