Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You do that. Hello, and welcome to Just Say No,
the show that spotlights the innovators behind cannabis is the
newest products and the groundbreaking ideas and people driving the
legal cannabis movement. I'm your host, Maria Calabre's broadcasting on
(00:20):
KCAA Radio ten fifty AM one oh six point five FM,
the station that leaves no listener behind. Let's face it,
everyone ask questions about cannabis. Are hamp the marijuana the
same thing? Will CBD get me high? Do I have
to smoke it? Can I get the benefits without the high?
(00:43):
Will it interfere with my medications? Is illegal? Where do
you even start? For many of us, he myself included
finding clear, trustworthy answers about cannabis After decades of pro
ambition and misinformation, it often leads to more confusion learning
(01:05):
about cannabis. It's it's it's like picking up a new language, guys.
It's much easier with guidance from someone fluent in both
cannabis and health sciences, which is what led me to
take action, seek out unbiased resources and bring them together
to create Just Say No. And it's also why I
(01:27):
am genuinely, genuinely thrilled. Have we got someone special to
meet today? Guys, I am so excited to introduce today's guest,
Catherine Golden Hey, Katherine Hello. Catherine is a cannabis trained
registered nurse and the founder and executive director of leif
(01:50):
for one one. Leaf four one one is the go
to resource for consumers, offering reliable guidance from nurses trained
in cannabinoid science. In a nutshell, they take the guest
work out of navigating legal cannabis and empower individuals to
(02:10):
make informed decisions about their health. Now, what drew me
to leave four one one is their belief that knowledge
is power. Okay, just say no, that's with a K
and a W K and ow knowledge is power. In
today's world, we're so many of us are looking for
(02:32):
reliable places or people to turn to for answers to
our questions. I can I can truly say Leaf four
to one one's cannabis trained nurses. They stand apart as
trusted guides to help us consumers start our cannabis journey
on the right path. So sit back, relax as we
(02:56):
explore how cannabis can improve our lives and how to
use products and healthcare providers that are right for you,
with insights from some of the brightest minds in the industry.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
By twenty twenty, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch estimate
that will grow to thirty five billion dollars, and many
experts believe.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
It could eventually reach two hundred billion dollars each and
every year.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Disco, I can see it's so much your mosaic, your mos.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I'm a dtafi who want me be gone, taking me
a while to get it.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Had to live and cry to appreciate life and what
you give.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
His words when you're holding me, when you hold me
so close, someone better and under your skill want to
leave a mic so that I can be sure that
you and them the wise man.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
It is my absolute pleasure to welcome Catherine Golden to
just say no. Catherine, You're not only a registered nurse
with extensive clinical experience, but also a passionate leader an
advocate in the cannabis space. As the founder and CEO
(04:49):
and executive director and mom of Leaf four one one,
a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free cannabis, educa and
guidance to the public, You've spent over eight years championing knowledge, integrity,
and service excellence in the cannabis industry on the heels
(05:11):
of a twenty eight year career as a registered nurse.
You must have started when you were five, but we'll
talk about that later. Welcome Catherine, and thank you so
much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Wow, well, thank you for that introduction. I just am
so thrilled to be here, to be able to connect
with your audience and hopefully get a lot of their
questions answered and provide that knowledge that you talked about.
You know, that is what I'm here to do, and
I can't wait to get started.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It's amazing. I mean, you are filling an education vacuum
and decades eighty decades nineteen thirty seven Alana Tasak prohibition
communication void. So you know, do your work at LEAF
for one one? You oversee everything from the administration and
(06:05):
programming to fundraising and compliance, all while leading a team
of senior professionals, which is amazing that you were able
to assemble who all sharing your mission. So tell me
a little bit about tell us about your career and
your mission.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Okay, all right, well let's see where do I start.
I'll start. I have been in registered nurse for twenty
eight years and in the cannabis industry for about eight
now my journey. I think when you talk to anybody
in cannabis, especially a medical professional, typically they have a
personal story that got them started in looking into the
(06:46):
science behind cannabis. And that's what happened with me. So
eight years ago, I was still a non believer in
cannabis as medicine. I actually voted against it when it
was up for adult use here in Colorado. Wow, I know,
I know, and I'm very open about saying that and
(07:06):
transparent because I was working nurse in hospitals and believed
the propaganda. I believed what they were saying that there
was no medicinal value to cannabis, and it never worked
for me personally when I was in my youth, and
so I thought, well, you know there's there's no science,
(07:27):
then you know it's there's no use for it. So
I voted against it. And then eight years ago, my
brother in law was suddenly diagnosed with stage four lung
cancer and given two to five years to live. We
were extremely devastated, and so he's actually in California, and
(07:47):
my sister said, well, you know, we're privileged enough to
be able to go to some of the top researchers
in California, usc UC and UCLA, and one of them,
at a female researcher at USC said, you know, we'll
look at cannabis, but we look at it as a
(08:09):
last ditch effort because we don't know anything about it.
So when she talked to me that, I said, you
know what, I'll look into it because it's so popular
here in Colorado. Everybody's talking about it, they're voting for it,
it passed, you know, and it's you know, used medicinally here.
Let me look into the validity of this plant. So
(08:30):
I went to all of our typical resources that any
clinician would look at, you know, PubMed Science, direct, National
Institute of Health, you know where we look for the
black and white science. And when I started looking, I
was shocked and actually angered that there is so much
science that shows promise with this plant. That I started saying, Okay,
(08:52):
how can I learn more? So, as a medical professional,
even eight years ago as a nurse, I had to
just go deep online and try to find where there
were courses that I could take to teach me cannabinoid
therapeutics or cannabinoid science. So I did that, and I
found resources like the American Cannabis Nurses Association, who offered
(09:15):
a class a course at that time called the Medical
Cannabis Institute. I took the first courses for medical professionals,
and that's where I started my journey. And so doing that,
I could start trying to help educate my sister and
my brother in law on the value of cannabis and
(09:35):
integrating that. Wow.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Wow, wow wow, so much to unpack there.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, so a little bit what I learned is I found,
like you just spoke of the experts in this industry,
and the one that I found was doctor Bonnie Goldstein.
And she, I said, oh, she is top I can
tell from all this science, and she's in California with you.
So I made an appointment and I said, I am
(10:05):
taking you. I am flying to California. I am taking
you to doctor Bonnie Wow, and we are going to
have an appointment in that time eight years ago. You know,
she's a pediatric physician, but she was seeing adults as well.
So thankfully I was able to get him in with her,
and there started his journey. So we are eight years
(10:26):
now and he is healthy, he's doing every normal thing
you would do. And he's still taking his cannabis. They
don't know why his kine's inhibitor of this drug that
was supposed to only last I believe it was eighteen months,
has now lasted eight years. And so Bannie guided.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Him on what to use.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And then here we are eight years later and he's
still with us, healthy as ever.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Wow, Wow, wow, wow, You're amazing, And I no, you are.
You really cannot be understated. I cannot tell you how
many people family members included that I have tried to
get to try to get in to see Bonnie Goldstein,
and they resist, They just resist and and and and
(11:20):
you know, justifiably so because of the the stigmas. Deep
you're a convert, You're a I call you a cannabis convert,
and those those are the best. Right, we're gonna we're
gonna move the mountain and push it over the line
to be rescheduled, because, uh, I too, am a cannabis convert.
(11:41):
I was a child of dare. I went to law school.
This was never on the table. This is it's a felony, right,
it's the devil's weed. And and and like you, I
I really wasn't aware of any medicinal value and uh,
being misinformed as well. I thought it really was either
(12:06):
something that was dangerous and abused recreationally or an end
of life drug last resort, which is such such a shame.
It's well, your your brother in law is your brother
in law right?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
It's now did he take it as an adjunct therapy
with traditional oncology treatments or how did how did that go?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yes? So, and that's that's exactly where the fear is.
You know, how do I introduce this? Can I introduce this?
So he was able to take it, and he still
does with his pharmaceuticals, so with his oncology medication. Okay,
so he was in a study program. He couldn't use
cannabis at the time because he was in a study program,
(13:00):
so that you have to be very careful with that.
They don't want anything interfering. But that didn't The immunotherapy
did not work for him, actually threw him into liver failure.
So he was kicked out of the He was actually
kicked out of the study. And that's when we were saying,
let's introduce cannabis and started introducing cannabis. So that's my
journey of how I started with, you know, teaching and
(13:25):
showing him, and I firmly believe I wish there was
some way I could put a pocket nurse, a nurse
in everyone's little pocket, because they were able to pull
me out and say, what can we do? How do
we navigate this system? We don't understand healthcare, and then
you're telling us about cannabis, and I was able to
(13:46):
talk to them about dispensaries, how to purchase everything that
I was trying to absorb and learn at the same time.
So and that's kind of how you know, I evolved
in becoming a cannabis nurse at a clinic and seeing
that not most people you know are having trouble affording
the out of pocket cost for a physician's appointment, and
(14:09):
also and just to even know if cannabis would be
suitable for them. So that's how I got started starting
the nonprofit Leaf for one one because I wanted everyone, anyone,
no matter what your financial ability is, no matter if
you have a smartphone or a landline, to be able
to call Leaf for one one and get free guidance
(14:29):
if you needed free guidance. And it's kind of it's
grown from there.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Wow Wow, wow. Wow, Well you're remarkable on so many levels.
I mean, a whole other episode we can have attorneys
on and we could talk about I'm still blown away
and I'm thrilled that you are not for profit organization.
But at the same time, my heart bleeds for you
(14:54):
because I'm out for profit organizations. How are they funded?
They're funded with government grants And as long as this
is a Schedule one and federally illegal, how has that
impact that you're funding from the government.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, we don't. We can't apply for government fund We
have to rely on foundations and individual giving. And you know,
just to give you a little glimpse into the struggles
we have, we probably apply for about I don't know
twelve grants last year and got zero because a lot
of foundations are very concerned with their other donors and
(15:33):
how they feel about cannabis. So even though we do
not touch the plant and we state that everywhere we're
education only, they still say, well, it's still uncomfortable for us.
Or you have the word cannabis on your website, so
that's a problem. You have a cannabis leaf on your website.
That's been a problem. All these little things, So even
(15:54):
though we're licensed medical professionals talking about safe use, safe consumption,
and we still do not get grants.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
And not only that, the wealth of anecdotal evidence that
you have and that you can offer an empirical evidence,
I mean human studies. Look your brother in law, case
in point. It's so frustrating, it's so frustrating, but we
just have to, you know, continue to make people aware.
(16:27):
The initial reaction is cannabis, no and no, but we're
hoping to reshape that your mission. Knowledge is power. That's
why this is just say no with a kk and OW.
We want people to know, guys, this is not a
knee jerk. You can't just say no. I mean you can,
(16:49):
but there's it's so underutilized, and God forbid, you don't
have to wait until you're in a place where western
medicine just doesn't have a solution, which often happens.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
So right, and that's where cannabis can lead is really
giving you hope. And that's what we provide, is hope
that there's an alternative. You know, you're struggling. You know,
people are struggling with pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
And ironically, ironically, I saw wonderful ted talk It was
a family practitioner internist to studying cannabis now, and he
was talking about it doesn't only give you hope, but
the paradox is, because it's so still a schedule one,
it gives you control. Because if you're in a state
(17:42):
that where it's legal, you have control by walking into
a dispensary that has more of an old apothecary. Feel
you're not waiting for the doctor to phone in the
prescription to the corporate place. It's it's that control over
and learning how to dose it.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
It.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Apparently there are studies that that helps patients. Would you say,
clinically you've seen that, yes.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
I mean, one thing that I'm really telling callers every
day is that over the last decade, there's been over
thirty five thousand scientific papers published on National Institutes of
Health pub MET. So when you think about that number,
over thirty five thousand scientific.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Ten years, last ten years, just the last.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Ten years, that you know, when someone says, oh, there's
I'm sure you've heard this, there's not enough science. I mean,
that's all the time, all the time. That's the repeater language.
That's what people who don't want to take the time
to actually look just continue repeating, and it's false information.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And it's dangerous information. And it's not based on thirty five,
ten decades. It's not based on ten years of thirty
five studies. It's based on eighty years of propaganda. And
you know that's a whole other story. But I'm just curious.
(19:11):
Was your brother in law in Colorado as well?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
No, California, And that's all California.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Okay, and that's where all right? Well, uh, you know,
we're twenty minutes into the show and I'm in California,
and in California it's for twenty so Catherine, you're gonna
be on the hot seat. We're gonna this is the
part of the show where for twenty we ask our
(19:39):
guests to drop a knowledge bomb. So are you ready
to drop a knowledge bomb for us? Yep?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Let me have it?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
All right? Well, and keeping well what we were discussing
to anyone out there that is hesitant about using cannabis
or who's genuinely afraid this missing it is repeat language
and that sticks and they're genuinely afraid. Tis even suggested
(20:07):
to a loved one, where you suggested it to your
brother in law. But there are people who would really
be afraid to even do that due to the stigma
or the fear. What would you say to them if
they had you in their back pocket? What today right
now on the show?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, I would say. What we tell people a lot
that are nervous and fearful of cannabis is start with
the topical, because a topical you can actually feel something happening,
typically if you have arthritic pain or you have joint pain,
just even putting it on, and even if you felt nothing,
but that nothing tells you that it's not scary. And
(20:49):
that's where we like someone to start wrapping their mind
around that cannabis is not scary interesting.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
So even if they even if they don't have a
positive result, yes, as long as they don't have a
negative one, you're correct.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Ah, And that's what we tell them. We tell them
even if it's something that they take orally, if you
what we call is start sub therapeutic, and everybody knows
the hot term microdose. If you start so low, we
tell everyone such with a tiny little piece of the gummy,
(21:27):
you know, we recommend always cutting something in fourths or
eighth because even though we know you're not going to
feel anything, that's okay because now you start getting comfortable, like, oh,
why didn't even feel anything? Well, great, now you know
it's not scary. Now you know that you can start
climbing up. So even if a topical doesn't feel anything
(21:48):
right away, it's just getting them comfortable to try something.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I love it. That's wonderful, wonderful advice.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
See, I always.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
To set expectations too high and psych myself out, and
I say, oh, what if it doesn't work? So I'm
not going to recommend the topical to a family member
that needs maybe more. But you know what, no baby steps,
It's okay. Recommend the topical. One they might get some
kind of a benefit, and two as long as they
(22:21):
don't have an adverse effect.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Right alah, then you go to the next step, go
to the.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Next step, very very very very smart. Well, you know
you were brave. Though you were brave, you were brave
to even bringing it up to a family member. So
I would say to people, do it, because you'll regret
if you didn't. And God forbid, Western medicine no longer
(22:54):
has something to work. It's what happened for me. I
gotta tell you a funny story real quickly. And how
I started Green Bay Life. I am a back paying,
chronic back pain sufferer for over four decades. I had
a horrific catastrophic car accident after my first year of
law school. I had a massive spinal surgery that failed
that left me worse than the car accident. For four decades,
(23:20):
four massive spinal surgeries, hardware that I don't you know,
I can't even describe. Cannabis was not on the table
for me, and I could be pretty formidable, so people
did not recommend it because I used to just say
(23:43):
now I know. But I had a seventeen year old
failing dog, and I had a publicist who said, why
don't you try cannabis. I had such a visual response
I couldn't. I was ashamed of myself. I bit her
head off. I said, well, why don't we just give
(24:05):
her arsenic? And then I caught myself. It was that
moment and I realized, why am I being so harsh?
Because interestingly, that was at the same time about eight
years ago. It was twenty sixteen when Prop sixty four
was on the ballot in California. And I unlike you
(24:25):
as much as I didn't understand cannabis, I was going
to vote for Prop. Sixty four, and I was immediately,
you know, people who know me know the bark is
worse than the bite. So she pushed back and said,
but aren't you voting to legalize it. I was like,
I caught myself. I got to look at this. I
(24:45):
don't know why I'm having that response. I mean, the
dog is in so much pain and the only way
western medicine knows to stop that pain was a very
permanent solution that I wasn't ready to take. So anyway,
that's what opened my eyes. So guys, anyone out there,
(25:08):
if someone suggests it to you and you are against it,
try to just com a just approach it with curiosity.
Why would this person who cares for me be suggesting it?
Would you say, that's good advice?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Catherine Nurse Captain, Absolutely, absolutely, that's great advice, is just
to try it. But you know, kind of pointing back
to what my mission is is providing a service that
anyone can reach, so that way you have that trusted guidance.
And like you said in that great intro, you know,
(25:46):
nurses have been voted the most trusted professional I think
in twenty three years now it's either twenty two or
twenty three number one trusted professional. And that's because we
give you both sides of it. Here are the benefits
and here are the possible child lenges or cautions. And
now you are an informed consumer. And that's where we
come from, is informing you. So as long as you're
(26:09):
going to someone who has that guidance and hopefully you
know coming to us, we can guide you there and
we can give you those resources, then that's taking that
first step in consuming safely well.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
And you know you're coming from informing and both sides,
but you're coming from through an empathic lens, not just
the clinical one. Let's face it. You know, we need
the clinicians and the scientists who are merely looking at
that and looking at both sides. But nurses have a
level of empathy. I've experienced it firsthand and what I've
(26:49):
experienced through my journey and opening up to cannabises, nurses
are so much more receptive to wanting to know about it,
and my experience with it were doctors. You know, unless
you have the good fortune and you seek out and
you call LEE four one one and we'll get to
(27:10):
your directory and your network of medical doctors, but doctors
like Donnie, doctors like doctor Bonnie Goldstein, their rear, they're pioneers,
they're up and coming here. Her resident training was in pediatrics,
but she'll see adults because there's just a need for
(27:32):
healthcare professionals. And I'm really impressed with your member directory.
Can can you tell us a little bit about your
member directory and the members ranging from physicians to manufacturers
to dispensaries.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Sure. So when I started leaf for one one, you know,
I knew I couldn't just offer a phone number, give
guidance and say okay, now go find a great dispensary,
or go find a great clinician or an on line product.
I needed to give resources. So that's where we go
out and we go to some of the brands that
(28:07):
are vetted. So anyone that you see on our website
is a vetted brand, meaning we've spoke to them, we've
looked at their culture, we've made sure were they align
with us, and know that everything is as as transparent
as it can be. So when you have a dispensary
or an online manufacturers, they have to have CoA certificate
(28:29):
of analysis that are available to the public that the
public can ask that they want to see that, so
they know it's in their product, what it's been tested for,
the potency. We make sure that the dispensaries know that
they're going to be patients coming in, even if they're
just an adult use store, that they are really wanting
to see those patients and wanting to help them in
(28:52):
a way that's more warm customer service. We make sure
that the clinicians on our website are some of the
top the leaders in the industry, and we'll have other
resources for them. So that's how we built our resources,
all thatted by our team making sure that you have
somewhere to go, so we're just not kind of giving
(29:13):
you guidance and then letting you float out there. We
want to point you in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
That's what's so impressive. And guys, this is the unique
value proposition here with Lee four one one, And I
haven't found it anywhere else. And I look, and as
soon as I find something I'm excited about, I love
to share it. Because I had a doctor of pain
management of physiatrists who had said to me at one point,
have you tried marijuana? And I was desperate enough with
(29:42):
my back and I had seen the results. I had
a favorable outcome with my dog, thank god, and I
was open. So I said where how And this was
my pain management doctor, a medical doctor, and MD. I said, oh,
I don't know. I just have some patients who have
(30:04):
tried it. I think they grow their own. I don't
know where they get it, and it's helped them. And
then I said, well grow your own. And I was immediately,
you know, overwhelmed, said do you have to smoke it?
She said no, no, and I don't recommend smoking for
lung health. They make a topical. I said, they grow
(30:25):
a plant and make a topical. That wasn't very I mean,
it just shows why we need leave for to one one.
And you're a unique value proposition that you connect the dot.
So I don't enough to tell somebody to do something.
You have to give them the resources to do it.
Finding the resources. Guys, don't beat yourself up if you
(30:46):
have a family member or you're looking yourselves and you
feel like you're hitting a brick wall. Help us here.
We've got Catherine, We've got Leaf four to one one.
She's got an incredible network of positions and nurses and
so anyone listening that's like, Wow, I want to get
(31:08):
in touch with you, Catherine. I want to talk to
Leef for one one. I have questions. How can they
reach out? How can they find reach for one one?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, so you can go to our homepage Leaf four
one one dot org. On that homepage, there's a big
white button that says click here that takes you straight
to our scheduling software, so you can schedule an appointment
right there. Anyone can call our hotline. That was what
I first started. I had so many people saying, oh,
why aren't you starting with an app you know, and
(31:38):
I said, no, I'm going to go o G. I'm
going to go with the eight hundred phone line because
I wanted anyone to be able to call people who
don't have smartphones, people who you know, are unhoused. I've
had people that were in the middle, not not even kidding.
Within the first year, we had somebody who was on
his ranch and he could only get service out in
(32:01):
the field, and he called us to ask about how
to use cannabis. And that's what really, you know, proved that.
That's why I wanted to have this number first. So
that is a free hotline number will always be free.
That's for quick questions, how do I get a medical card?
You know, how do I schedule an appointment? And then
(32:22):
we've grown our programming to now be thirty minute guidance calls.
We're growing it again the first of February to be
forty five minute guidance calls. We ask for a donation
twenty five dollars, but if somebody can't afford that, no problem.
They just leave us a message on our hotline saying
I need a free call. But that's part of what
(32:42):
those resources are on our directory. Those companies see the
value and educated consumers, so they actually give to Lead
four to one one so we can provide free calls
to everybody. They have special codes. So that's the only
way we can keep our lights on and our doors
open is because the cannabis industry, those brands have said,
(33:06):
you know what, we want to give to you monthly
to ensure that the service stays alive. And well, it's
not a struggle, but we're we're doing it and we're
in our sixth year now.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
It's it's I know, I know, I feel the pain.
And then I noticed on your website that's what you
were referring to is that belief for one one affordability
program for people who have financial hardships.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
The Affordability program is a program we started a couple
of years ago. That one has been put on pause.
But everyone gets a free call that needs a free
call that is never part of any program. That's just given.
If someone needs that, they don't have to be a
part of a program. They just simply leave on the
hotline that says I need a free call, I need help.
Great we have. We tell them that they can call
(33:58):
any of the directory participants and those are their supporters,
and they will give them their free code as well
to call lead for one one. It's a coupon code
that they schedule an appointment. But we make sure we
help everyone. We do live by donation, so that's important
to like I said, keep the lights on and the
(34:18):
door is open, is through donations because as we spoke
about earlier, it's incredibly hard for us to get a grant.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Yes and uh yes, so we need just and that
that's what's amazing with you because you don't only combined
health sciences and an expertise in cannabis, but you're also
UH an advocate as well and it's it's going to
take a village, and it's it's going to take educating
(34:49):
folk and offering people resources to call, even if they
can't afford to, because once people understand it, all politics
are local, and once people understand it and demand it,
then it will go up the chain, although remains to
be seen what the new administration's going to do with
(35:10):
at least rescheduling, but as long as it's on a
schedule one, it's virtually impossible to make money at this
The states and the government are making the money, but
well meaning brands are not. And I'm heartened that the
brands who are doing it right and going to try
(35:33):
to survive legalization and self police and do their own
pay the price of compliance, because what this legal ambiguity
does it leaves the door open for not well meaning
companies to come in, which really makes it even more confusing.
So the companies that are doing it right and self policing,
(35:57):
being compliant, if they can hang on and survive legalization,
that's who you want to support. And I'm glad that
they're supporting you. Because it starts with the educational platforms,
the boots on the ground, the nurses in the pocket,
the digital Leaf for one one, which is your digital
(36:19):
nurse in a pocket, And if anyone wants to support
Leaf for one one, they can go to leaffo one
dot org.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
And you do have.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
An area to donate correct.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yes, we have an individual giving page where anyone can
go and donate anything from one dollar on up. And
then we also have our business memberships. We're hoping and
we would love more industry brands to come and support us.
I mean, that's what we would love is having We
do have some supporters from California. Urban Joy is a
(36:55):
delivery service in California and they support us. So we
have them all over and we we need more to survive.
So whether you're a brand, or you know somebody, or
maybe you go to a favorite dispensary, we tell people
that all the time. They say how can we help,
Say go to your favorite dispensary, go to your favorite brand,
(37:15):
and say please support Lee for one one. Because that's
how I came to you, being an informed consumer and
knowing what to buy when when I walk in the door,
you know, and and buying smart and buying safely. So
that's why we really encourage the industry to want to
support us and you know we need more.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
We absolutely do, and that is great advice for brands.
I'm on the Marketing and Advertising Committee of the National
Cannabis Industry Association. Guys, you'll be getting a phone call
for me. We've got to get behind Lee for on One.
It's it's I say it all the time. As an industry,
we're we're going to succeed together or we're going to
(38:02):
fail individually. And it starts with educating the public. We
have to not only educate them. You know, at the
end of prohibition you can educate people about alcohol and
the difference between beer and wine. This isn't just an
end of prohibition. This is decades of misinformation and stigma
(38:24):
and paranoia. And so listen, guys, stay tuned because in
Supportingly for One, I want to throw a quick word
about them. And when we come back, Catherine's going to
share consumer insights and tips on cannabis and how it
(38:45):
relates to the opioid use and eldercare.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Whether you're brand new to cannabis or a longtime user,
we know you have questions and Leaf for one one
is here to help. Leaf for One One is a
nonprofit that provides free or low cost cannabis education through
our nurse guidance services that can answer your health related
questions like the benefits of CBD versus THHC, potential prescription interactions,
and the best ratios for pain, sleep, and anxiety. Get
(39:11):
your questions answered today call us to speak with a
cannabis nurse, or visit our website to schedule your call
and find ways to support this much needed public service.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Hey, welcome back. You're listening to Just Say No on
KCAA Radio ten fifty am one oh six point five FM.
I'm Maria Calibys, your host, and i am joined here
with Catherine Golden, who is a registered nurse and cannabis expert,
where we're discussing trending questions about how to consume cannabis
(39:47):
safely and responsibly to enhance your wellbeing. Catherine is the
founder of Lee for to one one, which began with
the first ever cannabis nurse hotline. So Catherine wanted to
talk to you a little bit about I really appreciated
(40:07):
the free Opioid Guide. I mean, there's so many there's
a plethora of resources on your site, but can you
speak to us a little bit about opioids and.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yes, yes, yeah, I would love to. So a company
called Puff Creative and Ninth Block and both marketing companies said,
you know what, we really need to publish an opioid
awareness guide and came to us and it was wonderful
and wanted to put some data, some information from the
CDC about opioids and overuse and misuse, and then cannabis
(40:43):
and how cannabis can be integrated into your pharmaceutical regimen
and start helping to replace some of the heavy use
of opioids. And that's what we talk about in this
opioid Awareness Guide is the different types of pain. And gosh,
when Maria, when I started the hotline, I was the
only one on the calls. I started it by myself
(41:05):
and I'm like, oh call so I know. That's how
passionate I was about it. I'm like, I gotta be
a pocket nurse for everybody. And it was heartbreaking to
hear that there is so much physical and mental pain
happening across the country. And that's our number one topic.
It's physical and mental pain. So people are just looking
(41:26):
for another solution, another alternative, so they want to know,
like how how can I soften the pain just to
get through daily activities and reduce my opioid juice. And
that's very safe to do with cannabis. And that's another
one of those kind of repeater misinformation that some physicians
or nurse practitioners or pas or any clinician might use
(41:50):
that doesn't really want to look at the science and
just says, oh, there's not enough science and or I
don't think it's safe to combine the two. That's absolutely
not true. It's incredibly safe, and you can start reducing
your opioids with your prescribers guidance. Once you start learning
and seeing that the science is there that cannabis is
(42:10):
very effective for pain, you have to know which ratios
would be best. And once you learn that is what's
something we can teach the nurses only four to one
one can teach. Then you know how you can use
it in conjunction with your regimen. And with pain typically
comes with inflammation and then the pain receptors, and well,
(42:34):
the number one thing people are taught is that CBD
helps with inflammation and THHC touches those pain receptors. So
when you put both together, then you've got your gold standard,
and that's usually what people start saying, Oh, you need
a one to one CBD THHD ratio, and that's a
good starting point. And we start giving just some of
(42:54):
those little tidbits of guidance to say, Okay, here's where
you start, here's a good race, and this is why
CBD is great for pain, and this is why THHD
is great for pain, and this is why they're great.
They're even better together and why you should use them together.
And now we've got even minor cannabinoids like CBG that's
great for neuropathic pain and neuropathy some people know it
(43:17):
as neuropathy that they get from using from if they've
been an oncology patient. So all kinds of different forms
of pain. And then there's mental health pain, and what
we can use, which is fantastic for mental health pain
is the CBD, which helps kind of balance the body
and bring a relaxation to the body, helps decrease anxiety.
(43:40):
So there's just so much we can go into, and
that's why we recreated the Opioid Awareness Guide, so just
to give you the starting information that it is cannabis
is safe to use, and we wish it was a
first line medicine versus a last line medicine. And that's
kind of what we advocate for, is, you know, it's
really safe to try cannabis because there's very few receptors
(44:02):
in the brainstem, so you cannot There's no lethal dose
of cannabis. So somebody could take an entire canister of
gummies and eat that accidentally and they won't go into
cardiac rest, they won't have a respiratory depression like you
can with opioids. It's just not possible.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Well, we'll have another another episode. But my last final surgery,
which was in January of twenty twenty, right before COVID,
I did not wake up. Yeah, what did you call it?
Opioid respiratory respiratory depression. I went from the recovery room
(44:49):
to a critical clear care unit to pretty scary stuff,
pretty scary stuff, and it's real. It's real. So what
are some of the kinds of conversations you're having with
people who call in who are relying on opioids or
what kind of questions are they or concerns are you
(45:12):
hearing surrounding trying cannabis.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Well, the number one question is how do they how
can they start cannabis and start reducing the amount of
opioids they consume. And that's where we start. So one
thing we always like to enforce is you never want
to just throw away your prescription medicine. It's just start cannabis.
It's not you know, the one product you can take
(45:37):
and it cures all. And that's what a lot of people.
That's another misconception. You want to integrate them together, use
them synergistically.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
Is there a danger of interaction?
Speaker 2 (45:48):
No, so there's no. So this is this is another
little tidbit that a lot of people are really nervous
about drug to drug interactions. Yeah, can I Can I
take cannabis with X, Y or Z prescription? The answer
is almost always yes. It's just dose dependent, meaning it
(46:10):
depends on them the dose of cannabis you take. When
we get concerned about the amount of cannabis you take,
it's usually in the triple digits. Oh, you're taking one
hundred milligrams of CBD a day, two hundred three hundred,
then there's a concern. But when you're taking the doses
that are over the counter suggest in serving size ten milligrams,
(46:32):
twenty milligrams, there's never a concern for a drug to
drug interaction because it's too low. So that's where you
always want and you need this guidance from a medical
professional to tell you that it's dose dependent. Everything is
dose dependent. It depends on how many milligrams you're taking
of cannabis versus what you're taking, what prescription medication you're taking.
(46:56):
So we like to tell everybody that it's not contraindicated.
When something's contraindicated means you can't take it together, but
there's cautions meaning that it can affect the way the
prescription medication is the blood level of it in your body.
All you have to do is check those blood levels.
And that's where you get your primary doctor involved to say, hey,
(47:17):
I'm taking cannabis now, so can we please check the
blood levels of prescription X, Y or z. That's very
simple for them to do, and you start getting everybody
together and.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Guys, don't be discouraged. If your primary doctor is like no,
then call Lee for one one. Please, Catherine, please give
Lee for one one a call. You will help them
find a primary doctor in their area. Is that how
it would work? Who could could help them?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Well? So what we do if there yes, if they're
looking for a cannabis clinician in their area. There's a
really great resource, the Society of Cannabis Clinicians SEC and
their nonprofit as well. All you do is type in
your zip code and you will see if there's trained
cannabis clinicians in your area.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Now, what if you're in a state where it's not legal,
can someone from a state that's not legal, for instance,
try to get a tell a medicine appointment with doctor
Bonnie Goldstein in California.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
No, because usually you have to see them in person. Yes,
so as a medical as a physician, a physician has
in order for them to take you into their practice,
they have to physically see you and do an in sure.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
Sure, sure, and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
There's telehealth. There's tele medicine, and then there's telehealth. So
there are physicians that you can call from another state
that won't give you exact dosing, but they will tell you,
they'll give you suggestions, they'll tell you, they'll give you education.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Okay, but you want to uh, you want to see
a doctor. So if you're in a state where it's
not legal, like you did with your brother in law,
took him, well, Colorado was legal, but you took him well,
he was in he was in California, California. But if
he wasn't, you would have just taken him to California.
I have a feeling.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
Yeah, And that's what a lot of the physicians will say,
you know, you know, and that's the heartache is that
there's you know a lot of people can't forward just
to up and move. I mean, we've had a lot
of people move to different legal states because they want
to get that medicine. And that's that's where when you
have them leave or you can just go up, you
(49:38):
can visit with a doctor, see that doctor in person
for the first time, you know, get into their private practice,
and then you go back to your state and then
they can correspond with you. Uh telehealthy and yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
Yeah. Ricky Lake did a wonderful documentary. I'm sure you
saw We the People, did you see?
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Yeah, And doctor Bob Goldstein was featured in that, and
it showed people with pediatric cases having to that's what
you do. You have a child that's Western medicine doesn't
have an answer, and when you actually get into the
science and start talking and having conversations and listening to
conversations with people like Catherine Golden. You know it just
(50:25):
when you have that aha moment, you're you're off from
running because it's got so much potential, and with all
the money that the government spent, and like you said,
there's thirty five thousand studies over the last ten years.
But prior to that, what galls me is so much
(50:45):
money was spent on research to justify the Schedule one
and find out what the heck was wrong with it
and prove that it was dangerous and they couldn't. So yeah, well,
I really think that that's wonderful. And do you know
(51:09):
doctor are you familiar with Doctor Yasmin heard out of
mount S and I in New York. She's a form
of psychopharmacologist from Jamaica, but she's studying the effects of
CBD and THC on opioid addiction. She's a wonderful research
people can look her up. Doctor Yasmine heard h U
(51:30):
r D. We will have her on the show page
among research sources. Initially, she wasn't sure CBD would be
so helpful and thought you need a TC, but now
she's finding high doses and it's all about the doses.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
And the entourage effect of mixing about the doses.
Speaker 1 (51:48):
But the exciting thing is in episode three, we did
a podcast with doctor Menesh Gern. He's a neuroscientist. He
out of U SEE, San Francisco, out of doctor Robin
Carthheart's lab. They're studying the effects of psychedelics and cannabis
(52:11):
on the brain and brain health. And this is a
great segue because they had a lot to say about
it for opioid addiction, and what was very compelling to
me and exciting was that there's actually evidence now with
CT scans showing that it doesn't just suppress the addiction,
but it actually heals the part of the brain, the amigula,
(52:34):
and they're actually seeing bioplasticity and healing take place of
the damage that was done from the opioid, which was
very exciting. But they also studied and talked about dementia
and Alzheimer's and phones are ringing off the hook. We've
had so many questions coming in and Catherine, the majority
of them. A lot of people are interested in, of course,
(52:55):
how could it help with chronic pain, how could it
help with mental anxiety depress We had a chance to
just scratch the surface on that big topic opioids, and
I've got to get to elder care. I have people,
I've got so many questions coming in saying and.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
I don't even want to ask you this, but the
first question.
Speaker 1 (53:16):
On elder care is does medicare cover it?
Speaker 2 (53:22):
H Well, I wish you did. We wish it did,
and hopefully it will someday. But there are states that
are working on programs. I'm actually working on a program
here in the state of Colorado to we have a
patient that we're covering her medical cannabis to try to
reduce her opioid juice. And so there are states that
(53:43):
are working on allowing insurance to cover the medical cannabis.
So it's coming. There's light at the end. We can
see it, and it's coming, and there's people all in
different states working on this. You just don't hear about
it yet because our programs haven't grown as much yet.
(54:04):
It's slow because you have to get so many people
on board to accept to do this, but you know,
it's it. You know, there's there's different things that you
can look at. You can look at maybe getting your
card covered, your medical card. You can look at getting
maybe some of the medicine cupboard. It depends on what
(54:24):
programs you're in. You would have to look into your states.
But what I really want to talk about for the
older adults, and you mentioned it, Maria, was the heartache.
We've been working with a program that focus is on
the dementia care and dementia caregivers and the heartache they
have at home because they, on average, about seventy five
(54:46):
percent of dementia patients are cared for in the home.
Seventy five percent are in.
Speaker 3 (54:51):
The right.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
Well and if you're in a long term, long term
care facility, they use their own pharmacies, so that would
be a whole other barrier that's harder.
Speaker 2 (55:04):
But I didn't.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
Realize seventy five percent were Wow, please, they're.
Speaker 2 (55:08):
In the home because it's expensive. It's so expensive to
put your loved one in a facility, so they've even
either promised their loved one that they will never put
them in a facility, so they keep them at home
and care for them there, or they can't afford it.
So now the beautiful thing is now they do have
the autonomy to increase to introduce cannabis into their regiment,
(55:32):
and that's what we've been helping with in all my word,
if you see, if you could see what these low
doses of CBD, THC and CBG Kenneba Gerald have helped
with the dementia behaviors, the aggressiveness, the agitation, the abusive
they some of them get very abusive to their caregivers.
(55:55):
It just calms everything down.
Speaker 1 (55:57):
Now, is there description for that like of regular medicine
and how would it compare the efficacy?
Speaker 2 (56:06):
So that's what's interesting. So even the FDA warned about
using antipsychotics, and unfortunately antipsychotics meds are widely prescribed for
dementia patients because they just don't know where, you know,
what else to use. And now we are showing that
we're using cannabinoids. So low dose CBD with THHC for
(56:30):
daytime and low dose uh CBG with THHC for nighttime healer.
So I don't know if you've heard of doctor Dustin
Sulac out of Maine. He is phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
He's in your member directory. That's I heard about him.
I've just learned about him through leaf four one one.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
Yes, So doctor Dustin Seulac out of Maine. He helps
formulate the products of HEALERCBD DOT com and what he
noticed in his practice and he still has a practice
over three thousand patients in Maine. He noticed that he
was seeing the dementia behaviors really start to subside with
the combination of THHC and CBD in the daytime and
(57:13):
CBG and THHC at night. So he created helped create
this beautiful blister package that's easy to pop out one gummy,
know exactly how to give it to your loved one
because seventy five percent or cared for the home, so
that your sister brother who's taking care of your mom
or dad needs help, and how do I dose this?
Speaker 1 (57:36):
How do I know what to give?
Speaker 2 (57:37):
So they've created this respite product that is just easy
to give to your loved one, and then they also
give instructions on well, if they're in a facility, how
do you reach how do you ask that facility's clinicians
to write an order for cannabis. So that's what we're
(57:58):
trying to do is help putacilities understand that it's also
easy to write an order for cannabis.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
It's phenomenal. It's just phenomenal. And Catherine, anyone who wants
to find out more information about that please go to
Leaffour one one dot Org. I can't believe nearly an
hour has flown by. I really hope you'll come back
and bring some of your member Director. I mean, we
have so many things to talk about. This has been
(58:27):
the most wonderful conversation. The work you and your team
do at Leaf four one one. It empowers patients, caregivers
and healthcare professionals with the knowledge that they need. And
every one of those groups are suffering, either mentally or physically,
and if we have something that can help ease that pain,
(58:52):
that's you know, so I can't I can't thank you
enough for your dedication to the patient at in education.
It's making a real difference. And guys, everyone here and
everyone I bring into the hive, we're pioneers. But I
say it over and over again, what happened to the pioneers.
Pioneers get shot, the settlers get the gold. Please, please,
(59:14):
You've got to support the well meaning pioneers because this
is a precious, precious, precious plant. It's underutilized, and as
we conclude today's episode of Just Say No, it's important
to recognize the need for these voices that empower you
with the information that you need to navigate. So Catherine,
(59:38):
thank you for sharing your valuable insights, highlighting the importance
of organizations like yourself, your members, the four one one.
You're bridging the gap between traditional medicine and cannabis science
and guys, if people like Catherine myself don't do it,
no one's going to do it, and people are suffering mentally, physically,
(01:00:00):
And once you realize that it can be avoided or alleviated,
you'll join the green revolution. It's not a green rus
You do that. Hello, and welcome to Just Say No,
the show that spotlights the innovators behind cannabis is the
newest products and the groundbreaking ideas and people driving the
legal cannabis movement. I'm your host, Maria Calabre's broadcasting on
(00:20):
KCAA Radio ten fifty AM one oh six point five FM,
the station that leaves no listener behind. Let's face it,
everyone ask questions about cannabis. Are hamp the marijuana the
same thing? Will CBD get me high? Do I have
to smoke it? Can I get the benefits without the high?
(00:43):
Will it interfere with my medications? Is illegal? Where do
you even start? For many of us, he myself included
finding clear, trustworthy answers about cannabis After decades of pro
ambition and misinformation, it often leads to more confusion learning
(01:05):
about cannabis. It's it's it's like picking up a new language, guys.
It's much easier with guidance from someone fluent in both
cannabis and health sciences, which is what led me to
take action, seek out unbiased resources and bring them together
to create Just Say No. And it's also why I
(01:27):
am genuinely, genuinely thrilled. Have we got someone special to
meet today? Guys, I am so excited to introduce today's guest,
Catherine Golden Hey, Katherine Hello. Catherine is a cannabis trained
registered nurse and the founder and executive director of leif
(01:50):
for one one. Leaf four one one is the go
to resource for consumers, offering reliable guidance from nurses trained
in cannabinoid science. In a nutshell, they take the guest
work out of navigating legal cannabis and empower individuals to
(02:10):
make informed decisions about their health. Now, what drew me
to leave four one one is their belief that knowledge
is power. Okay, just say no, that's with a K
and a W K and ow knowledge is power. In
today's world, we're so many of us are looking for
(02:32):
reliable places or people to turn to for answers to
our questions. I can I can truly say Leaf four
to one one's cannabis trained nurses. They stand apart as
trusted guides to help us consumers start our cannabis journey
on the right path. So sit back, relax as we
(02:56):
explore how cannabis can improve our lives and how to
use products and healthcare providers that are right for you,
with insights from some of the brightest minds in the industry.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
By twenty twenty, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch estimate
that will grow to thirty five billion dollars, and many
experts believe.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
It could eventually reach two hundred billion dollars each and
every year.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Disco, I can see it's so much your mosaic, your mos.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I'm a dtafi who want me be gone, taking me
a while to get it.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Had to live and cry to appreciate life and what
you give.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
His words when you're holding me, when you hold me
so close, someone better and under your skill want to
leave a mic so that I can be sure that
you and them the wise man.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
It is my absolute pleasure to welcome Catherine Golden to
just say no. Catherine, You're not only a registered nurse
with extensive clinical experience, but also a passionate leader an
advocate in the cannabis space. As the founder and CEO
(04:49):
and executive director and mom of Leaf four one one,
a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free cannabis, educa and
guidance to the public, You've spent over eight years championing knowledge, integrity,
and service excellence in the cannabis industry on the heels
(05:11):
of a twenty eight year career as a registered nurse.
You must have started when you were five, but we'll
talk about that later. Welcome Catherine, and thank you so
much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Wow, well, thank you for that introduction. I just am
so thrilled to be here, to be able to connect
with your audience and hopefully get a lot of their
questions answered and provide that knowledge that you talked about.
You know, that is what I'm here to do, and
I can't wait to get started.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It's amazing. I mean, you are filling an education vacuum
and decades eighty decades nineteen thirty seven Alana Tasak prohibition
communication void. So you know, do your work at LEAF
for one one? You oversee everything from the administration and
(06:05):
programming to fundraising and compliance, all while leading a team
of senior professionals, which is amazing that you were able
to assemble who all sharing your mission. So tell me
a little bit about tell us about your career and
your mission.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Okay, all right, well let's see where do I start.
I'll start. I have been in registered nurse for twenty
eight years and in the cannabis industry for about eight
now my journey. I think when you talk to anybody
in cannabis, especially a medical professional, typically they have a
personal story that got them started in looking into the
(06:46):
science behind cannabis. And that's what happened with me. So
eight years ago, I was still a non believer in
cannabis as medicine. I actually voted against it when it
was up for adult use here in Colorado. Wow, I know,
I know, and I'm very open about saying that and
(07:06):
transparent because I was working nurse in hospitals and believed
the propaganda. I believed what they were saying that there
was no medicinal value to cannabis, and it never worked
for me personally when I was in my youth, and
so I thought, well, you know there's there's no science,
(07:27):
then you know it's there's no use for it. So
I voted against it. And then eight years ago, my
brother in law was suddenly diagnosed with stage four lung
cancer and given two to five years to live. We
were extremely devastated, and so he's actually in California, and
(07:47):
my sister said, well, you know, we're privileged enough to
be able to go to some of the top researchers
in California, usc UC and UCLA, and one of them,
at a female researcher at USC said, you know, we'll
look at cannabis, but we look at it as a
(08:09):
last ditch effort because we don't know anything about it.
So when she talked to me that, I said, you
know what, I'll look into it because it's so popular
here in Colorado. Everybody's talking about it, they're voting for it,
it passed, you know, and it's you know, used medicinally here.
Let me look into the validity of this plant. So
(08:30):
I went to all of our typical resources that any
clinician would look at, you know, PubMed Science, direct, National
Institute of Health, you know where we look for the
black and white science. And when I started looking, I
was shocked and actually angered that there is so much
science that shows promise with this plant. That I started saying, Okay,
(08:52):
how can I learn more? So, as a medical professional,
even eight years ago as a nurse, I had to
just go deep online and try to find where there
were courses that I could take to teach me cannabinoid
therapeutics or cannabinoid science. So I did that, and I
found resources like the American Cannabis Nurses Association, who offered
(09:15):
a class a course at that time called the Medical
Cannabis Institute. I took the first courses for medical professionals,
and that's where I started my journey. And so doing that,
I could start trying to help educate my sister and
my brother in law on the value of cannabis and
(09:35):
integrating that. Wow.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Wow, wow wow, so much to unpack there.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, so a little bit what I learned is I found,
like you just spoke of the experts in this industry,
and the one that I found was doctor Bonnie Goldstein.
And she, I said, oh, she is top I can
tell from all this science, and she's in California with you.
So I made an appointment and I said, I am
(10:05):
taking you. I am flying to California. I am taking
you to doctor Bonnie Wow, and we are going to
have an appointment in that time eight years ago. You know,
she's a pediatric physician, but she was seeing adults as well.
So thankfully I was able to get him in with her,
and there started his journey. So we are eight years
(10:26):
now and he is healthy, he's doing every normal thing
you would do. And he's still taking his cannabis. They
don't know why his kine's inhibitor of this drug that
was supposed to only last I believe it was eighteen months,
has now lasted eight years. And so Bannie guided.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Him on what to use.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And then here we are eight years later and he's
still with us, healthy as ever.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Wow, Wow, wow, wow, You're amazing, And I no, you are.
You really cannot be understated. I cannot tell you how
many people family members included that I have tried to
get to try to get in to see Bonnie Goldstein,
and they resist, They just resist and and and and
(11:20):
you know, justifiably so because of the the stigmas. Deep
you're a convert, You're a I call you a cannabis convert,
and those those are the best. Right, we're gonna we're
gonna move the mountain and push it over the line
to be rescheduled, because, uh, I too, am a cannabis convert.
(11:41):
I was a child of dare. I went to law school.
This was never on the table. This is it's a felony, right,
it's the devil's weed. And and and like you, I
I really wasn't aware of any medicinal value and uh,
being misinformed as well. I thought it really was either
(12:06):
something that was dangerous and abused recreationally or an end
of life drug last resort, which is such such a shame.
It's well, your your brother in law is your brother
in law right?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
It's now did he take it as an adjunct therapy
with traditional oncology treatments or how did how did that go?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yes? So, and that's that's exactly where the fear is.
You know, how do I introduce this? Can I introduce this?
So he was able to take it, and he still
does with his pharmaceuticals, so with his oncology medication. Okay,
so he was in a study program. He couldn't use
cannabis at the time because he was in a study program,
(13:00):
so that you have to be very careful with that.
They don't want anything interfering. But that didn't The immunotherapy
did not work for him, actually threw him into liver failure.
So he was kicked out of the He was actually
kicked out of the study. And that's when we were saying,
let's introduce cannabis and started introducing cannabis. So that's my
journey of how I started with, you know, teaching and
(13:25):
showing him, and I firmly believe I wish there was
some way I could put a pocket nurse, a nurse
in everyone's little pocket, because they were able to pull
me out and say, what can we do? How do
we navigate this system? We don't understand healthcare, and then
you're telling us about cannabis, and I was able to
(13:46):
talk to them about dispensaries, how to purchase everything that
I was trying to absorb and learn at the same time.
So and that's kind of how you know, I evolved
in becoming a cannabis nurse at a clinic and seeing
that not most people you know are having trouble affording
the out of pocket cost for a physician's appointment, and
(14:09):
also and just to even know if cannabis would be
suitable for them. So that's how I got started starting
the nonprofit Leaf for one one because I wanted everyone, anyone,
no matter what your financial ability is, no matter if
you have a smartphone or a landline, to be able
to call Leaf for one one and get free guidance
(14:29):
if you needed free guidance. And it's kind of it's
grown from there.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Wow Wow, wow. Wow, Well you're remarkable on so many levels.
I mean, a whole other episode we can have attorneys
on and we could talk about I'm still blown away
and I'm thrilled that you are not for profit organization.
But at the same time, my heart bleeds for you
(14:54):
because I'm out for profit organizations. How are they funded?
They're funded with government grants And as long as this
is a Schedule one and federally illegal, how has that
impact that you're funding from the government.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, we don't. We can't apply for government fund We
have to rely on foundations and individual giving. And you know,
just to give you a little glimpse into the struggles
we have, we probably apply for about I don't know
twelve grants last year and got zero because a lot
of foundations are very concerned with their other donors and
(15:33):
how they feel about cannabis. So even though we do
not touch the plant and we state that everywhere we're
education only, they still say, well, it's still uncomfortable for us.
Or you have the word cannabis on your website, so
that's a problem. You have a cannabis leaf on your website.
That's been a problem. All these little things, So even
(15:54):
though we're licensed medical professionals talking about safe use, safe consumption,
and we still do not get grants.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
And not only that, the wealth of anecdotal evidence that
you have and that you can offer an empirical evidence,
I mean human studies. Look your brother in law, case
in point. It's so frustrating, it's so frustrating, but we
just have to, you know, continue to make people aware.
(16:27):
The initial reaction is cannabis, no and no, but we're
hoping to reshape that your mission. Knowledge is power. That's
why this is just say no with a kk and OW.
We want people to know, guys, this is not a
knee jerk. You can't just say no. I mean you can,
(16:49):
but there's it's so underutilized, and God forbid, you don't
have to wait until you're in a place where western
medicine just doesn't have a solution, which often happens.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
So right, and that's where cannabis can lead is really
giving you hope. And that's what we provide, is hope
that there's an alternative. You know, you're struggling. You know,
people are struggling with pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
And ironically, ironically, I saw wonderful ted talk It was
a family practitioner internist to studying cannabis now, and he
was talking about it doesn't only give you hope, but
the paradox is, because it's so still a schedule one,
it gives you control. Because if you're in a state
(17:42):
that where it's legal, you have control by walking into
a dispensary that has more of an old apothecary. Feel
you're not waiting for the doctor to phone in the
prescription to the corporate place. It's it's that control over
and learning how to dose it.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
It.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Apparently there are studies that that helps patients. Would you say,
clinically you've seen that, yes.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
I mean, one thing that I'm really telling callers every
day is that over the last decade, there's been over
thirty five thousand scientific papers published on National Institutes of
Health pub MET. So when you think about that number,
over thirty five thousand scientific.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Ten years, last ten years, just the last.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Ten years, that you know, when someone says, oh, there's
I'm sure you've heard this, there's not enough science. I mean,
that's all the time, all the time. That's the repeater language.
That's what people who don't want to take the time
to actually look just continue repeating, and it's false information.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And it's dangerous information. And it's not based on thirty five,
ten decades. It's not based on ten years of thirty
five studies. It's based on eighty years of propaganda. And
you know that's a whole other story. But I'm just curious.
(19:11):
Was your brother in law in Colorado as well?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
No, California, And that's all California.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Okay, and that's where all right? Well, uh, you know,
we're twenty minutes into the show and I'm in California,
and in California it's for twenty so Catherine, you're gonna
be on the hot seat. We're gonna this is the
part of the show where for twenty we ask our
(19:39):
guests to drop a knowledge bomb. So are you ready
to drop a knowledge bomb for us? Yep?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Let me have it?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
All right? Well, and keeping well what we were discussing
to anyone out there that is hesitant about using cannabis
or who's genuinely afraid this missing it is repeat language
and that sticks and they're genuinely afraid. Tis even suggested
(20:07):
to a loved one, where you suggested it to your
brother in law. But there are people who would really
be afraid to even do that due to the stigma
or the fear. What would you say to them if
they had you in their back pocket? What today right
now on the show?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, I would say. What we tell people a lot
that are nervous and fearful of cannabis is start with
the topical, because a topical you can actually feel something happening,
typically if you have arthritic pain or you have joint pain,
just even putting it on, and even if you felt nothing,
but that nothing tells you that it's not scary. And
(20:49):
that's where we like someone to start wrapping their mind
around that cannabis is not scary interesting.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
So even if they even if they don't have a
positive result, yes, as long as they don't have a
negative one, you're correct.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Ah, And that's what we tell them. We tell them
even if it's something that they take orally, if you
what we call is start sub therapeutic, and everybody knows
the hot term microdose. If you start so low, we
tell everyone such with a tiny little piece of the gummy,
(21:27):
you know, we recommend always cutting something in fourths or
eighth because even though we know you're not going to
feel anything, that's okay because now you start getting comfortable, like, oh,
why didn't even feel anything? Well, great, now you know
it's not scary. Now you know that you can start
climbing up. So even if a topical doesn't feel anything
(21:48):
right away, it's just getting them comfortable to try something.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I love it. That's wonderful, wonderful advice.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
See, I always.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
To set expectations too high and psych myself out, and
I say, oh, what if it doesn't work? So I'm
not going to recommend the topical to a family member
that needs maybe more. But you know what, no baby steps,
It's okay. Recommend the topical. One they might get some
kind of a benefit, and two as long as they
(22:21):
don't have an adverse effect.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Right alah, then you go to the next step, go
to the.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Next step, very very very very smart. Well, you know
you were brave. Though you were brave, you were brave
to even bringing it up to a family member. So
I would say to people, do it, because you'll regret
if you didn't. And God forbid, Western medicine no longer
(22:54):
has something to work. It's what happened for me. I
gotta tell you a funny story real quickly. And how
I started Green Bay Life. I am a back paying,
chronic back pain sufferer for over four decades. I had
a horrific catastrophic car accident after my first year of
law school. I had a massive spinal surgery that failed
that left me worse than the car accident. For four decades,
(23:20):
four massive spinal surgeries, hardware that I don't you know,
I can't even describe. Cannabis was not on the table
for me, and I could be pretty formidable, so people
did not recommend it because I used to just say
(23:43):
now I know. But I had a seventeen year old
failing dog, and I had a publicist who said, why
don't you try cannabis. I had such a visual response
I couldn't. I was ashamed of myself. I bit her
head off. I said, well, why don't we just give
(24:05):
her arsenic? And then I caught myself. It was that
moment and I realized, why am I being so harsh?
Because interestingly, that was at the same time about eight
years ago. It was twenty sixteen when Prop sixty four
was on the ballot in California. And I unlike you
(24:25):
as much as I didn't understand cannabis, I was going
to vote for Prop. Sixty four, and I was immediately,
you know, people who know me know the bark is
worse than the bite. So she pushed back and said,
but aren't you voting to legalize it. I was like,
I caught myself. I got to look at this. I
(24:45):
don't know why I'm having that response. I mean, the
dog is in so much pain and the only way
western medicine knows to stop that pain was a very
permanent solution that I wasn't ready to take. So anyway,
that's what opened my eyes. So guys, anyone out there,
(25:08):
if someone suggests it to you and you are against it,
try to just com a just approach it with curiosity.
Why would this person who cares for me be suggesting it?
Would you say, that's good advice?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Catherine Nurse Captain, Absolutely, absolutely, that's great advice, is just
to try it. But you know, kind of pointing back
to what my mission is is providing a service that
anyone can reach, so that way you have that trusted guidance.
And like you said in that great intro, you know,
(25:46):
nurses have been voted the most trusted professional I think
in twenty three years now it's either twenty two or
twenty three number one trusted professional. And that's because we
give you both sides of it. Here are the benefits
and here are the possible child lenges or cautions. And
now you are an informed consumer. And that's where we
come from, is informing you. So as long as you're
(26:09):
going to someone who has that guidance and hopefully you
know coming to us, we can guide you there and
we can give you those resources, then that's taking that
first step in consuming safely well.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
And you know you're coming from informing and both sides,
but you're coming from through an empathic lens, not just
the clinical one. Let's face it. You know, we need
the clinicians and the scientists who are merely looking at
that and looking at both sides. But nurses have a
level of empathy. I've experienced it firsthand and what I've
(26:49):
experienced through my journey and opening up to cannabises, nurses
are so much more receptive to wanting to know about it,
and my experience with it were doctors. You know, unless
you have the good fortune and you seek out and
you call LEE four one one and we'll get to
(27:10):
your directory and your network of medical doctors, but doctors
like Donnie, doctors like doctor Bonnie Goldstein, their rear, they're pioneers,
they're up and coming here. Her resident training was in pediatrics,
but she'll see adults because there's just a need for
(27:32):
healthcare professionals. And I'm really impressed with your member directory.
Can can you tell us a little bit about your
member directory and the members ranging from physicians to manufacturers
to dispensaries.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Sure. So when I started leaf for one one, you know,
I knew I couldn't just offer a phone number, give
guidance and say okay, now go find a great dispensary,
or go find a great clinician or an on line product.
I needed to give resources. So that's where we go
out and we go to some of the brands that
(28:07):
are vetted. So anyone that you see on our website
is a vetted brand, meaning we've spoke to them, we've
looked at their culture, we've made sure were they align
with us, and know that everything is as as transparent
as it can be. So when you have a dispensary
or an online manufacturers, they have to have CoA certificate
(28:29):
of analysis that are available to the public that the
public can ask that they want to see that, so
they know it's in their product, what it's been tested for,
the potency. We make sure that the dispensaries know that
they're going to be patients coming in, even if they're
just an adult use store, that they are really wanting
to see those patients and wanting to help them in
(28:52):
a way that's more warm customer service. We make sure
that the clinicians on our website are some of the
top the leaders in the industry, and we'll have other
resources for them. So that's how we built our resources,
all thatted by our team making sure that you have
somewhere to go, so we're just not kind of giving
(29:13):
you guidance and then letting you float out there. We
want to point you in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
That's what's so impressive. And guys, this is the unique
value proposition here with Lee four one one, And I
haven't found it anywhere else. And I look, and as
soon as I find something I'm excited about, I love
to share it. Because I had a doctor of pain
management of physiatrists who had said to me at one point,
have you tried marijuana? And I was desperate enough with
(29:42):
my back and I had seen the results. I had
a favorable outcome with my dog, thank god, and I
was open. So I said where how And this was
my pain management doctor, a medical doctor, and MD. I said, oh,
I don't know. I just have some patients who have
(30:04):
tried it. I think they grow their own. I don't
know where they get it, and it's helped them. And
then I said, well grow your own. And I was immediately,
you know, overwhelmed, said do you have to smoke it?
She said no, no, and I don't recommend smoking for
lung health. They make a topical. I said, they grow
(30:25):
a plant and make a topical. That wasn't very I mean,
it just shows why we need leave for to one one.
And you're a unique value proposition that you connect the dot.
So I don't enough to tell somebody to do something.
You have to give them the resources to do it.
Finding the resources. Guys, don't beat yourself up if you
(30:46):
have a family member or you're looking yourselves and you
feel like you're hitting a brick wall. Help us here.
We've got Catherine, We've got Leaf four to one one.
She's got an incredible network of positions and nurses and
so anyone listening that's like, Wow, I want to get
(31:08):
in touch with you, Catherine. I want to talk to
Leef for one one. I have questions. How can they
reach out? How can they find reach for one one?
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, so you can go to our homepage Leaf four
one one dot org. On that homepage, there's a big
white button that says click here that takes you straight
to our scheduling software, so you can schedule an appointment
right there. Anyone can call our hotline. That was what
I first started. I had so many people saying, oh,
why aren't you starting with an app you know, and
(31:38):
I said, no, I'm going to go o G. I'm
going to go with the eight hundred phone line because
I wanted anyone to be able to call people who
don't have smartphones, people who you know, are unhoused. I've
had people that were in the middle, not not even kidding.
Within the first year, we had somebody who was on
his ranch and he could only get service out in
(32:01):
the field, and he called us to ask about how
to use cannabis. And that's what really, you know, proved that.
That's why I wanted to have this number first. So
that is a free hotline number will always be free.
That's for quick questions, how do I get a medical card?
You know, how do I schedule an appointment? And then
(32:22):
we've grown our programming to now be thirty minute guidance calls.
We're growing it again the first of February to be
forty five minute guidance calls. We ask for a donation
twenty five dollars, but if somebody can't afford that, no problem.
They just leave us a message on our hotline saying
I need a free call. But that's part of what
(32:42):
those resources are on our directory. Those companies see the
value and educated consumers, so they actually give to Lead
four to one one so we can provide free calls
to everybody. They have special codes. So that's the only
way we can keep our lights on and our doors
open is because the cannabis industry, those brands have said,
(33:06):
you know what, we want to give to you monthly
to ensure that the service stays alive. And well, it's
not a struggle, but we're we're doing it and we're
in our sixth year now.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
It's it's I know, I know, I feel the pain.
And then I noticed on your website that's what you
were referring to is that belief for one one affordability
program for people who have financial hardships.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
The Affordability program is a program we started a couple
of years ago. That one has been put on pause.
But everyone gets a free call that needs a free
call that is never part of any program. That's just given.
If someone needs that, they don't have to be a
part of a program. They just simply leave on the
hotline that says I need a free call, I need help.
Great we have. We tell them that they can call
(33:58):
any of the directory participants and those are their supporters,
and they will give them their free code as well
to call lead for one one. It's a coupon code
that they schedule an appointment. But we make sure we
help everyone. We do live by donation, so that's important
to like I said, keep the lights on and the
(34:18):
door is open, is through donations because as we spoke
about earlier, it's incredibly hard for us to get a grant.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Yes and uh yes, so we need just and that
that's what's amazing with you because you don't only combined
health sciences and an expertise in cannabis, but you're also
UH an advocate as well and it's it's going to
take a village, and it's it's going to take educating
(34:49):
folk and offering people resources to call, even if they
can't afford to, because once people understand it, all politics
are local, and once people understand it and demand it,
then it will go up the chain, although remains to
be seen what the new administration's going to do with
(35:10):
at least rescheduling, but as long as it's on a
schedule one, it's virtually impossible to make money at this
The states and the government are making the money, but
well meaning brands are not. And I'm heartened that the
brands who are doing it right and going to try
(35:33):
to survive legalization and self police and do their own
pay the price of compliance, because what this legal ambiguity
does it leaves the door open for not well meaning
companies to come in, which really makes it even more confusing.
So the companies that are doing it right and self policing,
(35:57):
being compliant, if they can hang on and survive legalization,
that's who you want to support. And I'm glad that
they're supporting you. Because it starts with the educational platforms,
the boots on the ground, the nurses in the pocket,
the digital Leaf for one one, which is your digital
(36:19):
nurse in a pocket, And if anyone wants to support
Leaf for one one, they can go to leaffo one
dot org.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
And you do have.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
An area to donate correct.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yes, we have an individual giving page where anyone can
go and donate anything from one dollar on up. And
then we also have our business memberships. We're hoping and
we would love more industry brands to come and support us.
I mean, that's what we would love is having We
do have some supporters from California. Urban Joy is a
(36:55):
delivery service in California and they support us. So we
have them all over and we we need more to survive.
So whether you're a brand, or you know somebody, or
maybe you go to a favorite dispensary, we tell people
that all the time. They say how can we help,
Say go to your favorite dispensary, go to your favorite brand,
(37:15):
and say please support Lee for one one. Because that's
how I came to you, being an informed consumer and
knowing what to buy when when I walk in the door,
you know, and and buying smart and buying safely. So
that's why we really encourage the industry to want to
support us and you know we need more.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
We absolutely do, and that is great advice for brands.
I'm on the Marketing and Advertising Committee of the National
Cannabis Industry Association. Guys, you'll be getting a phone call
for me. We've got to get behind Lee for on One.
It's it's I say it all the time. As an industry,
we're we're going to succeed together or we're going to
(38:02):
fail individually. And it starts with educating the public. We
have to not only educate them. You know, at the
end of prohibition you can educate people about alcohol and
the difference between beer and wine. This isn't just an
end of prohibition. This is decades of misinformation and stigma
(38:24):
and paranoia. And so listen, guys, stay tuned because in
Supportingly for One, I want to throw a quick word
about them. And when we come back, Catherine's going to
share consumer insights and tips on cannabis and how it
(38:45):
relates to the opioid use and eldercare.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Whether you're brand new to cannabis or a longtime user,
we know you have questions and Leaf for one one
is here to help. Leaf for One One is a
nonprofit that provides free or low cost cannabis education through
our nurse guidance services that can answer your health related
questions like the benefits of CBD versus THHC, potential prescription interactions,
and the best ratios for pain, sleep, and anxiety. Get
(39:11):
your questions answered today call us to speak with a
cannabis nurse, or visit our website to schedule your call
and find ways to support this much needed public service.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Hey, welcome back. You're listening to Just Say No on
KCAA Radio ten fifty am one oh six point five FM.
I'm Maria Calibys, your host, and i am joined here
with Catherine Golden, who is a registered nurse and cannabis expert,
where we're discussing trending questions about how to consume cannabis
(39:47):
safely and responsibly to enhance your wellbeing. Catherine is the
founder of Lee for to one one, which began with
the first ever cannabis nurse hotline. So Catherine wanted to
talk to you a little bit about I really appreciated
(40:07):
the free Opioid Guide. I mean, there's so many there's
a plethora of resources on your site, but can you
speak to us a little bit about opioids and.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yes, yes, yeah, I would love to. So a company
called Puff Creative and Ninth Block and both marketing companies said,
you know what, we really need to publish an opioid
awareness guide and came to us and it was wonderful
and wanted to put some data, some information from the
CDC about opioids and overuse and misuse, and then cannabis
(40:43):
and how cannabis can be integrated into your pharmaceutical regimen
and start helping to replace some of the heavy use
of opioids. And that's what we talk about in this
opioid Awareness Guide is the different types of pain. And gosh,
when Maria, when I started the hotline, I was the
only one on the calls. I started it by myself
(41:05):
and I'm like, oh call so I know. That's how
passionate I was about it. I'm like, I gotta be
a pocket nurse for everybody. And it was heartbreaking to
hear that there is so much physical and mental pain
happening across the country. And that's our number one topic.
It's physical and mental pain. So people are just looking
(41:26):
for another solution, another alternative, so they want to know,
like how how can I soften the pain just to
get through daily activities and reduce my opioid juice. And
that's very safe to do with cannabis. And that's another
one of those kind of repeater misinformation that some physicians
or nurse practitioners or pas or any clinician might use
(41:50):
that doesn't really want to look at the science and
just says, oh, there's not enough science and or I
don't think it's safe to combine the two. That's absolutely
not true. It's incredibly safe, and you can start reducing
your opioids with your prescribers guidance. Once you start learning
and seeing that the science is there that cannabis is
(42:10):
very effective for pain, you have to know which ratios
would be best. And once you learn that is what's
something we can teach the nurses only four to one
one can teach. Then you know how you can use
it in conjunction with your regimen. And with pain typically
comes with inflammation and then the pain receptors, and well,
(42:34):
the number one thing people are taught is that CBD
helps with inflammation and THHC touches those pain receptors. So
when you put both together, then you've got your gold standard,
and that's usually what people start saying, Oh, you need
a one to one CBD THHD ratio, and that's a
good starting point. And we start giving just some of
(42:54):
those little tidbits of guidance to say, Okay, here's where
you start, here's a good race, and this is why
CBD is great for pain, and this is why THHD
is great for pain, and this is why they're great.
They're even better together and why you should use them together.
And now we've got even minor cannabinoids like CBG that's
great for neuropathic pain and neuropathy some people know it
(43:17):
as neuropathy that they get from using from if they've
been an oncology patient. So all kinds of different forms
of pain. And then there's mental health pain, and what
we can use, which is fantastic for mental health pain
is the CBD, which helps kind of balance the body
and bring a relaxation to the body, helps decrease anxiety.
(43:40):
So there's just so much we can go into, and
that's why we recreated the Opioid Awareness Guide, so just
to give you the starting information that it is cannabis
is safe to use, and we wish it was a
first line medicine versus a last line medicine. And that's
kind of what we advocate for, is, you know, it's
really safe to try cannabis because there's very few receptors
(44:02):
in the brainstem, so you cannot There's no lethal dose
of cannabis. So somebody could take an entire canister of
gummies and eat that accidentally and they won't go into
cardiac rest, they won't have a respiratory depression like you
can with opioids. It's just not possible.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Well, we'll have another another episode. But my last final surgery,
which was in January of twenty twenty, right before COVID,
I did not wake up. Yeah, what did you call it?
Opioid respiratory respiratory depression. I went from the recovery room
(44:49):
to a critical clear care unit to pretty scary stuff,
pretty scary stuff, and it's real. It's real. So what
are some of the kinds of conversations you're having with
people who call in who are relying on opioids or
what kind of questions are they or concerns are you
(45:12):
hearing surrounding trying cannabis.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Well, the number one question is how do they how
can they start cannabis and start reducing the amount of
opioids they consume. And that's where we start. So one
thing we always like to enforce is you never want
to just throw away your prescription medicine. It's just start cannabis.
It's not you know, the one product you can take
(45:37):
and it cures all. And that's what a lot of people.
That's another misconception. You want to integrate them together, use
them synergistically.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
Is there a danger of interaction?
Speaker 2 (45:48):
No, so there's no. So this is this is another
little tidbit that a lot of people are really nervous
about drug to drug interactions. Yeah, can I Can I
take cannabis with X, Y or Z prescription? The answer
is almost always yes. It's just dose dependent, meaning it
(46:10):
depends on them the dose of cannabis you take. When
we get concerned about the amount of cannabis you take,
it's usually in the triple digits. Oh, you're taking one
hundred milligrams of CBD a day, two hundred three hundred,
then there's a concern. But when you're taking the doses
that are over the counter suggest in serving size ten milligrams,
(46:32):
twenty milligrams, there's never a concern for a drug to
drug interaction because it's too low. So that's where you
always want and you need this guidance from a medical
professional to tell you that it's dose dependent. Everything is
dose dependent. It depends on how many milligrams you're taking
of cannabis versus what you're taking, what prescription medication you're taking.
(46:56):
So we like to tell everybody that it's not contraindicated.
When something's contraindicated means you can't take it together, but
there's cautions meaning that it can affect the way the
prescription medication is the blood level of it in your body.
All you have to do is check those blood levels.
And that's where you get your primary doctor involved to say, hey,
(47:17):
I'm taking cannabis now, so can we please check the
blood levels of prescription X, Y or z. That's very
simple for them to do, and you start getting everybody
together and.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Guys, don't be discouraged. If your primary doctor is like no,
then call Lee for one one. Please, Catherine, please give
Lee for one one a call. You will help them
find a primary doctor in their area. Is that how
it would work? Who could could help them?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Well? So what we do if there yes, if they're
looking for a cannabis clinician in their area. There's a
really great resource, the Society of Cannabis Clinicians SEC and
their nonprofit as well. All you do is type in
your zip code and you will see if there's trained
cannabis clinicians in your area.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Now, what if you're in a state where it's not legal,
can someone from a state that's not legal, for instance,
try to get a tell a medicine appointment with doctor
Bonnie Goldstein in California.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
No, because usually you have to see them in person. Yes,
so as a medical as a physician, a physician has
in order for them to take you into their practice,
they have to physically see you and do an in sure.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
Sure, sure, and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
There's telehealth. There's tele medicine, and then there's telehealth. So
there are physicians that you can call from another state
that won't give you exact dosing, but they will tell you,
they'll give you suggestions, they'll tell you, they'll give you education.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Okay, but you want to uh, you want to see
a doctor. So if you're in a state where it's
not legal, like you did with your brother in law,
took him, well, Colorado was legal, but you took him well,
he was in he was in California, California. But if
he wasn't, you would have just taken him to California.
I have a feeling.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
Yeah, And that's what a lot of the physicians will say,
you know, you know, and that's the heartache is that
there's you know a lot of people can't forward just
to up and move. I mean, we've had a lot
of people move to different legal states because they want
to get that medicine. And that's that's where when you
have them leave or you can just go up, you
(49:38):
can visit with a doctor, see that doctor in person
for the first time, you know, get into their private practice,
and then you go back to your state and then
they can correspond with you. Uh telehealthy and yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
Yeah. Ricky Lake did a wonderful documentary. I'm sure you
saw We the People, did you see?
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Yeah, And doctor Bob Goldstein was featured in that, and
it showed people with pediatric cases having to that's what
you do. You have a child that's Western medicine doesn't
have an answer, and when you actually get into the
science and start talking and having conversations and listening to
conversations with people like Catherine Golden. You know it just
(50:25):
when you have that aha moment, you're you're off from
running because it's got so much potential, and with all
the money that the government spent, and like you said,
there's thirty five thousand studies over the last ten years.
But prior to that, what galls me is so much
(50:45):
money was spent on research to justify the Schedule one
and find out what the heck was wrong with it
and prove that it was dangerous and they couldn't. So yeah, well,
I really think that that's wonderful. And do you know
(51:09):
doctor are you familiar with Doctor Yasmin heard out of
mount S and I in New York. She's a form
of psychopharmacologist from Jamaica, but she's studying the effects of
CBD and THC on opioid addiction. She's a wonderful research
people can look her up. Doctor Yasmine heard h U
(51:30):
r D. We will have her on the show page
among research sources. Initially, she wasn't sure CBD would be
so helpful and thought you need a TC, but now
she's finding high doses and it's all about the doses.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
And the entourage effect of mixing about the doses.
Speaker 1 (51:48):
But the exciting thing is in episode three, we did
a podcast with doctor Menesh Gern. He's a neuroscientist. He
out of U SEE, San Francisco, out of doctor Robin
Carthheart's lab. They're studying the effects of psychedelics and cannabis
(52:11):
on the brain and brain health. And this is a
great segue because they had a lot to say about
it for opioid addiction, and what was very compelling to
me and exciting was that there's actually evidence now with
CT scans showing that it doesn't just suppress the addiction,
but it actually heals the part of the brain, the amigula,
(52:34):
and they're actually seeing bioplasticity and healing take place of
the damage that was done from the opioid, which was
very exciting. But they also studied and talked about dementia
and Alzheimer's and phones are ringing off the hook. We've
had so many questions coming in and Catherine, the majority
of them. A lot of people are interested in, of course,
(52:55):
how could it help with chronic pain, how could it
help with mental anxiety depress We had a chance to
just scratch the surface on that big topic opioids, and
I've got to get to elder care. I have people,
I've got so many questions coming in saying and.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
I don't even want to ask you this, but the
first question.
Speaker 1 (53:16):
On elder care is does medicare cover it?
Speaker 2 (53:22):
H Well, I wish you did. We wish it did,
and hopefully it will someday. But there are states that
are working on programs. I'm actually working on a program
here in the state of Colorado to we have a
patient that we're covering her medical cannabis to try to
reduce her opioid juice. And so there are states that
(53:43):
are working on allowing insurance to cover the medical cannabis.
So it's coming. There's light at the end. We can
see it, and it's coming, and there's people all in
different states working on this. You just don't hear about
it yet because our programs haven't grown as much yet.
(54:04):
It's slow because you have to get so many people
on board to accept to do this, but you know,
it's it. You know, there's there's different things that you
can look at. You can look at maybe getting your
card covered, your medical card. You can look at getting
maybe some of the medicine cupboard. It depends on what
(54:24):
programs you're in. You would have to look into your states.
But what I really want to talk about for the
older adults, and you mentioned it, Maria, was the heartache.
We've been working with a program that focus is on
the dementia care and dementia caregivers and the heartache they
have at home because they, on average, about seventy five
(54:46):
percent of dementia patients are cared for in the home.
Seventy five percent are in.
Speaker 3 (54:51):
The right.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
Well and if you're in a long term, long term
care facility, they use their own pharmacies, so that would
be a whole other barrier that's harder.
Speaker 2 (55:04):
But I didn't.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
Realize seventy five percent were Wow, please, they're.
Speaker 2 (55:08):
In the home because it's expensive. It's so expensive to
put your loved one in a facility, so they've even
either promised their loved one that they will never put
them in a facility, so they keep them at home
and care for them there, or they can't afford it.
So now the beautiful thing is now they do have
the autonomy to increase to introduce cannabis into their regiment,
(55:32):
and that's what we've been helping with in all my word,
if you see, if you could see what these low
doses of CBD, THC and CBG Kenneba Gerald have helped
with the dementia behaviors, the aggressiveness, the agitation, the abusive
they some of them get very abusive to their caregivers.
(55:55):
It just calms everything down.
Speaker 1 (55:57):
Now, is there description for that like of regular medicine
and how would it compare the efficacy?
Speaker 2 (56:06):
So that's what's interesting. So even the FDA warned about
using antipsychotics, and unfortunately antipsychotics meds are widely prescribed for
dementia patients because they just don't know where, you know,
what else to use. And now we are showing that
we're using cannabinoids. So low dose CBD with THHC for
(56:30):
daytime and low dose uh CBG with THHC for nighttime healer.
So I don't know if you've heard of doctor Dustin
Sulac out of Maine. He is phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
He's in your member directory. That's I heard about him.
I've just learned about him through leaf four one one.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
Yes, So doctor Dustin Seulac out of Maine. He helps
formulate the products of HEALERCBD DOT com and what he
noticed in his practice and he still has a practice
over three thousand patients in Maine. He noticed that he
was seeing the dementia behaviors really start to subside with
the combination of THHC and CBD in the daytime and
(57:13):
CBG and THHC at night. So he created helped create
this beautiful blister package that's easy to pop out one gummy,
know exactly how to give it to your loved one
because seventy five percent or cared for the home, so
that your sister brother who's taking care of your mom
or dad needs help, and how do I dose this?
Speaker 1 (57:36):
How do I know what to give?
Speaker 2 (57:37):
So they've created this respite product that is just easy
to give to your loved one, and then they also
give instructions on well, if they're in a facility, how
do you reach how do you ask that facility's clinicians
to write an order for cannabis. So that's what we're
(57:58):
trying to do is help putacilities understand that it's also
easy to write an order for cannabis.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
It's phenomenal. It's just phenomenal. And Catherine, anyone who wants
to find out more information about that please go to
Leaffour one one dot Org. I can't believe nearly an
hour has flown by. I really hope you'll come back
and bring some of your member Director. I mean, we
have so many things to talk about. This has been
(58:27):
the most wonderful conversation. The work you and your team
do at Leaf four one one. It empowers patients, caregivers
and healthcare professionals with the knowledge that they need. And
every one of those groups are suffering, either mentally or physically,
and if we have something that can help ease that pain,
(58:52):
that's you know, so I can't I can't thank you
enough for your dedication to the patient at in education.
It's making a real difference. And guys, everyone here and
everyone I bring into the hive, we're pioneers. But I
say it over and over again, what happened to the pioneers.
Pioneers get shot, the settlers get the gold. Please, please,
(59:14):
You've got to support the well meaning pioneers because this
is a precious, precious, precious plant. It's underutilized, and as
we conclude today's episode of Just Say No, it's important
to recognize the need for these voices that empower you
with the information that you need to navigate. So Catherine,
(59:38):
thank you for sharing your valuable insights, highlighting the importance
of organizations like yourself, your members, the four one one.
You're bridging the gap between traditional medicine and cannabis science
and guys, if people like Catherine myself don't do it,
no one's going to do it, and people are suffering mentally, physically,
(01:00:00):
And once you realize that it can be avoided or alleviated,
you'll join the green revolution. It's not a green rus
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