EP 87: The Hidden Dangers of Modern Marijuana: Psychosis, Bipolar Symptoms, and the THC Crisis with Aubrey Adams

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I'm Aubrey Adams and I'm fromyour future.

(00:03):
You can learn from me.
Let this industry into yourcommunity and destroy lives and
then pay the consequences foryears and years.
Or you can prevent them fromcoming in and save lives.
Welcome to the Upside ofBipolar, where we uncover the

(00:24):
true sources of bipolar symptomsand share proven tools for
recovery.
I'm your host, MichelleReitinger, number one
international best-sellingauthor of the Upside of Bipolar
Seven Steps to Heal YourDisorder.
In this podcast, I bring yousolo insights from my journey
and guest interviews withleading researchers and experts.
Join us to transform chaos intohope and reclaim your life.

(00:45):
Let's heal together.

(01:07):
Aubrey Adams is a nationaladvocate focused on raising
awareness about the publichealth impacts of the modern
marijuana industry.
She holds a Bachelor of Sciencein Exercise Science and Health
Promotion from Colorado StateUniversity Pueblo, and is a
licensed physical therapistassistant.
Based in Pueblo, Colorado,Aubrey witnessed firsthand the

(01:28):
rapid expansion of the marijuanaindustry and its effects on
individuals and families.
This experience led her todirect Every Brain Matters, a
nonprofit organization dedicatedto educating communities through
the real-life stories offamilies impacted by
marijuana-related harm.
These stories are shared throughthe organization's Voices of

(01:48):
Marijuana Harms platform,YouTube channel, and the podcast
It's Just Pot, What's theProblem?
Aubrey has been featured onnational media outlets including
Dr.
Phil, Primetime, Fox News, andNewsmax.
Her written work has appeared inUSA Today and the Denver
Gazette, where she addressesemerging concerns around
cannabis.

(02:09):
She has also presented herpersonal and professional
insights before the FDA, theNational Academy of Sciences,
and in the documentary, ChronicState, in addition to testifying
in multiple state legislatureson drug policy and public
health.
Following her family's recoveryjourney in Houston, Texas,
Aubrey founded Citizens for aSafe and Healthy Texas, an

(02:31):
organization focused oncommunity education and advocacy
related to marijuana and THCproducts, including those
legalized under the 2018 FarmBill.
I'm going to ask you about that.
That's so bizarre.
Through her work, Aubreyemphasizes the need for
increased awareness, preventionresources, and support systems
for families facing addiction,mental health challenges, and

(02:52):
cannabis-related conditions.
She is committed to promotinginformed decision making and
protecting families from therisks associated with today's
more dangerous marijuanaproducts.
Aubrey, I am so excited that youagreed to be on my podcast.
I cannot wait to talk with you.
Well, thank you, Michelle.
I am so excited you invited me.
Thank you for helping me raiseawareness.

(03:13):
Absolutely.
And I, just so everybody knows,the way that I found Aubrey was
she was Dr.
Joseph Witt During talked abouther on his on his platform.
And when I was listening to himtalk about her, I'm like, oh my
gosh, I wonder if she'd come onmy podcast.
Because I have not, I've seen alot of, I'm starting to see
growing information about thedangers and the harms of

(03:37):
marijuana, especially obviouslyin my in my sphere related to
psychosis and and mental healthissues.
But I have not seen people doingwhat you're doing, which is
raising awareness, helpingpeople understand how dangerous
this is, doing advocacy work.
And so I'm absolutely thrilledthat you're on the program
today.
Thank you so much.

(03:57):
I can't thank you enough.
And giving me a voice is is thegreatest gift you can give me to
support my mission.
So thank you, Michelle.
Fantastic.
Okay, so let's start with yourstory.
So I'm from Pueblo, Colorado,which I call ground zero for the
marijuana expansion movement.
And I didn't think thelegalization was a great idea,

(04:20):
but I didn't realize how itwould impact my local community
and my family.
January 1st, 2014, we had whatwe called marijuana migrants
come to the community.
Um, very excited that we werehaving commercialized marijuana.
Unfortunately, a lot of thesepeople came with no resources

(04:42):
and they had children with them.
And so our small, pridefulcommunity that takes care of the
disadvantaged and theunderprivileged was overwhelmed.
And we had international cartelsmove into our communities.
We had, I had two illegalmarijuana grow houses within a
block of my house.
There was a man who was murderedby my parents' garage just three

(05:06):
blocks away from me.
I had a gang shooting in frontof my house.
We never had these problemsbefore in our community.
And then my son's behaviorstarted to change.
And I thought, well, I've taughthim enough.
You know, I've told him, taughthim not to use drugs.
And I just thought it wasadolescence, growing up, having
a hard time, everything that wego through, you know, when we're

(05:27):
growing up and come to realizehe started um self-harming.
And then one night I waswitnessing him in psychosis.
I did not even know the wordpsychosis.
I didn't even know the meaning.
I was just trying to supporthim, tell him everything's gonna
be okay.
And then he had a full-fledgedsuicide attempt, which led to

(05:48):
two psychiatrichospitalizations.
And when he got out of those, Iasked him, and I'm trying to
connect with him, trying tofigure out what is happening.
And he told me, Mom, I'mdabbing.
And I had no clue what a dabwas.
And he said, Mom, it's reallystrong marijuana.
It's like crackweed, and I knowit's making me crazy, and I'm

(06:10):
trying to quit.
So that opened me researchingwhat the heck is a dab, what is
going on here?
And I came to realize that dabswere really high concentrations
of THC, the drug or the chemicalin the cannabis plant that is
addictive and causes theeuphoria, but it also can cause
acute psychosis and lead aperson to be diagnosed with

(06:35):
chronic psychiatric disorderssuch as bipolar, sometimes with
psychotic features andschizophrenia, which
schizophrenia is chronicpsychosis.
In my community of Pueblo, theywere calling dabs medicine and
less harmful.
And as a mother, I became angry.
I mean, that's just thefull-fledged emotional reaction

(06:58):
I had.
How dare they legalize thisproduct and not tell the truth
about it?
So that led me on a pathway withmy son with a lot of crisis
moments.
Me being like an FBI agenttrying to find help for him,
being told we don't treat forcannabis use disorder.

(07:20):
We don't treat for marijuanaaddiction.
They have, they wait till theyget on meth and heroin before
they intervene.
And I just thought that was themost ridiculous thing I'd ever
heard.
I'm a taxpayer citizen.
What do you mean there's noservices available to my family?
And I came to find out I had afriend that worked for the

(07:40):
Department of Social Services.
She was a social worker workingwith adolescents, and she said,
Hey, as a taxpayer of the stateof Colorado, you have the right
to volunteer your family forcrisis intervention with DSS,
the Department of SocialServices.
And so I did that.
And we had a lot of ups anddowns.
I learned some stuff.

(08:00):
I was parent-shamed.
I just was, you know, I'm I'mopen to like just tell me what I
need to do.
I'm desperate to help my sonbecause what I see my son doing
is he's he's going down thispath of this mental and mental
illness crisis that I didn'tknow what to do, you know.
And I was being told that I'mthe one in control.

(08:22):
I'm the one who can fix this.
And it's because of myreactions, is the reason why
he's getting sick.
And boy, did I believe thatsometimes.
And I was losing my self-esteemas a parent.
He was losing his mentalstability.
My husband was, you know, upsetthat he read that marijuana was

(08:45):
medicine.
It would help him with anxiety.
So then he started using, andthey told him to use 24% THC.
Just take a couple hits a week,which, you know, it did.
That hit that he took numbed himup.
So he was relieved of that, youknow, acute psych anxiety and
that that pain, that emotionalpain he was feeling.

(09:05):
But then it led him down to melosing my husband from THC,
became very depressed, verysuicidal.
So fast forward, it's a longstory, but I became very clear
over a period of time that Ididn't have a lot of power.
I didn't have a lot of control.
And as a mother, it was veryimportant for me to provide an

(09:27):
environment of security, safety,and healing.
And I didn't know how to achievethat.
And I would pray to God to helpme find a way.
Sorry, I get emotional.
And uh, that's what led me toHouston, Texas.
We, and here in Pueblo,Colorado, just after two years
after we had legalized here, thepeople of Pueblo realized, you

(09:49):
know, the the physicians, the ERphysicians were speaking up, law
enforcement was speaking up,saying, this isn't working, this
is costing us.
We need to close this industrydown.
So we did at 16 try to vote themout of our community.
You can opt out of the amendment64, which is the retail uh
marijuana legalization, but welost it because we, you know,

(10:12):
the grassroot people, thecitizens of the United States,
the people that are reallyactively trying to better our
families and better ourcommunities, we cannot compete
with drug money.
And so we lost the vote.
And I realized I live in acommunity that picks drugs over
their children.
And I found Houston, Texas,which is ground zero for the

(10:34):
youth recovery movement.
And I started learning aboutthem, about how they have a
recovery high school.
They have what they callalternative peer groups, where
peer, you know, adolescents andyoung adults that are trying to
remain sober and improve theirmental well-being and come
together and they have these funsocial activities where they can

(10:55):
support each other and be apositive peer support and
support each other's health.
And then that families arereally involved and the parents
get involved, and the parentswork their own program, and that
there's um some programs outthere where you become host
parents for youth and recovery.
And there's just theseprofessionals in this whole
community of recovery.

(11:17):
So I ended up, my husband endedup in a psychiatric unit
hospitalized.
I became scared of him.
We'd been together since we wereteenagers, so I knew him well.
And the medical professionals atthat hospital said, We heard you
were trying to leave.
We heard you were trying to getto Houston, Texas.
We need you to leave while he'shospitalized to avoid any
further conflicts.

(11:38):
And so I did.
I left everything we owned.
I packed up my two dogs, my twokids.
My son was already establishedin Houston at that time.
I had sent him ahead of time andhe was living with host
families, but he was justhappened to be in Pueblo with us
because he got sick on one oftheir trips.
So I was he was here.
So I took my two dogs, my twokids, and I had two lawn chairs,

(12:01):
two air mattresses, and I justtold the children, just pack
what you can in a suitcase andwe're leaving.
And that was the hardest thingI've ever done.
And so I went to Houston.
I was surrounded by my positivepeer support, the parents that
were on their recovery journeywith their own kids, and they
surrounded me with love.
I swear that program saved mylife.

(12:21):
I started gaining my confidenceback as a mother.
I started learning what I couldcontrol, what I couldn't
control, how to be in a place ofacceptance, how to give what I
can't, you know, can't controlto my higher power of God or
however we want to do that.
And so I learned how to havehealthy relationships there.
I became a host mom for youthand recovery.

(12:42):
My son achieved three years ofsobriety there, but then he
relapsed after the hemp derivedTHC came on scene in the in
Texas, which was legalized bythe 2018 Farm Bill.
So his program used vapingnicotine as a harm reduction.
So he was going into the vapeshops already to buy nicotine,

(13:06):
and those THC products becameavailable immediately.
This was 2019.
And um, so it was a very easytransition for him to start
picking up the drug again.
And so I lost him.
We had a I we lived together agood year, and then he um, when
I mean I lost him, I mean hehe's still alive, but um that
led to him being estranged fromthe family for over five years.

(13:30):
I didn't see him for over orspeak to him for over two years.
And when he showed back up, hewas skin and bones.
I think people would look at himand go, he's a meth addict, you
know.
And no, he's a THC addict.
He had cannabinoid hyperemessyndrome, which is where they
get at really toxic levels of uhTHC and they can't eat and drink

(13:50):
and they're they're vomiting,they're sick to their stomach a
lot.
And when he came back into mylife, I just worked really hard
on connecting with him, lettinghim know no matter what he chose
to do with his life, I'm hisfan.
I love him.
I'm gonna have my boundariesaround the drug use, but um, but
I'm here and I'm not goinganywhere.
And having a relationship withhim meant the world to me.

(14:13):
And it took a while to establishthat connection.
He would let me in and out ofhis life.
And then this past June, Ibecame very active in Texas
fighting for the health andsafety of Texas with my citizens
for a safe and healthy Texas umgroup.
And he, you know, I was visitinghim, and last June he called me
up and he said, Mom, I can'ttake it anymore.

(14:36):
Um, you've done everything youcan to help me.
I love you very much.
I'm gonna end my life today.
And um, I just I need you toknow you you need to be okay
because you've done everythingyou can.
He says, I just can't take itanymore.
And so, you know, of course,that was a horrible day with me
telling him, son, don't, don'tdo it.

(14:57):
And he hung up and he was notreturning my phone calls.
So we called the police to hisapartment and did everything we
could.
And we asked him, you know, tostart again.
You know, you you can do this.
Just get through today and andcome home.
And and I'm sorry my my story iskind of long, but in the
meantime, being separated frommy husband while I was in

(15:19):
Houston, he quit usingmarijuana.
Um we never divorced, and hestarted coming back to who he
was, and we started talkingagain.
So we decided after we got myyounger son graduated high
school, I moved back to Pueblo,Colorado.
And I moved back in with myhusband.
And um, we are best friends.
He's not using, he was able towean off all his medications,

(15:44):
though he still strugglestremendously.
He has severe anxiety, severedepression, and he's like
yesterday was a really rough dayfor him.
But I told him, you know, I'mhere.
I gave him a big hug.
You can do this, let me know Ican help.
And he, I watched him fight forhis mental well-being all day
yesterday.
Getting back to my son, my sondid survive.

(16:05):
He did decide to come back andhe lives here with my husband
and I.
And he detoxed.
He said, I'm not going totreatment.
He detoxed in our home, and ittook him five months to quit
testing positive for THC.
That's how strong this drug is.
And where he is now, my son isnot totally well, but he has a
full-time job and he's he'strying to figure things out.

(16:27):
And he's 26 and he um proud ofhim.
And I I hurt just watching himstruggle for his mental
stability on a daily basis.
When he's working, it seems likehe can get through those days
pretty good.
But then when he's his days off,I watch him struggle.
And he's not totally sober, buthe's trying to figure out how to
be.
So that's where we're at rightnow.

(16:50):
And um, it's hard, and most dayswe're okay.
But even when my son is humanic,you know, part of his psychosis
looks where he's walking thestreets for hours and hours.
I still try to get in front ofhim and say, give me a hug, try
to connect with him, give him abig kiss on the cheek and let
him know I love him.

(17:10):
He's capable.
And I just am very grateful thathe's back in my life and I have
an opportunity to connect withhim again and um, you know, keep
my boundaries around me.
But he's he's a lovely youngman.
He's funny, he's charismatic,he's hardworking, and and so
that's where we're at today.

(17:30):
And that had led me to developevery brain matters, so
nonprofit that raises awarenessof the harms of THC.
And I am connected withthousands of families living the
same nightmare, and not all ofthem have a good outcome.
You know, not all of themachieve recovery.
Some do.

(17:51):
It's possible.
There's lots of people findingthe help and getting better and
healing, and some are not.
And so every Brain Matters has asupport recovery arm where we
provide family recoveryresources.
We hold online family supportmeetings twice a week with a
professional counselor who wasmy counselor in Houston.

(18:14):
I he works for me now because hehelped my family so much.
And I, what he taught me, I wanthim to teach to everybody else.
And then we just we're actuallyhiring him on a little bit more,
and we're gonna develop thatsupport recovery arm more.
And then we have an advocacy armof Every Brain Matters, where we
do talk to legislators, citycouncil members, um, we show up

(18:37):
at community meetings and wetell our stories, and we provide
this critical education thatmarijuana, the THC, is addictive
and can cause severe mentalillness, and that it's not the
medicine and the less harmfuldrug that the industry is trying
to manipulate the country withtheir wrong messages.

(18:59):
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
First of all, your story, I'm soglad you told your story because
I think that we we have been,well, I'm a Gen Xer.
I grew up back when it was like,you know, all the shows, the
movies and that that portrayed,you know, the the Stoners.
That was what we called themback then.

(19:20):
I don't know what they call themnow, but you know, the Stoners
were the guys that were alwaystoking up on marijuana and they
were just laid back, chill, youknow, they were kind of didn't
have a lot of motivation, butthey weren't hurting anybody,
right?
And when I remember when theyfirst started talking about
legalizing it, all of thearguments seemed to make sense.

(19:41):
Like, you know, we want toeliminate the, you know, people
are doing this, it's it's noharm more harmful than alcohol
or or cigarettes, and those arelegal.
And if we, you know, if itbecomes legal, then we can
regulate it.
And then we're gonna eliminatethe, you know, this part of the
drug, you know, illegal drugtrade and that.
And I I am not a fan of any ofit, but I could understand the

(20:02):
perspective they were comingfrom, and I thought, well, you
know, I I just had, you know, Ikind of was a little bit unsure
of how to feel about it becauseeven though I'm not a fan of it
and I didn't think it was a goodidea, it didn't seem like a bad,
like, like the end of the worldto legalize it.
I thought, well, we cigarettesare legal and alcohol is legal,
you know, and and so I thinkthat there was uh this idea that

(20:24):
it wasn't a big deal.
Yeah.
And I I want to ask you twothings.
Number one, I think that itwould be good for clarification.
Can we just talk just a littlebit about terms?
So we we use the term THC,marijuana, pot, cannabis.
Are these all referring to theexact same thing?
Yes, it is.
I do.

(20:44):
I I interchange that becausepeople that's totally fine.
I just not everybody's noteverybody understands all these
terms, and I just want to makesure when we use those that
language, it's referring to theexact same thing.
Those those are allinterchangeable words, correct?
Correct.
Okay, just for clarification,just for the uninitiated.
Okay, and then let's talk aboutI I do have a quick question

(21:05):
because I want to for not forgetto say it.
They used a farm bill tolegalize the sale of marijuana.
Yes.
So you have the states that aredeciding whether to legalize THC
or cannabis or marijuana.
And then the 2018 Farm Billlegalized hemp, which is part of

(21:27):
the cannabis.
It's a it's different than thecannabis plant.
And the hemp plant, whichlegalized CBD, which tends to be
the molecule in the plant, thedrug in the plant that has some
medicinal qualities.
It is an anti inflammatory.
They have used it to help umkiddos with uh seizure

(21:48):
conditions.
Um, so there has there is somethe medicinal qualities of that.
So that was the intention, butthey had a big loophole in the
the farm bill that.
They allowed, they didn't definehump.
Um, they did they defined it twoways.
They defined it as a 0.30% ofdry weight, which when you do

(22:10):
the calculations, that meansthat they can make these gummies
where they're claiming they're CBD, but they actually have 9, 10
milligrams of THC, which is theaddictive part of the plant.
So that was one way they coulddo that.
And of course, if you're likeme, I don't want one gummy or
one piece of candy.
I want a handful of them.
So a handful of gummies thathave, you know, claiming it's C

(22:33):
B D could have like 100milligrams of THC, which is a
very, very large amount becauseold school hippie weed back in
the 70s only had like 1% THC.
In the 90s, it was up to 4 or5%.
So that was one way they wereable to sneak the THC into these
hemp um products.
Another way is that they wereable to take the CBD molecule

(22:57):
and just convert it to differentvariants of THC.
It's it's just um so they theDelta 9 THC is what is legal
here in the state of Colorado,but they were able to take CBD
and convert it to Delta 8 THC,Delta 10 THC, Delta 12, I mean,

(23:17):
and even goes on to what theseproducts called HHC.
And I can give you a resourcethat explains that if you want
to put it in the description oranything like that for your
viewers so they can understandit.
And what it comes down to isjust a game of chemical alphabet
soup, and it's people that arewanting to sell drugs and profit
off addiction, just really knewthe chemistry and could really

(23:41):
get around that loophole.
Now, currently, after all theseyears of us speaking up and
fighting, the federal governmenthas closed that loophole and
they have changed the definitionof hemp to just be 0.4
milligrams of THC per package.
Now, that law is supposed to beimplemented this coming

(24:02):
November, and then all thestores have a year to get the
products off their shelves.
You know, can't come soon enoughfor the families I'm connected
with, but but that that is astep in the right direction that
that we have seen on the issue.
Yeah.
So let's talk about legal versusillegal and all the arguments
that they gave us because it'sit's really frustrating when

(24:26):
when they're using argumentsthat sound good and aren't true,
but nobody is we're not able tospeak loud enough to get over
the top of like you talked aboutthe drug money and the the big
speakers that they have, youknow, the the ability they have
to reach lots of people becausethey have lots and lots of money
to sell their message.
So let's talk about the thearguments that they use to

(24:46):
legalize and how it's not true,how they've lied to us and
misled us.
Yeah.
Yeah, they they um they promisedus that they could make it safer
and eradicate the black market.
So who, you know, who wouldn'twant that?
Who wouldn't want a saferproduct?
But those have not come true.
One is that the legal productsare actually more dangerous than

(25:09):
ever.
And one way they've made themmore dangerous is they've made
them more potent.
They contain large amounts ofTHC.
So you'll hear this buzz termhigh potency THC.
And the definition of highpotency THC is a product that
contains 10 milligrams of THC ormore.
So a lot of the products, justthe flour alone here in the

(25:32):
state of Colorado, averagesbetween 18 to 23% THC.
So we're already in that highpotency category.
Um, and the concentrates, thedabs, the shatter, the wax, the
average um THC content is about64 milligrams, 67 milligrams of
THC.

(25:53):
It's a very hard, dangerous drugwhere just one use, one hit of
that product can cause acutepsychosis.
And 47% of those people thatexperience that acute episode of
cannabis-induced psychosis willconvert to chronic psychiatric

(26:14):
disorders such as schizophreniaor bipolar.
So that's that's the differencewith that.
And then they compared it to beless harmful than alcohol or the
already legal drugs, but that isnot true.
I don't, I'm not an advocate foralcohol use.
I'm not an advocate for any druguse.
I just want to make that clear.
But I would say alcohol is lessharmful because one use of

(26:39):
alcohol will not cause an acuteepisode of psychosis and put you
on the pathway forschizophrenia.
Now, alcohol can cause psychosisand lead to that, but you have
to abuse it for many, many, manyyears for your brain to trip
into that.
Not an excuse to use it.
Please, please don't think thatI'm advocating for it.

(27:00):
So that's one big difference.
And alcohol is a water-solubledrug compared to THC marijuana,
it is a fat-soluble drug.
So the THC adheres to the fatsin our bodies and doesn't
necessarily release.
And our fattiest organ is ourbrain.
So we can't even predict howlong the THC lives in our brain

(27:22):
and how if how long it affectsthe brain.
With alcohol, we can look at theperson's weight and how much
alcohol they've consumed, and wecan predict when they're going
to be intoxicated, when they'regoing to be blacking out, and
then when they're going to diefrom alcohol poisoning.
With THC, we can't predict howmuch THC will intoxicate a

(27:43):
person, let alone make thempsychotic.
And then once the intoxicationof THC wears off, that psychosis
can persist.
So it's a huge difference.
So they did not make this drugsafer, they made it more potent
and more dangerous.
And then another way they madeit more dangerous is they put it

(28:05):
in candies and everyday foods,and they put sugary flavors in
it to get the consumer toconsume it, especially the
vapes.
So I always share that if youtake those sugary flavors out of
the vapes, out of the candies,the consumer is going to spit
them out because they taste sofoul.
They taste like a chemical, butnot they have toxic taste to

(28:28):
them.
So that's a predatory marketingtactic that they do.
So that's another way that theymade it more dangerous.
They also made it moreaccessible.
So we know, um, and I didn'trealize this in the beginning,
that when you legalize a drug,you even though you age gate it

(28:49):
at 21, where you're cardingpeople to buy the product, you
actually increase accessibilityto the youth because the youth
just like get the guy who's 21who's going to buy him the
alcohol, right?
Same thing's happening with themarijuana.
So legalizing a drug,commercializing it, increases
youth access and decreasesperception of harm.

(29:10):
So age gating actually does notprotect the youth.
We have the most highlyregulated two drugs we have are
alcohol and tobacco.
And those are the most drugsyouth have access to.
So adding marijuana on top ofthat has been a big public
disservice and a significantfactor in why we have such an

(29:32):
addiction mental illness crisisin our country.
The other thing is that theypromised that it would eradicate
the black market and whowouldn't want that.
We live, we this isn't a hundredyears ago with alcohol
prohibition.
We live in a modern age of masscommunication, mass
transportation.
So what we have found is thatthese policies that have

(29:53):
commercialized, legalizedmarijuana have provided a good
front for drug pushers, dealers,however we want to label them,
to actively be in storefronts inour own neighborhoods.
So it just provided a cover andhas fueled international
criminal organizations to comeinto our communities and set up

(30:14):
shop.
And so it has expanded the blackmarket and has even created even
a new black market to trafficmarijuana and which has led to
the trafficking of even moredrugs.
Okay.
So let's talk about what are,you know, on your you have a
really, I would encourageanybody who's listening to this

(30:34):
who wants to know more, go tothe website.
It's very informative.
They've got lots of goodinformation there.
I learned a ton that I didn'tknow.
I'd never really explainexplored this very much.
I started looking at marijuanause because I was starting to
see the impact it was having onpeople that were being diagnosed
with bipolar disorder.
And and I was curious about thatbecause I thought that was a

(30:55):
really odd coin, like I don'tknow, coincidence is the right
term, but it was an oddcorrelation that people were
using, we were seeing increasednumbers of people being
diagnosed with bipolar disorderand schizophrenia and
experiencing psychosis from theuse of marijuana.
That was one of the things thatI started looking into.

(31:15):
And I actually witnessed itfirsthand with somebody that I
knew in my community that I wasworking with to try and help
them heal.
And they were starting to feelbetter and starting to do
better, and then started smokingpot again.
And I, and she sent me a videoand I witnessed psychosis.
You know, I was like, what isgoing on?
And I, you know, ran over to herhome and and discovered the

(31:37):
impact that just smoking, and itwasn't, it wasn't like the
gummies or anything, she wasjust smoking the or vaping, I
guess is what you call it.
And it was so sad.
Like it was so heartbreaking tome to see somebody who'd worked
so hard to recover.
And because of the marketingwith these products and talking
about safe, and and there'sactually a lot of there's a lot

(31:58):
of marketing that is used totell people like your husband
that this is going to help withyour depression.
It's going to help with youranxiety.
You know, I've heard people thatare, you know, I had somebody a
couple of years ago that I was,well, it's actually been about
three and a half years ago now,that I was working with, and he
was an advocate in Canada formental health and and bipolar

(32:18):
people who were struggling withbipolar.
And he started sending memessages saying, you know, I'm
seeing all this research abouthow, you know, cannabis and and
marijuana can help with bipolar.
And I thought, that seems reallyodd.
And this was before any of thisinformation I had seen any of
it.
And he ended up hospitalized.
He was like looking forsomething to help him.
He ended up using it, and it andhe ended up with a psychotic

(32:40):
episode and ended up in thehospital.
And so there's a lot of there'sa lot of misinformation.
And I I can't say definitivelythat people are intentionally
putting this information outthere.
I don't know where it's comingfrom, but it is becoming more
and more prolific that peopleare encouraging people to use
this product for mental healthpurposes, and it is actually

(33:01):
having the opposite effect.
So, can we talk about that alittle bit from what you've
seen?
And what are the other thingsthat you're seeing that are the
result of people usingmarijuana?
Michelle, you're absolutelycorrect.
It's it's worsening mentalhealth and it's causing mental
illness.
And it's sad.

(33:21):
You know, those stories you justtold, I'm on the phone every day
with families that are livingthat same nightmare where, you
know, we even have I even havefamilies where the parents
really believed that themarijuana was going to help
their their loved one and wasbuying the products for them.
And then it caused severepsychosis, and then they're

(33:41):
they're left with all this guiltand shame.
And I I'm coaching them, I'msupporting them, letting them
know that you didn't know.
You you made the best decisionat the time with the information
you have.
And that, and that's why it's sofrustrating, all the
misinformation around this drug.
And and the science is verystrong on a THC.
I think there definitely needsto be more research on the CBD,

(34:04):
but CBD is not necessarily safetoo.
You know, the science is 100%that THC can cause, not be
correlated, cause acute episodesof psychosis and psychosis is
where a person usually startsfeeling paranoid.
So if people that are choosingto use marijuana, like I just

(34:25):
had a guy here yesterday who wasfixing my garage, he was telling
me he uses marijuana every day.
And I, you know, we had a goodconversation and I just said,
hey, if you start feelingparanoid, please stop.
Please get to a safe locationbecause that doesn't necessarily
mean you're going to becomepsychotic or go into psychosis,
but that means you're openingthe door to it.

(34:45):
So we don't want you to progressto hallucinations and delusions.
So please hear me when I saythis.
And I'm saying this not to tellyou what to do because it's that
I want you to be safe.
And he was sharing he's a fatherand a husband.
So yes, the hundred the scienceis 100%.
And out of all the drugs thatcan cause psychosis, including

(35:07):
meth, marijuana has the thehighest conversion rate from
those temporary symptoms to thechronic psychiatric disorders
that I've mentioned before.
Meth has a 32% conversion rateto psychiatric disorders.
Marijuana has a 47%.
So um, and that those numbersare from old school hippie weed,

(35:28):
the low potency THC.
You know, now we have, we we youcan hardly find low potency THC
in in the United States ofAmerica.
So um this issue is soimportant, not only to maintain
that individual's mental health,but imagine that person now,
their whole family's affected.

(35:48):
And then some of those people dobecome violent, not all, you
know, just because you're becomepsychotic doesn't mean you're
going to be a violent person,but but you're at a like 15 to
20 percent fold increase tobecome violent.
And then that affects thecommunity.
So I know THC is a significantfactor in mass shootings,
suicides, and, you know, justall the destruction we're seeing

(36:13):
across our communities.
You know, when you're seeingthat homeless young man walking
around your community and he'sthin and he's dirty and he's
talking to people that aren'tthere, people correlate that
with just meth or fentanyl.
And what I'm saying is it'sprobably marijuana because they
would have a better chance ofrecovering if they quit using.

(36:36):
So that is definitelymisinformation.
And I do think it is coming fromthe industry.
It's, you know, the media reallyum has been pro-marijuana,
pro-legalization.
But then we saw the New YorkTimes is already scaling that
back saying, hey, we've probablymade a mistake, but they still
can't even tell the truth.
They, you know, when the NewYork Times says smoking a joint

(36:58):
is just like drinking a glass ofwine.
I'm like, no, that's not true.
And I believed in informedconsent.
And, you know, I'm definitely onthe side like, don't legalize,
that's what I preach, don'tcommercialize, don't let this
industry into yourneighborhoods, don't let this
industry into your state.
But if you do, you need to haveinformed consent.

(37:18):
And you need to hold thisindustry liable for the
destruction that they arecausing because they are
literally causing braininjuries.
So your friend that has the umvaping, the THC, that provides a
fast chemical assault to thebrain, rapid, you know, and
that's an injury at that point.

(37:39):
And and will she recover, youknow?
Yeah, maybe, but she'll never bethe same.
There'll there's trauma causedto her from that experience.
It's scary, it's a state ofsuffering.
You know, it's the consequences.
I don't I think it's gonna be along time.
We're gonna be paying the pricefor this movement for a long

(38:01):
time in the US.
And I'm advocating here locallyin Pueblo, like, hey, let you
know, they're going out ofbusiness here in Pueblo.
So hey, when I talk to people, Isay, I'm Aubrey Adams and I'm
from your future.
You can learn from me.
You you can let this industryinto your community and destroy
lives and then pay theconsequences for years and

(38:24):
years, or you can prevent themfrom coming in and save lives.
So now the industry, they don'tsell good products.
There's not a high demand for itanymore.
Our planes from where you whereyou drive from my community up
to the mountains is covered withabandoned marijuana illegal grow
houses.
Legal, they were legal growhouses.

(38:45):
I'm sorry, I misspoke for that.
But, you know, and then they'vejust left this destruction.
I have people going up and downmy block every day that are
homeless, some are in psychosis,and it's sad.
And it was all preventable.
All of this was preventable.
The other, the other major umdiagnose, you know, and the
reason why you talked about howthey're seeing an increase of

(39:07):
bipolar from marijuana use, theydon't have a C D a CD, yeah, a
code to capture cannabis-inducedpsychosis.
We just got it for thecannabinoid hyperemesis, CHS,
and I'll talk about that in asecond, but they they're not
capturing it.
So the doctors are diagnosingusually bipolar.

(39:29):
And a lot of times these peoplearen't bipolar.
They're being affected by thedrug and they need a detox from
the drug.
And our medical system doesn'tallow them to detox long enough
from the drug.
I mean, it takes sometimesmonths to detox from THC
compared to alcohol and maththat are water-soluble, like,

(39:49):
you know, a week or two.
But THC, I mean, the familiesthat I'm unconnected with, like,
they call me and they say weneed THC detox facilities that
are a minimum of six months.
So we can provide a stable, safeenvironment and have a trained
staff there to know that thisperson that's become psychotic

(40:12):
from THC is not going to followdirections.
They're not going to becompliant of what you want them
to do because they're in a stateof suffering.
They're in a state of psychosis,and they need to be surrounded
by people that truly understandthat and can keep them safe.
They're not necessarily going tobe compliant with whatever
medication you want to put themon.

(40:33):
And so we really need that, thatcompassion, that safety, that
opportunity to detox and letthose people know that we're,
you know, and I know this ismight be controversial, we're
not going to allow you to checkyourself out of this facility
because we know you're notcognitive available to do that,

(40:53):
to make a good decision to keepyourself safe.
And what's happening is they'reallowing these people that are
not mentally stable, that theirbrain is just craving the drug
because they want to end thesuffering again.
They want to intoxicate, calmthose voices down in their head,
calm those delusions down intheir head.
So they're going to go reachback out for THC, meth,

(41:15):
fentanyl, whatever they can doto intoxicate themselves and
bring that suffering down.
But they're allowing people thatare in that state of their
disease to make these decisions.
They're ending up back on ourstreets, they're being taken
advantage of, they're beingabused, and it's just the cycle,
and it's so sad and sopreventable.

(41:38):
Yeah.
And I'm I'm gonna put a littlecaveat in here.
So, and this is this is from me,not from Aubrey.
So I'm I am making that caveathere, but it is possible to heal
the brain after they have gone,after somebody has experienced
psychosis, when they arediagnosed with schizophrenia,
with with bipolar disorder, itis possible to heal the brain.

(42:01):
And one of the things that wetalk about in, you know, I've
talked about on my podcast, I'vehad guests on here that talk
about the benefits ofmicronutrients, specialized
micronutrients that are targetedto help heal the brain, help
provide the brain with thebuilding blocks necessary to
repair the neurotransmitters,repair all the connections, help
the brain to recover.

(42:22):
Our brains and our bodies areincredibly uh resilient and that
we are able to heal thosethings.
And so we don't, people are notgoing to be stuck if they know
where to go.
That's one of the biggestchallenges I think that you're
talking about here is that wedon't have enough voices out
there yet.
We don't have enough people outthere yet sharing how to heal in

(42:44):
the first place.
And so people get stuck inhopelessness, they feel like
there's no hope.
I'm gonna be like this forever,and they start to give up.
And so I think it's so critical.
I want to make sure that peopleunderstand they don't have to
become stuck in chronic, youknow, bipolar symptoms or psych,
you know, or psychotic symptomsthat it is possible to heal, but
you need help.

(43:05):
You need resources, you needhelp, you need people who
understand what has actuallyhappened to the brain in order
to help the brain recover.
So I just want to make sure thatwe we have people that I don't
want, I don't want this to be ahopeless.
Yeah, yeah.
So that's not a criticism ofwhat you're saying.
I'm just giving that that piecebecause in the in our on my
podcast, I share resources forhealing and recovery.

(43:27):
And it is possible to heal frombipolar symptoms.
It is possible to heal fromschizophrenia symptoms if you
have the tools and the resourcesthat are research-based that
help your brain to recover.
So that's I just want to putthat little caveat in there so
we don't I would say, Amen,Michelle.
Thank you for saying that.
Because like tonight, I have aspeaker's meeting once a month

(43:47):
on Every Brain Matters, and Ibring in somebody who has
recovered or a parent who hashad a loved one that recovered.
And that's what I put up on myYouTube channel, if they allow
me to record their story.
Of course, I Respect theiranonymity if they just want to
come bring that hope back intothe conversation and let people
know recovery is possible.

(44:09):
Even if they do have a chronicuh psychiatric diagnosis, you
know, they they can be betterand they can live a great life.
I've actually, before I even gotinto the this issue of
marijuana, I actually didphysical therapy for a living.
And part of one of this ladies,she had schizophrenia.
She had lost custody of herchildren.

(44:30):
And part of her recovery processis I did a little bit of yoga
with her.
I did a little bit oftherapeutic uh exercise with
her, part of her healingprocess.
And we did our thing.
I taught her some stuff.
And when I was actually gettingready to move out of Pueblo, I
saw her in the grocery store andshe came up and she hugged me
and she said, I'm doing great.
I got my kids back, you know?

(44:51):
And I was like, I'm so happy.
And I have no idea what led herto that diagnosis or, you know,
I didn't have her background.
I just knew that they asked meto help her and I did what I
could on my end.
And she did all the other work,you know, that she was doing to
get better.
That's why Every Brain Mattershas the support, recovery, and
the advocacy, because wedefinitely need a balance and we

(45:14):
need to.
I mean, even if you're not theperson diagnosed with bipolar or
schizophrenia and you're afamily member, it's really
important that we learn how totake care of ourselves, you
know, through this process too.
So that's my main thing, what Ido with the families is to bring
that hope back.
Can you talk about boundaries?

(45:35):
Because I think this is like areally perfect segue into this
topic.
Because one of the things, um,and I think it's more common to
be talked about within, youknow, when there's drug use
involved.
But I, but it's I talk aboutthis all the time when
somebody's got a loved one who'sstruggling with bipolar
symptoms.
You need to learn how to havehealth, how to have healthy
boundaries because allowing yourloved one to harm you doesn't

(45:58):
help them and it doesn't helpyou.
It damages the relationship.
It prevents, it can actuallyprevent recovery because you're
not, they're not feeling any ofthe consequences of their
choices.
And and it's doing tremendousdamage to the relationship.
And so can you talk?
You've you've spoken about yourown boundaries and making sure
that you have healthy boundariesfor yourself, but can you talk
about what that looks like?

(46:19):
And let's talk about what theboundaries are, and then how did
that come into play with you,with your husband, with your
child, with your son?
You know, how how did you learn?
Because I think that we have tolearn how to have healthy
boundaries because we lovesomebody so much and we just
want to help them, and then therelationship starts to
deteriorate.
Yeah, and that's such a I mean,we could have, you know,

(46:40):
three-hour podcasts just aboutboundaries.
It's it's so hard.
Um, you know, I definitely ummeet families where they're at
because um, you know, you know,I have had to tell my son to
leave the home quite a number oftimes.
And those days were the hardestthing I've ever done.
So when we're having our supportmeetings, we we have open forum

(47:04):
talks about, you know, what soone family's sharing, this is
what we decided, and this iswhat boundary we implemented,
and you know, how they came tothat process of figuring out
what boundaries they want tohold and what they're capable of
holding.
So that's that's a big thing.
So I think each family isdifferent.
We all have our common things.

(47:24):
We definitely, if it's a crisisof there's some kind of abuse or
violence, we definitely our mainpriority is safety.
So we we need to learn thatboundary.
What does safety look like?
Does that mean you just exitingthe home and getting out of
their way?
You know, unfortunately, therewere nights where I had to lock
myself in the bedroom, get myyounger son in there, and hope
to get my dog in there becauseit was really full-blown

(47:48):
psychosis out of control.
So the boundaries, you know, Ijust tell families give yourself
some time, give yourself somegrace, figure out what
boundaries you want, listen toother families of what
boundaries they implemented, butit the decision has to come from
you.
Because if you're making thatdecision because of what if

(48:10):
somebody else is telling you,that can lead to really further
damage in the relationship.
So safety is number one.
Give yourself the time and graceto figure out what boundaries or
boundary you want to start with.
Keep coming to the supportmeetings.
So, of course, we have that withEvery Brain Matters.
And then I'm a founding memberof Marinon, which is like

(48:32):
Al-Anon, but it's for peopleaffected by someone else's
marijuana use.
And they have online meetingsevery day for that.
So those are good supportgroups.
Nami, Al-Anon.
I think there's parents ofaddicted loved ones.
Like I just encourage familiesto get plugged in to whatever
recovery support meetings thatthey're feeling connected with.

(48:53):
There's no right or wrong inthis, but somewhere where you're
you're connecting and you'refeeling you're like less alone
in this.
So then once they pick thatboundary, hopefully it's a
boundary that the whole family,you know, if it's a husband or a
spouse or significant other,that they can hold together.
And then once they pick that,then we teach them to be clear

(49:14):
about the boundary, be kindabout the boundary, and then be
gone.
So it's be clear, be kind, begone.
Meaning once you're gonnaimplement that boundary, you
clearly state it to your lovedones.
You're kind about it.
You don't want to shame them andlecture them about it.
So, like if it's a, you know, Ialways say when they're younger,
you can establish more strongerboundaries as they grow older.

(49:38):
It's gonna change.
And your boundaries might changeon a daily basis, depending on
the situation you're in.
But like if I had a teenager whowas using marijuana, you know,
maybe they're not having otherproblems, but we found out
they're using marijuana.
And that's a rule of boundaryset in our house that we're not
drug use is not allowed.
I would just say we noticed thatyou're using marijuana and we're

(50:00):
very concerned why you areharming yourself with this drug.
So we're gonna hold on to yourphone for a while and we're
gonna go get professional helpand we're not gonna give your
phone back to we're we're forsure that you're taking good
care of yourself.
And I love you.
And then I would exit the roombecause this is not up for
negotiation, especially if thatthat loved one is developing the

(50:25):
disease of addiction orsomething like that.
But but I give examples.
And so when families hear thatexample over and over again and
they go to support meetings andhear other people talking about
how they implemented it, thenthey gain the confidence to
choose what they're gonna do.
And then I always tell familiesthat sometimes the boundaries

(50:45):
work out, sometimes they don't.
You know, the boundaries are forus to stay safe.
It's not to influence the otherour loved ones' behaviors.
Most of the time, the theirbehaviors will escalate if
you're holding a boundarybecause they're not getting away
with what they were before.
So you need to prepare for that.
That's why we say be clear, bekind, be gone.

(51:06):
So we want you to get out oftheir way.
So if their behaviors are goingto escalate, you're not there to
be a punching bag or whatever isgonna happen in that situation.
Not all the time it happens likethat.
A lot of people accept theboundaries and and appreciate it
because it is literally an actof love.
But that's that's kind of mylittle, my little spiel when it

(51:27):
comes to boundaries.
Because I think I think there'sa no, no, there's a tough love,
there's we gotta love them more,you know, and there's all this
stuff.
But I think each family needs tohear the information and make
their own decisions.
Yeah.
And I I want to talk about whenwhen people experiment with
this, it's a little bit like,well, not a little bit, it is

(51:48):
like playing Russian roulettewith your brain.
You don't have any idea, like ifthe product, you know, how the
product's gonna affect you.
You don't know how your own, youknow, each person is different.
And so it'll affect peopledifferently.
And there's a high risk now foradverse effects that are that
could be significant.
And one of the things that youmentioned in a recent video on

(52:10):
your YouTube channel was theimplicate or the the issues that
are being become we're becomingaware of with women's health.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
You mentioned that on yourYouTube channel.
Well, yeah, I had a good friend.
She was an avid, you know, amarijuana user.
And she was when we wereteenagers, and I never really
saw her have issues, and she wasthe college student and got a

(52:32):
really great degree.
That's a hard degree to get, um,that most people could not
achieve in science.
And um, and she just happened tocall me and I was wondering all
these years because I'm very um,I'm a public advocate.
So I'm on social media, alwaysspeaking out.
And she called me up and shesaid, Yeah, I was she was told
to use marijuana because she wasgoing through menopause.

(52:55):
And um, she said it made herworse.
And so I think too, she got themore potent stuff, you know,
compared to what she might havebeen using in the past.
And and she said it took her alittle while to realize that it
was worsening her mental healthsymptoms.
And then, but when she realizedit, she quit using it.
But that's the type of personshe always was.

(53:15):
She was, you know, you know,those certain people that are
like when they realizesomething, they just make the
change and it's not a big dealto them.
For me, I'm like, you know, withmy weight and stuff like that,
I'm always juggling with, youknow, that kind of exercise
more, eat less, blah, blah,blah.
And um, and she definitely waslike, Thank you for what you're
doing, Aubrey.
I agree with everything you'resaying.

(53:36):
And I was manipulated intothinking marijuana was going to
help me get through menopauseand made me worse.
And I think that message reallyneeds to be out there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think this all goes backto where I where I'm coming from
with what I do is we have beenmisled in our society for
decades now, that the problemswe're struggling with with our

(53:58):
mental health, with ouremotional health, with our
physical health can all besolved with pills.
And we want the quick fix, wewant a pill that's gonna just,
you know, make it better.
And we want to be able to justcontinue our lives as we've been
going.
And the problem is that usuallyit makes things worse.
When we use pills, when we usedrugs, when we use these quick
fixes, quote unquote quickfixes, we are usually not

(54:22):
addressing the root of theproblem.
We are trying to put a band-aidon top or suppress the symptoms
or something.
We're trying to take a shortcutthat often becomes makes things
much worse.
And it's heartbreaking to me thenumber of people that I have
seen on social media and thatI've heard that have talked
about how, you know, they'vebeen told marijuana will help

(54:44):
with mental health.
It'll marijuana will help, youknow, the marijuana will help
with all of these things.
And it because we are soconditioned to believe that
there is a quick fix, that thereis a pill, a solution that's
going to fix the problem, we arevery susceptible to that
messaging.
And then we take it and we makeour lives infinitely worse

(55:04):
because of the effect of thedrug on our brains, on our
bodies.
And then we end up, you know,not only do we have the original
issue that we were strugglingwith, but now we've got all
these other problems on top ofthat.
Yeah, I agree.
What the medical professionalshave taught me over the years is
a lot of the medications aredesigned to be used acutely, you

(55:25):
know, less than a month.
No, especially like ananti-anxiety medication.
It's really an emergency kind ofmedication.
You know, if somebody has somesevere trauma, a severe loss, to
kind of help that person getthem back to sleeping and then
wean them off of it in a coupleweeks.
And we, you know, the thismedical system, you know, saw a
lot of money in selling thosepills and definitely have have

(55:48):
really caused a lot of damage.
And I think that's what Dr.
Yosev he does a really good jobat explaining.
And and I can't remember when Idid his podcast.
I actually have a podcast topublish that he came on on mine,
but I shared with him I had hada miscarriage.
And um I have dealt withdepressions since I was a child.
I've had some some issues,unfortunately.

(56:09):
So many of us have issuesgrowing up.
And so I was severely depressed,postpartum depression, and I was
giving um an antidepressant.
And at the time, I mean,Michelle, I didn't even know.
This was the early 2000s, it putme in psychosis.
Yes.
And I and I didn't realize thattill after I saw my son, you

(56:34):
know, go through psychosis formarijuana.
I'm like, oh my gosh, that'swhat happened to me.
Yes.
And I I realized, I mean, I wason it for like two weeks.
I was doing some really bizarrestuff.
I was self-harming, and Irealized this medication is
making me worse.
It's not helping.
So I had the the awareness tostop using the medication and I

(56:56):
quit and I got better.
And I just, I just said, hey,I'm not one that can use
medication.
I guess sometimes it does helpsome people, sometimes it
doesn't.
I don't know.
But for me, I knew that was nota solution.
And then over the years, goingthrough my own recovery process

(57:16):
to make sure I'm showing up ashealthy as I can for my loved
ones, I'll just share what Iwhat I do because I still
struggle with depression andanxiety.
That hasn't gone away.
I just have better tools where Idon't live in it as long.
So getting out in the morningand getting the sunlight in my
eyes, not that I'm looking atthe sun.
I don't want your viewers likeI'm looking at the sun, but I'm

(57:38):
looking ahead and the sun ispenetrating my eyes.
I have no sunglasses on for atleast five minutes.
That is a miracle to me.
I have to make sure that I'meating a lot of fruits and
vegetables.
I can tell when my depression'scoming on stronger.
I go and I get my favorite saladfrom this restaurant in town
because I just love their salad,and I start feeling better or

(58:01):
just a brisk walk, even if it'slike a five-minute brisk walk,
it just changes my brain.
And I'm able to take a deepbreath.
I'm able to go take a nap.
I'm able to walk away fromwhatever's stressing me, where
in the past I would kind of livein it and force myself to work
through it.
And I'm like, no, I have somechoices.

(58:21):
I can walk away from this.
So I agree.
I think we've had this wholedrug industry, you know.
I, you know, of course, my focusis the problems with marijuana
because not enough people arespeaking about it.
But marijuana is a gateway topharmaceutical drugs.
I mean, come on, people.
I mean, my loved ones were neveroffered even pharmaceutical

(58:42):
drugs until they started usingmarijuana.
And so I agree with everythingyou're saying, Michelle.
And I definitely don't want totell people what to do, but I
think they need to hear fromdoctors like Dr.
Yosef more, um, instead ofpeople that just want to make
money and to know that maybe themedication might be a tool, but
very, very short term.

(59:03):
That and that they are, I thinkthe message too is that we are
capable of healing and we arecapable of having learning
coping skills.
And, you know, not to say thatsome people aren't gonna need
medication, especially when theyhave chronic um disorders, you
know, but it is they're they'renot, they have a lot of side
effects too, the ones that needto stay on them long term.

(59:24):
And it's not fun.
Nobody's having fun with them.
You know, it's yeah.
And I will say, I am just gonnasay this because I've said it
lots of times in previousepisodes that that the drugs
themselves create the chronicdisorders.
So the reason why people end upwith chronic bipolar symptoms,
chronic schizophrenic symptomsis because of the treatment.
The treatment is preventing thecure.

(59:45):
We're not curious about what'sactually causing those symptoms
and we're not treating thesource, and so people stay sick.
So if we can identify thesources of symptoms, treat the
source using research-basedtools and resources, people can
actually heal, which is greatnews because people don't have
to stay sick for the rest oftheir lives.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you, Michelle.

(01:00:06):
Okay, so where can people findyou and what are the kinds of
resources?
So you've talked about thesupport groups.
What where can people find youif they want to learn more?
If they're struggling withmarijuana use or the effects of
it, or they have a loved one whois, where can they go?
What resources do you haveavailable to them?
And I'll make sure everything'slinked in the show notes, but I
just want to have you share thatwith people.

(01:00:27):
Sure.
Well, if they're a personstruggling with marijuana use
themselves, I would definitelyrefer them to marijuana
anonymous.
That website is tremendous.
We network with them.
I talk to members all the timethere.
I think they're the people thatcan start helping that person
put them on a pathway of whereto start, get a sponsor.

(01:00:49):
Maybe you need a higher level ofcare, maybe you don't.
They're the ones that can guideyou better with that.
Definitely you want to get witha professional, um, a
professional that's not going totell you marijuana is not your
problem.
Um, that, you know, professionalthat understands the harms.
So for the user, that's what Iwould recommend.
Um, for the family member, aloved one, a brother, sister, a

(01:01:11):
grandparent, getting pluggedinto Every Brain Matters is a
great place to start to.
Come to our what we were calledtimer meetings on Wednesday
evenings and Saturday mornings.
Meet Joe Parker, our counselor,and get plugged in and connected
with other families.
I'm also, I'll give you a linkto our family recovery
resources.

(01:01:32):
There's articles, there's booksyou can start to read.
Depending on who your loved oneis, I would customize what, you
know, I usually give threeresources when I speak to
people.
So they can email me at Aubrey.
It's A-U-B-R-E-E at Every BrainMatters.
And I can usually start them upwith two or three resources of

(01:01:53):
where to start.
And usually at that point, thatgets them on the path where they
can pick and choose where theywant to go and where do they
they want to stay plugged in.
Um don't my my main thing to thefamily members and the people
that are using is don't don't dothis alone.
Don't don't stay in isolation.
I know it's really hard to showup to some of these meetings,

(01:02:14):
but showing up is half thebattle, probably most of the
battle, because if you just showup and start getting connected,
the healing pathway starts tooccur and you become more
empowered in your own decisionmaking of what road to go down,
what turn to make, and how tohandle the big bumps and even
the mountains that are comingyour way.

(01:02:35):
Because it's not easy.
None of this is easy, but it canbe a beautiful world where you
really get connected with somevery valuable, exceptional
people that have lived throughsome really horrific challenges
in their life and have learnedhow to still take care of
themselves and be in a place ofacceptance and peace and

(01:02:59):
serenity and know how to go withthe flow and the punches that
come your way.
And when you get connected tothose people in these recovery
support meetings, I mean, itjust, it just brings that peace
and serenity back in your life.
And you think, I can do thistoo.
I can do this too.
No matter what the circumstancesare, no matter what the

(01:03:20):
challenges are, I'm not gonna bea victim in this.
I'm gonna have my choices.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna make thesedecisions, even if they're hard.
And you're gonna realize somedays you're gonna be really good
at it, and others' days you'regonna suck at it.
And that's okay.
That's called the humanexperience.
But just to kind of get a get inplugged into these this world of

(01:03:43):
hope, serenity, love,compassion, peace, and get away
from the world ofmisinformation, shaming,
blaming, chaos, anger, you know,it really is worth it.
And you can do it.
You're capable.
You're amazing.
Thank you so much for whatyou're doing.
Thank you so much for being aguest today.

(01:04:04):
This has been beyond incredible.
I'm so grateful for everythingthat you shared and especially
for your message of hope.
I want to give you one lastchance.
I feel like you kind of just didit, but if there's anything else
you want to share, if there'slike one thing you would
encourage people to do, or Iwant to make sure that people
get on your website and and joinyour newsletter because that's
worthwhile by itself.

(01:04:25):
Like you have a greatnewsletter.
But can you share with peoplelike what's the one thing that
you would encourage people totake away from this?
Oh boy.
I I mean, definitely join mynewsletter because that really
helps me.
I have to raise all my own fundsand and I need help.
I really need help.
And I I don't I don't take anygovernmental funding.

(01:04:45):
I don't take alcohol money, Idon't take pharmaceutical money.
You know, there's all thesenaysayers out there.
I'm only private donations, andI'm gonna I'm gonna keep doing
that.
So if you're a person of means,please give me donations or or
connect me with people that havethose means because this is so
important, and we need to keepadvocating for our country and

(01:05:08):
our families, and we're worthit.
You know, we we really I I telleverybody my mission's not done
until every householdunderstands the potential risks
of using marijuana.
You know, as long as God givesme breath to continue to do
this, I'm gonna do it.
So plugging into my newsletter,even if you're a person that
can't donate, plugging into mynewsletter shows my board that I

(01:05:28):
am making a difference.
My numbers are going up.
And I hate that that's uh, youknow, part of the process of
having a nonprofit, but it is.
And so I need to prove to myboard that I'm doing outreach.
Um, follow me on social media,like, share my posts, ignore the
hate that comes with it.
I um advocate for post andghosts, put a little education

(01:05:51):
in there with your resource or apositive comment and then leave,
you know, because it's a it's atoxic environment.
So I don't, I don't want you tolive in that.
I it might look like I live inthat on social media, but I'm
really hardly on it.
I I do my post and ghosting andI'm and I'm I'm not gonna uh uh
uh because I have to protect myown mental well-being.
So yes, plug in my newsletter.

(01:06:12):
If you can donate, please do,and um follow me and share
because my algorithms, if theywhen they get higher on social
media, then our message gets outthere.
And unfortunately, that is wherethe game is, and that's where
all the misinformation is.
But let's let's let's take upmore virtual space together.
And and definitely we want toshare Michelle's podcast, you

(01:06:34):
know, like share this, this,this podcast, help her raise
awareness.
I mean, what a remarkable ladyshe is, and her message is so
important um in the people shebrings on with bringing in all
the resources to help.
So support us all.
Absolutely.
And please amplify this message.
It is so important.

(01:06:55):
I cannot stress it is if youhaven't ever witnessed somebody
struggling with the effects ofmarijuana, I hope you never have
to.
I hope you never have to,because it is so disturbing and
it is so heartbreaking to watchsomebody you care about suffer
that way.
And and it's it really is reallydifficult to recognize your
loved one when they're in thatstate.

(01:07:16):
And so we we need to share thismessage.
We need to help peopleunderstand how dangerous this
really is and do the best we canto counteract all the
misinformation and lies thathave been told that are leading
people to suffering.
So thank you so much for whatyou're doing.
Please go and subscribe to hernewsletter.
Please, you know, follow her onsocial media.
I'll put all the links in the inthe show notes, and please share

(01:07:38):
her message.
Thank you so much, Aubrey.
Thank you, Michelle.
Until next time, Upsiders.
Thanks for joining me on theUpside of Bipolar.
Your journey to recoverymatters, and I'm grateful you're
here.
For more resources, visitwww.theupsideofbipolar.com.

(01:08:03):
If you're ready to dive deeper,grab my book, The Upside of
Bipolar, seven steps to healyour disorder.
If you're ready to heal yoursymptoms, join my monthly
membership, The Upsiders Tribe,to transform chaos into hope.
Until next time, Upsiders.

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