Random Rants

Sharon blogs, reports, quotes & nags about cannabis

 Continuing Education & My Broken Heart

This past year was the first of many that I wasn’t on the road for my Weed Traveler series for Weed World UK. 

The fall prior I moved further south in Mexico to Baja California Sur and the Remote Magico City of Mulege. 

Typically, most of the expats here leave for the brutal summers, but I hunkered down in air conditioning, and began writing my book, Educated Stoner.

The work continues, but so far, I began 18 chapters of what reads as an autobiography, compiling personal essays from 13 years of healing with cannabis and other plants.

Much of the continent is compiled from my original series Educated Stoner, published on many platforms in many languages, globally; Daily Dose from both Vegas and Tahoe Cannabis magazine(s) (now Vegas Wellness magazine); and Kitchen Apothecary from Weed World UK.

The work is cathartic, as one can imagine, as I draw a picture in words of what my life has been like, leading me to this place of healing with plants.

This includes an entire chapter titled, My Acronyms, where I  draw a line from my disorders and childhood traumas, directly to my dysfunctions and how cannabis helped me at the age of 16.

This is important as a cannabis patient, as the first time I smoked at 16, like many partakers, I did not know why or how it worked for me. I just knew that when I smoked, I had more focus and I felt better overall.

Drawing that line, making the distinction of illness and disorders to how plants work with our biological systems, for not only homeostasis concerning ailments, but our emotional well-being as humans.

This winter I hope to finish the book and I am hopeful to find a publisher. It’s important to note, I was unable to sell it on concept due to the topic and my public admissions on the medicinal efficacy of the plant.

For until the US government fesses up to the fact that this plant is medicinal, either decriminalizing - which is unlikely, or moves it from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3, everything I’ve ever written for the past 13 years is referred to as anecdotal in my home country.

In my mind neither are unacceptable, but at least schedule three would admit that it’s a non-addictive harmless substance.

Schedule 3 would also mean that throughout the country it would not be considered recreational, but only medicine.

Now, why would I not be happy about that? In all my travels around the world and throughout the United States with my series Weed Traveler, I’ve never seen any laws that do justice to what the plant is and how we use it.

My mantra has been, your Endocannabinoid system doesn’t give a shit that you just want to get high, but the reality is, the majority of my tribe around the world who partake just want to sit and chill. Many are still not purposely using or acknowledging it as medicine, even though they are receiving benefits.

The profiles I’ve written of successful outcomes with cannabis come with a list of requirements. All of my subjects must have a relationship with the plant and understand the meaning of medicating to recreate. 

During interviews if the subject says they just want to sit and chill, I often enlighten them to the fact that chill could be replaced with a pharmaceutical muscle relaxer prescribed by a doctor. Therefore, that chill alone is remedy. 

My conclusion is, due to a lack of education and understanding of what the plant is, how we use it, and what it does, there are no correctly written laws, and I personally remain illegally healed.

Be Still My Heart 

As detailed within my series of essays, Educated Stoner, for Weed World UK magazine in 2023, the year prior I began having extremely high blood pressure with severe symptoms, presenting as myocarditis (see Educated Stoner page on my website for essay).

As detailed in the essay titled, The Fungus Among Us, on a fluke I began microdosing with psilocybin mushrooms, successfully lowering my blood pressure and regulating my cardio system.

I have found that I only need to dose about a half a gram or so weekly to maintain.

That said, like many patients who are feeling good, I slacked at dosing for more than a month at a time this past year, causing my pressure to go up and symptoms to return.

My belief is the mushrooms, along with my plant-based remedies, have regenerated tissue, not only throughout my body, but in the repair of my heart, as even though I have become symptomatic, it’s nothing like it was initially when I presented to the ER a year and a half ago.

This last bout that happened recently caused me concern, but within three or four days of continuing to microdose on half a gram, my symptoms again subsided.

Interesting to note, a dear friend of mine, who is taking pharmaceuticals for high blood pressure, checked their numbers alongside me and found they were the same. Prior, this friend had encouraged me to go back onto pharmaceuticals. 

But, as said, my pressure and symptoms subsided after a few days of resuming ingesting the mushrooms again.

This experience has shown me that I’m on the right path. But I need to be clear, just as when my cancer went into remission, knowing it could return, I could drop from heart attack or stroke at any moment. I’m 65 years old, and even though I am in better shape than most, my age, there are no guarantees.

I have no doubt in my mind that when I finally pass, the chatter will be that I did not properly care for myself. The criticisms will be that I have shunned doctors for more than a decade while rejecting most pharmaceuticals an over the counter medications. 

But I must be clear, my quality of life the past 13 years using plant-based medicine has been far better than the 13 years prior, when I was on upwards of 10 pharmaceuticals with supplements added to combat the negative side effects and lack of efficacy from the pharmaceuticals.

This is my truth. And this is why I’m hoping I can finish my book before I go. 

I’ve had a good life and my body of work is something I’m extremely proud of. 

Yes, I have lived in poverty to do this work, and have been judged harshly for this reason. Many of my friends and family have had to help me over the years, including the cannabis community, when I have not had money for either replacing my laptop or when I fell and broke my ankle, requiring two surgeries. and for that, I will be forever grateful. 

My work has been a calling I’ve responded to without hesitation. And if I had to do over again, I would not change anything. 

As I’ve written before, I’ve fallen a little bit in love with nearly everyone I’ve profiled, with many becoming friends and kindred spirits from this life into the next. 

Grateful for those who believed in my work, and forgiving of those who have doubted everything I’ve written. 

I will continue to keep my blinders on, and evangelize the plants while I’m still here. 

Thank you for reading. Thank you to those who have been open and have followed me back into the garden. For that, I will be forever grateful. 

Ten Years, Top Features

Following are what I feel are the most impactful features I’ve written in the past ten years since crossing over from mainstream media.

My one criteria I’ve stood by in choosing subjects is that they must have a relationship to the plant, an understanding cannabis as medicine, and knowing that they are “medicating to recreate.”

The stories were chosen, not only for any impact they may have made in cannabis advocacy, but because the subject’s stories moved me to write about them.

You can read the stories by following the links from the magazines they are published in. The first two of the three years I traveled and wrote for Dope Magazine they didn’t have a website, only posted to Issu. Links are provded, but please note, these features are also listed in full on this website under the series they ran in.

Many stories have been published in more than one publication, globally, in several languages. The stories are listed in chronological order, with one exception of Dr. Mollie Fry’s raid, trial and subsequent incarceration; and one of the first features I wrote for the High Times Medical Journal in 2008, with David Bienenstalk as editor. I felt it was impactful enough to include in my top stories for my body of work.

This feature was written two weeks prior to she and husband, Dale Schafer’s incarceration in 2008.

As a cannabis cancer patient and double mastectomy survivor, Dr. Fry began growing her own and helping patients. Doctors aren’t allowed to touch the plant, and the outspoken doctor’s biggest mistake was being honest in attempting to educate her local authorities.

The second version written for High Times Magazine’s quarterly Medical Journal, edited by David Bienenstalk, is no longer available online.

End of Year Notes, 2022

The Year of Partial Disappointments

I'm dubbing these past 12 months, the year of partial disappointments. Not to be a naysayer, as there were many positive aspects to the year and my cup remains half full, in gratitude. But, there were more challenges than my tiny brain could deal with at times and I’m happy to look forward into 2023.

Yin & Yang

Yin is female or moon, representing darkness, femininity, passivity, and the earth. Yang, is male or sun, representing light, masculinity, activity and the heavens. Life is a balancing act between Heaven and earth, influencing our health, emotions, society, and the entire fucking universe, actually.

Everything is Yin & Yang. Everything is a learning curve, even if things don't pan out the way we'd like them to. My mom always told me, everything happens for a reason, and I still believe that. 

As Emmanuel has taught me, even the pain of life is a lesson - and that we are perfect imperfection. This has helped me to exhale more often and fret less. (Emmanuel's Book, Bantam Books)

A favorite piece for my Weed Traveler series for Weed World UK this past year was from my farm tour the Fall prior on 420 Tourism in the Emerald Triangle. The piece is complete enough to be used as a 420 tour guide for all three counties and I'm very proud of it.

I also profiled three legacy farmers in another Weed Traveler piece from the tour, one from each county within the Emerald Triangle: Swami & Nikki of Swami Select, Mendocino; John Casali & Rose of Huckleberry Hill Farms, Southern Humboldt; and Walter Wood & Judi Nelson of Sol Spirit Farms, Trinity County.  Each has a unique story, each shares their struggles in entering into an overregulated market.

Sisters, Michelle & Lauren Hackett, third generation food and now cannabis farmers of Riverview Farms in Salinas, were featured in my series Women of Weed World for Weed World UK. The Salinas Valley is now home to many cannabis farms during a thriving medical market, where cut flowers used to grow in Dutch greenhouses, with many making more money now with its food and flower crops than cannabis in the new market.

Also included in my Women of Weed World series from the trip, was a profile on second generation farmer and seed collector, Halle Pennington, daughter of Nat Pennington (What’s in Your Stash?/High Times), founder of the iconic Humboldt Seed Company.

Inspired from the farmer's stories from the trip, I began a new series titled, Face of the Farmer, for Cannabis Now Magazine. My intent with the series was to introduce the legacy farmers who’ve met supply & demand before and after it was legal to do so. 

I also began a series of videos titled Kitchen Apothecary, based on the ongoing series I write for Weed World UK, sponsored by a company in the UK, using its Nebula Boost infusion machine. The company ordered a total of 10 videos. Unfortunately, that series was short lived, as well, with a total of just four completed, due a loss of interest by my editor, and footage held hostage. Another disappointment, another project not meant to be. Not up to me.

Another smaller disappointment came when musician Ricky Hil declined a cover for Weed World UK, after I’d announced. Easier to take, because I fully support his need for privacy. Not every celebrity wants to be, or enjoys, being in the spotlight.  As a reluctant influencer, I empathize.

The thoughtful poet/rapper continues to be one of my favorite subjects profiled to date. Our friendship and love for each other are the greatest gifts to come from my writing about him for High Times. More meaningful and longer lasting than a cover feature.

Read Ricky’s profile(s) from What’s in Your Stash and a copy of the article from the printed magazine online for High Times.

With all my success and longevity in writing for cannabis magazines, my greatest disappointment to date came via a literary agent who informed me that I don't have enough followers on Instagram to get a book deal. 

More than 20 years writing professionally in media, with more than 10 years writing the anecdotal stories of healing (aka: patient profiles), and no less than 10 book concepts developed, and I can't get a book deal because on social media I'm a reluctant influencer.

My mantra has been, I'm a reclusive writer not a rock star. I feel strongly that it’s unfair to ignore a writer's body of work and only look at their social media stats, but here we are.

Our path is not ours to decide.

How many times during the course of a year are we disappointed by things not going the way we like or planned? Our path is already forged, whether we like the direction or not. What did we learn? Did our wants meet our needs? Are we deserving of everything we think we need? Everything in its own time.

I believe my work in writing of beneficial plants is the most important work I'll do in my lifetime. Because I believe that plants were put on this earth for our benefit; for good health and happiness, and we’ve been led away from the garden for far too long.

For my 10 year anniversary in the space this past October, I penned two essays on my experiences to date, one for Vegas & Tahoe Cannabis magazine(s) within my series Daily Dose, titled A Daily Dose of Persecution, and another for High Times, under my Educated Stoner series, also detailing my perspective on crossing over from mainstream media into the lion’s den of judgment. 

Because the negative stigma of the plant gives people permission to treat me with disrespect - even if they don't realize they are doing it. This phenomenon is evidenced in two profiles I wrote this past year for my series Daily Dose, for both Vegas & Tahoe Cannabis Magazine(s). One on cannabis publicist, Alice Moon, suffering from Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome, hated on for an illness no one seems to know anything about; and another on chronic multi-symptom patient, Maggie McKinney, persecuted by her own family for her cannabis use, after replacing many pharmaceuticals.

During my Fall harvest tour this year I flew into Eugene, Oregon, where I was picked up by none other than Jack Daniel, of Beard Brothers Media - which was a real treat, as I was able to partake from the very box and glass pipe featured in his What’s in Your Stash? for High Times. Jack and I have an affinity for each other, because we both include the history of everything we write about.

Jack shuttled me in his magnificent, monster Chevy truck to the home of Elvy Musika, one of two of the last of 13 plaintiffs in a class action suit against the Federal Government in the 1980s, that not only allowed them to use cannabis as medicine, the government had to grow it for them for decades, sending each a tin of 300 rerolls a month. You didn’t know about this? They all had to sign NDAs. Story to follow.

Lastly, of the two celebrity cover features I penned this past year, my interviews with Julian Marley were memorable for our focus on the Rasafarian belief of Livity - the act of living a life of gratitude, of giving thanks daily.

Julian's was one of the few interviews I’ve conducted where I didn't type or take notes as we talked. We both had the ganja rolled and partook together, discussing one subject only, Livity. Something I hope to do again in the future with subjects, as the depth of our conversation was a gift.

Read Julian’s Higher Profile online at High Times; read his full cover feature online at Weed World Magazine UK.

The second celebrity cover of the year is out as I type this, with the December/January issue (#161) of Weed World Magazine UK featuring Jim Belushi (pending online posting), and the second cover feature I've written of him for the magazine. The story came after a visit to Belushi's Farm in Southern Oregon, October 2022 during harvest, for my Weed Traveler series.

There, he handed me his latest preroll, Rocket 88 - a blend infused with live rosin from Cherry Pie, his favorite cultivar named after a song Dan Akryoyd sings with the Blues Brothers. The song, penned by Jackie Brenston, is said to be the first rock ‘n’ roll record in 1951.

While he played the version made famous by Ike Turner on his iPhone, I did the twist in his outdoor kitchen on the farm to an audience of one (8 is my pop-up number, so I was beyond inspired).

Someday I’ll write about the backstories of my interviews. It will be good.

Jim is living a life of livity, whether he's aware of it or not. He's loving the farm life, and has given back to the community in Southern Oregon by bringing a historic farm back to life for the greater good. He’s also refurbished a historic theater in nearby downtown Medford, but he doesn’t boast.

And in my mind, that's what this life is really all about - giving back. I was raised in church where the act of giving is a strong calling. It's referred to as being charitable. Because if we all give, no one goes without.

After visiting with Jim I traveled south through the Emerald Triangle, visiting Sol Sprit Farms in Trinity, Huckleberry Hill Farms of Southern Humboldt, The Mommy Jane, aka: one of my besties, Jessica Gonzales - where we had a lot of fun enjoying Belushi’s Rocket 88 on an IG Live. Then I made my way to California’s Central Valley, where I was honored to visit the Sisters of the Valley for two nights and one full day - my home away from home. In the arms of angels.

On a personal note, the beginning of the year found me not really wanting to be on this earth any longer. I've had suicidal ideation since I was 16 years old (first attempt of many), and in the face of many disappointments (some I can't share) I nearly gave up. 

At the top of the year, Luna, mother to Lala passed away, leaving a big hole. Then two additional dogs in need showed up, a mother and son. This forced me to think outside myself. They rescued me.

After a tumultuous experience with a past landlord, my three dogs and I ended up living happily off the grid in a tiny house at the beach in Baja California, where I've made my home for the past seven years. We are a happy little family, and I continue to live a life of livity, in gratitude - here to face another hopeful year. 

Lastly, three years ago I caught air and rolled my car to avoid hitting a dog. The dog lived, I was fine, but the car died. A highlight of the year was being gifted a car by my sister. It’s the reason I was able to do this last trip north. I I’m sure that Mom is smiling down upon us, sis. Thank you for being there for me. I can’t do this work without your love and support.

Mom, you are still right, everything does happen for a reason. Everything in its own time.

Thank you for reading. May the upcoming year be filled with Livity for you and yours.

In gratitude, Sharon

Following is a thumbnail of the series I’ve written to date on a few of the platforms I’ve written for, globally:

Higher Profiles/High Times online: Profiling high profile people and celebrities in the cannabis industry/space.

What’s in Your Stash?/High Times online (also developed as TV show, Montel Williams, Executive Producer): When we look into someone’s stash, we are looking at how they medicate and why.

Face of the Farmer/Cannabis Now Magazine online: Profiling heritage and legacy cannabis farmers.

Women of Weed World/Weed World Magazine (print/web): Profiles of under-acknowledged women making a difference in the cannabis industry, globally.

Weed Traveler/Weed World Magazine (print/web) (developed as TV show, Montel Williams, Executive Producer): Sharon is sponsored, hosted, and toured for this series. Visits center around events; farm, manufacturing facilities and dispensary tours; visits with industry leaders, medical professionals, and cannabis patients.

Kitchen Apothecary/Weed World Magazine (print/web): This series of essays includes how to/DIY/recipes, with anecdotal stories of healing.

Daily Dose/Vegas & Tahoe Cannabis Magazine(s) (print/web): A day in the life of a cannabis patient, with dosing, protocols and sometimes recipes.

Celebrity Profiles/various series & publications, globally

Chef Profiles for High Times in print

Past Series & Work

Cover features: Julian Marley, Tommy Chong, Willie Nelson (2), Melissa Etheridge, Kyle Turley, Dr. Carl Hart, Jimmy Hendrix via brother, Leon; Rick Simpson, Jay Jackson, aka: Laganja Estranja, Olivia Newton-John (2), with husband, John Easterling; Second Lady of Pennsylvania, Gisele Fetterman; Jim Belushi (2), Jane West & Jazmin Hupp of Women Grow, Jim McAlpine of 420 Games.

Humboldt Medicine/The Emerald Magazine: Profiling farmers and remedy makers from Northern California (Book in Progress) This series initially ran in The Emerald Magazine, Humboldt County’s first cannabis magazine, and can still be found online.

Humboldt Stories/The Arcata Eye: Winner of the 2016 Tokey Awards. Originally published as Behind the Curtain for the Arcata Eye in Humboldt County, Northern California. This series puts a human face on the once covert grow scene in Humboldt County. Characters were used in Cannaopolis, developed into a TV series. Now an eBook on Amazon

Cannaopolis/Dope Magazine: Fictional series based on fact of the Humboldt County, California grow scene. Originally published as a monthly series in print for Dope Magazine (Seattle, Washington) Developed into a TV series, with characters culled from Sharon’s other series, Humboldt Stories and Toke Stories.

Toke Stories/Toke of the Town: Fictional stories based on fact from the underworld of the one-room grow house. Main character, Lewis B. Toklas lives on in Sharon’s other series, Cannaopolis, developed into a television series. This series originally ran in the Seattle Weekly’s weed blog, Toke of the Town.

Injuries, Friendship & Magical Farm Tour

2020 was anything but… thanks to the plant, we survived.

While 2021 was challenging for many, there were silver linings everywhere and much to be grateful for. Good often comes with bad - it’s the human experience and how we know what’s good. In my mind, the thing that matters is what you do with every experience and how you go forward with love and faith.

This year in October I celebrated nine years since using cannabis oil to put breast cancer into remission, changing my life and career forever. After a six year absence, I was able to celebrate in the very place it all went down, my beloved Humboldt County at the top of Northern California.

Nine years since I replaced all pharmaceuticals with cannabis and realized that plants could be my only medicine. Cannabis was my gateway drug to other healing plants. Everything that followed for the past nine years has been driven by this knowledge. 

Honors

More than ten years writing in the cannabis space and this year I saw my work recognized for the first time.

Best Writer in the Cannabis Industry for 2021 by Cannabis Activism Now. Many thanks to Mike Wise for including me. Grateful thanks to the readers who voted for me. When the medal arrived in the mail I cried (Watch the virtual awards ceremony and my submitted video of thanks here).

4/20 Media Pioneer and OG Cannabis Journalist, by Green Market Report. Many thanks to Cynthia Salarizadeh for including me in this stellar list. I was actually surprised to be there.

Original 4/20 Media Pioneers: A List of OG Cannabis Journalists Worthy of Note 

Cannabis Industry Focus: Plant medicine advocates on Women’s Equality Day

Instagram Influencer Jessica Gonzalez, aka: The Mommy Jane, honored me with a mention in her own mention! This is unheard of, as it was her honor and she shined a light on me as an inspiration. Thank you, Jess. Love you to the moon and back! 

Cannabis Industry Focus: Plant Medicine Advocates on Women's Equality Day 

Personal Plants, founded by friend Amanda Reiman, ran an article about my cancer & cannabis story and my work. Thanks to Haley Nagasaki for the write up. Read my Higher Profile on Amanda online for High Times.

Could Cannabis Treat Cancer and Chronic Illness? 

Accident & Support

On February 10, while hiking with my dogs in the hills above my home I tripped-up and presented with a nasty ankle fracture, landing me in a hospital bed at home with metal inserted and more pain that I could have dreamed of.

The good news is, I was able to drastically reduce the amount of opioids prescribed by using cannabis oil. 

As with every ailment or injury I’ve treated in the past nine years, I wrote about the experience in my series Daily Dose for both Vegas and Tahoe Cannabis Magazine(s) online. 

Daily Dose: Reducing/Replacing Opioids with Cannabis Oil

As with past injuries, I taught doctors, surgeons and staff about the efficacy and dosing with cannabis oil by example.

Farah

Laid up in a hospital bed at home alone, I sent out a call for help to my cannabis community and my friend, Jessica Gonzalez, aka: The Mommy Jane (Instagram), Influencer of young women and mom’s, sent Farah Tariq to me. Jessica, you know how much this meant to me. Love you forever.

After all is said and done, it was worth it to fracture my ankle to have Farah in my life. Finishing my sentences, reviewing contracts, and sitting by my bedside as I cried are just a few things this beautiful soul helped me with. 

A two month help stay turned into eight months, as we toured Tijuana, Mexico; then farms in Northern California for my series Weed Traveler for Weed World Magazine. 

The Harvard educated lawyer needed to witness where the plant comes from and meet the farmers that grow our medicine. I couldn’t have done the trip without her and we are planning more trips together.

We also began a series of instructional videos based on my series Kitchen Apothecary for Weed World Magazine, sponsored by the Nebula Boost, a company from the UK manufacturing infusion machines.

Read my profile on Farah for my series Daily Dose for both Vegas & Tahoe Cannabis Magazine(s).

Thanks to those that helped me…

Initial surgery and expenses for my fractured ankle was more than $4,000. Many thanks to my dear childhood friend, Jane Benjamin, for facilitating the GoFundMe page.

This caused me to swallow my pride and send notes out asking for help. The response was more than I could have hoped for. I truly feel respected and appreciated by my colleagues, friends, family – and the friends I’ve made my family.

Special thanks to my sister, Cindy, who gave financial assistance and called me every day; friend and neighbor, Paul Ross, who dressed my wounds nearly everyday; Favi who had my girls the first three weeks; Mari & Maria for seeing to every detail; and the staff at the Del Valle Cafe, for bringing food to my bedside every day and helping with chores! 

The cannabis industry and community stepped up in a way I could have never imagined, in that some of the most high profile people in the industry sent me financial help, words of support, and showed appreciation for my work.

Following is a list of those that helped with donations. Please forgive me if I left anyone off. Not included are the many who gave anonymously. Thank you from the bottom to the top of my heart. I could not do this work without your support in trying times.

Jessica Gill, Michelle Berry, Tony & Karen Badrena, Doreen Sullivan, My Bud Vase. Lyn Kusher. Skip, Stash Logix, Carolyn Bell, Ryan Monsanto, Proof Cannabis, Jen Noska, Kathleen Galante, Tracy Byars, Richard Hilfiger, Harriet Duncan, Al Stein, Carol Greer, Patrick Kilcoyne, Jane Benjamin, Jane West, Michelle Rogers, Matt Garville, Lindsay Consentine, Caleb Hayes, Jessica Cadmus, Rogue Paq, Kristen Lovell, Biko, Jay Jackson (Laganja Estranja), Ann Garat, Tomer Grassiani, Daniela Vergara, Tamber Grable, Barbara Brown, Caleb Hayes, Rhea Graham, Albany’s Canna Kitchen, Zoe Wilder, Ricardo Baca, Grasslands, Christian Johanneson,Roxanne Gullikson, Camille Marks, Bonnie Bruckheimer, Wendy Herron, Christie Cucinotta & Adam, Mattio Comm/Rosie Mattio. Derek Peterson, Michael Garza, Mari & Tom Daniel, Marelyn Shapiro, Shannon Snyder, Brandy Barr, Maria & Marco, Mark Bartlett, Justin Kander, Jose Orzoco,

International: Ireland

High Times highlight I’ve written too many features on a variety of platforms to mention, but one highlight of the year was a lengthy feature written for High Times on Vera Twomey’s 11 year struggle in accessing CBD/THC oil in Ireland for her daughter Ava’s chronic seizures. The day the story was published a representative from Parliament phoned Vera, and the next working day the Health Minister changed a rule to pay for her cannabis meds up front. Proud of my work on this one. The power of the written word can’t be denied.

Higher Profile: Vera Twomey, A Mother's Love | High Times 

Magical Farm Tour

Our Farm Tour started in Los Angeles with a 12 course infused meal by The Herbal Chef, Chris Sayegh and team. Joined by Rapper Ricky Hil and friend, it was an amazing way to begin what would turn out to be a magical farm tour, with visits to Salinas, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity counties, and the central valley to follow.

Look for a Chef Profile in High Times’ January 2022 issue of Chris Sayegh. I’ve written of Chris since he began in the space and am proud to call him a friend. 

Our farm tour began in the fertile valley of Salinas - Steinbeck country (one of my favorite writers). The valley that used to be home to California’s cut flower industry is now home to cannabis farms in the legal market. One such cut rose farm is now half cannabis, but in the legal market, today they are making more money on the roses. Oh the irony.

Our legacy tour began in Southern Humboldt, where the cannabis industry began after the Summer of Love in San Francisco, when the Back to the Landers went north for a better life. We visited with second generation farmers now struggling to make ends meet with a devastating low price per pound and no government subsidies like their cousins, the food farmers of America.

Tourism may subsidize the heritage farmers, as they put up glamping tents, sharing their lives and bounty. It’s an amazing way to get a glimpse of the Emerald Triangle people only hear about. While in Humboldt we visited Pappa & Barkley’s in what used to be the Kmart I used to shop at. My old Bank of America is now HPRC, the Humboldt Patient Resource Center - the oldest running dispensary in the country, founded in Arcata.

Yes, the times they are a changing - some for the best, some not so good - with much improving and education needed.

The end of the tour included a visit with the Sisters of the Valley in a yurt on their farm in Merced, where we were invited to join them in a moon ceremony. I've written of the Sisters since Sister Kate started the order. This past year I wrote about the orders around the world for Weed World Magazine, which now include Brothers.

We ended the tour at the Evidence prison farm in Coalinga that Damien Marley, with Ocean Grown Extractions and team purchased. This development turned the City of Coalinga into an up and coming cannabis destination. It’s old-school downtown is now complete with a High Times dispensary, right next door to a Cookies dispensary, complete with a beautiful lounge. Will profile Coalinga for my series Weed Traveler in Weed World Magazine’s April/May 2022 issue.

My work has made me privileged in the cannabis space and we were welcomed with open arms onto historic farms the average person just wouldn’t be able to experience.

Hosted on farms, in cabins, glamping tents (shown here Sol Spirit Retreats, Trinity), and five star hotels overlooking the ocean, we are still in awe and grateful for the experiences. I gathered more than 50 stories, including a new series, Face of the Farmer, in hopes that personal introductions will help them get the respect and the livable income they deserve.

That bud you are smoking didn’t just come from a jar in a shop, it was birthed from decades of struggle and pain, mixed in with a love of farming. Stories to follow.

Many thanks to our Farm Tour 2021 Sponsors, hosts & friends: Stash Logix (Skip), (Alice Moon), The Herbal Chef/Chris Sayegh, Richard Hilfiger, Nashira Los Angeles, Patricia Patton, Vapor Bros. (Burt), Zoe Wilder, Christina Wong, Jasmine Walton, The Burnett Family, Green Valley Floral, Riverview Farm, MD Farm, Paradiso, Biko Flower (Kristen Lovell), Proof Wellness (Jen Noska), Jessica Gonzalez (The Mommy Jane), Swami Select, Sunboldt Grown (Sunshine Cereceda), Flow Cannabis (Amanda Reiman + partners), Cookies, Papa & Barkley, Riverwalk Inn (Fortuna), Huckleberry Hills Farm (John Casali & Rose) Shelter Cove Inn (Shelter Cove), Humboldt Infuzions, The Cathey Family, Humboldt Seed Co. (Nat Pennington/Halle), Sandy Bar Ranch, Humboldt Distilary, Redwood Roots Family Farms, Sol Spriit Farms/Sol Spirit Retreats, Herb & Market, Aloha Humboldt, Sisters of the Valley, OG Extracts/Evidence (Casey Dalton), Wendy Heron, Paul Ross, The Cannabus

Surprising Interview: Richard Hilfiger

I’ve interviewed many celebrities and one thing is for sure, they are humans with human emotions and flaws just like everyone else. And if they are using cannabis, they also face persecution from all sides and feel confusion as to what this plant can do and how to medicate properly. And this concerns me because their voices are so loud. 

My most surprising interview of the year happened when I interviewed Richard Hilfiger, aka: Rapper, Ricky Hil.

I profiled Rich for my series What’s in Your Stash? for High Times, and then put him inside the printed magazine for its Health issue in May.

This interview is meaningful because I really didn’t want to interview him or write his story, because his tattoos scared the shit out of me and his music can be very dark. He just wasn’t a subject I would have been moved to write about.

But he kept being put in front of me.

We in the cannabis community who are remedy makers and caregivers understand what this means. It happens all the time.

Early on I wrote an essay under my brand Educated Stoner, titled Evangelizing Cannabis: Praise the Lord and Pass the Pipe, about those seemingly put in front of me for help. Even if they don’t listen, they hear. It’s Biblical - from our mouths to their ears, that’s Evangelizing the plant. This is how I approached the interview with Rich.

I agreed to interview him because I kept reading that he smoked 20 joints a day, with no further inquiries from the writers as to why. I felt instinctively that something might be off, and was called to at least talk to him, whether I wrote the story or not - from my mouth to his ears.

Turned out he was treating disorders by smoking - lots. Cannabis helps with highs and lows of emotional disorders, but it’s not a perfect solution and a dosing protocol is everything.

I explained the importance of ingesting - not just cannabis, but calming chamomile; and how too much THC can trigger anxiety and other symptoms. He listened respectfully, heard me and learned.

The interview turned out to be a lovely surprise, as Rich turned out to be a well spoken, kind, old-soul, and we quickly became friends. The old saying, you can’t judge a book by its cover was never more true. I never saw the tattoos that intimated me in photos. I only saw him.

I’ve made no secret about falling a little bit in love with those I’ve profiled over the years. And though much of Rich’s music that I initially listened to prior to writing about him wasn’t my cup of tea, after meeting him in person and spending time with him as a friend (including an evening in the recording studio), I took a deep dive into his music (even the pieces that offended my female sensibilities), and found that I had fallen in love with his voice and words as an artist and poet.

I fell in love with his vulnerability - something he openly shares as a defining characteristic of the poetry he pens, set to music.

Rich is prolific, and aside from the albums and mix-tapes he religiously puts out, over the years he’s written and recorded hundreds, if not thousands of songs - many unpublished - with each anticipated release more beloved as the next by his faithful followers (which now includes me).

Happy to share a short list of my favorite Richard Hilfiger songs (so far). I’ve linked my top pics (in bold) to YouTube.

#rickyhil #richardhilfiger #limosanostra

How to Deal

Special ft. Miles

Starfish

Gum

Keep telling me run

Her

In my heart

Can’t breathe

Favorite

Your everything

Black pennies

Don’t give up on me

Break through the walls

Foo Foo

Earth Day

If I make it that far

When I’m tired

Best thing in my life

I am

The lines

Self medicating

I forgot

If I can’t be me

Alright ma

Concealed

YYY

Don’t go

Over it now

Bring me

Deer Peep

My way

Up again

TV & Books

With the help of Publicist extraordinaire, Zoe Wilder, I attained Pam Pho, Literary Agent to represent me and my list of ten book concepts, based on the many series I’ve penned over the years. 

Zoe isn’t yet my Publicist, but she believes in me and wants me to succeed. She’s a greater good Publicist in the cannabis industry and everyone she moves forward means she’s also moving the conversation of cannabis forward in a positive way. Many Thanks, Zoe. I look forward to the day when you’ll rep me in the space - with multiple projects!

Read my profile of Zoe online at High Times under my series Higher Profiles.

Pam quickly submitted my book concept What’s in Your Stash? for review at Random House/Ten Speed Press, where it’s pending a yea or a nay.

After writing the series for two years for High Times, I also developed it into a TV show, with a shopping agreement between myself and Montel Williams as Executive Producer. Montel interviewed me at the end of 2020. Watch it here on YouTube.

I also developed my series Weed Traveler into a TV show, with Max Montrose, founder of the Trichome Institute as host. 2022 I’ll add Farah as co-host and pitch it to Nat Geo.

The challenge of producing an intelligent television show on cannabis as medicine in the U.S., telling the anecdotal stories of healing or anything positive about the plant without stoner jokes, is the fact that the plant is still federally illegal, listed alongside heroin on the Department of Health Schedule 1, with no medicinal value.

That said, I’m forever hopeful to one day create intelligent shows and write books about cannabis as medicine to educate the masses, because they’ve all been in the dark and I’ve been preaching to the choir for way too long. It’s time we in the cannabis community break out of this green bubble and share the dank knowledge. Ignorance is not bliss.

Thank you for following along this year and thank you for reading!

Here’s to more good work and healing with this exceptional plant in 2022!

TV, Weed & Lit Agent

Looking back on 2020, planning for the future in 2021

Twenty-Twenty began with me bedridden with a broken bone and a severe wound caused by a horse riding accident the prior November (not the horse’s fault). 

So, I was already on lockdown, of sorts, when the year began - unaware of what was to come, or the months that would stretch out before me at home. 

In early March, due to the impending COVID-19 virus scare, I wrote a guide for High Times titled, Emergency Preparedness for Medical Cannabis Patents: A guide for cannabis patients who want to be prepared for just about anything.

Literally days after the guide was published (in both English and Spanish), I came down with what felt like severe flu symptoms. It scared me because as a full-time cannabis patient for more than eight years now, I have not been severely sick in as much time.

Whether it was COVID or just a bad flu, I could not get tested, and treated it as I would any other ailment faced, I used cannabis oil and wrote about it for magazines. Such is the life of an advocate/writer. Everything becomes a teaching moment.

By June I was using a walker with the wound and leg healing nicely, but compelled to adopt two sisters near death, who had been used and abused in a puppy mill. 

Layla and Luna were the highlight of my year and the biggest comfort, as I learned to walk, but the world was kept in and out of lockdown due to the virus.

Again, I wrote about caring for these two dogs for magazines, treating them both exclusively with cannabis and other healing plants.

The silver lining of the lockdowns was that humans were sat down, slowed down, and made to think. I watched friends learning to cook for the first time, families spending quality time together, the earth repairing, and my dogs and I healing, as we were all forced to stay close to home.

We also watched as the cannabis industry was declared essential. What a paradox from the U.S. Government’s sealed lips on the healing benefits of the plant, while non-violent pot prisoners still sit suffering for meeting supply and demand. 

Virtual Everything

I’ve been traveling, covering cannabis events for as long as I’ve been in the space - more than eight years now. But, during lockdowns all conferences, expos, and cups were online only. And though I did try to get involved with as many as I could, it just wasn’t the same thing.

Then I was asked to be a judge in Mexico’s second cannabis cup, the Copa Cannabica, held in Mexico’s wine country, the Valle de Guadalupe - just 30 minutes from where I live in Baja California. I wrote about the honor of being there for my series Weed Traveler for Weed World Magazine, on stands now (pending posting to its website). 

Having grown up coming to Mexico from Southern California, the event was really special for me. The only woman at the table, it was good to commune with fellow enthusiasts again. It was also amazing to see that the cannabis industry in Mexico is alive and well - ahead of ordinances, waiting for rules to be put in writing, after the Mexican Supreme Court ruled to stop the prohibition of cannabis in 2018, stating there was no good reason to prohibit the plant in the first place.

By November 20, I held my own 420 event, announcing the Mexican Senate’s approval of a Bill to go forward the day prior. It was an epic moment. 

Earlier in the year I wrote about Mexico’s progress in ending prohibition for High Times. Even though this Bill passed, the date to put ordinances in writing was pushed, yet again, to April of 2021. The Bill is nowhere near perfect, with a few ridiculous, unrealistic rules, and many hoping that by Spring the legislators can get educated on what cannabis use actually looks like  and get it right for the people.

The World’s Turning Green

Back in October of 2020, the topic of cannabis turned as mainstream as it could, as I profiled the Second Lady of Pennsylvania, Gisele Fetterman, for a cover feature for Weed World Magazine, as she explained her own cannabis use for a lifetime of chronic pain. 

Pennsylvania has a Bill pending to legalize the state, with Gisele and husband, Lt. Governor John Fetterman now outspoken advocates. I then included her in my series What’s in Your Stash? for High Times, as she added her cannabis remedies to her Altar for Dios de Muertos, praising the plant.

It was a red-letter year for cannabis - or a very green year, I should say, with the plant crossing party lines, winning legalization for four more states during the the U.S. election, bringing the national tally up to 15 states legal for recreational use; with 35 states legal for cannabis as medicine.

Global recognition soon followed, with the United Nations reclassifying the plant by removing it from the 1961 Schedule IV (4) for narcotic drugs, where it was listed alongside heroin and opioids. Though the U.N. still regards the plant, or its psychoactive compound of THC, as dangerous, the move is a step in the right direction.

Everything should be a step forward now. “Should'' being the keyword in that sentence.

Books, Television & Acceptance

The highlight of my year was being interviewed by Montel Williams on his podcast, Let’s Be Blunt. Then, we turned the table, and I interviewed him on his own show for my series Higher Profiles for High Times (pending).

Twenty-Twenty-One  will see two of my TV shows shopped by Montel as Executive Producer, with his longtime Producer, Melanie McLaughlin. This is a gift from Heaven, and if the stars align and TV execs can find the sponsors, magic could happen with a larger platform to educate the masses - which has been my master plan all along.

The new year also sees me being represented by top Literary Agent, Bob Diforio, founder of D4EO Literary Agency, with two of my ten book concepts being worked into proposals over the winter: What’s in Your Stash? and Weed Traveler. 

I’ve been writing What's in Your Stash? for High Times for nearly two years now, profiling interesting people in the cannabis space, as well as artists and celebrities. The book will feature the highlights of the written series, as well as celebrities already attached or waiting with interest to/for the TV series; including, Martha Stewart, Jim Belushi, Laganja Estranja, and Seth Rogan. The TV show’s proposed host is Jessica Gonzales, The Mommy Jane, on Instagram. Jessica is a young mother influencer and spends her days educating and advocating for the plant and normalizing the use of cannabis for moms.

Weed Traveler began as a Road Trip series seven years ago for Dope Magazine, currently written as Weed Traveler for Weed World Magazine in the UK. The series covers many countries and states in the U.S., with notable neighborhoods and businesses included. The book will be a compilation of the stories written. 

The TV show, Weed Traveler, is being further developed with Montel Williams and will be shopped by his production company early 2021. I initially developed the concept for Anthony Bourdain, using his format that included a sense of place, region, culture and politics - replacing food with cannabis. After Bourdian’s passing I reworked it for weed world traveler and plant science nerd, Max Montrose. 

Looking Forward

Forward is the direction I’m looking for mainstream approval on cannabis in the U.S. This is necessary for my intelligent television concepts on cannabis to be accepted by network and/or cable platforms for television. Reason being, the more mainstream companies that add at least CBD to the mix, translates to sponsors for TV shows. 

My shows will not be sponsored by big pharma, big ag, or big oil. That’s my reality. So, if Coca-Cola wants to launch a CBD-pop with pot, please don’t judge. At this point, I’d gladly add CBD coke to my remedy tray (along with my infused spiced rum, of course) if it allowed me to produce intelligent programming on cannabis for television.

My New Year’s Resolutions? To keep teaching, preaching, and being tenacious, with my sights firmly set on weed, television, and a couple of books.

It’s not that I haven’t appreciated writing for you all through cannabis publications, it’s just that preaching to the choir hasn’t propelled the important information on healing from the plant far enough.

With a background in television, that’s the platform I need to be in. That’s where we can do the most educating and make the most difference.

No matter if the premise is under the guise of a fluff piece looking at a Stash or traveling around the world in search of the perfect bud. We all know that stash and that flower are both a lot more complex than most are led to believe, with equally intriguing backstories.

Here’s to another year, as I raise my cannabis-infused mocktail to the plant and to you all. Thank you for being on this journey with me. Thank you for reading!

Ongoing series I write for magazines:

High Times: 

Higher Profiles: Profiles of movers and shakers in the cannabis industry, celebrities. 

 What's in Your Stash? Patient profile via looking into someone’s stash.

Weed World Magazine UK:

Kitchen Apothecary: Patient profiles/essays, with recipes to make at home.

Weed Traveler: Travel series profiling sense of place, culture, history, politics and products, surrounding the global cannabis industry.

Women of Weed World: Series profiling women in the cannabis industry whose work may not normally be highlighted in the space.

Vegas & Tahoe Cannabis Magazine(s): 

Daily Dose: A day in the life of a serious cannabis patient, with dosing, protocols, and recipes.

Warding off Severe Illness

Treating flu and virus symptoms with cannabis and other plants in the time of COVID.

October 27, 2020 - This past weekend I presented with a low-grade fever, no higher than 99.8, with body aches, chills, fatigue and an overall feeling of un-wellness.

After last March’s COVID scare, it concerned me, for as a full-time cannabis patient for the past eight years, I don’t fall ill too often. As with past bouts of cold or flu, or the COVID scare of last March, I merely up my ingesting, taking to bed, with severe symptoms not lasting longer than a couple of days.

For this bout, I took to bed and treated the symptoms with homemade cannabis oil capsules, suppositories; a Full-Spectrum, terpene rich tincture from Peak Extractions of Portland, Oregon, with a high CBD, low THC formulation (24/17 mg); and a high CBD vape pen from Hempbase, with additional limonene terpenes added (said to be a de-stressor).

The suppositories were a coconut infusion of half cannabis, half chamomile, not the usual alcohol reduction stronger oil I typically make. Each suppository had one gram of the mix.

The capsules were a mix of cannabis, chamomile, and guanabana; made via an alcohol reduction, with coconut solid. Each capsule held one milliliter of the mix. 

The first night, I did suppositories, 3-4 hours apart, and took a capsule every three to four hours until symptoms were gone.

I also smoked whole flower, as needed, though I couldn’t take the bong hits I normally do, due to coughing - so, the vape was a nice delivery of pure medicine into my system.

Happy I’m well again after just a few days. In this time of COVID, the slightest fever causes alarm. I pictured myself having to go get tested, gradually getting worse. But, I’m very fortunate, as I’m a cannabis patient and have a plethora of good medicine from the garden at my disposal. 

Be safe out there. And, remember, there’s a plant for that!

Cannabis to the Canine Rescue

Using plant-based remedies and supplements to treat dogs

Recently, I thought I’d adopt two small dogs. It’s something I’d thought about doing for a while, but didn’t act on it for one reason or another – all having to do with my living situations the past few years.

Then, I saw their sweet faces on a Facebook posting, and the decision was made for me. Felt meant-to-be. I’ve just settled into a nice sized loft apartment on a hillside, and was able to gate and fence in a good-sized patio/dog run, so I had no excuses not to give them a good home.

Since I’m just learning to walk again after a broken, then fractured foot, my caregiver went to pick them up. She’s a dog breeder and groomer, and I would not have made the decision to adopt them without knowing she’d help me.

As it was explained to me on the phone, they were full grown at a year and a half. The photo showed two, small wire-haired terrier-type mutts. The woman said one had a small area of mange on its hind side; and the other had a dog bite on its stomach, maybe infected, she said.

From Adopting, to Rescue

When my caregiver arrived, she said the two “medium-sized” dogs were tied to a patio in full-sun with no shade, little food or water; with two collars each, one set tight, to the point of causing sores on their necks. She said the leashes were so twisted together they could barely move, and that it looked like they’d been like that for a while. They were made to lay next to their own feces.

Their bellies were dissented and they were skin and bones. It would take up to four days for them to pass solid waste, and then it was apparent they were eating plants that surrounded their patio prison.

Their fur was bleached orange from long-term sun exposure. It appeared that neither of them had ever been brushed. The lighter one has Doodle in her, but her curls were so matted that most had to be cut off.

Both had extensive amounts of mange, with large swaths of skin damaged and fur-less. They also had ticks, but thankfully, no fleas – and, as it turned out, no worms, which was surprising.

Due to their lack of bad food, ironically, their teeth are in good condition.

Both dogs were so weak they had to be carried from the patio to the car, then into space. Both were groomed before being brought into the apartment.

They were in very bad shape. Luna was near death. The extensive bite marks on her belly were apparent. Thick, yellow puss oozed out from any opening, including her lower teats, which also appeared to be infected. She had a large, festering wound between the back teats that was closed up, making it difficult to heal.

Dogs as Cannabis Patients

Dogs are biologically the same as humans, and get the same ailments as we do. Infections and pain are the same, they just can’t tell us how they are feeling. In this respect, plants treat them the same way they treat us, via our endocannabinoid system – which addresses all our biological systems, and strengthens our immune system in the process. That’s what plants do.

As is my mode of operendi, I decided to treat them both topically with a half cannabis, half chamomile salve I make using coconut and shea butter, with guanabana and arnica in the current batch.

Guanabana is a South American super food used to treat infection, inflammation, and cancer. Arnica is typically used topically for inflammation and pain, but a little research showed it too is another super food that used to be commonly ingested.

Chamomile is another underrated, yet highly medicinal super food, that’s been reduced to a calming up of tea. That’s the reason I add it to the cannabis infusion, as it takes the edge off the activated THC, which can test upwards of 60 percent in an oil infusion.

Chamomile is calming for dogs that are anxious, and these two rescues needed calming. It’s also an anti-inflammatory, treats infections, and is an antioxidant – which most super foods are. Chamomile was also shown to kill cancer cells in a laboratory study with an efficacy rate of 93 percent. (see chamomile information on my website under Apothecary)

Also per a study, chamomile treats depression. Tied up in the sun in their condition, anyone would be depressed.

Layla was dosed internally by licking the salve applied topically, and taking small amounts from my fingers. Luna was given a few milliliters of cannabis-infused olive oil, as her infection demanded a stronger, pure cannabis dose.

Interesting to note, Luna gobbled it all up – she needed it the most; while Layla didn’t respond positively to ingesting it until she watched Luna do so. Sibling rivalry can be productive.

Due to the severity of both their conditions, neither seem to have a diverse reaction to the THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, which would give them a head-high. They were both soon calm and sleeping peacefully. In a matter of days both were used to the activated THC, with no negative reactions.

Note: The first sign of too much THC in animals is shaking. This is due to the central nervous system (CNS) affected, nothing more. Humans may get heart palpitations, but it’s not the cardio system, it’s the CNS. Chamomile takes the edge off, calming the CNS. If a human presents at an emergency room with too much THC, they will only give a mild sedative to calm the CNS – such as Valium, or something to help sleep it off.

They were also given small portions of homemade dog food I made, using infused olive oil, infused with moringa and guanabana leaves. Since we could safely assume they had not been eating well, I gradually gave them more at each sitting. This homemade food is rich and they don’t need as much – about a cup each, morning and night. (The recipe is on my website, under Apothecary)

In the recipe, I’ve mimicked what a dog would eat in the wild – raw ground meat, oats, and mixed vegetables. Dogs eat herbavores, with bellies full of grains and greens. They don’t stop to de-bone and cook their meat, they eat it raw.

I also made them treats of peanut butter balls, made with oats and cannabis/chamomile infused honey. For chewing, I gave them stew bones to gnaw on, which they loved. I’m not a fan of kibble, no matter what they put in it, and believe dogs should eat real food. (Recipe on my website, under Apothecary)

The mange had also subsided, with fur growing back on both in a week’s time. I had applied the salve liberally three times a day until notably gone.

Near death, to happy dogs

It’s been a little more than two weeks since they arrived, and both are playful, good natured, and doing well. It took this long for Luna to be able to raise her tail, or wag it, but she’s good now.

Albeit, neither knew any words – the only one they knew was “no.” They don’t know what “walk” means, sit or stay, but they are smart and learning fast.

Luna has anger issues and has bitten two of my friends, so far. She also nips at play, so we must break that. She’s frail and weak, and I’m writing it off as a defensive reaction. It will take a while for her to trust. Both dogs bark a little too much for my liking, but we are working on that, as well.

Why was I so confident that plants alone would treat both dogs, especially Luna’s nasty infection? Just last Fall I treated my own nasty wounds from a horse stepping on me, with great success. Shunning antibiotics, tetanus, and pain killers, much to the doctor’s dismay, with nary an infection in sight, and rapid healing, with minimal scarring. (Read my story in Vegas/Tahoe Cannabis Magazines).

Since coming into the cannabis space eight years ago this Fall, I’ve used myself as a lab rat, treating any ailment I have with cannabis and/or the superfoods mentioned, with positive outcomes. In as many years, I’ve interviewed cannabis patients who have treated themselves and their pets with great success. Knowing successful outcomes in lieu of pending studies gives me confidence to bypass traditional pharmaceuticals with myriad negative side effects, for undeniable healing.

The main side effect of using superfoods to heal is a strengthened immune system, with all our biological systems addressed. My fur babies and I are living proof of the power of plants.

#NotJustCannabis

Cannabis was my Gateway to other Beneficial Plants

When I was 24 years old I knew I wanted to be a gardener. Unable to learn in a traditional setting, I enrolled at a local occupational center to earn a certificate in gardening maintenance. I sat beside immigrants and young men with their sights on becoming maintenance workers at golf courses and city parks.

Initially, I worked for a lady who only planted flower beds, with my goal of having my own gardening service one day.

After a year working for others, my Aunt Janice lent me a down payment for a little red Nissan truck, and via word-of-mouth, I eventually had more than 30 clients; designing, planting and maintaining flower beds in high-end neighborhoods where I grew up in the South Bay of Los Angeles.

That parlayed into planting vegetable gardens, and I raised my daughter eating out of the garden.

I didn’t fully understand the importance of what it means to our bodies to eat an abundance of produce, herbs, and spices from the garden to prevent major illness, until I moved up to Humboldt County and presented with breast cancer.

As detailed in my “Sharon’s Cancer Story,” I had smoked cannabis since I was 16, giving it up after getting pregnant with my daughter (something I know now I didn’t have to do).

As also detailed, because I was working in media in the cannabis capitol of the world, I was given cannabis oil by Southern Humboldt remedy maker and farmer, Pearl Moon, of The Bud Sisters.

That first night I didn’t need my sleeping pill I’d relied on for years for sleep difficulties from Thyroid Disease and Menopause; the next day I no longer needed my pain killer for a partially disabled knee. In two and a half weeks, upwards of ten prescription medications and supplements were no longer needed; with the cancer gone in two and a half months.

This made me look at plants in another way, as I learned that cannabis is a super food, or a plant with numerous benefits – with many more super plants out there to learn about.

The second addition to my Apothecary cupboard was chamomile, as I discovered it too is a super food, with the ability to replace the Valium, I had needed prior for anxiety. It also quelled pain when used as a topical – in the same way CBD (cannabinoid) only or cannabis salve would. A study found it’s also an antioxidant and kills cancer cells; with yet another study showing an ability to combat depression.

A severe bout of allergies in the Southern Baja desert enlightened me to the use of Nettles as allergen – clearing up my sinus in minutes when made into a tincture (steeped in gin, I initially made a tonic cocktail, then used it as a tincture with a dropper). Nettles are also an immune system builder and liver cleanser. Who knew?

I’ll tell you who knew, the Apothecaries prior to the 1930s. Apothecary was the method of healing with plants around the world up until synthetic patents were created that could only attempt to mimic the healing benefits of the super foods – or super plants, already in use for thousands of years.

Each night I take one cannabis and one chamomile oil capsule before bedtime; preventing the cancer from coming back and others from starting, and keeping myriad symptoms at bay from Thyroid Disease and menopause; as well as hormonal depression.

This past summer I was given a new product to try from Emerald Health Bioceuticals, said to feed the endocannbinoid system (ecs) that accepts the beneficial compounds from plants in the same way cannabis does.

With the tag line, “Beyond CBD,” the product and subsequent ad campaign alerts us to the fact that many beneficial plants have the CBD compound and other complex super food qualities that prevent numerous negative ailments… inflammation, infection; and are anti-oxidants, preventing against cancer, adjust blood sugars and regulate hormones.

To test this product I decided to forgo the chamomile cap at night and began taking two caps of Endo Bliss, a combination of beneficial herbs said to promote a “positive mood outlook,” while supporting the ecs.

Main ingredients in the Bliss formulation include Saffron powder, and “PhytoCann” complex; a proprietary blend of six proven herbs and botanicals to activate the ecs in the same way cannabis or CBD does.

As listed, the complex includes, clove oil, black pepper, ginger, Echinacea, peony, and magnolia.

A few years ago I did a story on cloves and its abundance of Beta-caryophyllene or BCP, as noted in the following exerpt:

Cannabis also contains a little known compound called Beta-caryophyllene or BCP, said to nearly mimic CBD with no psychoactive properties, found in the most fragrant herbs and spices, such as oregano, black pepper, and cinnamon.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences July of 2008, a team of pharmacology and neurology experts from Switzerland, Italy, and Germany reported that BCP is in fact a dietary cannabinoid, responsive to both CB1 and CB2 receptors within the Endocannabinoid System.

The findings named BCP as a “potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of inflammation, pain, atherosclerosis, and osteoporosis.”

The paper goes on to state, since the team knew Cannabis strains vary wildly – especially in oil delivery preparations – five “commercial” Cannabis essential oils lacking CBD were tested in young mice during this controlled study.

The conclusion stated that BCP, taken with a daily intake of 10 to 200 mg. “could be a dietary factor that potentially modulates inflammatory and other pathophysiological process via the Endocannabinoid System.”

The first day of taking two of the Endo Bliss capsules, I felt as uplifted as I had with the chamomile in a very short amount of time, and I didn’t need to take a chamomile cap in the daytime, as needed for anxiety. I continued to take two a day until the bottle was gone, or about 30 days. Then, I purposely didn’t take the chamomile cap to note the difference. In no time my anxiety and a lower mood reared its ugly head, and I resumed my chamomile once more.

I can assuredly say, the Endo Bliss worked. Other proprietary combinations by Emerald Health Botanicals include, Endo Sleep, Endo Inflame, Endo Calm, and Endo Brain – providing clarity of mind, focus and cognition, to name a few positive side effects.

I live in Mexico, where plant-based remedy is common, with botanica shops my go-to for herbal combinations, treating many common ailments.

I purchased a bag of such plants labeled for sleep that included pieces of bark & leaves from lilac, orange blossom, purple toronjil, orange leaves, and pyracantha. Instructions said to steep in water for a strong tea to aid in sleep. I decided to make some capsules using the same alcohol reduction recipe for cannabis oil, using a 96 percent alcohol sold in Mexico ($7 U.S. a liter).

The results were nothing short of spectacular, as the capsule knocked me out with no negative side effects – I woke up refreshed, knowing the ingredients also had other properties, feeding my ecs in the same way cannabis and other super plants do.

In Mexico, there are but a handful of teas on market shelves – all medicinal: chamomile, lemon balm, hibiscus, and my favorite, Siete Azores, Seven Blossoms – with seven beneficial plants in one tea, used as prevention and remedy.

I’ve said this before and I’ll continue to say it, we as a species have gone too far from the garden, while simultaneously adding toxins and empty food to our environment and diets.

If you are a cannabis partaker or patient and are only smoking to relieve symptoms from ailments, add ingesting to your regiment – at least five to 10 milligrams of CBD or a THC infused ingestible will make a world of difference to your body. It will also save you money on flower to burn, as you won’t need to smoke as much or as often when ingesting a micro-dose.

For optimum health and prevention, add other beneficial herbs to your daily dose and diet, and feel better fast, confident that you chose the correct gateway to good health – cannabis.

Pets & Plants

Why dogs & cats need plants in their diet.

Domestic pets, if left to their own devices in the wild, will eat field mice, gophers, and other herbivores; consuming everything but the spleen and large intestine. Protein is found within the bones and flesh of the animal, but its stomach is full of plants and grains, with animals ingesting the contents in the process. It’s a trickle down effect of beneficial plant compounds that feed the endocannbinoid system (which improves all biological systems), while strengthening the immune system.

Recently, a friend asked why they should include plants in their pets diets. Though dogs and cats naturally consume plants via the explanation above, the best reason to provide beneficial plants to your pets is also about prevention, as domestic pets are typically fed empty foods that are highly processed with questionable ingredients, actually weakening their immune systems and leaving them open to all kinds of disorders - with thyroid disease, diabetes, cardio and digestive issues, chronic pain, and cancers.

Cats and dogs are biologically the same as humans - they get the same ailments, they just can’t give us a heads-up on early symptoms that could be red flags for the serious ailments listed above.

The Veterinary Oncology & Hematology Center states cancer accounts for nearly 50 percent of all disease-related deaths each year, with our furry friends closer to the ground, suffering as much or more than we do from toxins in our environment and dirty food practices.

As detailed in an article from Natural News processed pet foods contain “meat meal,” cooked down at temperatures between 220 and 270 degrees, allegedly sterilizing the contaminated meat used from a stated plethora of “road kill,” euthanized animals from zoos and animal shelters, and meat classified as “4-D,” or “dead, diseased, disabled and dying.”

Author Ann Martin in her book “Food Pets Die For” reveals some 200 tons of animals present to pet food manufacturers per month in Los Angeles alone, with the sodium phenobarbital residue used from euthanasia still in the mix. Residue from this concoction containing fecal material is dried and pulverized into a brown powder then used as an additive to pet foods and livestock feed – with farmers referring to it as “protein concentrates.” Martin states that more than five million tons of processed slaughterhouse leftovers were are used for animal feed in the United States each year.

Knowing how damaging processed food can be, it’s incentive enough to make homemade food for ourselves - why not our beloved pets? Why have we equated their food with the best deal on the shelf, spending pennies per day feeding them?

I’ve advocated for dosing our pets with cannabis as prevention and for healing disease, but giving them beneficial vegetables and herbs in their diet is the same kind of daily prevention.

Following are simple recipes that combine raw meat (animals don’t de-bone and cook meat in the wilderness), grains, veggies and herbs they will love. While cats are more finicky, a dog will eat just about any combination. I’ve also included an infusion recipe for fish oil and chamomile that can be mixed into the food, or dosed with a dropper. See Apothecary page for benefits on chamomile.

See #notjustcannabis page under the Apothecary page for additional information and recipes.

Twenty Bong Hits

Emotional Issues & Cannabis

A friend and I were comparing notes on using cannabis to treat chronic depression. At this friend’s lowest point, doing 20 bong hits in a row seemed to do the trick momentarily, but it wasn’t sustaining.

How many of us have done this – holed ourselves up and smoked for hours to get emotional relief – but, it doesn’t come, it just numbs.

Suffering hormonal depression for 13 years with Thyroid Disease, in my fifties I rediscovered the herb for emotional relief, then my symptoms were increased going into Menopause. Teary-eyed emotions turned into crying jags, only quelled by hitting the bong.

A favorite essay penned, Cannabis: Calming the Crazy Bitch (see Essay page), details what women deal with emotionally via hormonal imbalances, and how I was inevitably helped overall via ingesting cannabis for myriad symptoms from both disorders.

That said, I’m still triggered by life situations and still deal with depression, anxiety, and occasionally, an overall sense of dread coming out of now where – a simply awful feeling, common with hormonal symptoms.

Another issue from both Thyroid Disease and Menopause include a type of Agoraphobia – not a fear of going outside, but a sort of paralysis to leave the house, or my safe space. When I was suffering just from Thyroid Disease I couldn’t get off the couch, add Menopause, and at times, I can’t leave the house. Both are helped dramatically with cannabis use.

A study out of Washington State University’s Department of Psychology, reported in the Journal of Affective Disorders, by lead study author, Carrie Cuttler, showed a reduction in depression levels just by taking one hit of cannabis high in CBD. Ten hits of a combination of THC and CBD found a decrease in stress levels, with two hits showing a clear reduction in anxiety.

At ten hits my friend would have found some relief, why continue on to 20?

As was explained to me by Dr. William Courtney while I was still in-house at the Times-Standard in Eureka, California, smoking gives merely a fraction of the beneficial compounds of the plant – with the patient literally burning up any help remaining, with effects gone in about an hour, and more smoking needed.

In this regard, smoking can add up to an expensive delivery of the remedy to the system. It’s actually quite inefficient and extravagant.

I’m not suggesting giving up burning flower. This Educated Stoner knows better. There’s nothing quite like smoking fresh and flavorful terpenes from flower. The effect is immediate and as uplifting as a morning jog – raising endorphins and distressing like nothing else can.

I am suggesting that smoking be done in tandem with ingesting, or to top off ingesting, increasing the efficacy of the medible, activating the entourage effect, giving better overall, longer lasting relief for symptoms, while saving the pocket book the expense of pricey flower.

This can also be said for dabs, but more so, as dabs are expensive. If you’ve reached that level of efficacy with burning flower, and now need to step up to smoking concentrates for effect – then needing more and more concentrates for the same feeling – you should probably think about ingesting to compensate, as this mode of operendi is telling you that your tolerance has risen and needs to be brought back down.

(See next blog post for information on titrating up or down.)

So, the next time you are in that dark place, taking one hit after the other, with little effects on your emotional state, you might want to try a little tincture or a medible, enacting the entourage effect, giving you an overall sense of well being, for a longer amount of time.

Cannabis: Needing too much weed for less effects?

Building biological tolerances to plants, titrating up or down to correct.

Since using cannabis oil for a breast cancer scare in October of 2012, I’ve been sharing my personal, and seemingly miraculous prevention and healing from cannabis in publications around the world, and on daily social media posts.

I’ve been able to deal with issues such as UTIs, chronic pain, sleep disorders, depression, skin tags and cancers by using several delivery modes of cannabis and plant-based compounds.

In two of the blogs on my web site, I’ve shared that continued use of cannabis oil, along with daily micro-dosing, smoking and topical use, have not only quelled numerous ailments, my daily use has prevented me from getting sick in the first place, or has substantially reduced cold or flu symptoms in scope and duration.

That was up until this past year, when I became challenged in my life situation, subsequently (I assume) weakening or stressing my immune system – while (I assume) finally becoming tolerant to the strong cannabis oil that (I assume) had kept me healthy up until that point.

In researching tolerance to plant-based remedies, each search turned up more information on tolerance to prescription medications, and the need to increase dosage. The same tolerance can be said for plant-based remedies.

In the cannabis community, titrating down after building tolerance to cannabis use is common. I’ve known many patients and recreational users who stop smoking for up to two weeks at a time, and return to partaking, with newfound feelings of euphoria, tolerated after constant use.

Recently, a friend stopped medicating with cannabis for two weeks as a test. She had replaced alcohol with cannabis some years prior, and had a newfound life as a better mom and wife with cannabis. Her abstinence was not pretty, though, and she became symptomatic and an unsympathetic human in record time.

Tolerance: L. Tolerantia

1. The ability to endure unusually large doses of a drug or toxin.

2. Acquired drug tolerance, a decreasing response to repeated constant doses of a drug or the need for increasing doses to maintain a constant response.

From Biology-Online.org

No, stopping cannabis use cold turkey when you are a needful patient is not a good idea. Plant-based remedies are proactive, and you must be in tuned to the needs of your body for proper use. That said, titrating down for efficacy is another story altogether.

One young women in her 20s was smoking a good amount of dabs daily, treating a chronic condition. I suggested she begin ingesting at least the minimum 10 milligrams of an edible or medible (same thing), as this would cause her to need less dabs as often.

The key is knowing why you are medicating or recreating, and what your true dose or tolerance is,

For myself, I had titrated down prior from my nightly cannabis oil intake before, as it can take more and more to help me get to sleep when I become used to it. Just as in prescription meds, that Valium needs to be increased for the same effects over time.

In my case, with life stresses added, it seems the same dose I had taken for years just wasn’t keeping illness at bay. Winter of 2017 found me on the edge of getting cold or flu four times – never lasting longer than two or three days, but the symptoms were more pronounced.

Most patients who ingest a cannabis concentrate daily have less inflammation and complications thereof, and less to no infections. This means, when I presented with a cold or flu, lacking were the fevers, chills and body aches that are typical when the body is fighting infection, as the cannabis quells those symptoms. My main symptoms were fatigue and some bronchial – made worse by my smoking carbon – causing me to switch to vaporizing.

However, by January of 2018, I began presenting with low-grade fevers and then infections, starting with staph infections on my right leg; an eye infection; and then an ear infection.

This concerned me, as I had been literally ailment-free for the better part of five years – and gloating about it, I might add.

My solution was not to run to the doctor for a round of antibiotics. Why would anyone use “anti-biotics,” seriously, anti – your body? That kills everything.

No, I quickly researched other plants that have the same anti-infection, antibacterial, and antiviral compounds as cannabis, titrated down from my oil, and added Moringa and chamomile concentrates to my daily regimen.

Moringa

• inflammation-related diseases

• cancer

• diabetes

• anemia

• arthritis and other joint pain, such as rheumatism

• allergies and asthma

• constipation, stomach pains and and diarrhea

• epilepsy

• stomach and intestinal ulcers or spasms

• chronic headaches

• heart problems, including high blood pressure

• kidney stones

• fluid retention

• thyroid disorders

• low sex drive

• bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic

Chamomile

• Fighting anxiety and depression

• Natural allergy fighter or hay fever

• Anti-inflammatory

• Muscle spasms treatment

• PMS natural remedy and other menstrual disorders

• Insomnia cure

• Skin disorders

• Ulcers

• Wounds

• Gastrointestinal disorders

• Natural arthritis cure and rheumatic pain reliever

• Hemorrhoids home remedy

Within 24 hours the low-grade fever and ear ache were gone, and I’ve not had any other complications or signs of infection in two-weeks since.

Am I assuming a lot by insisting that plants are the answer to everything? I’ve been told by many I’m irresponsible to share the stories of healing, yet I continue to share, as I and others continue to heal.

Why do I continue to share? Because in writing for you all, I’ve done my homework. Plants are strong medicine.

Since the late 1930s the pharmaceutical industry has been in the profitable business of patenting synthetic compounds that can only mimic the strong healing properties of plants.

The FDA was created to support this theory. Medical schools within our universities were created on the heels of patents of synthetic medicine, not Apothecary – the age old tradition of plant-based remedy.

Prior to the creation of pharmaceuticals via petroleum byproducts, all we had were plants and Apothecary. America’s first Surgeon General was an “Apothecary General,” and used plants on the battle field during the Civil War – including cannabis concentrates for severe pain during surgery.

If you are under the impression that cannabis, or plants in general, may not work for you, the issue may well be that you just have not found your true dose or plant for your specific ailment.

As for cannabis and its psychoactive properties, unless you are used to the "high," you must titrate up slowly over time, initially - or you will have a bad trip. No other way to explain it. You won't die, but you might think you are. Cannabis won't stop your heart, but it does affect the central nervous system, causing anxiety, panic attacks, and heart palpitations - but, it won't stop your heart.

If you’ve been a long-time user and are unable to keep illness at bay, or you just aren’t feeling the euphoria any longer – titrating down may be a good idea.

For good information on daily dosing with cannabis, read Regina Nelson's book, The eCS Therapy Companion Guide, on Amazon

Challenging the Cold/Flu Season

Entry #5, January, 19, 2018

Moderately Severe Epidemic: Building a Stronger Immune System

Plants = Prevention

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), nearly six percent of all Americans currently seeking medical care are presenting with flu symptoms. Tracked by the CDC’s Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network; approximately 2,000 doctor’s offices and clinics around the country are reporting fevers of at least 100 degrees, with a cough or sore throat.

Up until 2012, the percentage of Americans presenting with flu symptoms topped at around two percent. This year, flu symptoms are quickly turning into pneumonia, with every state but Hawaii reporting widespread illness; with 34 deaths reported by the end of 2017, and the toll still climbing.

Fortune Magazine reports, the 2018 flu season may turn out twice as bad as the last; with the H3N2 flu strain especially dangerous for the elderly, who’s immune systems are already challenged.

With the CDC reporting this year’s flu vaccine may be just 30 to 40 percent effective, building your immune system to combat the bug is essential. Getting a flu vaccine is still encouraged, though the savvy cannabis patient understands that boosting the immune system means bulking up on whole foods, infection-fighting herbs and other beneficial plants from the garden.

This writer found out just how important plant-based concentrates are, after using cannabis oil to treat breast cancer more than five years ago.  Aside from doing away with numerous prescription meds, I’ve had nary a cold, flu or headache since. But, this 2017/18 flu season has been different. For some reason I’ve fought off a bad cold, three times in just a few months.

Luckily, due to my ingesting habits, the symptoms do not last longer than a day or two. This is prompting me to share what I’ve been through, what my symptoms have been, and how I’ve upped my ingesting to beat it down in a short amount of time.

Firstly, my symptoms never include headaches, body ache, fever, or chest pressure; only upper bronchial – or runny nose. Symptoms can include a scratchy throat, but never a sore throat. I liken this to lack of inflammation and infection – two key remedies from cannabis and other beneficial plants. Cannabis is also an analgesic, hence no body aches, etc.

I do feel fatigue, and the need for rest. If I were the average American, I might take an over-the-counter cold-relief medicine, and work through my illness. Would this help heal my body? I think not. It would artificially dry up the congestion, masking the symptoms; while eliminating fatigue with a synthetic stimulant.

Rather, I choose to up my ingesting of cannabis concentrates, along with a chamomile concentrate for added measure and general overall well-being. Chamomile has the same benefits that fight against inflammation and infection, it’s an anti-oxidant, and it wards off depression – giving me an overall sense of well-being.

I follow the entourage effect protocol – ingesting a variety of concentrates via tinctures, capsules, and micro-infused dishes using cooking oils, vinegar, and sauces made with infused base ingredients. I also drink beneficial teas, juices; and eat soups made with lots of vegetables and fresh herbs.

The entourage effect also includes smoking cannabis, as that delivery increasing the efficacy of other treatments and deliveries.

Using a topical body lotion infused with equally beneficial plants is part of the whole-body system. I also rub the bottom of my feel with a cannabis-infused coconut oil, as feet are a pathway, feeding vital organs and systems throughout the body, rounding out the entourage effect.

My prevention protocol includes nightly ingesting of the stronger cannabis oil concentrate, cooked down in an alcohol reduction; but while I’m symptomatic, I ingest it during the day and rest or sleep – as shutting down allows the body to heal.

Five years ago, I didn’t have this plant-based protocol. I used to get the cold or flu several times a year, and would be laid up for weeks at a time. I used to joke, “if you take medicine a cold/flu can last up to two weeks; if you don’t take meds, it can last 14 days.”

I was often overweight, with a challenged digestive system; while on many prescription medications and supplements for several disorders; including chronic pain, and Thyroid Disease with menopause, which combined, causes double-duty hormonal issues with myriad symptoms, too numerous to name here.

My immune system was weakened due to my poor diet and lack of exercise, which I blamed solely on my hormonal disorders, with one pill after another added regularly, to no avail.

I had no idea about our Endocannabinoid System (eCS), and how plants feed all our systems through it, keeping us healthy. We’ve gone too far from the garden for too long now. If you aren’t feeding your eCS, your body won’t be able to fight off infection or worse, as we have become endocannabinoid deficient.

I’m grateful for my time in Humboldt County, for the knowledge shared by farmers and medicine makers allowed me to see that merely smoking the plant – while enjoyable, is only getting a fraction of the benefits into my systems. Ingesting plant concentrates is keeping my immune system strong enough to ward of illness, as demonstrated fully during this cold and flu season.

If you are a cannabis patient, up your game by ingesting, and feel the difference on a daily basis. All those nagging ailments may slowly fall away as your endocannabinoid system, and your health thrives.

Cannabis and the Common Cold

Entry #4: February 20, 2017

It's officially cold and flu season and I'm seeing a lot of people in the cannabis community and beyond posting they are sick. Because I'm an extreme Cannabis Nag and Educated Stoner, I've decided to reiterate my success in staving off cold, flu, or even a headache in the past five years I've been ingesting cannabis and other plants on a daily basis.

And this isn’t bragging, as much as it’s a shout-out for help to my comrades. For there’s nothing quite as sad to me as those in the cannabis space who are not educated on everything this plant can do.

Studies show that headaches, pain - even dementia and cardio issues are now known to be a direct result of chronic inflammation in the body, specifically caused by all the toxins in our environment.

Our bodies are sponges and are greatly affected by dirty air, water, and soil – subsequently leading to dirty food. Add empty processed foods and a lack of real foods to our diets on a daily basis, and our physical well-being is continually challenged.

Following is a breakdown of cold and flu symptoms. Think about what symptoms are from infection and that present inflammation. Symptoms such as fevers, chills, pain, and bronchial congestion - these are the red flags of infection in the body. Fever, mucus – even chills are the body’s way of fighting infection.

Keep just some of the following infection-fighting plants in your system on a regular basis, and you’ll have less infection and inflammation in your body – and subsequently, your body won’t have to raise a fever to fight on its own. Add cannabis to your diet and it's the quintessential pain, anti-inflammatory and anti-infection remedy, with more than 480 beneficial compounds all told.

If I feel a cold or flu coming on, I simply up my ingesting of strong cannabis oil or tincture, adding additional deliveries, such as infused apple cider; drink strong beneficial tea - such as chamomile; and take to bed – for rest is key in fighting any ailment.

Rest is actually an incredibly healing act, though we’ve been told to take a pill and not miss a day of work or school. The kids with the perfect attendance records weren’t healthier than other kids, they were just going to school sick, after taking a pill to mask symptoms.

As suggested by the American Cannabis Nurses Assoc., three deliveries of cannabis as medicine are key (methods to get the medicine of the plant into your systems): topical, ingesting, and smoking (vaporizing clears bronchial). Shown here: Cannabis oil, juiced leaf (frozen in cubes), topical salves, suppositories (no head-high), kief caps.

#notjustcannabis

My own daily doses of plant-based concentrates include taking the strong RSO (Rick Simpson Oil) at night for sleep and prevention (replacing prescription meds, preventing breast cancer); infusing drinking water with herbs and spices; alcohol infused with cannabis and other beneficial herbs and spices as a tonic (see Apothecary Page for recipes); infusing cooking oil and vinegar with cannabis and herbs; adding fresh herbs to all my cooked dishes – and eating lots of chopped vegetable salads, with more chopped herbs, fruits and spices in the mix.

Eating from the garden (or produce isle) is not only healthier, it’s actually less expensive than buying processed foods or eating out – and you’ll feel better in the long run, that’s a given.

To surmise, if you are a cannabis advocate, activist, or enlightened patient, thank you for your support in quelling the negative stigma surrounding cannabis use. If you haven’t yet added the plant and other beneficial herbs to your daily regime in as many ways as possible, you may want to take another look at the fight for wellness that accompanies the fight for the freedom to medicate. You’ll be surprised at how good it will make you feel.

Yours in Wellness,

Sharon

Reference Links:

 CBD fighting inflammation in the body: Project CBD

More than 480 Beneficial Compounds in Cannabis

Environmental Toxins and Alzheimer’s, Scientific American

Cardio Inflammation, Stanford

National Institute of Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine:

Infection-fighting plants: Plants an Antimicrobial Agents, Clinical Microbiology Reviews

Dementia and Chronic Inflammation

Cannabis as Anti-Inflammatory

CBD Suppress Inflammatory and Neuropathy Pain

With Cannabis, the Dentist is my friend.

Entry #3: January 25, 2017

My family spent vacations in Ensenada in Baja California getting our dental work done and riding horses on the beach (see American Stoner in Mexico essay). So, the dentists here were no stranger to me. Five years ago I had a filling done in Ensenada (cost $50 US), but used the Valium typically needed prior for anxiety associated with the mental anguish I go through for these visits. This time, with the knowledge gained from past knee surgery (see Essay, Cannabis & Pain) and using only cannabis, I went into the visits armed with my favorite plant-based medicines, cannabis and chamomile (see Apothecary page with information on chamomile in this site).

The dentist was curious, as I showed him the RSO (Rick Simpson Oil) caps I had made, taking two prior to the procedure. Doctors aren't trained in plant-based medicine, unless they look into it themselves, and cannabis patients typically teach them via demonstration. I strongly encourage cannabis patients to share their anecdotal stories of healing, as it helps educate them while dispelling the myths surrounding the plant.

Part of my anxiety in the dentist's chair comes from severe bouts of claustrophobia. In past visits to the dentist I hyperventilated to tears, feeling like I was suffocating with hands in my face and tools in my mouth. This phobia began when I was held underwater in a swimming pool by a bully when I was nine years old. With cannabis, I'm able to fully relax in a "no worries" state-of-mind.

What started out as a teeth cleaning, ended up a major surgery as my fear of dentist (combined with lack of cash for pricey U.S. work) had kept me away from check-ups for too long. Stitches in two areas were necessary as a deep cleaning and scraping was inevitable.

The dentist offered me prescriptions of an antibiotic along with 800 mg. of prescription Ibuprofen, which I declined. In the five years since putting my breast cancer into remission using RSO I have not had the need for any over-the-counter or prescription pain relievers - as I've had nary a headache since. For if you regularly ingest plant-based concentrates such as cannabis or chamomile, the natural anti-inflammatory and infection-fighting compounds keep minor ailments, such as headaches, at bay.

According to Drugs.com, Ibuprofen is commonly prescribed for peri-operative pain. The synthetic medicine is a NSAID, as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent, though its mode of action is "not completely understood," according to the site. Side effects include "cardiovascular thrombotic events, myocardial infarction, and stroke, which can be fatal." They also have an "increased risk of serious gastrointestinal adverse events, including bleeding, ulceration, and perforation of the stomach or intestines, which can be fatal."

After the procedure I mixed one tablespoon of chamomile infused apple cider vinegar (ACV) with a half a glass of water and drank it down. ACV is a great preventive on its own, infused with chamomile it's a double dose of goodness. According to a paper published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, ACV has been used for thousands of years as medicine in wound care, preventing inflammation and infection, as touted by Hippocrates, said to be the father of medicine. He also coined my favorite quote: Make medicine thy food, and food thy medicine. It also aided in any digestive issues I may have had as a side effect of the anesthesia, as past bouts included extreme nausea and constipation.

I also did a rinse with the mineral oil infused with chamomile several times throughout the first day after the procedure. Chamomile has many beneficial properties that nearly mimic CBD (cannabinoid), a medicinal compound in cannabis, including staving off inflammation and infection that cause pain. It also takes the edge off of too much THC - which is why I added chamomile infused caps to my aftercare. (Visit the Apothecary page on this site for more information on chamomile.)

RSO measures in at around 80% activated THC - which helped immensely in taking me to anther place under the knife. But too much can also cause anxiety, affecting the central nervous system, causing jitters and sometimes a lack of sleep, which is necessary to heal.

Directly after the procedure I had a surge of creative energy and began setting up the shots you see here. A favorite joke I remember from the 70s is, "cannabis forces us to be more creative than we really are," and it's partly correct. For someone like me who suffers bouts of hormonal depression (thyroid w/menopause), it can lift my endorphins to a better level and get me off my butt. However, after a surgical procedure, the body needs rest to heal - hence the calming chamomile caps taken with the strong THC activated caps.

I slept the afternoon away and when I woke up in the evening I had no swelling, with the pain only a dull reminder of surgery. Before going to bed I took another RSO cap and two more chamomile caps. By the next morning I needed only to rinse again with the chamomile mineral oil, completely doing away with any pain. As I write this it's the next afternoon and I've had no pain since.

Interesting to note, I did not want to smoke with all the ingesting. It just wasn't necessary. Actually, in treating my depression (hormonal from thyroid/menopause) I've found that if I ingest enough chamomile and cannabis on a regular basis, I don't need to smoke as much.

Needless to say, the dentist was astounded by the results. The next morning while checking my mouth, he was in disbelief in the way it had already started to heal - with no swelling or infection at all, and absolutely no pain on day two.

I'm grateful for this knowledge of plants and how they heal and protect us. But I'm more grateful for open-minded doctors and dentists, such as Dr. Herrera, who have the intellect to accept that not all traditional therapies are the end-all to healing.

Yours in Wellness,

Sharon

Note: Recipes for all above can be found in the Apothecary page. To make many of my remedies I use the Magical Butter machine, The Source, by Extract Craft, and cold steeping - as with the chamomile infused mineral oil.

Notes from the Road

Entry #2: January, 2017

I’ve also taken a few photos - more than 10,000 of them in 2016 alone. Sharing a slideshow here of highlights from the road, along with photos of inspiration for kitchen apothecary, as I continue to use plant concentrates in as many ways as I can.

In the process I’ve met hundreds of people in the cannabis space, patients and entrepreneurs alike, all moving forward in one of the fastest growing industries in the world – with great healing taking place in the wake.

As detailed in my Educated Stoner essay, Cannabis Evangelist, I’ve continued to share my own story of healing with cannabis and other beneficial plants – often to wide-eyed listeners, unaware of anything positive to do with the cannabis due to decades of propaganda - equally unaware of the power of plants for remedies for real ailments.

For the propaganda doesn’t end with cannabis, as many highly beneficial plants that are readily found around the world have also been downplayed for their healing properties. I call it plant propaganda.

Everywhere I go people have been open to hear my story, helping them to be open to real change with their own health and well-being. And I don't say this lightly. Being on multiple prescription meds was not beneficial for me. The pills did not improve my life, I was merely sustained while having to add a cocktail of pills and supplements to remedy the side effects of the medications. 

Aside from sharing with our doctors to help educate them, one on one is a great way to share our stories of healing. That said, we desperately need the good news on this good medicine to fully cross over into mainstream, as people are sick and suffering needlessly for lack of real information. Those of us in the cannabis space are in a green bubble of knowledge that must be popped at some point.

Ironically, legalization helps. And though medicine is seemingly being pushed to the wayside in light of the freedom to recreate, the healing is definitely taking place.

Actually, it’s the children and senior citizens who are really being healed in droves, changing the face of the plant forever.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for following my travels. And thank you for Evengelizing the plant. For until the words come out of our mouths, the truth will not be heard.

Yours in wellness,

Sharon

Thoughts on the Season

Entry #1: December, 2016

Joni Mitchell penned her liner notes for her first album, Ladies of the Canyon, sharing her love of words came from a favorite English teacher who inspired.

For the past five years I’ve used my words within the cannabis space to inspire, to educated and hopefully, enlighten, as I’ve attempted to dispel myths and offer up truth on my favorite healing herb, cannabis.

If someone would have told me in high school I’d be traveling the world writing about weed, I would have accused them of taking the entire tab. This life of a weed writer was not a chosen one, and it’s certainly not an easy path to go down. In fact, it’s a rabbit hole.

The life I chose at the tender age of 24 was that of a flower gardener in Southern California. 17 years of gardening led to hosting, writing and producing a visiting gardens show for television – that’s what parlayed my career into cannabis, ironically, not the plant itself.

For when your own government does not recognize or even support the healing this plant provides, a career path into cannabis is not highly regarded or sought out. And unless you are farming or manufacturing products with the plant, there is little monetary compensation in just writing about it.

Divine intervention propels people to defend the plant. Happenstance in word-of-mouth situations, when healing doesn’t come from traditional methods, is how the good news on good medicine is typically discovered.

Knowing the truth isn’t always pretty. The truth is often a hard pill to swallow, and watching people die and suffer under traditional treatments while knowing the truth is the toughest part about being a cannabis advocate.

This past year America seemingly embraced cannabis, legalizing for recreation in many states, and offering up medicine to more.

I’ve been asked repeatedly how I feel about legalization and my answer is always the same - legalization means more rules, not more freedoms. My new hashtag is #legalizetolitigate, as each new ordinance creates yet another loophole to convict, while non-violent prisoners sit in waiting for meeting supply and demand of the world’s favorite herb.

In my mind cannabis should not be considered a recreational drug at all. I’ll say this until the cows come home, that even the most ardent stoner not believing in its healing benefits is reaping them just the same. You can take the recreational freedoms away, but you can never take the medicine out of the plant.

That said, along with the people’s win on cannabis during this last election, there was also a set-back of epic proportions with the win of a conservative president and his cabinet appointments filled with uneducated opponents of the plant.

The future looks insecure where good medicine is concerned, with our words of truth all we have to combat an uncertain future of healing in the U.S.

Keep talking about the healing. Come out of the smoky closet and support the plant and the people working for change. Evangelize cannabis – for until the words come out of our mouths, the truth will not be heard.

Happy Holidays! Be well, be true, be honest.