Cannabis Heals Me

When Glenn Holland grew his medical cannabis he did so with his invention - Ganjagrid. The Ganjagrid is a plant vibrator that can be programmed with sound files from the grower.  In Glenn's case he recorded his heartbeat, and had some interesting results when he used it to grow his own medical cannabis.  This invention promises to have several interesting applications for growing both cannabis and other plants.

A couple years ago seemingly healthy Glenn Holland coughed up some blood tinged sputum that concerned him. After trips to a couple of doctors his diagnosis came back with that dreaded word - cancer. His doctor told him he had non-small cell adenocarcinoma that had spread to his lymph nodes and was at the fairly critical stage three A, so he didn't have much time to research or pursue nontraditional methods. Fortunately he was able to get in to a clinical trial for a new immunotherapy drug. Glenn credits that drug along with chemo & cannabis for helping him beat lung cancer.  

Sue Taylor started out as an unlikely advocate for cannabis. The former Catholic school principal left her home in Georgia to have an emergency intervention with her son who wanted to sell medical cannabis.  When she arrived instead of finding a desperate drug addict, she found a plant that possessed many healing capabilities. A plant that she had been lied to about her whole life. She began her advocacy career working for Harborside & doing outreach with seniors. She has been an eye witness to many healing stories, and she joins us today to discuss her journey from a prohibitionist to outspoken proponent of plant medicine & dispensary owner.

After Sharon Letts was diagnosed with breast cancer Pearl Moon showed up on her doorstep with a jar of cannabis oil.  Sharon was a documentarian and research writer by trade, so she was incredulous that cannabis could help her.  If cannabis had healing properties she would know. Right? Wrong! Cannabis not only helped her sleep & eased her pain; it obliterated her tumor.  But it also helped her plainly see all the government propaganda about the plant for what it was - outright lies. Now a writer for multiple cannabis related publications Sharon is hoping to bring cannabis as medicine to television via her connections in the mainstream media.

Nina Simmons & Osiris Stephen's son was diagnosed with epilepsy at the tender age of 2. Sadly traditional medications seemed to exacerbate his seizures, so in desperation they tried plant medicine. At the time CBD oil was still illegal in their home state of New York, so they had to break the law to buy it for their son.  After months of trial and error they found a formula that helped them with wean Aiden off of some of his prescriptions.  In 2019 they started a podcast to share their story and help other parents who are facing the same trials. 

Julie Mejia was only in her 20's when she was attacked by a cognitively impaired client at her place of employment. She was injured on her right side from her neck to her ankle. Days, weeks, and months went by and her body did not heal as it should. Even worse the pain began to spread along the entirety of the right side of her body. She was finally diagnosed by a worker's comp physician with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) and was later told she would likely never walk or work again.

After her diagnosis doctors prescribed Julie a cocktail of opioids & pain management drugs which left the pain relatively untouched but drugged her into a stupor. Desperate for relief she tried cannabis on a trip to Colorado, and the results were life changing. Now Julie helps other patients like herself by creating hemp based products & offering holistic health consulting.

Scott Horton returns for a discussion on SWAT raids which have become a staple of the local law enforcement in the United States' War on Drugs.  It's estimated that 50,000 SWAT raids take place each year across America - a stat that is unrealized by and unfathomable to most Americans.  We also discuss the overall militarization of police, qualified immunity and possible solutions to get all Americans on the same page when it comes to the use of excessive force by LEO's and holding bad actors accountable for their misdeeds.

After a couple of suicide attempts in college because of mismanaged pharmaceuticals, a friend suggested Marlies Fitch-Ledbetter try cannabis edibles to help with her scoliosis & peripheral neuropathy.  When she and her husband moved back to Texas Marlies had to revert back to prescription meds.  After a drug induced seizure put her in the hospital, Marlies went back to her plant based medicine.  Upon re-learning to walk and talk Marlies decided to dedicate her life to getting the word out about cannabis as medicine. She is now a certified consultant & trainer and CEO of Indie Hemp Company.  Her life revolves around educating people about the benefits of cannabis. 

When Tonya Sanders was 35 years old her pain management team referred her to hospice and sent her home to wean off her pain meds.  After 8 years of searching for a cure for her lupus in pharmaceutical drugs the former registered nurse angrily tore up the remaining prescriptions the doctors had written for her.  Just hours after her fentanyl patch wore off she was in excruciating pain & experiencing intense withdrawals, so in desperation she called a friend.  The friend brought over some cannabis, and after trying it, for the first time in YEARS Tonya felt like a human being again.

Melanie Julion aka The Cannabis Doula joins me today to follow up on my discussion with Delene Gilbert on the use of cannabis during pregnancy.  As a doula Melanie works with women during and after pregnancy and many of her clients choose to use cannabis.  We discuss the health benefits of cannabis for both baby and mother and some of the potential risks.  

Delene Gilbert joins me once again for today's episode.  After her first child was born Delene suffered from severe postpartum depression before she discovered cannabis as medicine.  Today we're going to discuss her use of cannabis during her second pregnancy.  Cannabis helped ease her nausea and helped control her pain from a separated pubis.  She was also able to use cannabis instead of pharmaceutical drugs after her second caesarean section.

Suzanne Sherman aka The Red Hot Chilly Prepper and host of The Wasatch Report joins me today for a discussion about medical cannabis laws & how it can affect patients' rights to bear arms.  Most state cannabis laws don't provide protections from the federal government for patients who choose to exercise their rights to bear arms.  So a medical cannabis license holder or an adult use partaker cannot purchase a firearm from a local gun shop that is a Federal Firearms Licensee without lying on the Firearms Transaction Record form 4473.  Lying on this form is perjury and punishable by a prison sentence up to 5 years.  Until the states agree to protect cannabis users from federal gun overreach, users of cannabis - and particularly those with a medical card - are at risk of having their right to bear arms infringed by the Feds.

But wait there's more!  We also touch on a range of topics like COVID-19, federal supremacy, nullification & civil asset forfeiture.  Today's episode is a veritable treasure trove of liberty related topics, but you might want to wear your steel toed boots.  Because Suzanne and I do a little toe stomping.

My jaw nearly hit the floor when Bridget Dandaraw-Serritt listed off her autoimmune disorders with - lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, & Sjögren syndrome.  And per Bridget this is just the tip of the iceberg. Each of these ailments is debilitating in and of itself, but the combination of the above .  Using cannabis allowed her to get off of 9 prescription medications. Which is great because she was taking over 6,000 pills each year!  Cannabis has yielded her a plethora of other health benefits.  Her lupus is now in remission, and she lost 60 pounds once she got off all the prednisone.  Plant based medicine has been a huge boon for Bridget.

Sarah Morris first remembers blacking out when she was 5 years old, but she wasn't diagnosed with dysautonomia until almost 25 years later.  Dysautonomia is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.  You know that system of the body that handles trivial things like  circulation, temperature regulation, digestion, etc.  And Sarah has had difficulty in all these areas.  She can get hypothermia in the middle of the summer in Georgia.  She has a Groshong line inserted into her vein to allow for easier access when she needs iv fluids, and she also has a lot of trouble with digestion.  Her body lives in a fight or flight state.  But cannabis helps ease her nausea and allows her to eat and gets her parasympathetic system to kick in so her adrenals are not in overdrive.   Cannabis allows her to be herself in spite of her many health issues.

Dwayne Bottoms told me something no one else has ever told me on the podcast - that he bought cannabis for medical use during a missions trip - with his pastor's blessing!  If that doesn't show you how times and attitudes are changing around cannabis I don't know what will.

Dwayne began using cannabis a few years ago to treat his Parkinson's Disease instead of opioids replacement.  After almost losing his marriage, Dwayne decided it was time to kick his opiates for good, and he now uses cannabis and one pharmaceutical drug to treat his Parkinson's.  Parkinson's is a progressive disease, so it's an uphill battle for Dwayne.  But with the help of cannabis and his trusty sidekick, Ash, he's taking on this fight day by day.

Ted Metz joins us again to talk about some legislation introduce in the current Georgia legislative session, cannabis law in his home state, and how he got involved in politics.  

Ted Metz went to see a dermatologist for what he thought was a rash.  Turns out it was a very aggressive squamous cell carcinoma.  Within a couple of months the small place behind his ear grew to the size of a peach.  After his diagnosis Ted started a routine of concentrated cannabis oil (Rick Simpson oil) while awaiting surgery.  The day before his surgery a large chunk of the tumor fell out.  Ted's surgery lasted about half the projected time, and the surgeons were able to easily find the edges of the tumor because it had started to die.  His RSO routine had definitely been working.

Ted continued to medicate with cannabis post-surgery and during radiation which was excruciating.  His prognosis is good, and he's continuing to be an outspoken advocate for the plant.

Our nation has morphed from one founded upon the principles of life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness into a behemoth that routinely locks its citizens in cages over a plant and other victimless crimes.  Somewhere this nation clearly went off the rails.  For episode 100 I wanted to take a deep dive into the subject of Natural Rights and Common Law.  Who better to invite on to discuss those issues than an author who has more than 2,000,000 words published on the very subject?  So on a whim a few weeks ago I reached out to Richard J. Maybury via his publishing company, and to my delight I received an email from his wife a couple of days later asking me when I'd like to schedule a time to chat with him.  I was on cloud nine when I got her email, and today, I'm thrilled to air the discussion Richard and I had about his book Whatever Happened to Justice which explains in detail the concepts of natural rights and common law and how our current legal system has gone awry. I hope you enjoy episode 100, and I hope you come away from our discussion more well informed on this very important topic. 

Karen Gray of Scotland had to break  the law in the United Kingdom to get cannabis medicine for her 6 year  old son.  Doctors had tried every prescription medication under the sun  to help control Murray’s seizures, and they just seemed to get worse.   His seizures ran the gamut – from absconce to myclonic to tonic clonic  to drop seizures.  At the time of administering cannabis oil to Murray  he was lying in a hospital bed unresponsive.  Karen had traveled to  Holland to get prescription grade very low THC cannabis oil for him.   She dosed Murray with the oil unbeknownst to his doctors who would have  had to take the oil from her and report her to the authorities.  After  Murray’s release from the hospital and feeling emboldened by the success  they’d seen, Karen decided to purchase a cannabis oil with more THC – a  20:1 ratio of CBD to THC, respectively.  After switching Murray’s  medication he has been seizure free since June of 2019.  Unfortunately for the Gray family  the UK’s National Health System does not cover the cost of Murray’s  plant based medicine, so the family spends 1400 pounds PER MONTH for his  medication.

As a longtime listener of the Dangerous History podcast my ears perked up when host CJ Killmer did an episode on Harry Anslinger.  Knowing his propensity to take deep dives into subjects & historical figures I was surprised that episode was only an hour long.  So I invited him on the show to expound on his episode a bit and talk about the man behind the initial war on cannabis.  Full disclosure.  We may have gotten side tracked and talked about economic policy, central planning, US foreign adventurism and civil liberties.  Ya know.  Just run of the mill libertarian stuff.  Enjoy!

After suffering a traumatic event abroad Marcus Wilson attempted to treat his PTSD with alcohol.  After running across the work of Dr. Dustin Sulak, Marcus decided to try microdosing with cannabis as an alternative to alcohol.  After a few months of trial and error Marcus found he could control the majority of his symptoms by taking small, scheduled doses of cannabis infused oils.  And today he's here to share his story and more information about microdosing as an alternative method of consuming cannabis.

Moriah Barnhart's daughter Dahlia was just 2 years old when she was diagnosed with brain cancer.  Surgery, chemo and radiation drained the life out of Dahlia.  Moriah was heartbroken as she watched the light dim in her daughter's eyes.  Dahlia's condition was so unstable that doctors couldn't give her any pain medications after one of many surgeries for fear it would suppress her respiration and kill her.  In an act of desperation Moriah broke the law and gave her daughter cannabis to ease her pain.  The change was almost instantaneous. Dahlia's appetite returned, and she wanted to play!  Moriah and the hospital staff were amazed as Dahlia changed before their very eyes.

Few things strike terror in the heart of any parent like a knock on the door from Child Protective Services.  And for parents who use cannabis to treat medical conditions for themselves or their children, those visits could spell big trouble.  It is the mission of Krista Mcintire of Family Rights Advocacy to help families maintain and protect their rights while under scrutiny from CPS.  She and her trained advocates inform parents of their legal rights and serve as a witness and an advocate, while holding CPS caseworkers accountable throughout the investigation process.  They are a lifeline to parents in what can feel like a very desperate time.

During today's episode Krista shares tips on how to handle that unexpected knock on the door.  Shares insights into CPS's policy on the admission of drug use.  We also discuss some recent trends that involve doctors & hospitals as mandatory reporters, and how to recognize red flags that might indicate you are under investigation but have not yet been informed of that investigation.

John Prinz suffered an on the job injury in the 80's.  Back surgery crippled him and left him with a crooked spine.  John was on powerful opioids for many years, and like many intractable pain patients suffered from PTSD. When his doctor recommended cannabis to help with his PTSD, he soon found it helped control his pain as well. Soon he was able to wean himself off the powerful opioids and treat himself solely with plant medicine.

Registered veterinary technician & certified vet cannabis counselor, Danielle Loughton, joins us again, but she's not talking about our 4 legged friends today.  She's sharing her personal testimony on CBD oil & her auto immune disorders.  For 22 years she had suffered from autoimmune diseases like ulcerative colitis, joint & muscle pain & skin issues.  Out of desperation to find something to help her gut issues she took CBD oil on the recommendation of a friend.  To her surprise several cysts she'd had on her shoulder went away after just 3 doses of CBD oil.  After 10 months she felt like a brand new person, and her daily prescriptions were cut from 14 to 7.

Danielle also answers the question that I get the most often. How do I find a good CBD product? Listen in to get her recommendation on selecting a quality product.

Monica Perez joins me to discuss a documentary from 2006 - AKA Tommy Chong.  She had watched the movie a few years ago and discussed it on her blog, but I just recently watched it.  We talked about the documentary and Operation Pipe Dreams - the sting operation that the federal government used to ensnare Tommy Chong.  Monica and I discuss how the Feds targeted Tommy because he came to fame doing the Cheech and Chong stoner movies and "glamorized" cannabis use.  The movie is a startling reminder that if the government wants to make an example of you they'll spare no stolen resource in order to do so.

Elizabeth Futch is a medical refugee.  Like too many ailing Texans she had to leave her family and friends so that she could get legal access to plant medicine in Colorado.  Elizabeth was so debilitated by her fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis that she could barely walk.  Today she is hiking mountains and helping her husband run his welding business.  But her heart yearns for the day she can return home to her loved ones and her farm in rural East Texas.  I know you'll agree with us that Texans should not have to leave home to get access to medical cannabis!

Tyler Colford joined me to discuss some adult use cannabis legislation that's coming down the pipe in his home state of Vermont.  The proposed regulatory environment in VT puts some pretty onerous restrictions on the legal market.  Tyler feels these restrictions will help the black market continue to thrive.

And as liberty lovers are wont to do we chased a few rabbits - talking about our right not to self incriminate as well as the importance of speaking honestly & frankly with kids about cannabis & its legal risk.

Lesli Downs started experiencing headaches at the tender age of 8.  By the time she was 16 those headaches had progressed to full-fledged migraines, and she was officially diagnosed after she blacked out in the bathroom at school.  Her migraines frequently required her to get Demerol shots, which would knock her out for 3 days.  Once after a bad flair up the cocktail of drugs her doctors gave her put her in a coma for 8 hours.  As she aged her headaches got progressively worse, but after her son was born the pain went through the roof.  She found herself in a cycle of being prescribed more and more drugs as her health declined and her body became dependent upon the opioids she was taking.  In 2016 she decided enough was enough and opted to use cannabis to treat her pain and wean herself off the opioids she'd been taking for untold years.  With the help of cannabis, she's been able to keep her headaches in check and completely rid her life of pharmaceutical drugs.

In her earlier life Kim lived a wild and rowdy life as a party girl, and though she had a methamphetamine addiction she never really cared for cannabis.  When she gave her life to Christ she turned her life around and became a tee-totaler.  But even after making tremendous life changes she still struggled with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder and depression.  She had thought once she cleaned her life up, everything would get better for her, so she was very discouraged to still be dealing with these issues.  She turned to mental health professionals who prescribed her a slew of prescription drugs.  At one point she was on 5 psychotropic medications, yet she was still miserable.

In 2017 a close friend recommended she try CBD oil/cannabis.   She decided she'd had enough with taking the traditional route and that something had to change in her life or she was going to lose her husband and her family.  Cannabis helped tame the raging beast inside of Kim and has helped her adapt a more healthy lifestyle over all.

In 2011 when doctors told her son that the opioids he was taking were killing him, Melissa started researching alternative pain medications for him.  When she discovered cannabis could help reduce his pain and replace his prescription drug, she and her husband got involved with the medical cannabis movement in Arkansas.  Unfortunately the bill they were championing got taken off the ballot, and an inferior MMJ bill, Issue 6, passed in 2016 instead.  Melissa and other MMJ proponents in AR tried to get the legislature to address shortcomings of Issue 6, but they refused to do so.  As a result she and her husband are behind a push to bring adult use cannabis to Arkansas.  

Thanks to cannabis & exercise Melissa's son was able to wean himself off of the powerful opioids he'd been using for more than a decade.

Lauren Houston was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis (a painful bladder condition) in 2006.  A few years later she began experiencing gastroparesis or stomach paralysis. Lauren feels her gastroparesis was caused in part by the very strong pharmaceutical pain killers prescribed to control the symptoms of her IC. After a new drug Marinol made her feel awful, she researched the drug to discover it was a form of synthetic THC. She knew that THC was found naturally in cannabis, and she decided to use the real thing instead.  She has had tremendous success with cannabis as medicine - eliminating most of her "harmaceuticals". Lauren has become an outspoken advocate for cannabis and frequently makes trips to her state capital to lobby in favor of legalization.

Our guest today is David Gornoski.  He’s the host of A Neighbor’s Choice radio & a podcast called Things Hidden. David has written articles for Daily Caller, Townhall, American Conservative & FEE.  He’s well versed on a host of topics, but he’s joining us today to talk about Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory and the Scapegoat Mechanism.  And I’m sure you’re asking yourself what heck this has to do with cannabis!?

I think we all know what a scapegoat is – a person or group of people who bear the blame for others.  Often people who use or abuse drugs are scapegoated.  Drug users/abusers are often seen as blight on otherwise purportedly perfect society.  They are seen as the cause of all the community’s problems as opposed to a symptom of underlying, systemic problems.  I’ve seen this in my own life.  There’s a local Facebook page, and people there continually rail against drug users citing drugs as the problems in this county – crime, unemployment, etc.  In fact we even see this scapegoating on an even larger scale.  In the wake of 9/11 President George W Bush even made statements that people who use drugs support the war on terror! According to Bush, "If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terrorism.”    So now drug users are material supporters of terrorism.  Talk about a scapegoat!  So David Gornoski is going to join us to talk about the underlying anthropological roots of scapegoating.

After Robert Head returned home from the military he noticed that his drinking was spiraling out of control.  Between the booze and prescription drugs, he was becoming a person he didn't recognize, and more significantly, didn't like.  After speaking to fellow vets about their experiences with cannabis he decided to try it as medicine.  To his surprise and without purposely doing so he started drinking less.  And soon he was able to get off the pharmaceuticals.  Now he's putting his efforts behind a project called Operation Trapped that's shining a light on the veterans who come home from war and are prescribed a cocktail of prescription drugs that dull their senses and take away their sense of purpose.  

Matt Grimshaw is an accidental activist.  While studying to become an American citizen he stumbled onto the issue of veteran suicide and PTSD and decided he'd do something to shine a brighter light on the issue.  At the same time he ran across an article about a veteran in Colorado who was able to reduce his pill intake from 47 per day to 5 or 6 thanks to cannabis.   A documentary addict from childhood and a freelance videographer, Matt talked to his client Monster Gardens about doing a live grow show featuring a military veteran as the grower.  A few months later Matt showed up at the door of Al, a Vietnam vet in California, and spent a year teaching him to grow medical cannabis.  He documented their journey on film.

Matt's got another project he'd like to start with veterans across the country in 2020.  Check out today's podcast to hear more about that!

Shortly before returning from her 16 month tour in Afghanistan in 2007 April Martinez started experiencing intermittent dizzy spells and headaches.  By the 2008 she had daily headaches and soon those headaches became chronic migraines that never ended.  She was medically retired from the military in 2011, and she tried every prescription drug under the sun to get her debilitating headaches under control.  In 2015 while they were stationed in Washington state one of her providers recommended she try cannabis.  After some trepidation and research she took the provider's advice and tried a liquid form of cannabis so she could easily dose herself.  Within a month and a half April had figured out her sweet spot dose, and she began to be able to function in life again.  She replaced 15-20 pills per day with 1 or 2 pills a day and cannabis.  Her pain wasn't gone, but cannabis took the edge off of it.  She could play with her children, take them to the park, complete household chores!  For the first time in years she sat down and read a book and was able to comprehend what she'd read!  She had hope again!  

In 2017 her husband retired from the military, and their family moved back to Texas where cannabis is still illegal.  That move meant April had to give up cannabis as medicine and return to prescription drugs that didn't take the pain away and turned her into a zombie.  But April is determined to have hope again, and she's become an outspoken advocate for the plant.  She wants to be able to medicate in a way that helps her be present in her own life.  

In 2016 after back surgery Tim Morris woke up in excruciating pain - far worse than before surgery.  The pain persisted for many months until he finally got a second opinion and underwent surgery again.  It turns out his first doctor had not completed the first surgery correctly, but despite several follow up surgeries to correct this error Tim's pain persists.  It impacts his mobility causing numbness in his legs and feet.  Popping Percosets and other prescription painkillers dull the pain, but they also often render him a zombie.  The only thing that bring his pain to a tolerable level and allows him to live his life is cannabis.  Unfortunately for Tim he still lives in Alabama where cannabis is illegal.  And when his urinalysis shows THC in it he's stereotyped as a stoner and a drug addict.  But Tim knows something the rest of them don't - cannabis is a great pain reliever.