An open conversation about cannabis and children using it.

Piper & Brian from Texas talk openly about their sons use for medical cannabis. They both are connected to Americans for Safe Access and are advocates for medical cannabis. Plus we have Ms Mary Catherine Szomjassy from Elevation Nations who’s the VP Business Development and she comes from the medical side of cannabis for decades. Cannabis Talk 101, The World's #1 Source for Everything Cannabis. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Cannabis Talk one on one featuring Blue with
Joe Brande, the world's number one source for everything cannabis.
Welcome to Cannabis Talk one on one, the world's number
one source for everything cannabis with Blue and Joe Grande.
And thank you for listening to our podcasts all around
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(00:21):
eight hundred twenty nineteen eighty and go check out the
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Blue is at the number one Christopher writes, and I
am at Joe Grande fifty two. And I gotta remind
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(00:43):
they do what they say they're gonna do. Make sure
you check them out online at Bear Flaggroup dot com.
Now we've got a very special show today you guys.
We've got a couple from Texas that's on the line
with me. Piper, who is the corporate development manager for
Americans for Safe Access with the Masters and Medical Cannabis Now.
She became an advocate for medical cannabis after seeing remarkable

(01:04):
results for one of her sons. And then we have
her husband, Brian Lyndon, who also has been a cannabis
caregiver and advocate since twenty thirteen. He frequently attends cannabis
events as a volunteer for Americans for Safe Access as
well and does this thing with them. Then we have
Miss Mary Catherine Sean Jizy. Did I get that right again?

(01:25):
Mary are always funny about joke. M Zizi. Okay, there
we go, she said it right. I don't Elevations Nations
is what she's representing. It's a great place to go
out there if you're looking for a great hotel to
smoke at an organization. They have the best hotels in
Arizona for fun. They're opening up in Vegas all over

(01:47):
the place. Of course, I'm getting calls and I don't
have my volume down because I'm on it right now.
But we have her jumping on I'm sorry about that, everybody.
And she's, like I said, the VP of business development
for them, and she comes from a medical side, a
huge background from the medical side of cannabis for decades,
and that's why we have her on the show today.
I'm gonna explain how and why, and she's gonna explain

(02:08):
what she's done. What we're doing here is I got
an email, folks from Piper, who I met in Vegas,
and I had a great conversation with Piper in Vegas,
which was awesome, and I want to welcome you guys
all to the show. First off, here's a big round
of applause for you guys, thank you so much, as
we're doing the great Zoom interview. But Piper and I
met in Vegas and had an amazing conversation. She sent

(02:29):
me an email thanked me for a great conversation, and
I think they're back, and we've just been having dialogue
ever since, and we've seen each other at many cannabis events.
And then she recently hit me with an email regarding
her sixteen year old son, who is smoking cannabis and
dabbing now and doing a lot of things that she
feels might not be appropriate and was wondering if we

(02:51):
can cover the topic on the show, and Mary, I
called you right away because I remember as we interviewed
you and then having conversations with you with your clinical
background in cannabis, going, isn't this something that's right up
your alley? And then before you know, we all kind
of knew each other from the grape vine and everything else.
So tell us real quick, Mary, about your clinical background
and what you do and how this is kind of

(03:13):
right up your alley. Sure, well, thanks so much, first
of all for having me on again. You guys are
just fantastic, and Piper, it's been wonderful to connect with
you on this platform. I know we've crossed paths in
our lives before, but so I started out in medical cannabis.
I was in elementary school vice principle and I was
working working with kids and looking at what we could

(03:36):
address in the classroom to offset the impacts of pharmaceuticals.
And when I was pursuing a PhD in that we
found that studies had really been occurring on cannabis, and
as a consumer myself, I really wanted to start to
put the dots together. And this was eighteen years ago.
So it was a long time ago that you know,

(03:56):
I was really starting to get into this kind of stuff.
And so in Washington State, in the medical program, one
thing that was not being addressed was pediatrics and children's
use in cannabis post for medical and what's happening now
and recreational. So as one of the original co founders
of AIMS Institute in Seattle, we started working with patients,

(04:18):
started out with oncology, pediatric neurology, and then we started
getting patients coming in that we're just looking for day
to day insight on how to apply cannabis as a
therapeutic agent, but also just how to deal with the
use of cannabis in their life or their loves one's lives.
So and doing all of that. Being down in Arizona,
I saw Cannabis Friendly Hotel and thought, you know what,

(04:39):
this is where I want to start talking to people
on an open platform before they get to the clinic,
right before it's that point. Let's talk about cannabis use
in general. Let's talk about it in infused dinners. Let's
talk about it, you know, in a fun setting so
that it's easily the information is easily absorbed because when
you're in a clinical setting, you're at that point right
where you really need help and you're not necessarily thinking

(05:03):
pragmatically about a lot of different things. So this is
why I love getting to do this kind of stuff
with you guys, because we get to marry it all
together and with what's happening in parallel industries. It's important,
it is, and you know, you having this medical background
and dealing with children and this and that. And even
though Brian and Piper's son is sixteen and I got
that email, I was like, maybe this is something that

(05:23):
you could listen to and incorporate your professional experiences and
the data that you have to back all this and
that all being said, Brian and Piper before we get
into your son that's sixteen, I believe you guys have.
It's funny because you guys are advocates for cannabis right
like you guys are strong believers in it. You first
seen it, if I'm not mistaken, with your older son,

(05:45):
and I'd like for you guys to share that story
of how much you guys believe in the plant and
how you guys found it working so well with your boys. Well,
we haven't experiences, I guess with cannabis longer than for
our son, but I don't know. For me. That's when
my true love for cannabis developed, when I saw what
it could what it could do for my son with

(06:06):
his severe epilepsy, has lenox guesto syndrome and so. UM,
it was remarkable what we saw for him, but also
so complicated and understood that he needed specific strains, and
so I went and pursued the master's degree to see, um,

(06:27):
see if I could understand more about cannabis UM at
University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, the MCST program and UM,
so I've got a little bit of clinical background too
with cannabis, but part of that was understanding that there's
risks also, you know, with cannabis used disorder, with cannabis,

(06:52):
hypoemesis syndrome, with psychosis and uh, you know, with all
of those things, it's most dependent. Really, so when our
older sons started using uh cannabis as dabs or as
live resin, you know, it was a concern for me.
We have we have risk factors in our family. And

(07:14):
UM he's also been expressing that he feels he feels paranoid,
and you know, I know, frankly, I know tons of
people who have quit smoking cannabis because of feelings of
paranoia that they they're not happy with. And so, I
mean all of us kind of know this, and um,

(07:38):
somehow as advocates, you know, we're so busy trying to
remove the stigma with cannabis, uh that that we're I
feel like we're not addressing sufficiently that that there are
risks and you know, they're not as huge as the
risks that we've been told for the past century, but
ignoring them isn't going to make them go away. We

(08:00):
need to have some way to address them. And I
just wanted to have start the conversations well, or have
the conversations. I'm sure there's people somewhere having these conversations already,
but I appreciate you Joe and Mary for taking part
in these conversations and being eager to talk about this
because it is something we need, We need some sort

(08:21):
of trusted I mean, it's advocacy still advocacy to the
public about the risks that there may be for some people.
So and not only risks, but you know, it's taboo
and a lot of people's homes and a lot of
people think, you know, oh my god, I don't want
to have my kid do it. But then when you're

(08:42):
looking for medicine to help treat, you know, whatever it
is that your child is going through, boy or girl,
You're going to do anything you can as a parent
to help them. And I'm sure you and Brian were
doing whatever you can. And once you realize that cannabis
was the you know, an option. And I'm curious Brian
for you, you know, as I read that you're a

(09:02):
helper with this and you know started joining in twenty thirteen.
Was it easy for you to jump on board with it?
Was it hard for you as the dad and your
boys are now doing cannabis? Where did you stand with this? No,
it wasn't easy for me at all. I m well,
and our youngest son's act is the first um is

(09:25):
the first adolescent. And also keeping in mind we are
in Texas. It's a little bit, not a little it's
a lot different, okay, you know, going out to Phoenix
and looking for a hotel that's you know, friendly, I
noticed how different it is. I feel like some people

(09:46):
from out in the West Coast should come stay about
a week or two and just experience the differences. You know,
it's really incredible to me the way it's viewed and
the way things are looked at. But back to my
youngest this was what seven, about nine years nine years ago,
so at the time he was entering kindergarten, I suppose

(10:07):
he was between and nine years ago in Texas. It
certainly was not like it is today. And I don't
know how much we Basically I was ready to part
ways with Piper when it came down to her thinking
we could give this tincture we found on the internet.

(10:28):
We can make it out of this weed I bought
from somebody because I've been a closet smoker since I
don't know, twelve fourteen. Okay, but I'm not. I was
not okay giving us medicating our son. There's CPS. There's
lots of things that alarmed me. And one of the
things to think about is if CPS was to show up,

(10:51):
we have a son that's They were suggesting brain surgery,
removing the scalp. Check with the EG to see. I'm
not sure if it's called a lobotomy, if it's any where,
but to remove a part of the brain, and it's
a fifty fifty chance that it's actually going to work.
It's another fifty fifty chance being in his frontal lobe
that his executive function and these things, he may it

(11:13):
may lose his ability to speak if if they do this.
That was also part of it. And then they thought
for sure, with all the medication he was taking that
was over that was prescribed, that he would end up
with liver failure or kidney failure at some point because
he's just taking it for so so long. But not
only that, he's he was still having you know, two

(11:33):
to six you know, major grandmall seizures daily, and if
he's taking a lot of the prescribe medication and he's
sort of I think the work I was using his
catatonic but you know it's sort of like his zombie
just they're you know, because of the medication and the seizures.
You know. So when they suggested that and they told

(11:54):
me the odds is when you know, said, you know,
I'm okay with this if you want to try that,
it finally onto me that here I'm literally considering cutting
a scalp BAF from moving it, and I'm not even
willing to consider something else, you know, something else that
I know and I have done for many years, is

(12:14):
not going to kill you. You know, it's not. It's
not as bad as cutting your scalp off. You know,
it would be an easy way to check and see
if it works. And it did. It worked, and it
worked incredible, like to the point where I started wondering
if maybe maybe I miss maybe something it was just coincidence,
to the point I could this have really worked like that?

(12:36):
You know, it was incredible. And the main thing to
me was why on earth is there no neurologist an epileptologist.
There's only so many there's like nine or something in
the country, or there were many years ago. But why
on earth are they not even interested in trying this?
I mean, is it Do they all feel like it's

(12:57):
just so seemed so far fetched that it's a waste
of the time or I don't really understand why. I mean,
I get it there's a schedule, but you know there
was a schedule before she tried it too, all right,
So you know, Brian, I think I can shed a
little bit of light on that. And first of all,
I mean, your story is amazing, and it's it's unfortunate

(13:17):
because it's pretty common and and and that's that's why
we're all here today, right, is that we have so
many children, people in general, but children specifically that are
in this position. We have parents in your position that
are asking the same question, why, right, why do you
have to go through you know, potential, you know, a

(13:38):
marital disruption? Why do you have to deal with family
members that are so anti because of the stigma when
we know and you were talking about nine years ago,
it still exists. So I grew up in Georgia, right,
so I know exactly the stigma and everything that you
guys are feeling. And as a mom of for myself,
you know, this is exactly why we're having this conversation.

(14:00):
You get that information coming into our clinic and at
some point you're faced with the decision of do I
consider CPS? Do I consider You know this this terribly
invasive surgery that only has a small percentage chance of working,
and you know, what can we do with our children here?
And I'm so glad you guys had, you know, the

(14:21):
ability to talk with each other. And Piper has a
background that she has because it shouldn't have had to
gotten to that point, right, And it's the conversation that
we have time and time and time again. And then
when you do find something that works, you know, how
how do we get it to the kids? What type
of product can we recommend? Right? There's zero regulation and

(14:41):
the recreational market on the medical perspective of it, and
so you know, just just trying to talk with the
industry professionals to say, listen, you're actually creating medicine, right
And and like you said, you get stuff online, you
can now get stuff in the stores, But at what
point are we going to really place merit this conversation
that we're having, all these other parents are having. And

(15:03):
not only that, it's you know, the vulnerability of thinking,
the risk factor of everything you just describe, Brian, right,
like there's a real fear. And we've heard of stories
of people getting in trouble for doing what you did
and they might come after you guys for God's sakes, right,
I mean you're in Texas where it's still not fully
legal like that, what did you do? And I appreciate

(15:24):
you guys' vulnerability on talking so openly about this. We're
gonna take a break real quick, We're gonna come back,
We're gonna continue talking about their son and what they're doing,
what they did. They started off as a youngster. He's
now sixteen, right, am I mistaking sixteen? No, our younger
one's fourteen fourteen? Oh wow, O younger one has Oh
the younger one has the epilepsy. Okay, we're gonna get

(15:45):
all the into that. We're gonna take a break. We'll
be right back. It's Kindabis Talk one oh one. Subscribe
to our weekly newsletter on our website, Cannabi's Talk one
on one dot com. Welcome back to Cannabis one. Have

(16:05):
you guys seen the latest edition of the Cannabis Talk magazine?
You guys, If not, you gotta go get yourself a
copy to day check it out at your local dispension
or smoke shop near you. If they don't have one,
had them hit us up one eight twenty, nineteen eighty
and order some copies, or just go check it out
online at Cannabis Talk Magazine dot com and subscribe. Now,
different type of show today, folks, an open dialogue conversation

(16:26):
with Piper and Brian talking about their situation. Mary with
the clinical background and she's also on hospitality of course,
with elevation nations and continuing to talk about your guys's
son and what you guys had to do with this.
Did your son ever have to have that surgery? He
actually wasn't a candidate for the surgery. So he has

(16:47):
multifocal epilepsy where the seizures start in multiple areas, and
then he also has a generalized epilepsy where it's indistinguishable
of the different areas, and so too many types of
seizures and those generalized can't be taking care of with uh.
I think it's called an epileptectomy. Uh, actually the name

(17:08):
of the seizure. So they just removed the part of
the brain where the seizures come from. So when there's
a lot of areas, then no, they don't they don't
do that surgery. Um, that decision is of course, yeah,
made it a lot easier the stressful thought. But but yeah,
I mean there's a lot of concerns, especially in Texas,

(17:31):
but I think still anywhere with being able to get reliable,
consistent medication. And one of the things that with Americans
for Safe Access and also I want to say real
quick that a lot of times people who volunteer for
Americans for Safe Access talk about their own opinions. And
that's what I'm doing here. I don't represent Americans for

(17:51):
safe access with what we're talking about. Um, but um,
the you know, the federal status just has to change
in order for us to be able to effectively treat
patients how they need to be treated. Even patients in
California don't really have access to consistently what they need them,

(18:14):
you know, professionals who know how to guide them through
choosing the right cannabis strain or chem of oar for
what they're dealing with. We just haven't had the research
where you know, like what we know about cannabis is
really just the tip of the tip of the iceberg here.
So yeah, that's what's so crazy about it, Piper, because

(18:35):
as you say that, even if you think a place
like California, but people listen to this show all around
the world, and everybody has children that are you know,
some all around the world that are going through something
that could use and benefit from using cannabis as medicine.
And you have people like yourself, Piper, that go out
and educate yourself, people like Mary that open up a
clinic out there where she's at. But that advice isn't

(18:56):
freely open for everybody, and we don't have this exact
regime in yet of like, oh this is that it's
not this surgery. If you're gonna have that surgery, then
try these strains. We have a lot of anecdotal evidence
that is supporting what has got on and so for
your sons, like what has been working and what has
been the regiment that you guys have followed. So I

(19:18):
started out making a THHDA tincture according to the epsolon
Essentials recipe that I found in Tolk Signals magazine online,
but and found like the first strain that we used
for him, I was pretty naive because the article said
any strain will work, and it worked, it was worked miraculously,

(19:38):
and then the next strain not so much. So we
had to go through like a year and a half
of trial and error figuring out and it was like
a needle in a haystack, you know. And this is
one of the things I feel like is really heartbreaking
to watch other parents go through, because you know, as
as a family struggling with a child who has something

(20:01):
that's really severe that you're dealing with on a daily basis,
you do grasp that straws, and people are all the
time telling you you should try this, and you should
try this. And I see a lot of parents who try,
you know, a cannabis product once and you know, it
all gets lumped in together where it's not all one thing.
And so I have that knowledge. We were so lucky

(20:23):
to have the first thing that worked work, or the
first thing we tried work. And I see other people
try the first thing it doesn't work, and they're like, Okay,
that was just a you know, a pipe dream, snake oil,
and you know, and this is one of my fears
as an advocate. Well, I've got a lot of fears
as an advocate. We're not there yet with being able

(20:45):
to use cannabis as medicine. And so this is one
of the things I spoke with my older son about,
you know, with people using cannabis in a way that
can have these negative effects. And you know, I have
a friend who works and er and she's she I mean,
she's she's a fan of cannabis, and she's supportive of

(21:06):
us medicating our younger son with cannabis. But she tells
me all the time, and she asked me all these
questions about like why are all these people coming in
like this, what's going on right now? And you know,
it just seems as an industry we've become obsessed with
maxing out on THHC and cannabis isn't all about THHC.

(21:29):
And I think, as you know, professionals, industry people, we
need to be having these conversations and saying, you know,
there is a risk that we'll never get to the
point of using cannabis as medicine if we keep pushing
the envelope with THHC and pushing THHC THHC and people,
you know, teens are dabbing and seeing psychiatric effects, you know,

(21:55):
whether they're temporary or not, or greening out and going
to the are you know, with vomb cyclical vomiting related
to their cannabis, or you know, all of these other
acute intoxication with canvas, all of these effects. You know,
if we have legislators, I've you know, in my advocacy,
the most irritating thing that I've heard is slippery slope.

(22:18):
And I've heard a lot of other advocates say slippery slope,
slippery slope, slippery slope. These legislators don't want to allow
medical cannabis because it's going to lead to all of
these effects that the stigma is about. And here we are,
we're not even there yet, and the slippery slope maybe

(22:39):
has come to fruition. And part of it is probably
that these legislators are passing laws in a way that
doesn't allow for regulation. For I mean, I blame in
Texas legislators for my son having access to Delta eight
that who knows what's in Delta eight that he's getting at, uh,

(23:02):
you know, convenience or a gas station. You know, if
we have a legal, federally legal, regulated market, we're not
with good education, good advocacy through our federally funded or
private funding from from companies if we have money that
goes to research from private companies, because you know, there's

(23:26):
with two ade and lack of interstate commerce, there's all
of these issues with companies not having the funding that
they need in order to be able to research the
potential therapeutic benefits, potential harms, all of it. You know,
it all comes down to federal schedule status that we
need to change, say slipping timer, Can I add it

(23:48):
on that too? Oh? Sorry, go ahead, go ahead, Mary,
please add oh I was just going to say, you know,
also to touch on a couple of points that you
just said, um industry responsibility, Right, we have the regulatory
bodies doing and not doing what we need them to
do and not to do, and you cover that beautifully.
But you know, as an industry, we have I feel

(24:08):
a duty and obligation to be transparent about the products
you you know, you spoke about the finding the one
product that really worked for your son, and other people
don't have those. You know, as history has presented itself,
you have patients who are using products that they're finding
online or in the recreational stores, and then the you know,

(24:28):
the cultivar changes that they're using, but they're keeping the
same label and they're measuring only by THHC. All of
that has a direct impact at how we respond to cannabis.
And so for the same people who are standing up there,
you know, saying, oh you need these terpenes, in which
I one hundred percent agree with, as you're making these products,
understand that when you switch that and don't tell the consumer,
that has a direct impact on their response to it

(24:50):
as well. And I will I will argue to say
that ninety percent of people in the cannabis industry use
the fact that it's a medical product to bolster their ability,
whether it's with family or friends or workplace, then actually
honor that an act on it, right, and that that's
my biggest thing is you know, I love our bud
tenders and we're always about educating bud tenders, but just

(25:10):
let them know that research has is emerging, we know more. Yeah,
it's fine to be high, but not everybody wants to
be high, right, It's we want to be functional. If
you're using cannabis, whether it's just three epilepsy or anxiety,
you should be able to use it and still remain functional.
That's a complete possibility. And then you know, if you
want to just relax a little bit, that's fine too.

(25:32):
But for our teenagers now you know it is it
less harmful than alcohol one hundred percent, But we need
to just be responsible and not not ruin the path
that we've all taken. And that's where it goes back
to this hospitality. Right, if people are leaving cannabis infused
dinners with twenty five milligram appetizers being served, and that's
the first course, you know, that's what society and the

(25:55):
News and Forbes is going to highlight on and it's
going to really put three steps back for us who
have really been working in the medical sector, which could
be a heavy dose for anybody starting off with an
appetiser like that and then going and then they don't
remember leaving the place, you know. Uh, but Piper used
slippery slope, and you said that this is happening for
your is that has the slippery slope hit for your situation? Now?

(26:22):
I mean I feel to a certain degree I feel
in our within our family, I don't see it as
a slippery slope. I see it as something that's kind
of natural. Uh. I'm a huge fan of cannabis, And uh,
why why wouldn't he Except for I initially thought, well,
maybe because I'm such a huge fan, there might be

(26:43):
this teen angst that makes him think that cannabis is stupid,
you know, cannabis until about a year ago. Yeah, yeah, so,
I mean there was that possibility, But you know, realistically,
if he knows that, and we had these kinds stations
about it's safer than it's safer than alcohol. But and

(27:07):
I've been a proponent of it's safer than most things.
And I still feel it's safer than you know, potatoes, water,
you know, a whole bunch of things. But but yeah,
it's it's just because it's safer than other things doesn't
mean it's completely safe. And we can ignore the potential harms,

(27:27):
the potential risks, and as you do that with your
own son, and you see that now these kids, especially
in areas where it's not legal, right, Like, I feel
like really bad for you guys, especially in Texas because
you don't know what you're getting at the local dispensaries
because the dispensaries are only for medical out there, but
you know you have to get it. And I don't
know if you can get a card at at a

(27:48):
younger age in Texas. I think in California it is sixteen.
But like even being able to treat these children or Mary,
do you know that exacty? What is it legally in
different states? I'm sure it's different ages, but how can
they be legally treating their children this way when special
in area where it's not legal? Yeah, So you know,

(28:10):
legalization versus application is two different things, right, So in
most states you can get a legal card. You know,
Normal has a very up to date list on what
the qualifications are. Sometimes it's just epilepsy, sometimes it's just
CBD with a minor amount of THHC. But the trick
is getting the doctors to support you. So, Brian, you
had asked initially, you know, why aren't the doctors talking

(28:32):
about this? I will tell you, thankfully, in the last
you know, five six years, they are, and they're interested.
They are inviting people like myself Pipe. I'm sure you've
been a lectured at some medical conferences having nothing to
do with cannabis because they're interested. But one thing is
that you know, they're still so naive to even the benefits.

(28:54):
And I think one of the other problems is that
you have people talking about research as being done. There's
different types of research. You have in vivo in vitro
that isn't a petree dish and they're studying one or
two cannabinoids and they're studying one condition. Well, Unfortunately, a
lot of advocates will take that piece of research and
then you know, we love the internet and social media,

(29:14):
but spread it out there and all of a sudden,
everyone thinks cannabis scares COVID, right, and that's the problem,
And then you're getting you know, false or inadequate formulas
being made people trying to buy things, and so doctors
understandably are still apprehensive. It's hard for them to keep
up on even pharmaceutical impacts on the human system. Now

(29:35):
we're adding this new compound plant that has hundreds of
compounds in it, and it's really difficult for them to
stake their name and license on treating a child or
you know, anybody for that matter, on the efficacy. But
I will tell you, you know, continuously talking about it
and with what Brian and Piper are doing as phenomenal.
You know, we have a children's hospital out here that

(29:57):
you can choose to give your child cannabis over opioids
with the doctor's permission, and most of the doctors are
on board, but they will have a third party like
us come in and help guide and give up to
date research on dosing and how to do that. And
so you know, it's in our progressive states, it's definitely
more accepted, but you're still not going to get a

(30:18):
lot a lot of doctors are not ready to stake
their their name and their license on providing protocols. So
they might say, yes, go ahead and do it, and
let us know how it works. But even that return
information isn't always adequate. Again because in our system, there's
no regulation that companies have to discuss a change in formulation,

(30:39):
right whether it's it's medical or recreational. So if we
can capture accurate compounds of these formulas and if they change,
that's why we created I know, you know Joe and
Piper about the Polite line. It wasn't for a financial gain.
It was to make sure if people in Washington were
using this product, they could come back to us and
if there was a variable in their response, we knew

(31:00):
what was or what not happening, you know, with the formulas.
So I think I think it's just naivity on the
doctors still fear, just like parents, you know, have the
fear of coming out publicly and um misinformation. And as
we have this open dialogue, we're gonna take a break
real quick and we're gonna talk about parents coming out openly.

(31:21):
As Brian and Piper are parents in Texas that are
out there openly doing it. I want to see what
they got from their co parents that are out there
at the kids' school and how you guys deal with
that and everybody else that has that whole Oh my god,
they're the parents that the kids use cannabis. It's Cannabis
Talk one on one. We'll be right back after this break.
Make sure you like, follow and subscribe to Cannabis Talk

(31:43):
one on one. Now now back to the number one
cannabis show on the planet. You know what get Now
back to the number one cannabis show of the universe,
Tonable one. You guys know what time it is, Baby
Dimetime Pecaira were Diame Indistries Find them in California, Arizona,

(32:06):
Oklahoma and check them out online at Dime Indistries dot com.
Are on ig dime dot Industries. I want to thank
or Heey, Marcus Mondo, Teddy the Dog, Isaiah, Cassie, Daniel Diego,
Jessica camp Solar, Ali Goldie Brother, Pitt, Mark Carnes, Chris Frankino,
Jennifer Erica and Elvis for everything you guys do to
make in this show sounding looks so good as we're

(32:26):
joining on a special show today on Zoom with Brian
and Piper and Mary coming with her medical background. I
love it so much and all this knowledge you guys
are bringing, and thank you to Elevation Nations that has
supplying people for a safe place to go and consume.
So they got the hospitality angle that they got. But Brian,
we went to break and I'm wondering, are you guys

(32:48):
the cool parents there in Texas? Are you the taboo
parents in Texas? How has that looked at as the
household that allows cannabis? And you guys are on this
advocacy board, and you know, you guys are out there, Mary,
You're going to places. You're wearing a cannabis shirt right
now that I'm sure you were out and about in
the on the streets too. You just didn't wear this
for the zoom, all right. You know, I was really

(33:12):
scared about that. Honestly, I was really concerned. I'm still
a little little shy about it, I guess, or squeamish.
You know, I work in the construction industry in Texas
and there's a lot of a lot of drinking, drinking
further pro Jack Daniels and and you know beer. I mean,
that's that's their thing, their anti marijuana. At least, I

(33:33):
am starting to find out that I was a little
mistaken about that. Anyone that I've done work business with
and consider a friendly acquaintance for years. When I do
bring it up to them, when I bring Piper with
me for a meeting, like to do something, she brings
it up, you know, And and it turns out that
they do too. In fact, one of them told us

(33:53):
he was going to go smoke a bawl, so you know,
you know, And so it's kind of changed a lot
of things for me as far as business as well,
because I don't drink anymore. You know, I quit seven
or eight years ago, So going to these functions can
be a little bit, you know, by two o'clock and
everybody else is drunk and I'm not. It is not
fun for me anymore. I'm ready to go home. And

(34:16):
you know, I was ready to go home since nine.
But now that Las Vegas and and uh, you know,
I've been in Vegas three times this year, not drinking,
you know. So it's now that the wreck is open.
There's a lot of other people that would like to
stop drinking or don't drink, or don't want to drink
as much that I've noticed. Or hey, Brian, you're going

(34:36):
to go to a dispensary, you know, or and I
don't know, am I becoming that person that I don't know.
But um, it's apparently everyone is interested but afraid to
say something because the stigma, like you're saying, but what
helped me was years ago we were in the we
have the Houston Chronicle here in Houston, and we had

(35:01):
an interview. Gosh, I don't know, maybe five years ago,
but we were in the paper. They took a picture
and two of our neighbors came over. One of them
had the paper and said, I had no idea you
guys were doing this the whole time, and I don't know.
I evenly thought I nobod's gonna read it anyway, and
then sure how they did and it's and one of

(35:22):
my buddies actually saw it in North Dakota and said
so and talked about it. So apparently a lot of
people do you know, and just don't say anything to us,
or they know and have been encouraging, but no one
has said anything. Well I don't I don't know how
he doesn't know this, But I see every interaction as

(35:44):
an opportunity to advocate, and so, UM, I'm a dental
hygienist by profession, and so that's a lot of interactions
every day, and UM, and you know, I advocate at
Texas Capital and to at political things locally, and to

(36:05):
all of my friends and other parents, you know, I
would I would talk to them right away. So this
is in first grade, you know, when I'm talking to
other parents and everybody, I have not had anyone who
has not been receptive, because the thing is, like, you
see what all most of these people, most of the

(36:26):
other parents have seen what our child has gone through
and see that it helps him, and they think it's
amazing too because of that, and so they completely understand
where we're coming from. And now as far as our
older son, so I feel like we're kind of progressive parents.

(36:49):
And still he's not permitted to use cannabis, but he's
using it anyways. I keep telling him, you know, I
don't think it's okay until your brain is finished developing,
which is around twenty three. Okay, So but if you're
going to do this, which you probably are anyways, these

(37:11):
are the guidelines that you should follow for yourself. And
you know, I try to stress moderation with him and
one of his friends that he's been hanging out with
a lot and kind of does this kind of thing
with frequently. Most frequently I feel like I went over

(37:34):
to their house. I didn't know the family went over
their house because I saw it, you know, on his
phone where he was and and invited them over for dinner.
I mean, they were happy to come over for dinner.
And I explained to his friends the risks since I said,
you know, there's cannabis use disorder, there's cannabis hypoemesis syndrome,
there's paranoias like kosis, and all of these things are

(37:58):
dose dependent, so we shouldn't be moderating. And also probably
supplementing with CBD, right is so so great for UH
for counter acting those negative effects. So um so his
parents were appreciative of that. You know, We've got that
planned with another one of his friends. So I just

(38:21):
feel like, you know, the best way to deal with
it is to UH support other other families that are
going through this. And I also talked to I've been
talking with staff and Debbie Americans for Safe Access. Also,
I want to mention that we have reports that our
State of the State's reports which are at safe access
now dot org h slash SOS, and those tell about

(38:46):
every single medical program in the States. So how you
can qualify and UH and we also a grade the
programs and say, you know what needs to improve to
give access and um, you know there's a long way
to go, but um, but I don't know, so I'd
like to elaborate a little bit please or something. Stayed

(39:07):
out all night with the car and we had the
location on his iPhone, so I snapped a picture of
where he was when I saw it, you know, like, okay,
he's not home. Three in the morning. So I saw
he was at that same house and I showed her.
Within twenty minutes, she's you know ready, this was the
next morning. Drive over there, knocks on the door. I

(39:30):
didn't go. I said, now, let's school her heads prevail.
Let's uh talk about what we're gonna do here and
what's gonna happen. She was gone, like, if you're not going,
I'm going. I got my mom to go with me
and have the car like it goes over there, explains
my sons stay the night over here, and he did
not come home. And I would like you guys to uh,

(39:52):
you know, I don't know if you're explaining. They're having
the same issue but worse than we've been going through.
So they came over for dinner last Friday night with
the son and our son, like she's proud. All the
parents and the kids that will listen to having this
they get together, regardless of that the kids want to
or not really so great. I think that open dialogue

(40:14):
that you need to have, right, And I think that's
what parents and that's the key thing. And that's what
I want really people to understand by this podcast is
these are parents who have boys, girls, whatever, and marry
us four. I got three children and my oldest one smokes.
I was supplying her with cannabis as well when she
was in college and this and that, and she just graduated.
And as long as we're explaining it to them, right,

(40:34):
I mean just really trying to do that. I even
did that with my son who's eight years old. He's
seen some gummies at the thousand. I'm like, he thought
he could grab one, and I'm like, a sound. That's
not a normal gummy. That's the cannabis gummies. These are
doctor Candy jeweler here, this is the cannabis George. The
alcohol drawer over there, or that's the wine salary, right,
that's able to have these open conversations because that's the

(40:58):
world we live in now and then not only to
be able to explain it in a way of this
is for the adult use that want to use it
recreationally like a glass of wine, but also explaining what
you guys are in that harder age, in my opinion,
with boys who are using cannabis and don't understand, Like, dude,
if you're gonna sit there and dab and then you're

(41:20):
just sitting on the couch and you know, and you're
not finishing your work, hey, that becomes a problem when
your life becomes quote unquote unmanageable, you know, I mean,
are you finishing everything you're supposed to do responsibly for
your era of what your life is about? And you know,
and that's probably something that I don't know if you
guys are going through, Brian and Piper, But like, how

(41:42):
do you guys deal with that? Are you know, they
sit there and dabbing is as strong as it gets, right,
are a good overdosed edible that they make themselves? But
it's like, you know, are you guys dealing with a
situation like that? So yeah, we're we're dealing with that,
and I mean, honestly, we were dealing with it before
he was using, like not taking care of his responsibilities.

(42:04):
I think it's something that most parents of teams, whether
they use drugs or not, you know, are dealing with,
do your chores, do your homework. But yeah, things have
gotten gotten worse since since this UM and I don't know. Again,
I'm trying to to go with We're trying to go
with the positive route of you know, explaining that drug

(42:30):
abuse can happen with cannabis and saying, drug abuse is
when you have all of these other interests and opportunities
and beautiful things about life that you can either enhance
with your exposure to cannabis or you can take away
from them by just using up all of your time

(42:53):
on cannabis. And you know, when you're taking away from
all of the other things that that make you a human,
that make you have an enjoyable life, then that's abuse.
And so it's something that we and you know, that's
the definition of cannabis used disorder, right, is when it
interferes with your ability to enjoy your life. Uh, that's abuse.

(43:16):
So and those are the conversations that we've been having.
And I've been, as you know, as punishments, been making
him do some things to kind of explore what other
things might be his hobbies. And you know, and and
and and told them, you know, cannabis can be one
of one of your things that you enjoy out of life,

(43:37):
but you've got to make sure you have other things also.
I think to talking to these kids about what it
is you're trying to achieve by using cannabis. Right. So
a lot of the ones that come in our clinic,
you know, it's it's it's teenage angst, it's getting over COVID.
I mean, it's everything that all we are feeling as
adults and trying to cope with in life. And then

(43:59):
you know, these kids are doing the same and now
they have this potential outlet. But I think one of
the key pieces that goes missing on these kids when
we talk about it, we try to like put it
in terms that they can understand, is, you know, the
way cannabis works in your body, right THHC essentially taps
your natural bliss chemical right, and everybody's born we tell them,
with like a different sized keg in their brain. Some

(44:20):
people are born with the pony cake, some people are
born with the megacg. Once you have tapped that keg
with your THHC. You're not getting in more out by
consuming more, You're squeezing a dry lemon. So if you
send the boys, you know, back to the store to
refill that keg, the way to do that is use
other cannabinoids. Use other health and wellness tactics, whether it's
out you know, skateboarding or ride near bike or doing

(44:42):
whatever to replenish your your natural store. When you use
that cannabis again, you're going to get it and it's cheaper,
right because because it's expensive to dev and to continuously,
you know, chase more of that THHC high that you're
looking for. So just trying to help them understand that
you actually control over this, right, you can get that
feeling again instead of having to you know, consume every

(45:05):
twenty thirty minutes. Because even adults, I hear so many times,
you know, I need so much to get me high,
I have to go through a Graham. No, you really don't.
And we call it a tolerance break, but really it's
like it's a relationship reset, right, So I think that's
you know, that's the other part of it too, is
really helping them understand in language that they can absorb,
And I was think in the clinical aspect, Mary, even

(45:27):
dealing with families like you know, Piper and Brian's who
can be the parents that are such advocates, and then
seeing it going okay, dealing with teenage life shit like
you said, Piper, like everybody deal they could be a
perfect kid who doesn't do any drugs, doesn't have any
medical problems, but he still doesn't you know, clean his
room and fittages his homework or whatever. Right, So there's

(45:49):
those normal life things that happen. But as you deal
with that, Mary, what are some of the things when
the kids going but you do it, mom? But you
do it? Dad? What do you mean you guys are
smoking like that? And and how do you and what
are some of the clinical ways of looking at that
and approaching this and saying use this as a tactic. Well,
I think it's. Yeah, if you're watching me, use and

(46:11):
consume and can you know, consult with other people about it?
Watch how I do that. It's responsible. It never takes
away from getting my job done. It never takes away
from my runs in the morning. You know, I'm if
anybody we I think, Piper, you know, Brian, we're we're
actually what you want to look at, You're right, and
it doesn't you know, hinders never want to look at
their parents, right, Like dad, he's in the construction world.

(46:36):
My dad was looking since he was X amount of
years old and he has this construction company. But that's dad.
Dad's an idiot, he doesn't know, and Mom is just
a coop. Shut up, mom, you know what I mean, Like,
let's just face it. That's that's it. But I mean,
but I think you can show them positive role models, right,
and then also role models that are exemplary to what
they are doing and how it is hindering them. And

(46:58):
you know it is it's kids are kids. I mean,
in our house it's a little bit different. I have
one that uses it for very severe migraines, you know,
a lot of different neurological issues. And then I have
one that I kind of think would be beneficial. She
can't touch it, right, a small amount of teach she
sends her over the edge. And so in in our household,

(47:19):
it's a little bit different. I think, you know, if
if she could use any cannabinoid, it would be beneficial
to her, but she actually can't. So you know, we
have something that's a little bit a little bit different,
but I think we live very parallel lives. You know,
when I first started talking about this publicly as an
elementary school employee, I held a you know, cannabis talk
at a local coffee shop. Didn't put my name on it,

(47:41):
and almost every single person that showed up and filled
that coffee shop was a local parent, and they're all going,
I didn't know you, I didn't know you. And then
you know, it was really about let's learn about this
and how can we engage with our kids. So I
think it's just we keep talking and you know, know
your audience. Sometimes we don't want to share things with
a certain audiences because they don't understand. But our kids

(48:02):
are our audience, right, So speak to them in their language,
show them what they need to see, and then be
mindful of how you're consuming at home, right, I mean,
are we walking in from the end of the day.
Just like I don't want my kids to see me
walk in forming a glass of wine every day at four,
I don't want them see me coming in and you know,
using cannabis every day at four. It's about responsible use,
through and through. And that being said too, I think

(48:22):
it's tough too for children, you know that are the
young adolescents that see the rapper smoke and the singer smoke,
and everybody just smokes blunts or this or that or
now we're dabbing all day and they just feel like
and I'm assuming that a lot of these children go
through that, and it's really hard to really let them know,
you know, they're Also is the fact that that Cannabis says,

(48:44):
using it as medicine for all these other reasons isn't
for everyone either, Like you just said, Mary, your children
this and that, and some people affects differently. And it
goes parallel to even looking at the medicine that the
doctor is going to give somebody. If a children is
a child, or any humans going through something and they're
doing trial are on medicine, it's microdocing at first, trying
to find the right medicine, trying to find the right

(49:05):
solution that's going to work with your body, and then
trying to explain that to people. And that's what I
want this to be out there too, Like it's not
just one strain. I think Brian and Piper were so
lucky to find the first one that worked for their son,
because you know, there's so many different strains out there
with the right terpenes and the terpene profiles, and doing
a DNA test to find out the right terpenes for

(49:27):
your body that's out there now for people to do.
That might be a suggestion if you're having something that
you know, what, I need to really find out what's
going to work for my grandmother, what's going to work
best for my whoever it is, Because it's not just children, folks,
it could be you that's listening to this podcast, going,
I have this issue that I can't seem to figure
out what's going on, and I'm now taking seven pills

(49:47):
a day because of X, Y and Z. Well, maybe
you want to look into these DNA testings that's going
to do that DNA for your cannabinoid system and then
go talk to somebody like a Mary, you like a piper,
and say, what do you think find the right smartest
bud tender that says, Hey, my DNA says I need
this type of strain to help with this. And if

(50:08):
I'm not mistaken, isn't that what those DNA tests are
doing nowadays? There are some out there that are doing
that how reliable they are I think is questionable because
of the consistency of what's being grown. Right. We all
know that, you know, testing facilities in Texas are different,
you know, city by city, they're different, and so I

(50:29):
think we do the best we can. But I will
say one other thing to consider just out there is
that our bodies are our bodies and we're individual, but
we are also putting things in our bodies that shift
our response to cannabis. Right, So most people who are
looking for sleep assistance are probably taking melitonein or Valerian
route or ambient right, and that has that we're chemical

(50:51):
beings that shifts our system in general. So just because
your brother took something that worked for his sleep, doesn't
mean that's going to work for your sleep. But you
also need to think what herbs your take, you know,
what your actual daily habits are, and also consider cannabis
for and this is what we need to talk with
our kids about not always as a rescue you. Right,
you can use cannabinoids and you talked about micro dosing

(51:12):
to set to you all for a positive day so
that when those anxiety triggers come in or you know
when when something could even epilepsy. Right, it's in females
especially it often has exacerbated around their menstrual cycle, so
you change it preemptively and then your body often can
respond appropriately. So you know, thinking about the whole being,

(51:33):
the whole person, just like we talk about whole flower products,
whole plant, you have to respect that in ourselves as well. Yes,
I agree, and I love this conversation you guys. Before
I let you go, I want to ask you, Piper
and Brian, is there anything else that you guys wanted
to bring up for the listeners to hear, or anything
else in general that you guys wanted to talk about. Well,
I did want to talk about. I have this airshred

(51:55):
for eighth to campaign. Let us know. So it's a
fund and awareness raising campaign for Americans for Safe Access,
which is the only federal medical cannabis patient organization. So
it's it is. I just donated to Americans for Safe Access.

(52:16):
I challenge you for people to air shred for ASA.
This is how I shred, and you can do air guitar,
or you can shred the d E a schedule, or
you can shred any way that you want. We want
you to share those on social media with the hashtag
air shredd for ASA and ASA challenge. And then also
I'm asking for people to engage because like a lot

(52:40):
of our conversation today was about how we're really not
there yet, and so like in order for us to
get there, we need more people engaged, whether it's with
money or with manpower, but we need it all. We
need it all to make it happen. Americans for Safe
Access has a bill that we're that we're hoping we

(53:04):
get sponsored in the US Congress and so you can
find it on our website at safe Access Now dot
org Model leg slash Model legislation, and um, look at it,
see if it's interesting to you. It res or sorry,
creates a Schedule six and its own regulatory body with

(53:27):
people who know what they're talking about, being responsible for
regulating cannabis. And so yeah, we're hoping for that. We
do need people to help to push for that. We
are having a Unity Conference where we'll have a lobby
day where we're working on this bill in May, and
so visit our website safe Access now dot org. And

(53:50):
let's see those airshred for ACE videos. Well, thank you,
and and I love how you were dressed like that
at the MJ Biscong where I met you. You looked awesome. Yeah,
it was all like her outfits totally Mary. Anything else
you want to share before we let you guys all go. Yeah, No,
I mean I just a thanks for listening. And Piper again,
I love the air spid because he was talking about

(54:10):
your situation, he said, and she was wearing this rocker costume.
I said, Piper was right, I love it. She went.
I was like, are you really going aware everybody remembered
or Brian at work exactly. I'll be there with you
next time. Piper. Also, I just it's about dialogue. It's
about conversation with elevations nation, as I told you with

(54:32):
our hotels Alexei and Clarendon Arizona. But also for medical
consultation consideration, you can go to consult smja dot com.
But you're any type of concerns questions you have and
we can match you with a consultant that we'll do
one on one work with you whether it's in your area,
or virtually speak with your doctors on your behalf and
really look from like a medical perspective on helping to

(54:54):
guide what products might be best for you in the
in the realm of education. So you know, there's a
lot of different a lot of different angles that we
can communicate with people, and I think just continuing to
have these conversations is so important. So I'm looking forward
to seeing you next month down there. Yes, thank you
guys all for listening to the podcast cannas Talk one
on one, and thank you Mary our shooting. Thank you Mary,

(55:16):
Brian and Piper, and thank you guys so much for
your vulnerability on opening up and I'm glad that you
know it's working out and for those that are listening,
I hope it helped you guys out. It's Cannabis Talk
one on one. If nobody else loves you, we do.
Thank you for listening to Cannabis Talk one on one
with Blue with Joe Brande, the world's number one source
for everything cannabis, and make sure you like, follow, and

(55:36):
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