April 7, 2023 • 49 mins
As recreational marijuana is readied to be legalized in Maryland come July, there will still be a demand for medical cannabis. Catrena Almonte, MS ’21, is a graduate from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s MS in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics program housed at the Universities at Shady Grove, and she is preparing for the next steps in her cannabis career as laws continue to change. Almonte describes how her experience in the military as a chaplain candidate led her to studying medical cannabis. Almonte shares why there will still be a need for medical cannabis in light of recreational marijuana’s availability, and how she wants to combine her research on cannabis with clinical psychology and clinical psychopharmacology.
Listen more about the legal and public health impact of the upcoming July 1 legalization of recreational marijuana in Maryland on Virtual Face to Face featuring Leah Sera, PharmD, MA, BCPS, associate professor and co-director of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s first-in-the-nation MS in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics program, and Mathew Swinburne, JD, research associate with the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, who has worked closely with legislative committees crafting Maryland’s cannabis legislation.
Listen to The UMB Pulse on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you like to listen. The UMB Pulse is also now on YouTube.
Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Charles Schelle (00:00):
Hey Dana, do you take, or do you know anyone
who takes CBD products?
Dana Rampolla (00:04):
Yeah, I actually know a handful of people who
take CBD
Charles Schelle (00:08):
My dad takes something for like arthritis
pain.
I don't know if it works or not.
He has so many different creamsand lotions of different types,
you know, because when you're inyour seventies, you're, you'll
take, uh, you know, any sort of,uh, anti-inflammatory to like,
ease the joint pain, right?
We're seeing a lot more CBDproducts.
(00:30):
There are a lot of medicaldispensaries throughout the
state of Maryland for thoseoptions.
And this is also the last four20 in Maryland where
recreational marijuana will beillegal.
And so I think it'll beinteresting to see how this
comes to a head of how therecreational community and uses
(00:53):
in all those products will makesome sort of impact on the
medical cannabis community,having that guidance of a
doctor.
Dana Rampolla (01:04):
And I kind of wonder people who, I'll call it
self, self-medicating with theuse of marijuana.
I wonder if they will continueto do that because either they
like, or maybe they're addictedto that high versus turning to c
B D products that can be easilyaccessed.
Charles Schelle (01:22):
Right.
And the entire landscape ischanging so much and I'm sure
there are people that know whatthis looks like and sounds like
and trying to make a career outof it.
And we're gonna talk to somebodytoday who is in that very
situation.
Dana Rampolla (01:40):
Oh, that's great.
She's a graduate from our, ourprogram here at U M B.
Right.
Charles Schelle (01:44):
Right!.
Catrena Almonte.
She is a member of the firstgraduating class of the
University of Maryland School ofPharmacy's, master of Science in
Medical Cannabis Science andTherapeutics.
She graduated back in 2021 andshe's now a doctoral student at
the Chicago School of Psychologyat their DC campus, which will
(02:06):
tell us, uh, more about in theepisode.
But it's interesting, as you'llhear from her in a little bit
about that kind of push, pull ofknowing the industry is opening
up to the legalization, butthat's not for everybody.
And, and even herself as sheshares.
Dana Rampolla (02:25):
Yeah, I think I, I'm excited to talk to her just
because I, I've wondered for solong since this program's been
around, like what do peopleactually graduate and do with a
degree in this?
So yeah.
Let's open that conversation.
Charles Schelle (02:38):
And Catrena, she's not a regulatory expert,
but she can kind of talk about alittle bit of what impacts her
where she's at right now.
But we've had that conversationabout the legal part of it, the
public health part of it of thelegalization of marijuana in
Maryland, and then the medicinaltraining here at U M B during a
(03:00):
Virtual Face to Face with,Provost Roger Ward back at the
end of March.
Dana Rampolla (03:04):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Be sure to tune in and listen.
Charles Schelle (03:07):
Absolutely.
And we'll put a link to theYouTube video in our show notes.
You can rewatch that.
Without further ado, let'slisten to Catrena Almonte in her
journey with medical cannabiswelcome Catrena Almonte.
(03:38):
This is a new alum from a newprogram, from the University of
Maryland School of Pharmacies,master of Science and Medical
Cannabis Science andTherapeutics.
As we all know, cannabis is avery popular topic nowadays,
especially here in Maryland.
So welcome Catrena.
Catrena Almonte (03:56):
Thank you.
Thank you very much for havingme.
Dana Rampolla (03:59):
And Catrena, before we get started, I just
wanna hear your beautifulpronunciation of your name.
Catrena Almonte (04:05):
So my name in complete English is, Catrena
Shari Almonte, or in Spanish isCatrena Shari Almonte.
Dana Rampolla (04:17):
Just beautiful.
It rolls so easily off yourtongue.
We had to share that with ourlisteners.
Um, so Catrena, let's just jumpright in and tell us a little
bit about, um, about how youwound up at the University of
Maryland, Baltimore, and whatinterested you, why did you get
into their cannabis program?
Catrena Almonte (04:35):
Yeah, it's, it's such an interesting story.
So, you know, my background isprimarily military.
I spent 20 years of brokenservice, uh, within the
military.
So I was in the Navy.
I moved to the Navy, uh,National Guard, uh, to the Navy
Reserves rather.
And then, um, later on, moved tothe Army National Guard.
(04:57):
And my last professional rolewithin, uh, the military was,
um, an Army, uh, chaplaincandidate where, um, that role
just really thrusted me into thehuman condition.
I saw families, I saw emotions,the full spectrum of emotions
all over the gamut, right?
(05:17):
Within the context of the Army.
So this conclude, this includedseparations.
This included the high riskenvironment that goes along with
being in the military.
And, um, through that, seeingsoldiers sort of entering
different developmental stagesin their lives.
So some of them were enteringthe military, some of them were
leaving the military, but alsolike their personal journeys as
(05:39):
well.
Some of them were entering intomarriages, some of them were
leaving outta marriages, some ofthem were separating from one
unit to another.
And all of these sorts ofchanges creates external
pressures and stressors that wehave to deal with.
And, uh, being a part of theChaplain Corps, we are the
first, uh, stop, um, whenindividuals are, are being
faced, uh, with stress.
(06:00):
Because there's not too much ofa stigma that is associated with
seeing a Chaplain.
I learned later on that whenyou're looking at, uh, the human
condition, you must fully, uh,consider mental health.
Absolutely.
And um, within my role, I sawthat more people needed to see
(06:22):
mental health providers.
Number one.
I also saw lots of substance useand abuse, number two and number
three, which probably shouldhave been number one.
I saw a lot of post-traumaticstress conditions happening over
and over and over again.
(06:43):
And seeing this over and overagain, I felt inept as a
chaplain candidate because mytoolkit would not allow me to
even begin to touch the sort ofbiological underpinnings that go
along with the conditions, theneurological underpinnings, the
neurobiology of P T S D.
(07:05):
And so I began on this personaljourney of wanting to understand
what can hap, what can sort ofhelp P T S D and I found
cannabis.
I'm on cannabis.
Over and over every study itperformed well against pain.
(07:27):
It's insomnia.
All of these differentconditions, stress and anxiety,
and.
Then I, I, you know, it startedto shift, you know, how do I
incorporate this into a zerotolerance military?
Well, it doesn't fit.
So I had to make sort of my ownsort of independent decision,
(07:48):
how am I gonna move forward?
What am I going to do?
Am I going to continue to stayin this place where I felt
inept, where I felt like I wasnot the full servant that I
needed to be?
Because again, I'm a chaplain.
I look at work like this as, assort of servanthood.
So am am I, am I, am I reallyliving up to my potential or do
(08:10):
I need to pivot in order tobecome a better servant, to the
work that I was doing and to thepeople that I was called to
serve.
And that sort of began my sortof personal interest into like a
professional sort of interest.
And that's when I bumped.
Into the University of MarylandSchool of Pharmacy and this
(08:32):
Cannabis Science andTherapeutics Program.
So I'm like reading my laptop,looking at this school that's
brand new, and looking up intothe heavens and reading the
laptop and looking up into theheavens, wondering when are the
angels gonna start singing?
Because it was such a greatpairing.
It was such a divine moment forme.
And so this began sort of my,my, my footsteps to, to start
(08:57):
moving in this direction.
And I applied and I got in.
Yay.
I got in.
Charles Schelle (09:06):
So once you got in, um, what were you hoping to
learn and, and what did youlearn just from kind of like a
top level of the medicalcannabis industry?
Yeah.
Catrena Almonte (09:19):
So I have to sort of, uh, preface this, this,
uh, the response to thisquestion because I had so much,
uh, misgivings and, and so muchnervousness going into the
program because it was amaster's of science.
Like what?
I didn't have a lot of sciencein my background, and I'm like,
(09:40):
oh my gosh, they're gonna bethrowing a formula at me and I
don't know what I'm gonna do,but I have to learn this.
I have to get this informationin my head.
By no means, by all means, what,what is it by all means
necessary, whatever the, the,the slogan is.
Yeah.
So I, I just, I knew that thiswas the right thing, so I just
sort of had to sort of unpackthose sort of fears and just
(10:02):
roll with it and go through it.
There was no going around it oranything.
I just moved through it and onceI started.
Like, I can't even begin to tellyou guys how much I like the
program, right?
Because it's so well thought outas well.
(10:24):
The professors take people likeme in mind that don't have a lot
of science in our background,but have a passion that, that
sort of want to learn cannabisin all these varying ways
because we wanna go out thereand we wanna make the world a
better place utilizingcannabinoids if necessary.
Listen, it's not necessary inevery different, um, situation,
(10:48):
but, um, it's certainly, uh,relevant and it should be, um,
a, a consideration.
So once I joined the program, myknowledge, it started from a
very fundamental level andlearning about human anatomy and
understanding the endocannabinoid system and then
understanding how exogenouscannabinoids can pair with that
(11:11):
and work synergistically withthe body.
It, it sort of, um, theinformation while salient it,
it, it, it, it just cametogether in this, in this very,
um, easily digestible way.
And the professors like, theirpersonalities are so great,
they'll work with you, you havea question, you can just reach
(11:32):
out to'em.
So they're very flexible, veryunderstanding.
So it just worked well.
It, particularly for my, uh, my,my schedule as well, because at
the time it was asynchronous.
Charles Schelle (11:42):
What was your bachelor's degree in?
Catrena Almonte (11:45):
So I have two bachelors, um, one in, uh,
psychology and the other one in,uh, theology, which was sort of
the, uh, prerequisite in orderto be a chaplain candidate.
Charles Schelle (11:56):
Okay.
Well, there's quite a bit ofscience in psychology.
I know.
Um, with the amount of, and, andmath too, right.
Surprisingly, there are a lot ofmath, uh mm-hmm.
And, and psychology becausethat, uh, uh, was a stumbling
block for a few of my friendswho wanted to become psych
majors, and they was like, Ididn't know there was math
involved in this.
Dana Rampolla (12:15):
So you mentioned that the professors.
Was there any one professor inparticular who really influenced
you or helped you chart thecourse of your study?
Catrena Almonte (12:26):
Oh my gosh.
So, all right.
So, uh, Dr.
Coop, who is, so, when I firstmet Dr.
Coop right.
I met him.
He was on the, on our platformat our symposium, and he's
wearing this little.
Bow tie.
And for some reason the bow tiemade me think, oh my God, he's
so hard.
Why?
Like what?
(12:46):
I bet he's such a hardprofessor.
He's the one that's teachingchemistry and he has like this
little, little small little bowtie.
I bet his classes are gonna bereally hard and he's gonna be
throwing formulas and probablywon't have any empathy.
He was so sweet.
And so, and all of his lectureswere so easy I didn't have to
keep going back over the samethings and reading and
(13:07):
rereading, he just made thingsso easily digestible.
His personality is so kind andso accommodating.
I've gotten numerous letters ofrecommendation from him and he's
always been completely flexibleand open and he just really
cares for your learningexperience.
And so he was very, verypivotal.
Um, I also, Dean Edington, howcan you not love her, right?
(13:32):
So she is like, oh my gosh,she's such an educated.
Uh, academic, professional.
And so because I'm in academia,like I aspire to be at like this
level of education, I don't knowif I'll become Dean.
I don't, I don't know if that'smy career trajectory or
anything, but boy, she served asrepresentation for me during my
(13:52):
time, uh, at the University ofMaryland School of Pharmacy.
So those are two distinctindividuals that really stick
out in my mind.
Also, Dr.
Sera, she was reallyinstrumental in, uh, sort of
selecting me to be the theambassador for the program.
Her and Lisa, they definitelyhelped, um, to select me for the
(14:13):
ambassador role for the program,which, gosh, before that I was
like, This study sturdy nerd, Igotta get it full of
hypervigilance, full ofnervousness.
But after I became theambassador and I started
speaking about the program andit was really coming from this
genuine place, like I felt likeI began to bloom and blossom.
(14:38):
So yeah, like those are someindividuals that definitely
stick out in my mind.
Dana Rampolla (14:43):
So Catrena, um, talking about these doctors, who
was Dr.
Raphael Mechoulam?
Catrena Almonte (14:49):
So he is the father of cannabis, uh, science
research.
And when, um, so he died earlierthis month and, um, the school
may already be doing something,um, in his memorium because I
know that the school worked, um,very closely, um, with him.
And, um, they taught us a lotabout what he did.
(15:11):
But him specifically, um, he,um, an is is an Israeli chemist
that, isolated a lot of thecompounds that we know of
cannabis today.
So we learned about THC fromhim, CBD CBG, CBN.
Before that we just, in America,we just knew it was cannabis.
We called it weed, we called itreefer.
(15:33):
But, and then they, they sort ofslapped legislative, uh, actions
over here where we couldn'ttouch it anymore.
But in Israel, this guy wasstill studying.
This guy was still learning.
And so most of the bulk of whatwe know today is based upon his
research.
Dana Rampolla (15:50):
So you had this great experience, it sounds like
with your education here at U MB.
What happened next when yougraduated?
What did you move into?
Did you go back to being achaplain or?
Catrena Almonte (16:02):
No.
So now I am actually, um, I'mstill in school like again.
Right.
Like what, like how much schoolare you in?
So I'm in my, I'm finishing upmy second year, um, uh, as a
clinical, uh, psychologist.
So I'm going to school to becomea clinical psychologist, uh,
second year for that doctoralprogram.
(16:24):
I am also within my first yearof a post-doctoral program for
clinical psycho-pharmacology.
Um, the goal is to become aprescribing medical clinical
psychologist, and hopefully withthe laws changing, I will be
able to prescribe cannabinoids.
That's definitely my goal.
I came into the program withthis in mind.
(16:46):
My clinical interests areveterans and it's so funny,
right?
So I started my program and myadvisor at my current, uh,
institution, um, she said,Catrena, I know how strongly you
feel about cannabinoids.
And not everyone here is onboard with clinical
psychologists even prescribing.
(17:08):
Okay?
We just, we like therapy, welike to give medicine to
psychiatrists.
And I, and I told her, listen,there's no way we're taking this
off the table.
I believe in the power ofcannabinoids.
I did two years at theUniversity of Maryland School of
Pharmacy, and I did not do thosetwo years and give my 4.0 g p a
to not prescribe cannabinoids.
(17:29):
So if the law allows it, youbetter leave.
I'm gonna do it.
So it's definitely my passion.
It's definitely sort of my, my,my career goals.
And I know it's sort of stretchgoals, right?
Because it's stretching me to bein the doctoral program.
It's stretching me to be in thispost-doctoral program.
But let me tell you something, Ilove every second of it.
(17:51):
I love every second of it, andI'm growing in the process and I
feel like I'm in the rightplace.
Charles Schelle (17:56):
Yeah, that definitely has to be a challenge
where you're preparing for afuture career.
You can see it evolving and youhave this push and pull between,
um, state regulations and, andallowing that to open up, which
is much quicker right now.
And then federal law,recognizing the, ability to,
(18:19):
take it off the, schedulednarcotics list.
And then you have that third legof then regulating emerging
prescriptions and, and productstoo.
Mm-hmm.
So tell what, what's thatchallenge like for you being in
that transition period ofwatching laws change?
Catrena Almonte (18:35):
Yeah, so it's twofold.
So from a personal perspective,I'm watching sort of the
landscape and how the world ischanging, as you're suggesting
in, in all of the different tickmarks and, and sort of
incremental changes that'shappening.
But also, I'm sort of in a silo,right?
Because I'm, I'm, I'm ineducation and I'm still
learning.
But I think it all works to myadvantage because I believe by
(18:58):
the time I step out, a lot of,some of the, um, isms and
schisms that go along withchange will have already
occurred.
And listen, state by state, likethis thing is happening with
cannabinoids.
Like every year it's a newstate.
Now it's more states.
I, I think it's what, 23?
I, I, I don't know the, the, thenumbers.
So if I'm, I'm off, please editthat.
(19:20):
But we're at a large, uh, at alarge, uh, percentage of the
states that are allowing for therecreational use of
cannabinoids.
So, so that's one.
One thing, but the medicinalusage is the most important
thing for me.
And also some of thatrecreational use is underlying
anxiety, underlying depressionthat has not been properly
(19:44):
diagnosed, but people arelooking for short-term avoidance
strategies to not deal with the,the, the sort of things that's
sort of fueling whatever it isthat they're feeling.
So I, you know, for me, I, Ithink it's, I think it's a great
thing that the world is sort ofchanging.
I also think that because I'm awoman of Color, right, I
definitely sort of representpeople that have been
(20:05):
disproportionately impacted, uh,negatively, uh, by cannabinoid
usage.
And I think to sort of have mein this space as sort of good
representation of, of, of sortof, um, what education can do
and, and, and just givingsomeone an opportunity, but also
in the world now you can seesomeone that looks like you and
(20:27):
now this is someone that, okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
May, may, maybe there is somemerit to this May.
Maybe, maybe there is becausethere, there's that sort of
representation where you can seeyourself in that person.
Right.
Dana Rampolla (20:38):
Great.
Um, let's back up just a minute.
You keep referring tocannabinoids.
Um, I think you mentionedanother word.
It was endo.
Was that endo?
Cannabinoid?
Uhhuh.
Endocannabinoid uhhuh.
Yeah.
So fill us in a little bit incase someone's listening who
doesn't really know thedifference.
You know, we hear about THC, wehear about CBD, um, sounds like
(20:59):
just the landscape of words arechanging as people are becoming
more familiar.
Um, give, so give us a littlepot 1 0 1 lesson.
Catrena Almonte (21:09):
Okay.
So, um, so with, with cannabis,you, you have, um, so, so
cannabis that is grown from theground are considered exogenous
cannabinoids.
That is cannabis, that is, thatis sort of existing outside of
the body.
The endo cannabinoid system isthe system that all mammalian
(21:30):
creatures have that is sort ofresponsible for our homeostasis
wellness.
Um, it, it sort of makes ourbodies feel, um, on balance.
And so from the head and neckup, you have receptors, which
are called CB one receptors, andfrom the base of the neck going
down within the body, just inall of the sort of peripheral
(21:53):
locations of the body.
So that would be the appendages,the, the arms, the legs.
You have what's called CB tworeceptors.
So when cannabinoids, whensomeone smokes, so they may
decide to smoke cannabis, theymay decide to ingest cannabis,
eat cannabis, um, and, and foodsand edibles, whatever
administration you use, thecannabis pairs with the
(22:16):
endocannabinoid system that'salready within the body via
those receptors, and that'swhere you sort of experience
sort of the, um, the shifts andthe changes that go along when
cannabis is within the body.
So when the CB one receptorsare, um, sort of, um, activated,
um, that's where we get the, thehallucinogenic effects because
(22:38):
it sort of passes theblood-brain barrier.
And then the, the CB tworeceptors, and this is, and I
know I hate to oversimplifythis, but this is the most
simplistic, um, uh, sort of, uh,pot 1 0 1 lesson because there's
a, there's a myriad of factorsnow.
They're growing all sorts ofthings.
They're doing all, they'resplicing, they're cooking,
they're, you know, they're doingall sorts of things.
(22:58):
But this is just a veryrudimentary, uh, sort of
explanation.
Um, and, and so the, the, the CBtwo receptors, um, people might
identify that with sort of couchlock, so they might experience
more of a body high and CB onereceptors, they may feel more of
a head high.
So, um, so that's sort of likethe, the difference between
(23:18):
cannabis, um, theendocannabinoid system and what
exogenous cannabinoids reallymean.
Charles Schelle (23:27):
Great.
Yeah.
Thanks for the lesson.
Um, and, uh, you know, the,there, there's so many products
out there and, and you know,going back to what you said you
were, you were right with thenumber of 23, it's actually 21
states plus DC and Guam ha have,uh, legalized recreational
marijuana.
Um, and even with that, I thinkall but a few states have, uh,
(23:53):
either marijuana or a form ofcannabis legalize other, whether
it's medicinal or a form of CBD,um, all states except for I
think, uh, what is say four.
Um, so that's, it's kind ofamazing when you look at that,
right?
Yeah.
And so, If now someone's likeeducated, let's say, you know,
some of us might be squares andmay not have done a lot of it or
(24:15):
any of it, or maybe once andthink, hey, the, the, the
market, the, the, the market isopening up.
It's legalized where I'm at.
Maybe I want to try something,whether it's an edible or a
gummy or something.
But, um, you know, people havecondition, medical conditions
and they may be takingprescription drugs for like
(24:37):
blood pressure or something.
Just very basically what aresome, um, maybe basic or common
medical conditions or commonbasic prescriptions that someone
might be taking where it's like,oh, you may wanna reconsider
taking this.
Yeah.
Catrena Almonte (24:54):
So, um, excuse me.
So I guess one of the, one ofthe first things that, that
people should know with, with,with cannabis is that it is,
Biphasic in nature, meaning thatif it's not titrated properly,
if you're not taking the, theright administration and the,
the amount, the, the correctamount in terms of, of dosing,
(25:16):
um, you may get a very differentresult.
So you, so an example might besomeone may decide to smoke
because they're anxious and ifthey decide to smoke and they
smoke too much, instead of theiranxiety being completely
alleviated now the biphasicnature of the cannabinoids kicks
in and now they become moreanxious, which is not really
(25:36):
what they were going for.
And we may have all heard astory of someone being too high
and getting too scared.
So that's an example ofsomething like that.
But I think more importantly,when people are using
cannabinoids, they, they reallyshould be working with someone
to do that.
That it's, it's, you know, it's.
I, I understand we have Tylenolon the shelf.
(25:58):
There's even dosing on the sideof Tylenol, and if you take too
much of that, that can becomeproblematic to various organs
within the body.
So it, it's one of those, um,those sort of, um, one of those
sort of medications because it'sa medication.
I understand it's a plant, butit's a medication, and there
should definitely be an entiremodality around the entire
(26:20):
experience with cannabis fromdetermining if you are even
cannabis competent enough toeven use that.
Should you be using that?
So, yeah, you might have pain,but what if you're taking
something and then it's acontraindication to
cannabinoids?
Then what?
Now you're just burning, burningup your receptors.
Like, no, you should be workingwith a clinician that can
(26:42):
definitely help you.
Independently cannabis performswell against pain against
insomnia, um, against, um,cachexia, which is the
condition, the wasting awaysyndrome.
As a matter of fact, um, mymother, uh, two years ago, uh,
was diagnosed with, uh, throatcancer.
(27:04):
She beat the throat cancer anddeveloped cachexia.
And she, um, was extremely thinand the physician that she was
working with, um, hadrecommended, uh, a feeding tube.
And she did that for a littlewhile.
But then she actually startedusing cannabinoids and got her
(27:29):
doctor's permission.
She spoke with her doctor.
I spoke with her doctor, I toldhim my background.
He understood all of that, andwe worked together to create a
modality.
And now she is much better.
She's much healthier.
You can't even tell that shewent through what she went
through.
So I know that people think,well, I'll just smoke this joint
(27:52):
and go to bed.
Okay, well, you do that, but ityou, how much better would you
be if you were not usingsubstances?
To, uh, to sort of, in anavoidant strategy sort of way to
get away from those underlyingissues, but rather you faced
your issues.
And if you decide to usecannabinoid recreationally, and,
(28:14):
hey, and you're in a state,then, then go for it.
But if you find that you'redoing that every day, I'm
willing to bet there's anunderlying there and you should
probably get with a clinician tosort of help you figure that
out.
Charles Schelle (28:25):
Yeah, and that's, that's a good follow up
to, where we're headed inMaryland with, voters last year,
voted to approve and legalize,uh, marijuana for recreational
use.
Uh, and that's going into effectJuly 1st of this year.
So what do you think that couldhave an impact on the medical
marijuana industry.
(28:45):
And it maybe for people likemaybe what you're describing who
may have been prescribed invemedicinally and are thinking,
oh, well I don't need aprescription anymore.
I'll just, you know, go, go toa, a regular dispensary.
Catrena Almonte (29:00):
Yeah.
And some of that, some of thatis going to occur because that's
just a part of that, uh,community.
But what I'm hoping is that withthis sort of, um, relaxation and
legal policy, that it will sortof begin to erode at some of the
stigmas that's associated withcannabinoid usage.
And so people that do havemedical conditions now, they
(29:22):
feel comfortable speaking withtheir physicians about using
cannabis.
Now they feel more comfortableasking, well, how do I actually
smoke?
Because some people don't knowhow to smoke.
I'm one of those people.
I, I, so my background ismilitary and I've never been a
smoker and you know, it is justnot something that I'm going to
do.
So if I'm out there, there'stons of people out there.
(29:43):
Not everyone smokes.
Not everyone uses cannabis.
So I'm hoping that this sort ofopens those sort of, of of
conversations as well, thescientific community.
How many more studies will we beable to have?
I listen, I need it to happenbecause I want to do my
dissertation research withcannabinoids.
I've already told everyone atthe school, right?
(30:04):
They're like, oh, you know, thismight be difficult.
No, it won't because I'm gonnawork with my pals at the
University of Maryland SchoolPharmacy and we're gonna get it
done together.
We'll have to figure it out.
I don't know.
But the idea is that if it'slegal and if it's something that
we can do, we can all get ourhands on it.
And if we're getting our handson it, we're going to change
(30:25):
sort of the social landscape.
We're gonna changeconversations.
We're going to make people morecomfortable.
People are going to becomeeducated, and that is the most
important thing.
But if we're all scared andeverybody's No, no, no, no, no,
then it's gonna, it's just gonnacontinue to keep sort of the
nega negative stigma.
Dana Rampolla (30:45):
Well, and we know that there's quite a few
benefits from what you'redescribing to cannabis products,
but what are some of the risksor other cautions that people
should know, whether it'smedical or recreational?
Catrena Almonte (30:59):
Yeah.
So I mean, like I said, youknow, if you're looking at your
sort of, uh, usage schedule, andit's more often than not and
you're not working with aphysician, you're not working
with a clinician, you're justsort of using it at will, um,
you're probably in a place whereyou, you probably should be
speaking to someone to sort ofhelp you sort of figure out, why
(31:21):
am I using this so often?
Why am I using this so much?
Why do I need so much cannabis?
So the idea behind cannabinoidsis that a lot of people, they
sort of want their system calm,whether it's anxiety, whether
it's tremors, whether they wantto sleep at night, they want
sort of like a, a calm, centralnervous system.
(31:41):
And cannabis does it, it, it hasperformed very well in a lot of
studies in a lot of ways, sortof calming the body, utilizing
the endocannabinoid system.
Um, but again, Those individualsshould definitely be working
with clinicians because rightnow, if, if you can't get your
hands on it the way that youwant, how do you know what
you're using is, is, is rightfor what you're using it for?
(32:04):
Mm-hmm.
What if you're now using it andyou want to relax, but then now
you create a, a nasty addictiontolerance cycle.
Now that has to be figured outin therapy.
Now you may even have to involveyour doctor and get some other
sort of pharmaceutical modalityto sort of intervene, um, and
sort of to break that cycle.
So it's, it's always better tobe working with a clinician when
(32:25):
you're going to be usingcannabinoids because even though
it's been around forever, it'sstill medicine.
So we have to respect it assuch.
Dana Rampolla (32:33):
I appreciate you sharing that.
Charles Schelle (32:35):
There's a lot of products out there, right?
And some of the research is tiedup because the, the federal
restrictions, so, What's it likein basic, in basic terms for the
regulatory process to get likean over-the-counter CBD product,
approved or medical cannabisproduct approved?
Um, because there's, right now,I mean there seems like there,
(32:58):
there's a lot of CBD products,but there's still only one FDA
approved prescription CBDmedicine.
Catrena Almonte (33:04):
Yeah.
That's the Epidiolex for, uh,for seizures.
Yeah.
So, um, I can't speakspecifically to all of the, the,
the variant sort of stages and,and phases that, um, that an
independent, um, uh, medicationwould go through for FDA
approval.
What I can say is, what we haveright now is, is the Epidiolex
(33:25):
for, um, for epilepsy.
And again, that was based on thestudy.
That was Charlotte's Web, thatwas Charlotte's story.
Uh, a young, a young girl thathad epilepsy and her mom
believed in the power of CBD andfrom somewhere she learned about
titration to help her daughterprobably out of pure, um, love
(33:47):
and need as we all would if itwere our children.
And she wanted her daughter'slife to improve, and it did with
the hands of CBD.
So, and, and, and this goes backagain to the landscape changing.
Once the laws begin to change,we will be able to have more
studies that will tell us moreabout cannabis and more about
what it can do, as well as otherconditions like Parkinson's,
(34:09):
like MS, these very formidable,you know, conditions that are
not going anywhere that are,that are not, that there's
nothing that's, that's going tocure it.
So that's a perfect opportunity.
Some of these people are 30, 40,50 years old.
Not everyone that's old hasthese conditions.
So a again, if, if it's going toimprove the quality of life,
(34:31):
it's definitely something thatwe should consider.
Yeah.
Dana Rampolla (34:37):
And for something like the Epidiolex, is that, is
that just like the CBD part ofthe cannabis?
It's, it's, so it doesn't havethat, I guess, mind altering, if
that's the right word.
Mm-hmm.
Kind of effect.
Mm-hmm.
It's just like the medicinalpart of it.
Catrena Almonte (34:53):
Yes, yes.
So within, um, the cannabisplant, um, there's, there's so
many, uh, varying components asyou're alluding to.
Um, THC has the mind alteringsort of psychotropic, effect.
And, the, most other componentfrom what we know now, hopefully
we will learn more, but, uh,what we know is cannabidiol or
(35:14):
CBD does not have thatpsychotropic effect.
Um, but it performs just as, um,just as formative as THC in, in
studies.
Dana Rampolla (35:24):
And you had mentioned, um, Parkinson's a
minute ago.
Uh, I keep reading that CBDhelps treat, uh, I mean, it
seems like nowadays everythingunder the sun, they say, oh,
well, CBDs gonna fix that.
I personally suffer fromtinnitus.
And I've heard, oh, there's acertain type that will help with
that.
So my question is like, what isthe real deal?
(35:45):
Can, can this be the wonder drugof the, the present or is it
just kind of another snake oilof the past?
Catrena Almonte (35:53):
Well, um, I can't say fully that it's a
wonder drug, but I can tell youthat it's performed wonderfully
in the lab.
Right, okay.
So, um, because there's still somuch that we don't know because,
you know, for a long time it,it, you know, it's been illegal
and we haven't been able to getour hands on it to, to, to do,
uh, proper studies and, and havethat information at our
(36:14):
fingertips.
But when you see these, thesesort of very visceral reactions
right.
Of, of individuals withParkinson's before taking CBD
and after taking CBD and thecalmness that comes over, their
central nervous that theirentire bodies, right.
(36:35):
The, the, the shakes, thetremors, and all of those things
sort of go away in the, in thepresence of CBD and the, and I
believe that from what we knowso far, I believe that, that
it's because cannabinoids areworking with the body.
It's not working for the body,it's not working against the
body.
It's working synergisticallywith the body via the body's own
(37:00):
endocannabinoid system.
Dana Rampolla (37:02):
So, interesting.
I haven't heard it put that waybefore.
Charles Schelle (37:05):
With, uh, with all the products though coming
out, it almost makes sense to,to still consult a medical
professional who has research incannabinoids and to know the
proper usage and prescription.
Because earlier this year, the,FDA said we can't get ahead of
all the products out there andwe have to work with Congress to
(37:28):
create a new regulatory pathwayfor, for CBD products.
They're, they are working withthe FTC, for instance, and
finding some companies, makingclaims on their products or
curing certain things ortreating like autism, for
instance, on, on some productsthat, that were fined.
Do you feel that's where we'rekind of needed right now in this
industry?
(37:48):
Is that oversight or, or thatnew regulatory pathway for those
over-the-counter things?
And have people err on the sideof caution and consult their
doctor whose background inworking with cannabis.
Catrena Almonte (38:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Because our conversation islimited to cannabis, but people
are taking vitamins, people aretaking substances, people are
taking other sort ofprescriptions, and all of that
has to be contextualized withyour cannabinoid experience.
So if you're just takingcannabinoids, then yeah, let's
have that conversation.
But if you're actually lookingat being treated for something,
(38:25):
you have to consider thetotality of the individual in
everything that they're taking.
So absolutely seeing a clinicianis going to be key.
And not only that, not onlyseeing that physician, but also
compliance.
Right?
So you have to actually becompliant to what the physician
is telling you.
So if they're telling you totitrate slowly, you should
(38:47):
titrate slowly.
You should not watch a videowith Snoop on it and say, oh,
he's doing this amount.
Let me try it, because that is agreat deviation from your
modality.
So your physician has looked atyour bio history, they've looked
at your psycho history, they'velooked at your social history
(39:08):
and your medical history inorder to formulate a plan that's
going to have an interventionutilizing cannabinoids to
contextually, right, improveyour quality of life.
So if you're not following thatplan, then it's a formula that
they've created and you're justgoing to dip a completely
different output.
Charles Schelle (39:28):
Plus Snoop Dogg has wine too, so shouldn't
combine it with that either.
Catrena Almonte (39:33):
Shouldn't combine it.
That's a great point..
Charles Schelle (39:39):
As a researcher and, and a therapeutic advocate
what kind of advice would yougive to, students or maybe
professionals like you who arelike, you know, career change
and, and life change pivoting?
What, what advice would you giveto them as they try to figure
out if this type of program isright for them and, and what
(40:00):
their future could be?
Catrena Almonte (40:02):
You know, that's an interesting question
because I faced a lot ofpersonal backlash when I walked
away from the chaplaincy.
Some of my colleagues felt like,and, and, and I'm sort of
contextualizing this with theChristian faith that I was
walking away from the Lord.
Which I don't believe that to betrue, but I, because I, I know
(40:24):
in my heart that this isservanthood and, and I want to
help people.
And so for anyone that isthinking about coming into this
space, you may experiencebacklash.
You may, you know, and, and itmay be surprising, the, it may
be jealousy, you know, whoknows, people experience all
sorts of emotions.
But I think for the individual,You have to sort of have your
(40:45):
own esteem and worth andconfidence sort of in check and
sort of know, this is what Iwant to do, this is where I want
to be, this is how my talentsand gifts can be best utilized,
and this is the space where I'mgoing to develop and, and place
my all.
And I want to stretch and growin this space.
(41:06):
So, I mean, you have to sort ofknow within yourself that this
is what I want to do.
And, and also cannabis has itsown reputation, right?
You have to sort of wear, wearthat backpack.
I, I got this from people that,that personally know me.
Oh, well you're getting a weeddegree and you don't even use
it, Catrena.
(41:27):
I'm like, well, first of all,first of all, it's important
that it be utilized in the rightcapacity.
So no, I'm gonna, I'm not gonnalight and smoke with you because
I just don't have, um, a passionto do it recreationally.
But I do have a sleep disorderand I will titrate and use it
(41:48):
for that.
So it is something that, um,that the independent person has
to sort of make up their mindsand be willing to stand in that
and stand strong too.
Charles Schelle (41:59):
It's interesting you, you bring that
up cuz Dana and I were, weretalking as we were prepping for
the episode, you're not, aregulatory expert as far as like
making the laws and everything,but think about how quickly
everything has to come togetherto legalize something and
provide all the guardrails forjust about anything in less than
(42:20):
a year's time.
Whereas you've had centuries ofalcohol laws mm-hmm.
Going one way or the other andtobacco.
And how, when I was a kid therewere tobacco vending machines
everywhere and anyone could justget cigarettes outta there.
And they were like, you knowwhat, we're not doing that
anymore.
Or, you know, there was a timewhen, um, uh, a kid under 18
(42:43):
could go into the gas stationand get cigarettes for their
parents and just say, it's formy parents.
And, remember that happening inmy family to where now, uh, last
summer I walked down, CongressAvenue in Austin, Texas, and in
the middle of the sidewalk thereis a vending machine with CBD
products, maybe some THCproducts.
Hmm.
(43:03):
But it had an electronic deviceto it where you could
essentially, I think it was likea live video with the vendor or
someone to show your ID toverify your age and everything.
Mm-hmm.
But, but even that, just like inthe middle of, of walking down
the street, I was like, oh, it'skinda like we're going back in
(43:23):
time a little bit, but it's alsofeels a little bit like the
wild, wild west.
And, and I'm just wondering ifyou're kind of seeing the, the
same thing or, or not.
Catrena Almonte (43:34):
Well, I have not seen that, but I did hear of
the vending machine, um, sort ofconcept, um, with companies
having, um, uh, cannabinoidsbeing dispensed in that way.
But my understanding was thatthey were partnered with
physicians, and the physicianswere sending their patients, and
those vending machines hadpatient data in there.
(43:56):
So the vending machine was sortof acting as a pharmacist,
instead of the individual actingon their own accord.
So I haven't seen it from thatperspective, but also to your
point, I mean, yeah.
So when, you know, back in theday, right, when we were able to
get cigarettes that way, we alsosaw more cases with people with,
(44:17):
um, uh, trache.
Is that, is this a tracheotomywhere they, where they have to
put mm-hmm.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We saw more cases like that aswell when people were sort of
doing things.
On their own accord.
I mean, so people are going todo what they're going to do,
whether they walk into adispensary and get what's
available right now, or if thelaws change in, in, in 10 years,
(44:39):
and, and they allow all sorts ofthings on the market.
It's still going to be best towork with the, with the
physician because they'retaking, they're sort of looking
at your life and they're lookingat your history in order to make
the right decision for you.
And so who knows what's in thatmachine?
Who knows?
You know, it's, it's just somany variable.
(45:00):
You don't know what's in it, howit was utilized, whether,
whether it was checked or who's,who's looking at it, you know,
that, you know, the ideas is a,is a, is a little bit, uh, scary
to me.
Dana Rampolla (45:12):
Well, and you're also not looking at what you're
combining it with.
I mean, I think anytime a doctorputs you on any medication you
have to look at what your, yourtable of medicines are to be
sure that they're not going tointeract in a negative way.
So this is just another exampleof that.
Looking at the whole picture Sotell us how we can connect with
you, Catrena in terms of justbetter understanding, do you
(45:36):
have any products that you sellor books or blogs that we could
tune into?
Catrena Almonte (45:43):
Absolutely.
So you can find everything on mywebsite, which is
www.catrenaalmonte.com orwww.catrinaalmonte.com.
And there you'll see, um, sortof my bio, um, it sort of
references my time when I was atthe University of Maryland
School of Pharmacy.
(46:03):
You can actually see, um, someof, um, my work on that website,
um, as well.
My lab coats are there.
I know a lot of students that,um, that go to the program, um,
are interested in the lab coatsnow.
It's, it's one of those, thosesorts of things.
So typically pharmacists andphysicians wear lab coats.
(46:26):
And the story with my lab coat,sort of started, um, after I had
received the ambassador role andI was so proud and so happy with
the program that I created myown.
Logo and I wanted to put it on alab coat and I had some
professional pictures taken.
(46:47):
And um, once I did that, itcreated this phenomenal business
opportunity.
And so many individuals that aremoving into this space may not.
Uh, decide to, uh, go on andbecome a physician.
They may not decide to become apharmacist, but because the
cannabis landscape is changing,as we keep mentioning, there
(47:10):
will be opportunities to dointerviews, to go to
conferences, and you may want tobe able to sort of establish
yourself from other individuals.
And a lab coat with the sort ofcannabis logo is a great way to
do that.
On the website, there are other,uh, things that you can purchase
just to, uh, support me and whatI'm doing.
(47:32):
Um, but more than anything, youget to learn more about me and
sort of my history and how I gotto this space.
And hopefully you can see mypassion for the University of
Maryland School of Pharmacy.
Charles Schelle (47:45):
Not only do those lab coats look sharp, I
have to say the, the regaliathat they wear at commencement
is pretty cool too.
Yeah,
Catrena Almonte (47:53):
yeah, yeah.
It's all there.
Yeah, it's all there.
Charles Schelle (47:56):
Have a little leaf leaf, uh, shown on the, on
the stoles.
Um, well, if you want to be likeCatrena, the University of
Maryland School of Pharmacy hasdeveloped a new Graduate
Certificate in Medical CannabisScience, Therapeutics, and
Policy as a compliment to itsmaster's program.
To learn more about bothprograms, you can visit
pharmacy.umaryland.edu andactually at the bottom of the
(48:19):
page you will see Catrena'sphoto, as well.
So
Catrena Almonte (48:24):
that's awesome.
Charles Schelle (48:25):
And to find all of those links to everything
that Catrena mentioned.
Just check our show notes.
We have a link right there.
So thank you so much, Catrena.
We learned so much and, best ofluck and wish you, great
success.
Catrena Almonte (48:40):
Thank you very much for having me, and I just
wanna congratulate all of thenew students that are incoming
into the program.
You're going to help shape thelandscape and all of those
people that are interestedincoming.
Just do it.
Just do it.
Just do it.
You will not be sorry.
Dana Rampolla (48:58):
And we are excited.
We have our, our thirdgraduating class, getting ready
to go through commencement injust a, a few short weeks ahead.
Catrena Almonte (49:07):
Oh, that's so awesome.
Congratulations.
Dana Rampolla (49:10):
Well, thank you again, Catrena.
We wish you the best
Catrena Almonte (49:13):
of luck.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Jena Frick (49:20):
The UMB Pulse with Charles Schelle and Dana
Rampolla is a U M B Office ofCommunications and Public
Affairs production edited byCharles Schelle, marketing by
Dana Rampolla.
Hey Dana, do you take, or do you know anyone
who takes CBD products?
Dana Rampolla (00:04):
Yeah, I actually know a handful of people who
take CBD
Charles Schelle (00:08):
My dad takes something for like arthritis
pain.
I don't know if it works or not.
He has so many different creamsand lotions of different types,
you know, because when you're inyour seventies, you're, you'll
take, uh, you know, any sort of,uh, anti-inflammatory to like,
ease the joint pain, right?
We're seeing a lot more CBDproducts.
(00:30):
There are a lot of medicaldispensaries throughout the
state of Maryland for thoseoptions.
And this is also the last four20 in Maryland where
recreational marijuana will beillegal.
And so I think it'll beinteresting to see how this
comes to a head of how therecreational community and uses
(00:53):
in all those products will makesome sort of impact on the
medical cannabis community,having that guidance of a
doctor.
Dana Rampolla (01:04):
And I kind of wonder people who, I'll call it
self, self-medicating with theuse of marijuana.
I wonder if they will continueto do that because either they
like, or maybe they're addictedto that high versus turning to c
B D products that can be easilyaccessed.
Charles Schelle (01:22):
Right.
And the entire landscape ischanging so much and I'm sure
there are people that know whatthis looks like and sounds like
and trying to make a career outof it.
And we're gonna talk to somebodytoday who is in that very
situation.
Dana Rampolla (01:40):
Oh, that's great.
She's a graduate from our, ourprogram here at U M B.
Right.
Charles Schelle (01:44):
Right!.
Catrena Almonte.
She is a member of the firstgraduating class of the
University of Maryland School ofPharmacy's, master of Science in
Medical Cannabis Science andTherapeutics.
She graduated back in 2021 andshe's now a doctoral student at
the Chicago School of Psychologyat their DC campus, which will
(02:06):
tell us, uh, more about in theepisode.
But it's interesting, as you'llhear from her in a little bit
about that kind of push, pull ofknowing the industry is opening
up to the legalization, butthat's not for everybody.
And, and even herself as sheshares.
Dana Rampolla (02:25):
Yeah, I think I, I'm excited to talk to her just
because I, I've wondered for solong since this program's been
around, like what do peopleactually graduate and do with a
degree in this?
So yeah.
Let's open that conversation.
Charles Schelle (02:38):
And Catrena, she's not a regulatory expert,
but she can kind of talk about alittle bit of what impacts her
where she's at right now.
But we've had that conversationabout the legal part of it, the
public health part of it of thelegalization of marijuana in
Maryland, and then the medicinaltraining here at U M B during a
(03:00):
Virtual Face to Face with,Provost Roger Ward back at the
end of March.
Dana Rampolla (03:04):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Be sure to tune in and listen.
Charles Schelle (03:07):
Absolutely.
And we'll put a link to theYouTube video in our show notes.
You can rewatch that.
Without further ado, let'slisten to Catrena Almonte in her
journey with medical cannabiswelcome Catrena Almonte.
(03:38):
This is a new alum from a newprogram, from the University of
Maryland School of Pharmacies,master of Science and Medical
Cannabis Science andTherapeutics.
As we all know, cannabis is avery popular topic nowadays,
especially here in Maryland.
So welcome Catrena.
Catrena Almonte (03:56):
Thank you.
Thank you very much for havingme.
Dana Rampolla (03:59):
And Catrena, before we get started, I just
wanna hear your beautifulpronunciation of your name.
Catrena Almonte (04:05):
So my name in complete English is, Catrena
Shari Almonte, or in Spanish isCatrena Shari Almonte.
Dana Rampolla (04:17):
Just beautiful.
It rolls so easily off yourtongue.
We had to share that with ourlisteners.
Um, so Catrena, let's just jumpright in and tell us a little
bit about, um, about how youwound up at the University of
Maryland, Baltimore, and whatinterested you, why did you get
into their cannabis program?
Catrena Almonte (04:35):
Yeah, it's, it's such an interesting story.
So, you know, my background isprimarily military.
I spent 20 years of brokenservice, uh, within the
military.
So I was in the Navy.
I moved to the Navy, uh,National Guard, uh, to the Navy
Reserves rather.
And then, um, later on, moved tothe Army National Guard.
(04:57):
And my last professional rolewithin, uh, the military was,
um, an Army, uh, chaplaincandidate where, um, that role
just really thrusted me into thehuman condition.
I saw families, I saw emotions,the full spectrum of emotions
all over the gamut, right?
(05:17):
Within the context of the Army.
So this conclude, this includedseparations.
This included the high riskenvironment that goes along with
being in the military.
And, um, through that, seeingsoldiers sort of entering
different developmental stagesin their lives.
So some of them were enteringthe military, some of them were
leaving the military, but alsolike their personal journeys as
(05:39):
well.
Some of them were entering intomarriages, some of them were
leaving outta marriages, some ofthem were separating from one
unit to another.
And all of these sorts ofchanges creates external
pressures and stressors that wehave to deal with.
And, uh, being a part of theChaplain Corps, we are the
first, uh, stop, um, whenindividuals are, are being
faced, uh, with stress.
(06:00):
Because there's not too much ofa stigma that is associated with
seeing a Chaplain.
I learned later on that whenyou're looking at, uh, the human
condition, you must fully, uh,consider mental health.
Absolutely.
And um, within my role, I sawthat more people needed to see
(06:22):
mental health providers.
Number one.
I also saw lots of substance useand abuse, number two and number
three, which probably shouldhave been number one.
I saw a lot of post-traumaticstress conditions happening over
and over and over again.
(06:43):
And seeing this over and overagain, I felt inept as a
chaplain candidate because mytoolkit would not allow me to
even begin to touch the sort ofbiological underpinnings that go
along with the conditions, theneurological underpinnings, the
neurobiology of P T S D.
(07:05):
And so I began on this personaljourney of wanting to understand
what can hap, what can sort ofhelp P T S D and I found
cannabis.
I'm on cannabis.
Over and over every study itperformed well against pain.
(07:27):
It's insomnia.
All of these differentconditions, stress and anxiety,
and.
Then I, I, you know, it startedto shift, you know, how do I
incorporate this into a zerotolerance military?
Well, it doesn't fit.
So I had to make sort of my ownsort of independent decision,
(07:48):
how am I gonna move forward?
What am I going to do?
Am I going to continue to stayin this place where I felt
inept, where I felt like I wasnot the full servant that I
needed to be?
Because again, I'm a chaplain.
I look at work like this as, assort of servanthood.
So am am I, am I, am I reallyliving up to my potential or do
(08:10):
I need to pivot in order tobecome a better servant, to the
work that I was doing and to thepeople that I was called to
serve.
And that sort of began my sortof personal interest into like a
professional sort of interest.
And that's when I bumped.
Into the University of MarylandSchool of Pharmacy and this
(08:32):
Cannabis Science andTherapeutics Program.
So I'm like reading my laptop,looking at this school that's
brand new, and looking up intothe heavens and reading the
laptop and looking up into theheavens, wondering when are the
angels gonna start singing?
Because it was such a greatpairing.
It was such a divine moment forme.
And so this began sort of my,my, my footsteps to, to start
(08:57):
moving in this direction.
And I applied and I got in.
Yay.
I got in.
Charles Schelle (09:06):
So once you got in, um, what were you hoping to
learn and, and what did youlearn just from kind of like a
top level of the medicalcannabis industry?
Yeah.
Catrena Almonte (09:19):
So I have to sort of, uh, preface this, this,
uh, the response to thisquestion because I had so much,
uh, misgivings and, and so muchnervousness going into the
program because it was amaster's of science.
Like what?
I didn't have a lot of sciencein my background, and I'm like,
(09:40):
oh my gosh, they're gonna bethrowing a formula at me and I
don't know what I'm gonna do,but I have to learn this.
I have to get this informationin my head.
By no means, by all means, what,what is it by all means
necessary, whatever the, the,the slogan is.
Yeah.
So I, I just, I knew that thiswas the right thing, so I just
sort of had to sort of unpackthose sort of fears and just
(10:02):
roll with it and go through it.
There was no going around it oranything.
I just moved through it and onceI started.
Like, I can't even begin to tellyou guys how much I like the
program, right?
Because it's so well thought outas well.
(10:24):
The professors take people likeme in mind that don't have a lot
of science in our background,but have a passion that, that
sort of want to learn cannabisin all these varying ways
because we wanna go out thereand we wanna make the world a
better place utilizingcannabinoids if necessary.
Listen, it's not necessary inevery different, um, situation,
(10:48):
but, um, it's certainly, uh,relevant and it should be, um,
a, a consideration.
So once I joined the program, myknowledge, it started from a
very fundamental level andlearning about human anatomy and
understanding the endocannabinoid system and then
understanding how exogenouscannabinoids can pair with that
(11:11):
and work synergistically withthe body.
It, it sort of, um, theinformation while salient it,
it, it, it, it just cametogether in this, in this very,
um, easily digestible way.
And the professors like, theirpersonalities are so great,
they'll work with you, you havea question, you can just reach
(11:32):
out to'em.
So they're very flexible, veryunderstanding.
So it just worked well.
It, particularly for my, uh, my,my schedule as well, because at
the time it was asynchronous.
Charles Schelle (11:42):
What was your bachelor's degree in?
Catrena Almonte (11:45):
So I have two bachelors, um, one in, uh,
psychology and the other one in,uh, theology, which was sort of
the, uh, prerequisite in orderto be a chaplain candidate.
Charles Schelle (11:56):
Okay.
Well, there's quite a bit ofscience in psychology.
I know.
Um, with the amount of, and, andmath too, right.
Surprisingly, there are a lot ofmath, uh mm-hmm.
And, and psychology becausethat, uh, uh, was a stumbling
block for a few of my friendswho wanted to become psych
majors, and they was like, Ididn't know there was math
involved in this.
Dana Rampolla (12:15):
So you mentioned that the professors.
Was there any one professor inparticular who really influenced
you or helped you chart thecourse of your study?
Catrena Almonte (12:26):
Oh my gosh.
So, all right.
So, uh, Dr.
Coop, who is, so, when I firstmet Dr.
Coop right.
I met him.
He was on the, on our platformat our symposium, and he's
wearing this little.
Bow tie.
And for some reason the bow tiemade me think, oh my God, he's
so hard.
Why?
Like what?
(12:46):
I bet he's such a hardprofessor.
He's the one that's teachingchemistry and he has like this
little, little small little bowtie.
I bet his classes are gonna bereally hard and he's gonna be
throwing formulas and probablywon't have any empathy.
He was so sweet.
And so, and all of his lectureswere so easy I didn't have to
keep going back over the samethings and reading and
(13:07):
rereading, he just made thingsso easily digestible.
His personality is so kind andso accommodating.
I've gotten numerous letters ofrecommendation from him and he's
always been completely flexibleand open and he just really
cares for your learningexperience.
And so he was very, verypivotal.
Um, I also, Dean Edington, howcan you not love her, right?
(13:32):
So she is like, oh my gosh,she's such an educated.
Uh, academic, professional.
And so because I'm in academia,like I aspire to be at like this
level of education, I don't knowif I'll become Dean.
I don't, I don't know if that'smy career trajectory or
anything, but boy, she served asrepresentation for me during my
(13:52):
time, uh, at the University ofMaryland School of Pharmacy.
So those are two distinctindividuals that really stick
out in my mind.
Also, Dr.
Sera, she was reallyinstrumental in, uh, sort of
selecting me to be the theambassador for the program.
Her and Lisa, they definitelyhelped, um, to select me for the
(14:13):
ambassador role for the program,which, gosh, before that I was
like, This study sturdy nerd, Igotta get it full of
hypervigilance, full ofnervousness.
But after I became theambassador and I started
speaking about the program andit was really coming from this
genuine place, like I felt likeI began to bloom and blossom.
(14:38):
So yeah, like those are someindividuals that definitely
stick out in my mind.
Dana Rampolla (14:43):
So Catrena, um, talking about these doctors, who
was Dr.
Raphael Mechoulam?
Catrena Almonte (14:49):
So he is the father of cannabis, uh, science
research.
And when, um, so he died earlierthis month and, um, the school
may already be doing something,um, in his memorium because I
know that the school worked, um,very closely, um, with him.
And, um, they taught us a lotabout what he did.
(15:11):
But him specifically, um, he,um, an is is an Israeli chemist
that, isolated a lot of thecompounds that we know of
cannabis today.
So we learned about THC fromhim, CBD CBG, CBN.
Before that we just, in America,we just knew it was cannabis.
We called it weed, we called itreefer.
(15:33):
But, and then they, they sort ofslapped legislative, uh, actions
over here where we couldn'ttouch it anymore.
But in Israel, this guy wasstill studying.
This guy was still learning.
And so most of the bulk of whatwe know today is based upon his
research.
Dana Rampolla (15:50):
So you had this great experience, it sounds like
with your education here at U MB.
What happened next when yougraduated?
What did you move into?
Did you go back to being achaplain or?
Catrena Almonte (16:02):
No.
So now I am actually, um, I'mstill in school like again.
Right.
Like what, like how much schoolare you in?
So I'm in my, I'm finishing upmy second year, um, uh, as a
clinical, uh, psychologist.
So I'm going to school to becomea clinical psychologist, uh,
second year for that doctoralprogram.
(16:24):
I am also within my first yearof a post-doctoral program for
clinical psycho-pharmacology.
Um, the goal is to become aprescribing medical clinical
psychologist, and hopefully withthe laws changing, I will be
able to prescribe cannabinoids.
That's definitely my goal.
I came into the program withthis in mind.
(16:46):
My clinical interests areveterans and it's so funny,
right?
So I started my program and myadvisor at my current, uh,
institution, um, she said,Catrena, I know how strongly you
feel about cannabinoids.
And not everyone here is onboard with clinical
psychologists even prescribing.
(17:08):
Okay?
We just, we like therapy, welike to give medicine to
psychiatrists.
And I, and I told her, listen,there's no way we're taking this
off the table.
I believe in the power ofcannabinoids.
I did two years at theUniversity of Maryland School of
Pharmacy, and I did not do thosetwo years and give my 4.0 g p a
to not prescribe cannabinoids.
(17:29):
So if the law allows it, youbetter leave.
I'm gonna do it.
So it's definitely my passion.
It's definitely sort of my, my,my career goals.
And I know it's sort of stretchgoals, right?
Because it's stretching me to bein the doctoral program.
It's stretching me to be in thispost-doctoral program.
But let me tell you something, Ilove every second of it.
(17:51):
I love every second of it, andI'm growing in the process and I
feel like I'm in the rightplace.
Charles Schelle (17:56):
Yeah, that definitely has to be a challenge
where you're preparing for afuture career.
You can see it evolving and youhave this push and pull between,
um, state regulations and, andallowing that to open up, which
is much quicker right now.
And then federal law,recognizing the, ability to,
(18:19):
take it off the, schedulednarcotics list.
And then you have that third legof then regulating emerging
prescriptions and, and productstoo.
Mm-hmm.
So tell what, what's thatchallenge like for you being in
that transition period ofwatching laws change?
Catrena Almonte (18:35):
Yeah, so it's twofold.
So from a personal perspective,I'm watching sort of the
landscape and how the world ischanging, as you're suggesting
in, in all of the different tickmarks and, and sort of
incremental changes that'shappening.
But also, I'm sort of in a silo,right?
Because I'm, I'm, I'm ineducation and I'm still
learning.
But I think it all works to myadvantage because I believe by
(18:58):
the time I step out, a lot of,some of the, um, isms and
schisms that go along withchange will have already
occurred.
And listen, state by state, likethis thing is happening with
cannabinoids.
Like every year it's a newstate.
Now it's more states.
I, I think it's what, 23?
I, I, I don't know the, the, thenumbers.
So if I'm, I'm off, please editthat.
(19:20):
But we're at a large, uh, at alarge, uh, percentage of the
states that are allowing for therecreational use of
cannabinoids.
So, so that's one.
One thing, but the medicinalusage is the most important
thing for me.
And also some of thatrecreational use is underlying
anxiety, underlying depressionthat has not been properly
(19:44):
diagnosed, but people arelooking for short-term avoidance
strategies to not deal with the,the, the sort of things that's
sort of fueling whatever it isthat they're feeling.
So I, you know, for me, I, Ithink it's, I think it's a great
thing that the world is sort ofchanging.
I also think that because I'm awoman of Color, right, I
definitely sort of representpeople that have been
(20:05):
disproportionately impacted, uh,negatively, uh, by cannabinoid
usage.
And I think to sort of have mein this space as sort of good
representation of, of, of sortof, um, what education can do
and, and, and just givingsomeone an opportunity, but also
in the world now you can seesomeone that looks like you and
(20:27):
now this is someone that, okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
May, may, maybe there is somemerit to this May.
Maybe, maybe there is becausethere, there's that sort of
representation where you can seeyourself in that person.
Right.
Dana Rampolla (20:38):
Great.
Um, let's back up just a minute.
You keep referring tocannabinoids.
Um, I think you mentionedanother word.
It was endo.
Was that endo?
Cannabinoid?
Uhhuh.
Endocannabinoid uhhuh.
Yeah.
So fill us in a little bit incase someone's listening who
doesn't really know thedifference.
You know, we hear about THC, wehear about CBD, um, sounds like
(20:59):
just the landscape of words arechanging as people are becoming
more familiar.
Um, give, so give us a littlepot 1 0 1 lesson.
Catrena Almonte (21:09):
Okay.
So, um, so with, with cannabis,you, you have, um, so, so
cannabis that is grown from theground are considered exogenous
cannabinoids.
That is cannabis, that is, thatis sort of existing outside of
the body.
The endo cannabinoid system isthe system that all mammalian
(21:30):
creatures have that is sort ofresponsible for our homeostasis
wellness.
Um, it, it sort of makes ourbodies feel, um, on balance.
And so from the head and neckup, you have receptors, which
are called CB one receptors, andfrom the base of the neck going
down within the body, just inall of the sort of peripheral
(21:53):
locations of the body.
So that would be the appendages,the, the arms, the legs.
You have what's called CB tworeceptors.
So when cannabinoids, whensomeone smokes, so they may
decide to smoke cannabis, theymay decide to ingest cannabis,
eat cannabis, um, and, and foodsand edibles, whatever
administration you use, thecannabis pairs with the
(22:16):
endocannabinoid system that'salready within the body via
those receptors, and that'swhere you sort of experience
sort of the, um, the shifts andthe changes that go along when
cannabis is within the body.
So when the CB one receptorsare, um, sort of, um, activated,
um, that's where we get the, thehallucinogenic effects because
(22:38):
it sort of passes theblood-brain barrier.
And then the, the CB tworeceptors, and this is, and I
know I hate to oversimplifythis, but this is the most
simplistic, um, uh, sort of, uh,pot 1 0 1 lesson because there's
a, there's a myriad of factorsnow.
They're growing all sorts ofthings.
They're doing all, they'resplicing, they're cooking,
they're, you know, they're doingall sorts of things.
(22:58):
But this is just a veryrudimentary, uh, sort of
explanation.
Um, and, and so the, the, the CBtwo receptors, um, people might
identify that with sort of couchlock, so they might experience
more of a body high and CB onereceptors, they may feel more of
a head high.
So, um, so that's sort of likethe, the difference between
(23:18):
cannabis, um, theendocannabinoid system and what
exogenous cannabinoids reallymean.
Charles Schelle (23:27):
Great.
Yeah.
Thanks for the lesson.
Um, and, uh, you know, the,there, there's so many products
out there and, and you know,going back to what you said you
were, you were right with thenumber of 23, it's actually 21
states plus DC and Guam ha have,uh, legalized recreational
marijuana.
Um, and even with that, I thinkall but a few states have, uh,
(23:53):
either marijuana or a form ofcannabis legalize other, whether
it's medicinal or a form of CBD,um, all states except for I
think, uh, what is say four.
Um, so that's, it's kind ofamazing when you look at that,
right?
Yeah.
And so, If now someone's likeeducated, let's say, you know,
some of us might be squares andmay not have done a lot of it or
(24:15):
any of it, or maybe once andthink, hey, the, the, the
market, the, the, the market isopening up.
It's legalized where I'm at.
Maybe I want to try something,whether it's an edible or a
gummy or something.
But, um, you know, people havecondition, medical conditions
and they may be takingprescription drugs for like
(24:37):
blood pressure or something.
Just very basically what aresome, um, maybe basic or common
medical conditions or commonbasic prescriptions that someone
might be taking where it's like,oh, you may wanna reconsider
taking this.
Yeah.
Catrena Almonte (24:54):
So, um, excuse me.
So I guess one of the, one ofthe first things that, that
people should know with, with,with cannabis is that it is,
Biphasic in nature, meaning thatif it's not titrated properly,
if you're not taking the, theright administration and the,
the amount, the, the correctamount in terms of, of dosing,
(25:16):
um, you may get a very differentresult.
So you, so an example might besomeone may decide to smoke
because they're anxious and ifthey decide to smoke and they
smoke too much, instead of theiranxiety being completely
alleviated now the biphasicnature of the cannabinoids kicks
in and now they become moreanxious, which is not really
(25:36):
what they were going for.
And we may have all heard astory of someone being too high
and getting too scared.
So that's an example ofsomething like that.
But I think more importantly,when people are using
cannabinoids, they, they reallyshould be working with someone
to do that.
That it's, it's, you know, it's.
I, I understand we have Tylenolon the shelf.
(25:58):
There's even dosing on the sideof Tylenol, and if you take too
much of that, that can becomeproblematic to various organs
within the body.
So it, it's one of those, um,those sort of, um, one of those
sort of medications because it'sa medication.
I understand it's a plant, butit's a medication, and there
should definitely be an entiremodality around the entire
(26:20):
experience with cannabis fromdetermining if you are even
cannabis competent enough toeven use that.
Should you be using that?
So, yeah, you might have pain,but what if you're taking
something and then it's acontraindication to
cannabinoids?
Then what?
Now you're just burning, burningup your receptors.
Like, no, you should be workingwith a clinician that can
(26:42):
definitely help you.
Independently cannabis performswell against pain against
insomnia, um, against, um,cachexia, which is the
condition, the wasting awaysyndrome.
As a matter of fact, um, mymother, uh, two years ago, uh,
was diagnosed with, uh, throatcancer.
(27:04):
She beat the throat cancer anddeveloped cachexia.
And she, um, was extremely thinand the physician that she was
working with, um, hadrecommended, uh, a feeding tube.
And she did that for a littlewhile.
But then she actually startedusing cannabinoids and got her
(27:29):
doctor's permission.
She spoke with her doctor.
I spoke with her doctor, I toldhim my background.
He understood all of that, andwe worked together to create a
modality.
And now she is much better.
She's much healthier.
You can't even tell that shewent through what she went
through.
So I know that people think,well, I'll just smoke this joint
(27:52):
and go to bed.
Okay, well, you do that, but ityou, how much better would you
be if you were not usingsubstances?
To, uh, to sort of, in anavoidant strategy sort of way to
get away from those underlyingissues, but rather you faced
your issues.
And if you decide to usecannabinoid recreationally, and,
(28:14):
hey, and you're in a state,then, then go for it.
But if you find that you'redoing that every day, I'm
willing to bet there's anunderlying there and you should
probably get with a clinician tosort of help you figure that
out.
Charles Schelle (28:25):
Yeah, and that's, that's a good follow up
to, where we're headed inMaryland with, voters last year,
voted to approve and legalize,uh, marijuana for recreational
use.
Uh, and that's going into effectJuly 1st of this year.
So what do you think that couldhave an impact on the medical
marijuana industry.
(28:45):
And it maybe for people likemaybe what you're describing who
may have been prescribed invemedicinally and are thinking,
oh, well I don't need aprescription anymore.
I'll just, you know, go, go toa, a regular dispensary.
Catrena Almonte (29:00):
Yeah.
And some of that, some of thatis going to occur because that's
just a part of that, uh,community.
But what I'm hoping is that withthis sort of, um, relaxation and
legal policy, that it will sortof begin to erode at some of the
stigmas that's associated withcannabinoid usage.
And so people that do havemedical conditions now, they
(29:22):
feel comfortable speaking withtheir physicians about using
cannabis.
Now they feel more comfortableasking, well, how do I actually
smoke?
Because some people don't knowhow to smoke.
I'm one of those people.
I, I, so my background ismilitary and I've never been a
smoker and you know, it is justnot something that I'm going to
do.
So if I'm out there, there'stons of people out there.
(29:43):
Not everyone smokes.
Not everyone uses cannabis.
So I'm hoping that this sort ofopens those sort of, of of
conversations as well, thescientific community.
How many more studies will we beable to have?
I listen, I need it to happenbecause I want to do my
dissertation research withcannabinoids.
I've already told everyone atthe school, right?
(30:04):
They're like, oh, you know, thismight be difficult.
No, it won't because I'm gonnawork with my pals at the
University of Maryland SchoolPharmacy and we're gonna get it
done together.
We'll have to figure it out.
I don't know.
But the idea is that if it'slegal and if it's something that
we can do, we can all get ourhands on it.
And if we're getting our handson it, we're going to change
(30:25):
sort of the social landscape.
We're gonna changeconversations.
We're going to make people morecomfortable.
People are going to becomeeducated, and that is the most
important thing.
But if we're all scared andeverybody's No, no, no, no, no,
then it's gonna, it's just gonnacontinue to keep sort of the
nega negative stigma.
Dana Rampolla (30:45):
Well, and we know that there's quite a few
benefits from what you'redescribing to cannabis products,
but what are some of the risksor other cautions that people
should know, whether it'smedical or recreational?
Catrena Almonte (30:59):
Yeah.
So I mean, like I said, youknow, if you're looking at your
sort of, uh, usage schedule, andit's more often than not and
you're not working with aphysician, you're not working
with a clinician, you're justsort of using it at will, um,
you're probably in a place whereyou, you probably should be
speaking to someone to sort ofhelp you sort of figure out, why
(31:21):
am I using this so often?
Why am I using this so much?
Why do I need so much cannabis?
So the idea behind cannabinoidsis that a lot of people, they
sort of want their system calm,whether it's anxiety, whether
it's tremors, whether they wantto sleep at night, they want
sort of like a, a calm, centralnervous system.
(31:41):
And cannabis does it, it, it hasperformed very well in a lot of
studies in a lot of ways, sortof calming the body, utilizing
the endocannabinoid system.
Um, but again, Those individualsshould definitely be working
with clinicians because rightnow, if, if you can't get your
hands on it the way that youwant, how do you know what
you're using is, is, is rightfor what you're using it for?
(32:04):
Mm-hmm.
What if you're now using it andyou want to relax, but then now
you create a, a nasty addictiontolerance cycle.
Now that has to be figured outin therapy.
Now you may even have to involveyour doctor and get some other
sort of pharmaceutical modalityto sort of intervene, um, and
sort of to break that cycle.
So it's, it's always better tobe working with a clinician when
(32:25):
you're going to be usingcannabinoids because even though
it's been around forever, it'sstill medicine.
So we have to respect it assuch.
Dana Rampolla (32:33):
I appreciate you sharing that.
Charles Schelle (32:35):
There's a lot of products out there, right?
And some of the research is tiedup because the, the federal
restrictions, so, What's it likein basic, in basic terms for the
regulatory process to get likean over-the-counter CBD product,
approved or medical cannabisproduct approved?
Um, because there's, right now,I mean there seems like there,
(32:58):
there's a lot of CBD products,but there's still only one FDA
approved prescription CBDmedicine.
Catrena Almonte (33:04):
Yeah.
That's the Epidiolex for, uh,for seizures.
Yeah.
So, um, I can't speakspecifically to all of the, the,
the variant sort of stages and,and phases that, um, that an
independent, um, uh, medicationwould go through for FDA
approval.
What I can say is, what we haveright now is, is the Epidiolex
(33:25):
for, um, for epilepsy.
And again, that was based on thestudy.
That was Charlotte's Web, thatwas Charlotte's story.
Uh, a young, a young girl thathad epilepsy and her mom
believed in the power of CBD andfrom somewhere she learned about
titration to help her daughterprobably out of pure, um, love
(33:47):
and need as we all would if itwere our children.
And she wanted her daughter'slife to improve, and it did with
the hands of CBD.
So, and, and, and this goes backagain to the landscape changing.
Once the laws begin to change,we will be able to have more
studies that will tell us moreabout cannabis and more about
what it can do, as well as otherconditions like Parkinson's,
(34:09):
like MS, these very formidable,you know, conditions that are
not going anywhere that are,that are not, that there's
nothing that's, that's going tocure it.
So that's a perfect opportunity.
Some of these people are 30, 40,50 years old.
Not everyone that's old hasthese conditions.
So a again, if, if it's going toimprove the quality of life,
(34:31):
it's definitely something thatwe should consider.
Yeah.
Dana Rampolla (34:37):
And for something like the Epidiolex, is that, is
that just like the CBD part ofthe cannabis?
It's, it's, so it doesn't havethat, I guess, mind altering, if
that's the right word.
Mm-hmm.
Kind of effect.
Mm-hmm.
It's just like the medicinalpart of it.
Catrena Almonte (34:53):
Yes, yes.
So within, um, the cannabisplant, um, there's, there's so
many, uh, varying components asyou're alluding to.
Um, THC has the mind alteringsort of psychotropic, effect.
And, the, most other componentfrom what we know now, hopefully
we will learn more, but, uh,what we know is cannabidiol or
(35:14):
CBD does not have thatpsychotropic effect.
Um, but it performs just as, um,just as formative as THC in, in
studies.
Dana Rampolla (35:24):
And you had mentioned, um, Parkinson's a
minute ago.
Uh, I keep reading that CBDhelps treat, uh, I mean, it
seems like nowadays everythingunder the sun, they say, oh,
well, CBDs gonna fix that.
I personally suffer fromtinnitus.
And I've heard, oh, there's acertain type that will help with
that.
So my question is like, what isthe real deal?
(35:45):
Can, can this be the wonder drugof the, the present or is it
just kind of another snake oilof the past?
Catrena Almonte (35:53):
Well, um, I can't say fully that it's a
wonder drug, but I can tell youthat it's performed wonderfully
in the lab.
Right, okay.
So, um, because there's still somuch that we don't know because,
you know, for a long time it,it, you know, it's been illegal
and we haven't been able to getour hands on it to, to, to do,
uh, proper studies and, and havethat information at our
(36:14):
fingertips.
But when you see these, thesesort of very visceral reactions
right.
Of, of individuals withParkinson's before taking CBD
and after taking CBD and thecalmness that comes over, their
central nervous that theirentire bodies, right.
(36:35):
The, the, the shakes, thetremors, and all of those things
sort of go away in the, in thepresence of CBD and the, and I
believe that from what we knowso far, I believe that, that
it's because cannabinoids areworking with the body.
It's not working for the body,it's not working against the
body.
It's working synergisticallywith the body via the body's own
(37:00):
endocannabinoid system.
Dana Rampolla (37:02):
So, interesting.
I haven't heard it put that waybefore.
Charles Schelle (37:05):
With, uh, with all the products though coming
out, it almost makes sense to,to still consult a medical
professional who has research incannabinoids and to know the
proper usage and prescription.
Because earlier this year, the,FDA said we can't get ahead of
all the products out there andwe have to work with Congress to
(37:28):
create a new regulatory pathwayfor, for CBD products.
They're, they are working withthe FTC, for instance, and
finding some companies, makingclaims on their products or
curing certain things ortreating like autism, for
instance, on, on some productsthat, that were fined.
Do you feel that's where we'rekind of needed right now in this
industry?
(37:48):
Is that oversight or, or thatnew regulatory pathway for those
over-the-counter things?
And have people err on the sideof caution and consult their
doctor whose background inworking with cannabis.
Catrena Almonte (38:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Because our conversation islimited to cannabis, but people
are taking vitamins, people aretaking substances, people are
taking other sort ofprescriptions, and all of that
has to be contextualized withyour cannabinoid experience.
So if you're just takingcannabinoids, then yeah, let's
have that conversation.
But if you're actually lookingat being treated for something,
(38:25):
you have to consider thetotality of the individual in
everything that they're taking.
So absolutely seeing a clinicianis going to be key.
And not only that, not onlyseeing that physician, but also
compliance.
Right?
So you have to actually becompliant to what the physician
is telling you.
So if they're telling you totitrate slowly, you should
(38:47):
titrate slowly.
You should not watch a videowith Snoop on it and say, oh,
he's doing this amount.
Let me try it, because that is agreat deviation from your
modality.
So your physician has looked atyour bio history, they've looked
at your psycho history, they'velooked at your social history
(39:08):
and your medical history inorder to formulate a plan that's
going to have an interventionutilizing cannabinoids to
contextually, right, improveyour quality of life.
So if you're not following thatplan, then it's a formula that
they've created and you're justgoing to dip a completely
different output.
Charles Schelle (39:28):
Plus Snoop Dogg has wine too, so shouldn't
combine it with that either.
Catrena Almonte (39:33):
Shouldn't combine it.
That's a great point..
Charles Schelle (39:39):
As a researcher and, and a therapeutic advocate
what kind of advice would yougive to, students or maybe
professionals like you who arelike, you know, career change
and, and life change pivoting?
What, what advice would you giveto them as they try to figure
out if this type of program isright for them and, and what
(40:00):
their future could be?
Catrena Almonte (40:02):
You know, that's an interesting question
because I faced a lot ofpersonal backlash when I walked
away from the chaplaincy.
Some of my colleagues felt like,and, and, and I'm sort of
contextualizing this with theChristian faith that I was
walking away from the Lord.
Which I don't believe that to betrue, but I, because I, I know
(40:24):
in my heart that this isservanthood and, and I want to
help people.
And so for anyone that isthinking about coming into this
space, you may experiencebacklash.
You may, you know, and, and itmay be surprising, the, it may
be jealousy, you know, whoknows, people experience all
sorts of emotions.
But I think for the individual,You have to sort of have your
(40:45):
own esteem and worth andconfidence sort of in check and
sort of know, this is what Iwant to do, this is where I want
to be, this is how my talentsand gifts can be best utilized,
and this is the space where I'mgoing to develop and, and place
my all.
And I want to stretch and growin this space.
(41:06):
So, I mean, you have to sort ofknow within yourself that this
is what I want to do.
And, and also cannabis has itsown reputation, right?
You have to sort of wear, wearthat backpack.
I, I got this from people that,that personally know me.
Oh, well you're getting a weeddegree and you don't even use
it, Catrena.
(41:27):
I'm like, well, first of all,first of all, it's important
that it be utilized in the rightcapacity.
So no, I'm gonna, I'm not gonnalight and smoke with you because
I just don't have, um, a passionto do it recreationally.
But I do have a sleep disorderand I will titrate and use it
(41:48):
for that.
So it is something that, um,that the independent person has
to sort of make up their mindsand be willing to stand in that
and stand strong too.
Charles Schelle (41:59):
It's interesting you, you bring that
up cuz Dana and I were, weretalking as we were prepping for
the episode, you're not, aregulatory expert as far as like
making the laws and everything,but think about how quickly
everything has to come togetherto legalize something and
provide all the guardrails forjust about anything in less than
(42:20):
a year's time.
Whereas you've had centuries ofalcohol laws mm-hmm.
Going one way or the other andtobacco.
And how, when I was a kid therewere tobacco vending machines
everywhere and anyone could justget cigarettes outta there.
And they were like, you knowwhat, we're not doing that
anymore.
Or, you know, there was a timewhen, um, uh, a kid under 18
(42:43):
could go into the gas stationand get cigarettes for their
parents and just say, it's formy parents.
And, remember that happening inmy family to where now, uh, last
summer I walked down, CongressAvenue in Austin, Texas, and in
the middle of the sidewalk thereis a vending machine with CBD
products, maybe some THCproducts.
Hmm.
(43:03):
But it had an electronic deviceto it where you could
essentially, I think it was likea live video with the vendor or
someone to show your ID toverify your age and everything.
Mm-hmm.
But, but even that, just like inthe middle of, of walking down
the street, I was like, oh, it'skinda like we're going back in
(43:23):
time a little bit, but it's alsofeels a little bit like the
wild, wild west.
And, and I'm just wondering ifyou're kind of seeing the, the
same thing or, or not.
Catrena Almonte (43:34):
Well, I have not seen that, but I did hear of
the vending machine, um, sort ofconcept, um, with companies
having, um, uh, cannabinoidsbeing dispensed in that way.
But my understanding was thatthey were partnered with
physicians, and the physicianswere sending their patients, and
those vending machines hadpatient data in there.
(43:56):
So the vending machine was sortof acting as a pharmacist,
instead of the individual actingon their own accord.
So I haven't seen it from thatperspective, but also to your
point, I mean, yeah.
So when, you know, back in theday, right, when we were able to
get cigarettes that way, we alsosaw more cases with people with,
(44:17):
um, uh, trache.
Is that, is this a tracheotomywhere they, where they have to
put mm-hmm.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We saw more cases like that aswell when people were sort of
doing things.
On their own accord.
I mean, so people are going todo what they're going to do,
whether they walk into adispensary and get what's
available right now, or if thelaws change in, in, in 10 years,
(44:39):
and, and they allow all sorts ofthings on the market.
It's still going to be best towork with the, with the
physician because they'retaking, they're sort of looking
at your life and they're lookingat your history in order to make
the right decision for you.
And so who knows what's in thatmachine?
Who knows?
You know, it's, it's just somany variable.
(45:00):
You don't know what's in it, howit was utilized, whether,
whether it was checked or who's,who's looking at it, you know,
that, you know, the ideas is a,is a, is a little bit, uh, scary
to me.
Dana Rampolla (45:12):
Well, and you're also not looking at what you're
combining it with.
I mean, I think anytime a doctorputs you on any medication you
have to look at what your, yourtable of medicines are to be
sure that they're not going tointeract in a negative way.
So this is just another exampleof that.
Looking at the whole picture Sotell us how we can connect with
you, Catrena in terms of justbetter understanding, do you
(45:36):
have any products that you sellor books or blogs that we could
tune into?
Catrena Almonte (45:43):
Absolutely.
So you can find everything on mywebsite, which is
www.catrenaalmonte.com orwww.catrinaalmonte.com.
And there you'll see, um, sortof my bio, um, it sort of
references my time when I was atthe University of Maryland
School of Pharmacy.
(46:03):
You can actually see, um, someof, um, my work on that website,
um, as well.
My lab coats are there.
I know a lot of students that,um, that go to the program, um,
are interested in the lab coatsnow.
It's, it's one of those, thosesorts of things.
So typically pharmacists andphysicians wear lab coats.
(46:26):
And the story with my lab coat,sort of started, um, after I had
received the ambassador role andI was so proud and so happy with
the program that I created myown.
Logo and I wanted to put it on alab coat and I had some
professional pictures taken.
(46:47):
And um, once I did that, itcreated this phenomenal business
opportunity.
And so many individuals that aremoving into this space may not.
Uh, decide to, uh, go on andbecome a physician.
They may not decide to become apharmacist, but because the
cannabis landscape is changing,as we keep mentioning, there
(47:10):
will be opportunities to dointerviews, to go to
conferences, and you may want tobe able to sort of establish
yourself from other individuals.
And a lab coat with the sort ofcannabis logo is a great way to
do that.
On the website, there are other,uh, things that you can purchase
just to, uh, support me and whatI'm doing.
(47:32):
Um, but more than anything, youget to learn more about me and
sort of my history and how I gotto this space.
And hopefully you can see mypassion for the University of
Maryland School of Pharmacy.
Charles Schelle (47:45):
Not only do those lab coats look sharp, I
have to say the, the regaliathat they wear at commencement
is pretty cool too.
Yeah,
Catrena Almonte (47:53):
yeah, yeah.
It's all there.
Yeah, it's all there.
Charles Schelle (47:56):
Have a little leaf leaf, uh, shown on the, on
the stoles.
Um, well, if you want to be likeCatrena, the University of
Maryland School of Pharmacy hasdeveloped a new Graduate
Certificate in Medical CannabisScience, Therapeutics, and
Policy as a compliment to itsmaster's program.
To learn more about bothprograms, you can visit
pharmacy.umaryland.edu andactually at the bottom of the
(48:19):
page you will see Catrena'sphoto, as well.
So
Catrena Almonte (48:24):
that's awesome.
Charles Schelle (48:25):
And to find all of those links to everything
that Catrena mentioned.
Just check our show notes.
We have a link right there.
So thank you so much, Catrena.
We learned so much and, best ofluck and wish you, great
success.
Catrena Almonte (48:40):
Thank you very much for having me, and I just
wanna congratulate all of thenew students that are incoming
into the program.
You're going to help shape thelandscape and all of those
people that are interestedincoming.
Just do it.
Just do it.
Just do it.
You will not be sorry.
Dana Rampolla (48:58):
And we are excited.
We have our, our thirdgraduating class, getting ready
to go through commencement injust a, a few short weeks ahead.
Catrena Almonte (49:07):
Oh, that's so awesome.
Congratulations.
Dana Rampolla (49:10):
Well, thank you again, Catrena.
We wish you the best
Catrena Almonte (49:13):
of luck.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Jena Frick (49:20):
The UMB Pulse with Charles Schelle and Dana
Rampolla is a U M B Office ofCommunications and Public
Affairs production edited byCharles Schelle, marketing by
Dana Rampolla.
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