Welcome to the Cannaba Verum podcast, the cannabis truth podcast. I speak the language of cannabis freely and uncensored, while educating my audience on the safe use of this live Plant Therapy. You should know what’s in your cannabis, what’s good and what’s not. It does not come with an FDA stamp of approval yet, using cannabis mindfully, as medication is a different concept in the healthcare philosophy of the past 100 years. There’s a lot to learn and consider cannabis is not dangerous, but it is not harmless, either. This is honey Smith walls, a 21st century cannabis shaman here to explain the language of cannabis in historical, political, and scientific terms, so you can make educated decisions about the medicine you ingest.
Hello My Friends,
I’d like to describe the typical first-time cannabis patient in Florida.
With some age and issues on my own bones, I can pretty easily recognize elders in pain. And upon entering a dispensary, I’ll often see this type of person:
A 60-70ish year-old woman. She is in so much pain her social skills are cut to the quick. She wears a mask because of the pandemic but her eyes and furrowed brow give her grimace of pain away as she casts her eyes downward to avoid contact. She doesn’t feel like “doing the niceties”. The brain fog from a handful of pills she swallows several times a day keeps her from venturing out of the house except to go to the store, the doctors and the pharmacy. Even that is pushin it and she has to call her one of her daughter for a ride anyway… that brain fog slowed her down so she doesn’t trust herself to drive. Doesn’t want the responsibility now anyway…
She also doesn’t trust her blurry vision or skewed responses because of the lag between when the information enters her mind and when her body performs the action. She doesn’t want to admit confusion to her 3 grown kids who are all so busy with their own children. But her quality of life is declining more rapidly every year.
She takes a hand-full of prescription pills every day and still complains about symptoms never relieved and new side-effects like brain fog that can hardly be remembered to list as a complaint.
She is exhausted from the constant pain in her joints and gut and spine and mind. She is sleeping less and less, happy less and less, functional less and less, and losing hope that anything will ever change. She is listless, without drive, has no passion to do anything, and constantly fights the battle of weight and fear for her future.
She is afraid of cannabis but keeps hearing stories. She tried it in the 60s but not as medicine and never used it regularly and doesn’t know anything more about it. She remembers the trippy feelings of her first experience and is afraid of it as an adult. She’s already had scary drug interactions and doesn’t want more.
She has been propagandized by the U.S. government and her church, all her life, about ‘demon marijuana’. She rightly fears the law of the land regarding cannabis, especially because she is a person of color. She knows nothing about the chemistry or botany of the plant and even fears bringing the subject up to her personal physicians.
She is confused about all the hype and doesn’t know where to start to learn if she can’t ask her doctor. And she doesn’t feel comfortable asking her doctor.
She would like a friend to explain it all to her but she doesn’t know anyone with current experience.
She would like a short-cut cheat sheet to understand the nuances of cannabis but really wants somebody knowledgeable to be with her and ‘hold her hand’ during the experience.
She would like to read a trusted book that gives concise information but does not overwhelm. A guide book to show her how to use cannabis safely and effectively.
But where is THAT book and how does she find it?
Now let me describe what it would look like for her to see a cannabis doctor.
After looking online to find a cannabis doctor nearby, our patient makes an initial phone call. Her questions go something like this:
“Hello, I’m new to this and want to try Medical Marijuana. Do I have to get permission from my regular doctor?
Answer: No…. but it would be good to get a copy of your records for your new cannabis doctor to understand your issues. You can call them and grab a copy or give us permission to obtain them for you when you make an appointment with us.
“I heard there are only certain conditions that allow use of medical marijuana… will I meet that criteria?”
Answer: I’m sure you will. If you have survived this long we know you’ve got issues, aches, and pains that can be relieved with this ancient therapy. That Florida law was created to keep kids from attempting to use it improperly.
“Is this visit covered by insurance?”
Answer: Not at this time but the more we demand it, the sooner it will be available.
“Can I use my credit card to pay? I’ve heard some strange things…”
Answer: Maybe… it might depend on who you’re dealing with. Some doctors allow it and some still don’t. The banking rules are caught up in the politics of this issue so it’s still a bit confusing. Best to ask the question first before being surprised at the checkout desk.
“Will this doctor be my primary care physician?”
Answer: No… consider your cannabis doctor a specialist like your eye doctor. And although you don’t need your regular doctor’s permission, it’s good to keep them abreast of your progress with medical marijuana. This has a huge effect on their attitude. Especially when they watch you find relief for a lot of your issues. Your primary care physician was never taught anything about cannabis or the EndoCannabinoid Receptor system in med school. And the science of cannabis is only just now opening up to the world. So your primary care physician has a lot of catching up to do. It will change how they prescribe synthetics.
“Will there be an examination?”
Answer: The cannabis doctor will look at your chart, ask about your history and what brought you there, she might take your pulse and listen to your heart, then will give you a short explanation of what’s to come. You won’t remember much. Especially if you’re still suffering brain fog. You might even want to take someone with you to help you “listen”.
They may or may not provide the service of getting your Florida State Medical Marijuana Card. It costs $75./annually and comes from the state. Your new cannabis doctor will instruct you either way and you can pay her for the service or do it yourself when you get home to the computer.
Florida law states that you must see your cannabis doctor every 7 months. The secondary visits usually cost less. The legislators made this confusing. Again, they didn’t understand anything about cannabis and just regulated without knowledge.
Break
“What do I do after the doctor visit?”
Answer: It will take about a week to get your Florida Medical Marijuana Card in the snail mail. But they will send you email confirmation almost immediately which you can take it with you to show any dispensary the proof that you are now a medical marijuana patient, and may begin medicating.
They’ll tell you to use any dispensary of your choice. It’s like the difference between Walgreens and CVS… they all carry basically the same stuff but from different companies.
I suggest you try them all because there are no standards yet. Every dispensary will have medication that seems the same but come from different farms. Each farm grows lots of varieties which have subtle characteristics because of the 500 different chemicals that grow within the plant. The farmers have learned how to manipulate those chemicals according to scientific discovery and every single grow is different.
Further, we still don’t know but an inkling of what the chemovars in cannabis can do. It’s all in the beginning stages of scientific discovery. So until those guys figure out the combinations of chemicals we need from this plant to do the trick and fix the problem, we’re just guessing and attempting to become our own alchemists. We only have anecdotal evidence as the scientists begin Randomized Control Testing which is the gold standard of medicinal discovery. Answers are coming.
So until then, let’s start with a dispensary near by your home for convenience.
Each dispensary will have counselors to help you determine what to choose, based on the description you give of your issues and level of pain. Those counselors know their products well enough to help you decide.
Our bodies repair much better in rest so let’s make sure you’re sleeping well.
Your morning routine can get a lift from an energetic product that also keeps your pain at bay. You may discover the need for an additional dose in the afternoon or evening that will not make you sleepy or woozy but the night-time medicine will be waiting for you before bed.
You can always stay in control of the way you feel with cannabis. You never have to feel euphoria or that famous high. We have already discovered that cannabis can be completely controlled by micro-dosing the tiniest amounts and counter-acting any THC with CBD to quell the high. So unlike Western medicines, you can titrate tiny tiny amounts up to the sweet spot you feel that calms your issues. You are your own alchemist/guinea pig and that’s a good spot to be… nobody else can feel those effects but you so micro-dosing and waiting to see what happens will get results more quickly with mindfulness and journaling the facts.
Now let me share my experience with a neurologist who is also a cannabis doctor.
I took my records to Dr. Anthony Mazo here in Melbourne, to find out what I can do about the terrible pain growing in my hands. I had some sort of weird injury raising a 10×10 tent a year ago and ZING went some spring in my arm from my neck to my fingers and suddenly, my hand was numb, my fingers tingle, and they feel raw like they’ve been skinned. Very painful.
So I do the doctor dance and get all the tests he wants to check and when I go back for results and a plan, I was pretty certain he was gonna send me to a surgeon. Some of you have already heard this story but I was really surprised to hear him tell me,
“Honey… go to MUV dispensary and get some of their RSO and their gel patches. You’ve been living with the pain of bulging and herniated disks for a long time and the arthritis in your hands is speaking up more. Consider your diet to get rid of inflammatory foods (meat and dairy) and find the right dosage that stops the pain. I’m giving you a prescription for a nerve-blocker and an anti-inflammatory. RSO is expensive and not covered by insurance. So you can supplement with prescription medication (which IS covered by insurance) if you need to.”
I was gobsmacked. I didn’t realize I wasn’t using enough cannabis and it didn’t occur to me to increase the dose. See how pain can keep us from thinking clearly?
And I’m IN THE INDUSTRY!
I had begun waking hourly during the night from my hands screaming at me and still didn’t think to increase my dose. I wasn’t listening to my body telling me it needed more help. We need medical professionals to counsel us through the confusion. And this neurologist incorporated cannabis into his little black bag with ease… as can every other doctor on the planet… as soon as they gain the education.
I did go to MUV dispensary in Merritt Island and got their RSO (which is a high-powered product usually reserved for extreme pain and certain other issues) then began finding the right dose for me by titrating up from the tiniest amount until I began finding relief in sleep and my hands. That dose is different for everybody and it’s always a hunt and peck process to get to your particular sweet spot of relief. That’s the key to your success with cannabis. Finding your sweet spot. Whether its hemp or marijuana.
It may be time for you to make an appointment to get your medical marijuana card or you may want to try using a trustworthy hemp product first, that you can buy over the counter. I recommend Charlotte’s Web hemp products which you can order online. When my new website is hot, I’ll have a convenient link for you to use.
I talk about Dr. Anthony Mazo all the time. He’s in Melbourne, FL and has the Brevard Neuro Center. He’s an excellent cannabis specialist and neurologist and my friend. You can pick up the phone and call his office or google pot doctor near me and find someone closer to you. But Dr. Mazo actually understands the plant and it’s effects on the human body. That’s not true of every pot doctor. In Florida, a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy only has to take a 2 hour course on the cannabis laws of this state to gain the rights to recommend it. Whatever that doctor learns about cannabis is self-taught…
And Dr. Mazo has clearly been studying. Thanks for your help with ME, Dr. Mazo!
Friends, if your aches and pains and emotional state need help and all your synthetic prescriptions have muddled your mind long enough, do something different.
Look into using some cannabis to relieve your suffering. Help is available.
I really want to hear from you.
Drop me a note.
Tell me what your biggest struggle with cannabis is.
Host: Honey 26:57
You’ve been listening to another Cannaba Verum podcast with 21st century cannabis shaman Honey Smith Walls, about the importance of using safe hemp and marijuana products. Unless otherwise proven by a reputable third party lab test, please be advised that all street weed is contaminated. It may do grave harm to a patient with a delicate immune system. I challenge you to check the veracity of my statements in each episode by checking the medical citations posted on my blog at Cannaba Verum.com.
That’s C A N N A B A V E R U M.com
- plant specifically grows, the acid form, the THCa – https://academic.oup.com/pcp/article/46/9/1578/1812749
- all street weed is contaminated: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5022003/
- Handbook of Cannabis for Clinicians, Practices and Principles by Dr. Dustin Sulak – https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Cannabis-Clinicians-Principles-Practice/dp/0393714187 and healer.com
- Certificate of Analysis (COA) https://www.pharmtech.com/view/certificates-analysis-don-t-trust-verify
