June 3, 2025 • 35 mins
Marijuana: The Gateway Drug?
You’ve heard the line — “Marijuana is a gateway drug.” But is it really?
In this episode of Cannabis School, Brandon & Jesse unpack where this idea came from, what the actual science says, and why the myth still sticks around. We explore the U.S. history behind the stigma, the difference between correlation and causation, and what international data reveals about cannabis and other substances.
We also break down:
How cannabis actually affects the brain compared to other drugs
Why the “gateway” label might be more about trauma and access than cannabis itself
What the data says about cannabis users and progression to harder substances
Why prohibition may be the real risk factor
How cannabis might actually help people move away from more dangerous substances
At the end of the day, this plant might not be the villain it’s been made out to be.
Listen and decide for yourself.
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🛒 Cannabis Topics Covered: Cannabis education, best cannabis strains, cannabis podcast, cannabis effects, cannabis benefits, cannabis usage, THC vs. CBD, cannabis wellness, cannabis for energy, cannabis and relaxation, cannabis and creativity, hybrid cannabis strains, sativa vs. indica, terpenes explained, cannabis and mood enhancement, cannabis community trends, cannabis and road trips, and cannabis consumption methods.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Welcome to Cannabis School. I'm your host, Jesse Angeles.
And I'm Brandon Elder. And we're here to talk to you
about everything pertaining to cannabis from vape flour,
edibles, strains, and everythingin between.
Oh cool, you wait 3 seconds and it exit the setting.
(00:33):
OK cool, now fuck. Speedy.
That's a lot. Oh, you don't have to smoke at
all. Oh no, I definitely.
Don't have to. No I definitely won't but I'm
just like fuck dude I don't eventake that not even close.
Like I thought I was taking big hits before but now I feel
better. No, that's, that's pretty close
(00:54):
to what I usually put in, sometimes slightly larger.
So what is it going to now? Five O 9 it's kind of, it's
heated up. There you go.
It's going to be a great way to start.
Slap in the face with some purple platinum garlic.
Dude, this shit's fucking. Thanks to this bombs Cyclav.
(01:15):
Yeah, if you guys don't have it already, go down into the show
notes can it was code canvas school.
Save yourself 10% ten. Percent this really killer rig.
We've been enjoying it today andit is awesome.
It slaps really hard. Oh yeah.
I mean, purple platinum garlic does too.
(01:36):
'Cause like, there's no way I could touch that.
All right? Yeah.
Hey, so today we're going to be going a little bit more in depth
into something that really triggers a lot of fear with
other people and anger. Yeah.
What's that? Marijuana or weed or cannabis?
(01:57):
Is a gateway drug. Yeah.
And being a gateway drug that you know being.
So what? What is a gateway drug?
Well, it just means that a drug that you would it's well and and
this is the this is the problem that I have with it.
The gateway drug is the the proposed idea is that if you use
cannabis, it's just the gateway into harder substances, which
(02:21):
is, is really ridiculous becauseI love the way when I was going
back and forth and trying to find out information and, and
get some good details from it. The funniest thing was it's
like, yeah, all of a sudden you smoke pot and then now you're
like fucking stealing shit from your parents, pawning it to get
heroin. And also like, like, it's Grand
(02:43):
Theft Pharma and you're like raiding people's, like you're
going to eat all the pain pills.Right, like it's going to send
you into this crazy stupor and you're going to spiral downhill,
which is really interesting it the.
Funny because it was popularizedduring that that time period and
that time period. It was before because back in
(03:03):
the 1972, during the Nixon era, they had the Schaefer Report
where they went through and theyactually did a bunch of studies
specifically on marijuana. And their report that they
brought to Nixon was, hey, this is not a gateway drug, and we
should actually decriminalize itbecause we found that all the
claims that we've been putting out are false.
(03:25):
I don't think they talked about being a gateway drug.
During the Schaefer report yeah,because it was the gateway drug
theory that happened back with the Nixon's era.
Now it was really pushed in Reagan's era with the DARE
program and Nancy Reagan. So in the Schafer report the
whole point was to see if there was causation 'cause they were
worried that it would cause to leading to stronger drugs.
(03:47):
And so that was the whole point and so the Schafer report when
they brought. It up they actually recommended.
Tunics and like, hey, this is there's a lot of false claims
we've been stating and we shouldactually decriminalize this
because these things that we're saying is actually false.
And they were like, we're going to ignore that and we're going
to double down. And so they started Nixon's war
on drugs. They brought in Nancy Reagan's
(04:08):
like DARE program, like it became this whole it just
continued to trickle. And you know, it's been a very
interesting thing, but there's not been any direct causation
that we've seen. Yeah, I didn't even pull that
up. Well, you've been cutting a lot
of this. It's.
Not something new that I've learned.
(04:29):
That was something I learned about years and years ago.
Well, and that's what I'm, I also like I, I want to know more
about it because it just sounds so clear cut and dry and it's
like, hey, I want to know more. So that just makes me like, I'm
going to dig more into that because it's like, you know, it,
it usually when you hear something like this is the way
it is, It's like it never reallyis that way.
(04:51):
It there's something behind it, whether it's someone's making
money or someone just feels a certain way because like if you
take Barr, James Barr, who was the attorney general during the
first Trump administration and his the one he had before that,
and that guy was like hardcore against cannabis.
So was Barr so hardcore against cannabis.
(05:14):
And, and all I kept thinking waslike, why?
And I knew the other guy becausehe was a crazy fucking like,
hardcore. Let me show you I'm a Jesus
freak, right? Shove it in your face.
Yeah, big. Time.
Make sure you know. Authoritarian.
Like, how dare you? I have, you know, authority
(05:34):
because power. It's they are right, and that
rightness comes with a air of authority and power because,
well, I am correct. It it it's a.
It's a a side effect of a cultural something.
That's weird old thing that's. Well, it went from societal to
cultural, because then it be it became a part of their culture,
(05:55):
right. It was like grandpa, whenever
you talk about black people, right, We just like it was just
like but he's he was born in what, the nine different 1900?
1910s. Yeah, 1910s.
And so I mean, yeah, of course his outlook is gonna be
different. Yeah, but it's a side effect and
it's, it's, it's really weird. The the the reason why I bring
(06:18):
that up is because it's really weird that it's still in
people's heads that this is bad.We got a gateway drug.
Yeah, well, it's interesting 'cause even all the discussions
that we've had, like me and my dad over the years, I was
helping him work, remodel an apartment and a tenant was
(06:40):
coming and looking at it or something.
One of the tenants there at the apartments, we were talking and
they were saying something was like, oh, yeah, well, that's why
I smoke weed. And and my dad's like, yeah,
well, you don't have to be addicted to it.
Or like, oh, he you know, he went off on this thing about
like, oh, well, that can lead tothis.
I'm like, no, it no, it doesn't.We've had these discussions,
(07:00):
like, why are you going back to this old rhetoric of like, oh,
but it does that. What do you mean?
Like you'll be addicted to cannabis or you'll get addicted
to no. Like it, it can lead you to
harder things like all this other stuff.
And I'm like, there was a study,it was the US versus Netherlands
studies. And they actually found that
like people in the Netherlands, where they have a lot more
(07:21):
liberal stance on drugs, harder drugs, everything like that,
even cannabis, they found that Americans who had a much more
tighter restrictive legal thing around harder drugs, Americans
were more likely to try harder drugs than people in the
Netherlands. Well, yeah.
And so it was like, OK, so it's not necessarily causation that
(07:42):
like cannabis causes you to do this.
They found that most of those things where it was like, hey,
it's like societal or pressures of.
Causation is not correlation, and so it's it's all.
It's all hearsay. It's all and it's not hearsay,
but it's all case by case. Like just because like Brandon
smokes a shit load of it and he's like this shits not
(08:03):
touching me anymore. And then also come over and
there's fucking little balloons everywhere and I'm like, dude,
this guys doing black tar heroinoff of a fucking spoon with some
insulin needles. And I'm like, you know, that's
tragic, That's horrible. But that is not like that is a
big fear of an aging population.And even now, like you used to
(08:23):
start to see like younger kids are like, I don't know, maybe
this isn't for me. And I I agree.
I don't think that they should be touching at a young age and
using it and consistent consistently.
Like I know people who did lots and lots and lots.
We talked to the doctor. I'm like, that's great, but
she's she's not. That's the way that I think it
(08:44):
should be looked at on both sides.
It's an individual, but it is not the trend because how it
affects us all differently. Yeah, 100% and every strain is
different and like every interaction is different in the
time of day of like hey what foods in your system have you
worked? What's going on in your mind
that day? Like so many differences that
(09:06):
you're like, hey, even this strain where normally it's set
and setting, you know, even Doctor Riley Kirk had talked
about it. Hey, when I try to strain that
normally I'm very comfortable athome or with this I went right
before getting up on stage to gospeak and I use the same exact
strain. That's so funny.
Yeah, and she felt super paranoid and had to go take a
(09:27):
step back and like and walk to go, hey, I need to get back to
being OK because normally this strain that I'm not displaced
with, I am now displaced becausemy set and setting is different.
And so even for a seasoned user,who I would say very seasoned
user, she would be at that pointwould have a very and as a
(09:49):
Doctor Who teaches on cannabis, would have a very robust
understanding of like how cannabis interacts with her
body, like this setting experience, all of that.
And so even her would think, youknow, but that's what she took a
step away and went on a walk. Like, hey, I noticed that this
is not giving me the same interaction because I'm not in
the same place. It is really hard to have a, a
(10:11):
specific study test because evenlike a lot of the tests that
I've looked at now, they've beentrying to get more conclusive
data because they're like, well,now we're testing siblings,
we're testing twins. We're doing these types of tests
to try and get more robust studies.
But still, again, there's differences in endocannabinoid
systems. You just might get closer with
(10:32):
like the social economical things, the other influences of
like family and religion and culture and society like there
that you're like, OK, we're trying to negate as many
differences as possible to make sure we have as many common
grounds to go, hey, what's and they'll go 1 twin didn't have
this and 1 twin did. But we didn't notice any
(10:53):
difference of like causation of leading towards like this type
of thing. Yeah, no.
And and that's the thing, like, you know, it is a gateway drug,
though I will admit that is a gateway drug.
It's a gateway drug to having better food.
I am a far better cook now. I'm more into every single meal
that I prepare is very focused on the experience I had.
(11:17):
My wife always makes fun of me because I judge my food so
harshly. But if the chicken comes out
slightly dry and I know it, I don't like it.
And usually I'm using cannabis while I'm cooking so I'm like, I
can taste things better. I love it when I do because I
don't feel as rushed. I'm more patient and like, OK,
no, this needs this lower temperature.
I need this to create this flavor.
(11:38):
I need to do this instead of like, I'm rushed, I'm stressed.
I'm just going to do this. No, I'm, you know, all this
other shit's still going on. But like, maybe I'm not feeling
quite as rushed. Maybe I'm more focused on it.
Maybe I'm more aware of like everything that's going on.
And so like you said, your dishes are better.
I feel like as a person, like. Introspection.
(11:58):
More connected relationships with myself.
With. With other people because I
found more of me which allows meto like connect better to
others. Yes and no.
It it depends on who you're around.
I would say like, you know, where our interactions or our
similar people, we would have these great interactions.
(12:22):
My interactions, my first interactions around like more
people in cannabis. The -1 was your friend Chad.
He was very pushy. He really wanted you to do
everything higher doses and I didn't like that at all.
It's like, you know, that's a negative.
The person, yes. It's a negative and that's what
I'm saying like you, if you're guided, No, I'm not.
(12:43):
I'm not trying to go he's bad. I'm saying if you're guided by
someone like that, you're not going to experience a very
introspective way because you are more focused on the
experience of just being high and numb or a euphoric instead
of because it really is. It's an intent when you have
(13:04):
intent going all right, what am I looking for right now?
What do I need? Because if I'm seeking cannabis,
and that's another reason why I like, I, I stopped carrying my
vape pen like even when I go outbecause I used to just take it,
you know, yeah. And I'm like, no, I'm not going
to do that anymore. Because we, we talked about that
when we were gaming one night. We're just like, I feel like I'm
just. I just go.
(13:25):
Time not getting any higher and so it's like, so it it triggers
this response. That's why I was like in the
last episodes I was talking about like, man, maybe you
should be looking. If you're using a lot of the
vape pen, that's usually a good sign that something's going on.
And then that's a time to be introspective.
Yeah, maybe what you're smoking on is just amping you up and
(13:46):
you're like, fuck, maybe I needed something to kind of
chill me out. And those introspective ones,
those ones have helped me open up more to ideas and thoughts
and, and not trying necessarily like I was narrow sided, but I'm
open to interpretation. But I'm also open that I don't
(14:07):
have to agree with anybody. No.
But I would say you, you definitely from my perspective
seem like you have a much broader perspective since you've
introduced cannabis. Oh, absolutely.
But I mean, The thing is, it's like, you know, a lot of people
use substances these days because it's a weird fucking
world. Well, it's constantly.
(14:27):
Everyone's medicated, whether it's a medicine of like pills or
something else from their doctor.
Oh no, I'm not just saying that.I mean, but I mean we see an
Upwork. All using something to manage
life. Right, right, and.
Most people, whether it's they're going to alcohol or
they've got SSRIs or whatever itis, most people are using
(14:50):
something, some sort of substance that's not themselves.
No, but I'm just what I'm sayingis, is that it's it's been a
increasing like crazy amount. Of I could say that of
percentage of people. Oh.
Way more because of how. Especially in the United States,
we have a really. High the entire world is crazy
(15:10):
right now on it, you know, and it's but the reason why is it
you weird like inducing it. It's like an induced
schizophrenia. You have constant voices around
you non-stop in your ear, on your screen in front of you.
You, you. Dude, back in the day, if you
saw somebody talking to themselves on the street, you'd
be like that poor guy is sick. Now he's having a conversation.
(15:32):
Oh yeah, and he could be talkingto himself.
Who cares? We we have just kind of like,
yeah, no big deal. Yeah, the only difference
between the crazy person and thenot crazy, not crazy person is
one person has a headphone in their ear.
Yeah, pretty much. Right.
Well, even that, I mean, it's, you know, people are are.
And that's the thing too with cannabis is that it's it is a
gateway drug to melt a lot of good things, but it also can be
(15:55):
for bad things. You can abuse cannabis.
Yeah. You can abuse a lifestyle.
Anything else? Yeah, right, right.
And so it's, you know, it's, it's not a cure all, it's a
tool. Predispositioned like
genetically or other things thatit's like, hey, you're, you're
prone to seeking out something, whether it's cannabis, alcohol,
some type of thing, escapism, like a lot.
(16:18):
There are some of us who are more prone to that than others,
just genetically, yeah. Not that every single person is,
but there are some. Who?
Have higher tendencies and things that we just.
Yeah. I mean, you know, you take
alcoholism or babies born on heroin or meth, like they're
immediately addicted to that, right?
(16:38):
And it it goes down the bloodline.
Like I have serious alcoholism on my mom's side.
And and so that was, you know, always a worry, but I never felt
like I wanted to drink all the time, ever.
Not because of that. That didn't get me going.
Oh, no. Yeah.
My family was always the same. They're like, oh, alcoholism
runs in here, 'cause this grandpa did the crate, someone
(17:01):
did this and I was like, OK, so don't drink.
And then I found so funny. I really really liked drinking
for a bit, but I don't know if it was 'cause I really liked
drinking or if it was just. Social aspect so.
Sheltered. And it was like, Oh my gosh,
this is a whole new experience of something I've never had.
And then it became a, a darker depressive like thing of like,
(17:23):
well, now I'm just numbing. Yeah, I'm numbing life because
life's really shitty. So now I'm drinking to numb that
pain. And that's not, that's more
escapism of like, I'm trying to get away from life.
So I need to drink, you know? And and now I actually like I
don't. Every once in a while I have a
craving for the flavor of like an alcohol drink, but I don't
(17:44):
really have a craving for like the feeling.
No, I I lost it all last time. Like I told you, wife and I our
last anniversary. Felt like shit afterwards.
Oh, dude, I hated it. Yeah, absolutely hated it.
Mm hmm. I was like.
Oh yeah, well, Emily had done her 75 hard.
She had two drinks during that entire time, basically when I
(18:07):
chose to have a drink. And she was like, OK, And for
her, that's crazy. And then at the end of her 75
heart, she had a drink. She was like, oh, I want to have
a Margarita just to celebrate. And she had two.
And she was like, that was the worst decision I have done.
Like, I feel so garbage. She was like, and is this why
(18:28):
you don't drink? And I'm like, yeah, because I
started feeling like crap every time.
And it was like, why would I? Why would I do this?
Enjoy. This again, it's it's it's like
there's there's home cooked meals, there's fast food and
then there's street food in India and that is drinking to me
(18:49):
because it is so like, like I might get the shits, I might
throw up. Oh yeah.
Like I'm not checking I might have tapeworm, who knows?
The Montezuma's revenge for India.
Oh dude, no. Montezuma's revenge there too.
Oh no dude, I mean you just lookin a lot of places with an
Indian. Not all of India has a massive
place, but there are places in India where their their water is
(19:15):
mixing with their sewage. Oh yeah, there was a video
maybe. Remember I showed you that one.
Yeah, and. He's literally like.
They're like pouring raw. Seeds 30 feet down the stream
from him and I was like. Yeah, right.
But it's like gross. That's the way I treat drinking
now because I, I have, I remember when I was younger, but
I remember because my body was experiencing these things for
(19:37):
the first time and I was around other people.
And again, it's always set and setting.
Like, you know, I, I, I typically had good experiences
drinking. I would hang out, we would do
silly things. We, we would have fun, play
practical jokes because we're just acting like kids.
And then the other part is getting in fights and stuff like
(19:58):
that. And I still see that as a
positive thing because I didn't,I didn't mind.
I like that that that rush, but it is.
Now I just don't see it the sameway.
Like, I mean, try to convince meto do something bad on cannabis.
Let's go fuck up somebody's car.It's like.
Let's go get in a fight like. No.
And The thing is, it'll make youway more likely to think about
(20:22):
it and overthink about it instead of go.
Yeah, I know. That sounds like a smart idea.
Let's go do it. Well, and another thing, it's a
gateway drug for two is open up to new music, opening up to new
genres of fiction, whether it bemovies or books or games.
Like I played more games that I never would have thought I would
(20:44):
play. I was like shooting everything
right and. Yeah.
And then and I was really, I still am.
I'm really good at those games, but I like role-playing games
now. I like depth, I like story, I
like I like to be frustrated. I like challenge and I like to
go deeper in that. And then I like to read fictions
(21:04):
that I would normally. I gave up fiction for a really
long time. I just didn't enjoy it because I
thought I needed to constantly fill my brain.
But sometimes it's great to be able. 20 years I gave up
fiction. Yeah, I'm yeah about that too.
That's nuts because I read so much growing up and then as soon
(21:25):
as I graduated high school, I was like, I'm, I'm done.
I don't, I don't want to read. I don't want to read.
And then after that I got back into business books and like
other books and history books and stuff.
And it was really hard to get into fiction.
I don't, I don't know what it was.
No, it's it's hard because it you, it just your tastes change
(21:46):
man. It's the same with alcohol.
Like am I shitting on alcohol? No, like if, if that's your jam,
cool, dude, it's straight poison.
I mean, if shit will take off paint and clean you.
I know now I'm like, I think of it that way.
I'm like, fuck, I don't, I don'tknow why I do it, but sometimes
it helps. You know, it's been great for
(22:08):
like when people have like, dude, there are so many old
school Mormons around here that still have whiskey in their
medicine cabinet. Really.
Yeah, they'll take like my grand.
My wife's grandmother, every time she had a cough, Grandpa
dedicated Morgan like crazy about it, right?
He would get her like a couple. Dedicated.
(22:28):
More Yeah dude like he's a robotdude like that's Yeah, they are
all he's like he's just like the.
Super Pious are incredibly robotic and.
They're just, they're just so afraid that somebody will see
the, the dents in their armor. Like, you know, I I love my
wife's grandfather, but you know, the way he talks about it,
he's going to take care of the whole world that gives all this
money to all these Galatian people and these Thai people and
(22:49):
Vietnamese people in the ward. Yeah.
You wouldn't help out his own his own kids.
He wouldn't help out his own kids when they were trying.
He had tons of money and he's giving it to these communities.
Like, I would give him shit. And I'm like, hey, they going to
build you a golden statue out there in Thailand?
I thought it was funny. It was like the year that really
struggled, lost my job was dealing with court stuff with
(23:10):
the kids. Oh yeah, everything all at once.
And I was still helping my dad when he needed help and he paid
me hardly anything at the end ofthe year.
He was bragging about how much he gave to the church because he
wasn't able to do tithing. So he just gave it at the end of
the year because the Bishop camearound going, hey, it's
Christmas time. We could use a donation.
(23:32):
Would you? Would you help some families?
And so my dad was like, well, I wasn't able to give tithing, so
I just paid it all at once. And I had massive lump sum.
And I was like, here and look, look at what I did.
And I'm like, cool, I bet that made you feel so good, didn't
you Like. That's so funny dude.
But that's it's the very pious, like, oh, Jesus is going to look
at me and go, hey, you gave so much money.
(23:54):
I'm so proud of you. Isn't that funny to you?
I'm. So proud of you.
And and that's another thing too, like a gateway drug to
being able to kind of explore your faith if if you have faith,
whatever it may be. It's one thing that I've really
enjoyed about cannabis is that it is brought me closer to to my
God, the to to that your. Connection and belief.
(24:14):
Is, yeah. And and then I'll leave it at
that because. Of that looks like.
And, and some of you may be going through that, you know,
but the other thing that's been really cool is the type of
people that I would talk to cannabis consumers are all walks
of life. Yeah.
And I unfortunately, because where I grew up, how I was
raised, I just had this different view of different
(24:37):
people. Oh no dude.
And the big reason why was because stoners look like
stoners. Oh, yeah, or, or even bikers or
people with like tattoos or piercings and stuff.
I was raised as like, oh, they're bad people.
Like look out and I'm like, and then I rode motorcycles and hung
out with bikers and got tattoos.And I realized all these people
(24:57):
are just people. And some of them are way better
than the incredibly pious peoplethat I saw who were so well
presented and dressed and so eloquent and, and all of this.
And yeah, yes. And then I go and I see this
biker or this other person. I'm like, they have the most
honest, loving heart. They are the most real person.
(25:19):
And they would do anything for me or anyone else, not just,
hey, is God watching? Is my neighbor watching?
Like I, I should show up like this.
And I'm like, that's what I loved is I realized I didn't
have to fear people so much. I learned to love the diversity,
all the difference of people andgo holy shit, like you're so
unique on your own. You're so fucking different than
(25:40):
me. That's amazing.
I wish that I could be more unique like you because I feel
like I'm so much of all these other.
But it's, it's awesome too, because it was a blank canvas at
that point where you could go and explore.
And you know, I, that's the one thing that I, I, I think is so
cool about cannabis. People like, dude, how many
(26:01):
people I've met in business, regular life in my, in my church
around other people like randomly like that.
Dude sitting on the side of the road where we smoked a bowl with
and it was like. Or that woman out there that
we're going to have on our podcast.
Yeah, she, I mean, her life is completely changed with
cannabis. And it's so cool to watch and
(26:24):
see. And it's like, dude, she would
be the quintessential of scary. But you know, when you're at a
place in your life where you're just like, yeah, well, what
could it fucking do? That's what really like, I think
that's what for me stemmed why this show really exists was like
because grandma when I started making her edibles and I saw her
(26:47):
go from like having to be, she was on fentanyl and she went
from that to not having chronic migraines, not having it, not to
use any of that. And she weaned herself off
cannabis too because she was like, I don't need this
eventually, but like that changein her mindset and her quality
of life. And then, like, I've not met
(27:07):
this lady yet, but you've told me the experiences, and it feels
so incredible to just go, hey, Isaw that person's life got
better, and it was just something stupid and simple.
And all I had to do was talk to them and care enough about them
to go, hey, I see that you're struggling.
You're hurting this, like, and maybe maybe this helps.
(27:28):
Maybe it doesn't. Yeah.
But I see that you're really having this hard time, and this
might be something that's worth trying.
Well, and that's the thing man. Like I, you know, I wanted to
kind of wrap it up with the, youknow, this is a gateway drug
into introspection if you want it to be.
It's a gateway drug to less pain.
I'm not going to say it's going to take away all your pain.
(27:50):
Some people it works great. I still have pain, but it'll
take away a good portion of it. Yeah, so I can function like a
normal person or like that Lady who can move and do shit that
she wasn't able to. Do so.
I mean, she was on oxygen, so it.
Still is, but yeah, a gateway toa better life if you utilize it
as a tool and you're using it in, you know, proper dosing,
(28:14):
proper methods, not trying to gocrazy high and see if you can
fly to the moon 'cause you can still experience euphoria and
all of those fun things if that's what you're looking for
without going overboard. Yeah, and you know, for those
parents or grandparents, 'cause I know there's a lot of amazing
grandparents that listen to thispodcast as well.
(28:35):
Hey, if if you find that your kid or your grandkid is using
cannabis, don't, don't come downon them punitively.
You're teaching them that this is bad.
So just saying, hey, what's going on?
Like, are you having difficulty right now?
Is is this helping you instead of going like you're not
(28:57):
supposed to do it because the law says like yeah I understand
that but if that was the truth then you wouldn't be giving your
kids Nyquil and shit back in theday because it was alcohol in it
and not some other random it. They just put like Benadryl in
it now. Lame.
Nyquil used to be awesome anyways, but you know.
Bring back Nyquil. But.
But cocaine? Cocaine.
(29:18):
Oh, dude, dude, that the rival. How am I going to go off a dead
you? But no, it's a it's a gateway
drug into something different than where you're at right now.
And allow those who are coming up, you got to teach them about
this, Don't. I?
I would really, really encourageyou to share if you are keeping
this from your family members. If they're crazy zealots, don't
(29:42):
don't. It might not be the don't do it.
Just don't do it. You already know the outcome,
but if you've got people around you that love you, respect you,
and they want to see you happy, explain it to them.
Explain it that this not why you're using it.
Start talking about the the positive things of reasons why
you've looked into it, where you've come up to, and then
(30:04):
you've made a decision. That's it.
You're not asking for permission.
And often it kind of feels like that when you need to go, Hey, I
got to tell you something like like my sister texting me in the
middle of it. Like it does kind of feel like
permission when you're trying tohide it from your parents or
something. Like even as an adult, it took
me so long to open up to my parents.
Granted it wasn't legal even in the state at that point.
(30:25):
It was just like, hey, this has helped here, here, here.
Like even your church is OK withit in medical use.
Like look at all these states that they have this.
Oh yeah, dude. And and it was just like trying
to put it in a perspective of helping them actually understand
it. And it took years before and
then it was like, OK, hey, you probably have already known, but
I've been had cannabis in my system every single time you've
(30:48):
seen me for 3-4 years now. Every time you would have seen
me, I would be what you would classify as high.
And yet you wouldn't notice any difference because you had no
idea until I tell you. Dude, my dad, I've ever one time
I, I, I brought a bag from your place to mine and I didn't have
like a a smell proof. And so it was like in the middle
(31:10):
console thinking, Oh, I'm not going to smell.
Anything. Yeah.
Fucking hell yeah, that that wasreally.
It fucking smelled awful. Unless it's like, really shitty.
But it was really good smell of wheat.
So I was like, this shit smells good.
I picked up my dad later on, thesmell was still in my car.
And my dad gets in the car and he goes, why do I smell
(31:31):
marijuana? Jesse?
Enough said. Because there was marijuana in
my car, dad. And they just stared at him and
he goes, you really shouldn't bedoing that while you're driving.
You really shouldn't be telling people what to do.
Dad just go funny. But it's like, I don't care.
Like, you know what? I told my mom I'm like, hey, I'm
smoking cannabis. Mom goes same.
Oh man, what do you want, right?See, that would be great.
(31:54):
I would love to maybe one day. No, my, my dad did.
My dad used cannabis later on, Yeah.
And I mean, he was totally. Helped him navigate a lot of
stuff and I think that was amazing.
Yeah. He was not currently consuming
though, right? No, he doesn't currently
consume, but for a while when hewas struggling with alcoholism,
yeah, And there was a lot of depression.
(32:17):
Like, I was like, you've been drinking that long, but it was
the amount every day. Oh yeah, retired.
That's what gets. You COVID.
Yeah. In his house alone, yeah.
Fuck, dude. Well, well, that's what mine
was. Because I was divorced half the
time my kids weren't home, so itwas me alone at home and it was
(32:37):
like. I don't want to feel like shit.
And so my light nights were like6 to 8 beers and Oh yeah.
And then it got to like, oh cool, I could drink a 12 pack
and be just fine. There was a night that, yeah,
and I've always been small. So it was like I had one night I
had 13 beers and like 3-3 shots of something and something else
(33:00):
and I was still just fine. Like I wasn't chip faced and but
granted it was over a decent amount of time but like it was a
problem. Yeah, a problem.
Definitely a problem. And that's I.
Metabolize so fast too so it waslike I could drink.
Forever yeah because it would just go right through you yeah
yeah I know and it's the same with like cannabis with you
(33:22):
unfortunately because it's it's just because of keep doing that
because you metabolize it so quickly so it's you know it it's
good to know a lot of different things before you start getting
into cannabis but at the same time you know is this a gateway
drug yeah totally it's a 100% gateway drug you just need to
(33:45):
make a decision on how that's good what gateway it's going to
take you down the one thing thatI I I was going through is that
it is the vehicle but it is not the destination so it's just a
tool it's not a cure all it's not going to fix you but if you
allow it to like like a lot of people that we know ourselves
when you allow this to act as like a reflection tool to help
(34:11):
you navigate life better in a way yeah but it's a it's again
it's a vehicle it just depends on where you want to go well.
And you might find in times thatevaluating your relationship
with cannabis, there's times where your vehicle is parked up
on the mountainside watching thesunset for a while because
(34:32):
life's really fucking stressful.And other times that vehicle
might be on the highway, you know, going in a really good
direction because you're hyper focused.
And you know, your vehicle mighthave all sorts of different
trips that you take in life, butit just.
You know, what's great about it and being a tool is that
cannabis can just kind of tweak things just for you to be able
(34:52):
to fix everything. But.
Use it as a gateway to tune in next week, yeah?
And make sure to go check out Cannabis School.
And check out the bomb on Cycloud because.
Yeah, go into the. That thing's fantastic.
That thing is cool. We, we.
This is awesome. All right, guys, take care.
Welcome to Cannabis School. I'm your host, Jesse Angeles.
And I'm Brandon Elder. And we're here to talk to you
about everything pertaining to cannabis from vape flour,
edibles, strains, and everythingin between.
Oh cool, you wait 3 seconds and it exit the setting.
(00:33):
OK cool, now fuck. Speedy.
That's a lot. Oh, you don't have to smoke at
all. Oh no, I definitely.
Don't have to. No I definitely won't but I'm
just like fuck dude I don't eventake that not even close.
Like I thought I was taking big hits before but now I feel
better. No, that's, that's pretty close
(00:54):
to what I usually put in, sometimes slightly larger.
So what is it going to now? Five O 9 it's kind of, it's
heated up. There you go.
It's going to be a great way to start.
Slap in the face with some purple platinum garlic.
Dude, this shit's fucking. Thanks to this bombs Cyclav.
(01:15):
Yeah, if you guys don't have it already, go down into the show
notes can it was code canvas school.
Save yourself 10% ten. Percent this really killer rig.
We've been enjoying it today andit is awesome.
It slaps really hard. Oh yeah.
I mean, purple platinum garlic does too.
(01:36):
'Cause like, there's no way I could touch that.
All right? Yeah.
Hey, so today we're going to be going a little bit more in depth
into something that really triggers a lot of fear with
other people and anger. Yeah.
What's that? Marijuana or weed or cannabis?
(01:57):
Is a gateway drug. Yeah.
And being a gateway drug that you know being.
So what? What is a gateway drug?
Well, it just means that a drug that you would it's well and and
this is the this is the problem that I have with it.
The gateway drug is the the proposed idea is that if you use
cannabis, it's just the gateway into harder substances, which
(02:21):
is, is really ridiculous becauseI love the way when I was going
back and forth and trying to find out information and, and
get some good details from it. The funniest thing was it's
like, yeah, all of a sudden you smoke pot and then now you're
like fucking stealing shit from your parents, pawning it to get
heroin. And also like, like, it's Grand
(02:43):
Theft Pharma and you're like raiding people's, like you're
going to eat all the pain pills.Right, like it's going to send
you into this crazy stupor and you're going to spiral downhill,
which is really interesting it the.
Funny because it was popularizedduring that that time period and
that time period. It was before because back in
(03:03):
the 1972, during the Nixon era, they had the Schaefer Report
where they went through and theyactually did a bunch of studies
specifically on marijuana. And their report that they
brought to Nixon was, hey, this is not a gateway drug, and we
should actually decriminalize itbecause we found that all the
claims that we've been putting out are false.
(03:25):
I don't think they talked about being a gateway drug.
During the Schaefer report yeah,because it was the gateway drug
theory that happened back with the Nixon's era.
Now it was really pushed in Reagan's era with the DARE
program and Nancy Reagan. So in the Schafer report the
whole point was to see if there was causation 'cause they were
worried that it would cause to leading to stronger drugs.
(03:47):
And so that was the whole point and so the Schafer report when
they brought. It up they actually recommended.
Tunics and like, hey, this is there's a lot of false claims
we've been stating and we shouldactually decriminalize this
because these things that we're saying is actually false.
And they were like, we're going to ignore that and we're going
to double down. And so they started Nixon's war
on drugs. They brought in Nancy Reagan's
(04:08):
like DARE program, like it became this whole it just
continued to trickle. And you know, it's been a very
interesting thing, but there's not been any direct causation
that we've seen. Yeah, I didn't even pull that
up. Well, you've been cutting a lot
of this. It's.
Not something new that I've learned.
(04:29):
That was something I learned about years and years ago.
Well, and that's what I'm, I also like I, I want to know more
about it because it just sounds so clear cut and dry and it's
like, hey, I want to know more. So that just makes me like, I'm
going to dig more into that because it's like, you know, it,
it usually when you hear something like this is the way
it is, It's like it never reallyis that way.
(04:51):
It there's something behind it, whether it's someone's making
money or someone just feels a certain way because like if you
take Barr, James Barr, who was the attorney general during the
first Trump administration and his the one he had before that,
and that guy was like hardcore against cannabis.
So was Barr so hardcore against cannabis.
(05:14):
And, and all I kept thinking waslike, why?
And I knew the other guy becausehe was a crazy fucking like,
hardcore. Let me show you I'm a Jesus
freak, right? Shove it in your face.
Yeah, big. Time.
Make sure you know. Authoritarian.
Like, how dare you? I have, you know, authority
(05:34):
because power. It's they are right, and that
rightness comes with a air of authority and power because,
well, I am correct. It it it's a.
It's a a side effect of a cultural something.
That's weird old thing that's. Well, it went from societal to
cultural, because then it be it became a part of their culture,
(05:55):
right. It was like grandpa, whenever
you talk about black people, right, We just like it was just
like but he's he was born in what, the nine different 1900?
1910s. Yeah, 1910s.
And so I mean, yeah, of course his outlook is gonna be
different. Yeah, but it's a side effect and
it's, it's, it's really weird. The the the reason why I bring
(06:18):
that up is because it's really weird that it's still in
people's heads that this is bad.We got a gateway drug.
Yeah, well, it's interesting 'cause even all the discussions
that we've had, like me and my dad over the years, I was
helping him work, remodel an apartment and a tenant was
(06:40):
coming and looking at it or something.
One of the tenants there at the apartments, we were talking and
they were saying something was like, oh, yeah, well, that's why
I smoke weed. And and my dad's like, yeah,
well, you don't have to be addicted to it.
Or like, oh, he you know, he went off on this thing about
like, oh, well, that can lead tothis.
I'm like, no, it no, it doesn't.We've had these discussions,
(07:00):
like, why are you going back to this old rhetoric of like, oh,
but it does that. What do you mean?
Like you'll be addicted to cannabis or you'll get addicted
to no. Like it, it can lead you to
harder things like all this other stuff.
And I'm like, there was a study,it was the US versus Netherlands
studies. And they actually found that
like people in the Netherlands, where they have a lot more
(07:21):
liberal stance on drugs, harder drugs, everything like that,
even cannabis, they found that Americans who had a much more
tighter restrictive legal thing around harder drugs, Americans
were more likely to try harder drugs than people in the
Netherlands. Well, yeah.
And so it was like, OK, so it's not necessarily causation that
(07:42):
like cannabis causes you to do this.
They found that most of those things where it was like, hey,
it's like societal or pressures of.
Causation is not correlation, and so it's it's all.
It's all hearsay. It's all and it's not hearsay,
but it's all case by case. Like just because like Brandon
smokes a shit load of it and he's like this shits not
(08:03):
touching me anymore. And then also come over and
there's fucking little balloons everywhere and I'm like, dude,
this guys doing black tar heroinoff of a fucking spoon with some
insulin needles. And I'm like, you know, that's
tragic, That's horrible. But that is not like that is a
big fear of an aging population.And even now, like you used to
(08:23):
start to see like younger kids are like, I don't know, maybe
this isn't for me. And I I agree.
I don't think that they should be touching at a young age and
using it and consistent consistently.
Like I know people who did lots and lots and lots.
We talked to the doctor. I'm like, that's great, but
she's she's not. That's the way that I think it
(08:44):
should be looked at on both sides.
It's an individual, but it is not the trend because how it
affects us all differently. Yeah, 100% and every strain is
different and like every interaction is different in the
time of day of like hey what foods in your system have you
worked? What's going on in your mind
that day? Like so many differences that
(09:06):
you're like, hey, even this strain where normally it's set
and setting, you know, even Doctor Riley Kirk had talked
about it. Hey, when I try to strain that
normally I'm very comfortable athome or with this I went right
before getting up on stage to gospeak and I use the same exact
strain. That's so funny.
Yeah, and she felt super paranoid and had to go take a
(09:27):
step back and like and walk to go, hey, I need to get back to
being OK because normally this strain that I'm not displaced
with, I am now displaced becausemy set and setting is different.
And so even for a seasoned user,who I would say very seasoned
user, she would be at that pointwould have a very and as a
(09:49):
Doctor Who teaches on cannabis, would have a very robust
understanding of like how cannabis interacts with her
body, like this setting experience, all of that.
And so even her would think, youknow, but that's what she took a
step away and went on a walk. Like, hey, I noticed that this
is not giving me the same interaction because I'm not in
the same place. It is really hard to have a, a
(10:11):
specific study test because evenlike a lot of the tests that
I've looked at now, they've beentrying to get more conclusive
data because they're like, well,now we're testing siblings,
we're testing twins. We're doing these types of tests
to try and get more robust studies.
But still, again, there's differences in endocannabinoid
systems. You just might get closer with
(10:32):
like the social economical things, the other influences of
like family and religion and culture and society like there
that you're like, OK, we're trying to negate as many
differences as possible to make sure we have as many common
grounds to go, hey, what's and they'll go 1 twin didn't have
this and 1 twin did. But we didn't notice any
(10:53):
difference of like causation of leading towards like this type
of thing. Yeah, no.
And and that's the thing, like, you know, it is a gateway drug,
though I will admit that is a gateway drug.
It's a gateway drug to having better food.
I am a far better cook now. I'm more into every single meal
that I prepare is very focused on the experience I had.
(11:17):
My wife always makes fun of me because I judge my food so
harshly. But if the chicken comes out
slightly dry and I know it, I don't like it.
And usually I'm using cannabis while I'm cooking so I'm like, I
can taste things better. I love it when I do because I
don't feel as rushed. I'm more patient and like, OK,
no, this needs this lower temperature.
I need this to create this flavor.
(11:38):
I need to do this instead of like, I'm rushed, I'm stressed.
I'm just going to do this. No, I'm, you know, all this
other shit's still going on. But like, maybe I'm not feeling
quite as rushed. Maybe I'm more focused on it.
Maybe I'm more aware of like everything that's going on.
And so like you said, your dishes are better.
I feel like as a person, like. Introspection.
(11:58):
More connected relationships with myself.
With. With other people because I
found more of me which allows meto like connect better to
others. Yes and no.
It it depends on who you're around.
I would say like, you know, where our interactions or our
similar people, we would have these great interactions.
(12:22):
My interactions, my first interactions around like more
people in cannabis. The -1 was your friend Chad.
He was very pushy. He really wanted you to do
everything higher doses and I didn't like that at all.
It's like, you know, that's a negative.
The person, yes. It's a negative and that's what
I'm saying like you, if you're guided, No, I'm not.
(12:43):
I'm not trying to go he's bad. I'm saying if you're guided by
someone like that, you're not going to experience a very
introspective way because you are more focused on the
experience of just being high and numb or a euphoric instead
of because it really is. It's an intent when you have
(13:04):
intent going all right, what am I looking for right now?
What do I need? Because if I'm seeking cannabis,
and that's another reason why I like, I, I stopped carrying my
vape pen like even when I go outbecause I used to just take it,
you know, yeah. And I'm like, no, I'm not going
to do that anymore. Because we, we talked about that
when we were gaming one night. We're just like, I feel like I'm
just. I just go.
(13:25):
Time not getting any higher and so it's like, so it it triggers
this response. That's why I was like in the
last episodes I was talking about like, man, maybe you
should be looking. If you're using a lot of the
vape pen, that's usually a good sign that something's going on.
And then that's a time to be introspective.
Yeah, maybe what you're smoking on is just amping you up and
(13:46):
you're like, fuck, maybe I needed something to kind of
chill me out. And those introspective ones,
those ones have helped me open up more to ideas and thoughts
and, and not trying necessarily like I was narrow sided, but I'm
open to interpretation. But I'm also open that I don't
(14:07):
have to agree with anybody. No.
But I would say you, you definitely from my perspective
seem like you have a much broader perspective since you've
introduced cannabis. Oh, absolutely.
But I mean, The thing is, it's like, you know, a lot of people
use substances these days because it's a weird fucking
world. Well, it's constantly.
(14:27):
Everyone's medicated, whether it's a medicine of like pills or
something else from their doctor.
Oh no, I'm not just saying that.I mean, but I mean we see an
Upwork. All using something to manage
life. Right, right, and.
Most people, whether it's they're going to alcohol or
they've got SSRIs or whatever itis, most people are using
(14:50):
something, some sort of substance that's not themselves.
No, but I'm just what I'm sayingis, is that it's it's been a
increasing like crazy amount. Of I could say that of
percentage of people. Oh.
Way more because of how. Especially in the United States,
we have a really. High the entire world is crazy
(15:10):
right now on it, you know, and it's but the reason why is it
you weird like inducing it. It's like an induced
schizophrenia. You have constant voices around
you non-stop in your ear, on your screen in front of you.
You, you. Dude, back in the day, if you
saw somebody talking to themselves on the street, you'd
be like that poor guy is sick. Now he's having a conversation.
(15:32):
Oh yeah, and he could be talkingto himself.
Who cares? We we have just kind of like,
yeah, no big deal. Yeah, the only difference
between the crazy person and thenot crazy, not crazy person is
one person has a headphone in their ear.
Yeah, pretty much. Right.
Well, even that, I mean, it's, you know, people are are.
And that's the thing too with cannabis is that it's it is a
gateway drug to melt a lot of good things, but it also can be
(15:55):
for bad things. You can abuse cannabis.
Yeah. You can abuse a lifestyle.
Anything else? Yeah, right, right.
And so it's, you know, it's, it's not a cure all, it's a
tool. Predispositioned like
genetically or other things thatit's like, hey, you're, you're
prone to seeking out something, whether it's cannabis, alcohol,
some type of thing, escapism, like a lot.
(16:18):
There are some of us who are more prone to that than others,
just genetically, yeah. Not that every single person is,
but there are some. Who?
Have higher tendencies and things that we just.
Yeah. I mean, you know, you take
alcoholism or babies born on heroin or meth, like they're
immediately addicted to that, right?
(16:38):
And it it goes down the bloodline.
Like I have serious alcoholism on my mom's side.
And and so that was, you know, always a worry, but I never felt
like I wanted to drink all the time, ever.
Not because of that. That didn't get me going.
Oh, no. Yeah.
My family was always the same. They're like, oh, alcoholism
runs in here, 'cause this grandpa did the crate, someone
(17:01):
did this and I was like, OK, so don't drink.
And then I found so funny. I really really liked drinking
for a bit, but I don't know if it was 'cause I really liked
drinking or if it was just. Social aspect so.
Sheltered. And it was like, Oh my gosh,
this is a whole new experience of something I've never had.
And then it became a, a darker depressive like thing of like,
(17:23):
well, now I'm just numbing. Yeah, I'm numbing life because
life's really shitty. So now I'm drinking to numb that
pain. And that's not, that's more
escapism of like, I'm trying to get away from life.
So I need to drink, you know? And and now I actually like I
don't. Every once in a while I have a
craving for the flavor of like an alcohol drink, but I don't
(17:44):
really have a craving for like the feeling.
No, I I lost it all last time. Like I told you, wife and I our
last anniversary. Felt like shit afterwards.
Oh, dude, I hated it. Yeah, absolutely hated it.
Mm hmm. I was like.
Oh yeah, well, Emily had done her 75 hard.
She had two drinks during that entire time, basically when I
(18:07):
chose to have a drink. And she was like, OK, And for
her, that's crazy. And then at the end of her 75
heart, she had a drink. She was like, oh, I want to have
a Margarita just to celebrate. And she had two.
And she was like, that was the worst decision I have done.
Like, I feel so garbage. She was like, and is this why
(18:28):
you don't drink? And I'm like, yeah, because I
started feeling like crap every time.
And it was like, why would I? Why would I do this?
Enjoy. This again, it's it's it's like
there's there's home cooked meals, there's fast food and
then there's street food in India and that is drinking to me
(18:49):
because it is so like, like I might get the shits, I might
throw up. Oh yeah.
Like I'm not checking I might have tapeworm, who knows?
The Montezuma's revenge for India.
Oh dude, no. Montezuma's revenge there too.
Oh no dude, I mean you just lookin a lot of places with an
Indian. Not all of India has a massive
place, but there are places in India where their their water is
(19:15):
mixing with their sewage. Oh yeah, there was a video
maybe. Remember I showed you that one.
Yeah, and. He's literally like.
They're like pouring raw. Seeds 30 feet down the stream
from him and I was like. Yeah, right.
But it's like gross. That's the way I treat drinking
now because I, I have, I remember when I was younger, but
I remember because my body was experiencing these things for
(19:37):
the first time and I was around other people.
And again, it's always set and setting.
Like, you know, I, I, I typically had good experiences
drinking. I would hang out, we would do
silly things. We, we would have fun, play
practical jokes because we're just acting like kids.
And then the other part is getting in fights and stuff like
(19:58):
that. And I still see that as a
positive thing because I didn't,I didn't mind.
I like that that that rush, but it is.
Now I just don't see it the sameway.
Like, I mean, try to convince meto do something bad on cannabis.
Let's go fuck up somebody's car.It's like.
Let's go get in a fight like. No.
And The thing is, it'll make youway more likely to think about
(20:22):
it and overthink about it instead of go.
Yeah, I know. That sounds like a smart idea.
Let's go do it. Well, and another thing, it's a
gateway drug for two is open up to new music, opening up to new
genres of fiction, whether it bemovies or books or games.
Like I played more games that I never would have thought I would
(20:44):
play. I was like shooting everything
right and. Yeah.
And then and I was really, I still am.
I'm really good at those games, but I like role-playing games
now. I like depth, I like story, I
like I like to be frustrated. I like challenge and I like to
go deeper in that. And then I like to read fictions
(21:04):
that I would normally. I gave up fiction for a really
long time. I just didn't enjoy it because I
thought I needed to constantly fill my brain.
But sometimes it's great to be able. 20 years I gave up
fiction. Yeah, I'm yeah about that too.
That's nuts because I read so much growing up and then as soon
(21:25):
as I graduated high school, I was like, I'm, I'm done.
I don't, I don't want to read. I don't want to read.
And then after that I got back into business books and like
other books and history books and stuff.
And it was really hard to get into fiction.
I don't, I don't know what it was.
No, it's it's hard because it you, it just your tastes change
(21:46):
man. It's the same with alcohol.
Like am I shitting on alcohol? No, like if, if that's your jam,
cool, dude, it's straight poison.
I mean, if shit will take off paint and clean you.
I know now I'm like, I think of it that way.
I'm like, fuck, I don't, I don'tknow why I do it, but sometimes
it helps. You know, it's been great for
(22:08):
like when people have like, dude, there are so many old
school Mormons around here that still have whiskey in their
medicine cabinet. Really.
Yeah, they'll take like my grand.
My wife's grandmother, every time she had a cough, Grandpa
dedicated Morgan like crazy about it, right?
He would get her like a couple. Dedicated.
(22:28):
More Yeah dude like he's a robotdude like that's Yeah, they are
all he's like he's just like the.
Super Pious are incredibly robotic and.
They're just, they're just so afraid that somebody will see
the, the dents in their armor. Like, you know, I I love my
wife's grandfather, but you know, the way he talks about it,
he's going to take care of the whole world that gives all this
money to all these Galatian people and these Thai people and
(22:49):
Vietnamese people in the ward. Yeah.
You wouldn't help out his own his own kids.
He wouldn't help out his own kids when they were trying.
He had tons of money and he's giving it to these communities.
Like, I would give him shit. And I'm like, hey, they going to
build you a golden statue out there in Thailand?
I thought it was funny. It was like the year that really
struggled, lost my job was dealing with court stuff with
(23:10):
the kids. Oh yeah, everything all at once.
And I was still helping my dad when he needed help and he paid
me hardly anything at the end ofthe year.
He was bragging about how much he gave to the church because he
wasn't able to do tithing. So he just gave it at the end of
the year because the Bishop camearound going, hey, it's
Christmas time. We could use a donation.
(23:32):
Would you? Would you help some families?
And so my dad was like, well, I wasn't able to give tithing, so
I just paid it all at once. And I had massive lump sum.
And I was like, here and look, look at what I did.
And I'm like, cool, I bet that made you feel so good, didn't
you Like. That's so funny dude.
But that's it's the very pious, like, oh, Jesus is going to look
at me and go, hey, you gave so much money.
(23:54):
I'm so proud of you. Isn't that funny to you?
I'm. So proud of you.
And and that's another thing too, like a gateway drug to
being able to kind of explore your faith if if you have faith,
whatever it may be. It's one thing that I've really
enjoyed about cannabis is that it is brought me closer to to my
God, the to to that your. Connection and belief.
(24:14):
Is, yeah. And and then I'll leave it at
that because. Of that looks like.
And, and some of you may be going through that, you know,
but the other thing that's been really cool is the type of
people that I would talk to cannabis consumers are all walks
of life. Yeah.
And I unfortunately, because where I grew up, how I was
raised, I just had this different view of different
(24:37):
people. Oh no dude.
And the big reason why was because stoners look like
stoners. Oh, yeah, or, or even bikers or
people with like tattoos or piercings and stuff.
I was raised as like, oh, they're bad people.
Like look out and I'm like, and then I rode motorcycles and hung
out with bikers and got tattoos.And I realized all these people
(24:57):
are just people. And some of them are way better
than the incredibly pious peoplethat I saw who were so well
presented and dressed and so eloquent and, and all of this.
And yeah, yes. And then I go and I see this
biker or this other person. I'm like, they have the most
honest, loving heart. They are the most real person.
(25:19):
And they would do anything for me or anyone else, not just,
hey, is God watching? Is my neighbor watching?
Like I, I should show up like this.
And I'm like, that's what I loved is I realized I didn't
have to fear people so much. I learned to love the diversity,
all the difference of people andgo holy shit, like you're so
unique on your own. You're so fucking different than
(25:40):
me. That's amazing.
I wish that I could be more unique like you because I feel
like I'm so much of all these other.
But it's, it's awesome too, because it was a blank canvas at
that point where you could go and explore.
And you know, I, that's the one thing that I, I, I think is so
cool about cannabis. People like, dude, how many
(26:01):
people I've met in business, regular life in my, in my church
around other people like randomly like that.
Dude sitting on the side of the road where we smoked a bowl with
and it was like. Or that woman out there that
we're going to have on our podcast.
Yeah, she, I mean, her life is completely changed with
cannabis. And it's so cool to watch and
(26:24):
see. And it's like, dude, she would
be the quintessential of scary. But you know, when you're at a
place in your life where you're just like, yeah, well, what
could it fucking do? That's what really like, I think
that's what for me stemmed why this show really exists was like
because grandma when I started making her edibles and I saw her
(26:47):
go from like having to be, she was on fentanyl and she went
from that to not having chronic migraines, not having it, not to
use any of that. And she weaned herself off
cannabis too because she was like, I don't need this
eventually, but like that changein her mindset and her quality
of life. And then, like, I've not met
(27:07):
this lady yet, but you've told me the experiences, and it feels
so incredible to just go, hey, Isaw that person's life got
better, and it was just something stupid and simple.
And all I had to do was talk to them and care enough about them
to go, hey, I see that you're struggling.
You're hurting this, like, and maybe maybe this helps.
(27:28):
Maybe it doesn't. Yeah.
But I see that you're really having this hard time, and this
might be something that's worth trying.
Well, and that's the thing man. Like I, you know, I wanted to
kind of wrap it up with the, youknow, this is a gateway drug
into introspection if you want it to be.
It's a gateway drug to less pain.
I'm not going to say it's going to take away all your pain.
(27:50):
Some people it works great. I still have pain, but it'll
take away a good portion of it. Yeah, so I can function like a
normal person or like that Lady who can move and do shit that
she wasn't able to. Do so.
I mean, she was on oxygen, so it.
Still is, but yeah, a gateway toa better life if you utilize it
as a tool and you're using it in, you know, proper dosing,
(28:14):
proper methods, not trying to gocrazy high and see if you can
fly to the moon 'cause you can still experience euphoria and
all of those fun things if that's what you're looking for
without going overboard. Yeah, and you know, for those
parents or grandparents, 'cause I know there's a lot of amazing
grandparents that listen to thispodcast as well.
(28:35):
Hey, if if you find that your kid or your grandkid is using
cannabis, don't, don't come downon them punitively.
You're teaching them that this is bad.
So just saying, hey, what's going on?
Like, are you having difficulty right now?
Is is this helping you instead of going like you're not
(28:57):
supposed to do it because the law says like yeah I understand
that but if that was the truth then you wouldn't be giving your
kids Nyquil and shit back in theday because it was alcohol in it
and not some other random it. They just put like Benadryl in
it now. Lame.
Nyquil used to be awesome anyways, but you know.
Bring back Nyquil. But.
But cocaine? Cocaine.
(29:18):
Oh, dude, dude, that the rival. How am I going to go off a dead
you? But no, it's a it's a gateway
drug into something different than where you're at right now.
And allow those who are coming up, you got to teach them about
this, Don't. I?
I would really, really encourageyou to share if you are keeping
this from your family members. If they're crazy zealots, don't
(29:42):
don't. It might not be the don't do it.
Just don't do it. You already know the outcome,
but if you've got people around you that love you, respect you,
and they want to see you happy, explain it to them.
Explain it that this not why you're using it.
Start talking about the the positive things of reasons why
you've looked into it, where you've come up to, and then
(30:04):
you've made a decision. That's it.
You're not asking for permission.
And often it kind of feels like that when you need to go, Hey, I
got to tell you something like like my sister texting me in the
middle of it. Like it does kind of feel like
permission when you're trying tohide it from your parents or
something. Like even as an adult, it took
me so long to open up to my parents.
Granted it wasn't legal even in the state at that point.
(30:25):
It was just like, hey, this has helped here, here, here.
Like even your church is OK withit in medical use.
Like look at all these states that they have this.
Oh yeah, dude. And and it was just like trying
to put it in a perspective of helping them actually understand
it. And it took years before and
then it was like, OK, hey, you probably have already known, but
I've been had cannabis in my system every single time you've
(30:48):
seen me for 3-4 years now. Every time you would have seen
me, I would be what you would classify as high.
And yet you wouldn't notice any difference because you had no
idea until I tell you. Dude, my dad, I've ever one time
I, I, I brought a bag from your place to mine and I didn't have
like a a smell proof. And so it was like in the middle
(31:10):
console thinking, Oh, I'm not going to smell.
Anything. Yeah.
Fucking hell yeah, that that wasreally.
It fucking smelled awful. Unless it's like, really shitty.
But it was really good smell of wheat.
So I was like, this shit smells good.
I picked up my dad later on, thesmell was still in my car.
And my dad gets in the car and he goes, why do I smell
(31:31):
marijuana? Jesse?
Enough said. Because there was marijuana in
my car, dad. And they just stared at him and
he goes, you really shouldn't bedoing that while you're driving.
You really shouldn't be telling people what to do.
Dad just go funny. But it's like, I don't care.
Like, you know what? I told my mom I'm like, hey, I'm
smoking cannabis. Mom goes same.
Oh man, what do you want, right?See, that would be great.
(31:54):
I would love to maybe one day. No, my, my dad did.
My dad used cannabis later on, Yeah.
And I mean, he was totally. Helped him navigate a lot of
stuff and I think that was amazing.
Yeah. He was not currently consuming
though, right? No, he doesn't currently
consume, but for a while when hewas struggling with alcoholism,
yeah, And there was a lot of depression.
(32:17):
Like, I was like, you've been drinking that long, but it was
the amount every day. Oh yeah, retired.
That's what gets. You COVID.
Yeah. In his house alone, yeah.
Fuck, dude. Well, well, that's what mine
was. Because I was divorced half the
time my kids weren't home, so itwas me alone at home and it was
(32:37):
like. I don't want to feel like shit.
And so my light nights were like6 to 8 beers and Oh yeah.
And then it got to like, oh cool, I could drink a 12 pack
and be just fine. There was a night that, yeah,
and I've always been small. So it was like I had one night I
had 13 beers and like 3-3 shots of something and something else
(33:00):
and I was still just fine. Like I wasn't chip faced and but
granted it was over a decent amount of time but like it was a
problem. Yeah, a problem.
Definitely a problem. And that's I.
Metabolize so fast too so it waslike I could drink.
Forever yeah because it would just go right through you yeah
yeah I know and it's the same with like cannabis with you
(33:22):
unfortunately because it's it's just because of keep doing that
because you metabolize it so quickly so it's you know it it's
good to know a lot of different things before you start getting
into cannabis but at the same time you know is this a gateway
drug yeah totally it's a 100% gateway drug you just need to
(33:45):
make a decision on how that's good what gateway it's going to
take you down the one thing thatI I I was going through is that
it is the vehicle but it is not the destination so it's just a
tool it's not a cure all it's not going to fix you but if you
allow it to like like a lot of people that we know ourselves
when you allow this to act as like a reflection tool to help
(34:11):
you navigate life better in a way yeah but it's a it's again
it's a vehicle it just depends on where you want to go well.
And you might find in times thatevaluating your relationship
with cannabis, there's times where your vehicle is parked up
on the mountainside watching thesunset for a while because
(34:32):
life's really fucking stressful.And other times that vehicle
might be on the highway, you know, going in a really good
direction because you're hyper focused.
And you know, your vehicle mighthave all sorts of different
trips that you take in life, butit just.
You know, what's great about it and being a tool is that
cannabis can just kind of tweak things just for you to be able
(34:52):
to fix everything. But.
Use it as a gateway to tune in next week, yeah?
And make sure to go check out Cannabis School.
And check out the bomb on Cycloud because.
Yeah, go into the. That thing's fantastic.
That thing is cool. We, we.
This is awesome. All right, guys, take care.
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