Bling:

Bumper Promo:

Honey Smith Walls 0:08

Hello my friends. I’ve been invited to spotlight a group of authors who formed the second volume of a terrific collection of personal cannabis stories that go to the brink of death and return to life with great joy and purpose…Courage In Cannabis, An Anthology Of Inspiring Stories Written By Heroes and collected by Dr. Bridget Cole Williams, M.D.

She’ll be joining us in another episode.

But first, I’d like you to meet one of the other authors. She’s in my LinkedIn tribe I’m always talking about because it’s spectacular cannabis learning from the microscope. Nikki Lawley has been globetrotting from conventions to conferences in order to explain the value of cannabis to other medical professionals. She has a very personal reason for doing so that includes dark thoughts brought on by synthetic compounds and her triumph over the typical opioids prescribed for traumatic brain injury. She makes me laugh like a hyena while breaking my heart. Wait till you hear about her husband! Makes you wonder if he’s got a brother. Join us for a whopper of a story right here after the Intro.

right after the intro…

Intro

Honey Smith Walls 0:00

Welcome to season four of the Cannaba Verum podcast, the cannabis truth podcast.

I speak the language of cannabis freely and uncensored while educating my audience on 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 Western healthcare philosophy, specifically of the past 100 years. There’s a lot to learn and reconsider.

The information you’ll find here comes straight from scientists and clinicians doing the work and reporting their findings in real time through various live online outlets.

The scientific truth of cannabis is finally getting out and is wide open for all to see at respected medical sites like pubmed.gov and JAMA, the Journal of American Medical Association… and I’m right there in the thick of it with all those titans of medicine… as a fly on the wall.

Because I’m not a doctor, nor did I go to med school. But I did take dozens of private cannabis courses and still engage in continuing education offered by cannabis expert scientists over the past few years and slowly began to see and understand the bigger picture.

Now I talk to people all day long about cannabis and hopefully inspire them to research the facts as we know them today. Cannabis is an amazing alternative in health remedies. It can reportedly alleviate typical disease problems and troubling side effects, even those caused by synthetic prescriptions.

This is Honey Smith Walls, a 21st century cannabis shaman, not a doctor, not a scientist, raised by nuns and wolves in the verdant cattle pastures of the Oklahoma oil fields. I’m here to amplify the truth of this great big story of cannabis in historical, political, scientific and spiritual terms, so you can make educated decisions about the medicine you choose to ingest.

Seg 1

Welcome to season four of 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 just yet.

Using cannabis mindfully as medication is a different concept in western healthcare philosophy, specifically of the past 100 years… there’s a lot to learn and reconsider. The information you’ll find here come straight from scientists and clinicians doing the work and reporting their findings in real time through various live online outlets. The scientific truth of cannabis is finally getting out and is wide open for all to see it the respective medical sites like pubmed.gov and JAMA, the Journal of American Medical Association… and I’m right there in the thick of it with all those titans of medicine… as a fly on the wall… because I’m not a doctor, nor did I go to med school, but I did take dozens of private cannabis courses and still engage in continuing education offered by cannabis expert scientists.

I love amplifying their work and talking to people all day long about this Plant Therapy. Cannabis is an amazing alternative in health remedies that could alleviate typical disease problems and troubling side effects, even those caused by synthetic prescriptions.

This is Honey Smith Walls a 21st century cannabis shaman, not a doctor, not a scientist, raised by nuns and wolves in the verdant cattle pastures of the Oklahoma oil fields. I’m here to amplify the truth of this great big story of cannabis in historical, political, scientific and spiritual terms. So you can make educated decisions about the medicine you choose to ingest.

Honey Smith Walls: 3:49

Oh it sounds like you’re here Nikki!

Nikki Lawley, RN 3:53

Hi Honey! Nice to meet you.

Honey Smith Walls 3:55

And same with you. I’ve been waiting for this experience for a while now. I’ve had my eye on you and watching you go like a bullet girl through this industry. Wow. What inspiration you are and I’m just taking a look…. well tell us how you been and what’s happening in your world. Introduce yourself to my audience, please… Why don’t you just a little bit?

Nikki Lawley, RN 4:27

Sure. So my name is Nikki Lawley and I’m from Buffalo, New York. And I’m a former pediatric nurse that happened to get injured on the job while working as a nurse. I suffered a traumatic brain injury back in 2016 due to a child becoming combative for a routine vaccine that just was like any other day. The child was being restrained by the parents and I got behind the parents and the child to assist in administering this vaccine and the child tucked his chin and threw his head back into my head… back into a wall my head went… and then back into the child’s head.

Honey Smith Walls 5:11

Oh my gosh. So fast.

Nikki Lawley, RN 5:15

That fast. No warning, no anything. I’d been in pediatrics for a really long time. And so we’re used to combative children but never in my life had anything like this happened that was so significant. And so life changing. I mean, my life literally changed in a second. I didn’t anticipate having long term effects… at the time we called it a concussion, which is what it was. But a concussion really is a mild traumatic brain injury. And a lot of people don’t understand that. But let me tell you… there is nothing mild about symptoms.

Honey Smith Walls 5:59

Oh my god. Yes.

Nikki Lawley, RN 6:01

I was plagued with a host of issues… everything from chronic pain of my head and neck which still exists today. About a seven out of 10 headache right at the base of my skull and in my eyes. So that’s been a chronic problem. But it’s invisible… so it didn’t show up on scans or MRIs and that was probably the most frustrating part because my cognitive function became impaired. I could no longer count. I could no longer do basic math… like recognize change from the bottom of my purse. I couldn’t count out 58 cents change because I couldn’t recognize basic coins at the time.

Honey Smith Walls 6:51

Didn’t I read that you had a real love of math all your life?

Nikki Lawley, RN 6:57

Well, I didn’t have a love of math, but I was a casino dealer.

Honey Smith Walls 7:00

So there it is. There’s where the Love came and all that fun going on.

Nikki Lawley, RN 7:08

So I was really good at math… once was I guess. So when this happened, and I couldn’t count to even 10 I mean like it’s really embarrassing to even admit such a thing because I was so good, right and like when you lose that most basic sense of how to do the most basic of things you wonder, Oh my god, I’m really messed up. This isn’t right. And then the anxiety and depression that followed. It was brutal, like brutal.

I was prescribed pill after pill after pill like we’ve heard so many people have had a similar experience but my injury… because it took place at work involved the workers compensation system of New York State. And a lot of the situation there is they don’t care about the person… you’re just a number… and you’re a number that needs to go back to work… and all these doctors are basically incentivized by the people that they get back working full time. It doesn’t benefit them to keep you off of work and they really don’t care if you can go back to work or not.

Honey Smith Walls 8:23

There’s the corporate attitude in Western medical care.

Nikki Lawley, RN 8:27

Correct. And I was in a really dark place about my injury. My husband said we’re going to go to Las Vegas because as I just shared, I was a former casino dealer. And this was my vacation spot… Las Vegas. Ah, and so he’s literally like, well, there’s no way you can still be sad if you’re in Las Vegas.

Honey Smith Walls 8:52

Oh, right. Oh, God love him. He was trying so hard.

Nikki Lawley, RN 8:56

He tried so hard, and I was in no shape to go to Vegas, no shape for a hotel, or a airplane ride from Buffalo. I did it… but I was on so many cocktails and drugs. They just made me so nauseous all the time. And I was hopeless. I was hopeless. I mean, when I say hopeless, I mean hopeless. I felt like burden to my family. I felt like a burden to friends. Oh, I lost all sense of me. And so we’re in this hotel in Vegas, my traditional Cosmopolitan Hotel that I always stay at.

Honey Smith Walls 9:39

How long had it been between the accident and Las Vegas?

Nikki Lawley, RN 9:46

About four months. Okay, so this was like, pretty early on in my injury. Yeah. So we, Jack, my husband, went out for a walk and I pulled the table that was outside on the balcony. Over to the edge of the balcony. Yeah, standing up on it and looking down…  all I see are umbrellas from the pool area. Like, you know, tables with umbrellas. I literally am looking over that balcony. And I’m like, I can’t jump this is like just gonna screw me up more. I mean, the pool area was three stories below where I was so I became immediately discouraged. Like I can’t even kill myself. Right, right.

Honey Smith Walls 10:43

Oh poor darling.

Nikki Lawley, RN 10:45

So then I look up and a billboard came driving by down Las Vegas Boulevard. Get your medical marijuana card!

Honey Smith Walls 10:58

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. There are no coincidences are there!

Nikki Lawley, RN 11:02

No. This was so meant to be Honey. I can’t even… at the time… I was laughing at it. I was like, Oh, great idea. Go get your brain fried on drugs a little more. Yeah, I didn’t even take it seriously. I didn’t. I didn’t because it just seems so preposterous that I would even consider frying my brain on drugs more because of Nancy Reagan. Yeah. Well, Nancy Reagan era graduate with honors? Yeah. So this was not medicine for me. You know, I mean, first… I have empathy and sympathy for people that use cannabis like in California, the AIDS epidemic and whatnot.

Honey Smith Walls 11:47

AIDS. That was them, right? That was them? Yeah, you’re a nurse!

Nikki Lawley, RN 11:53

I’m a nurse. I’m not gonna be into that. I mean, did I smoke cannabis before this incident… Absolutely. I did on occasion… being in a casino environment is very much a poly substance friendly environment. So whatever you were into, that was fine. So there was a lot of cannabis being passed around that those parties and I mean, I hated smoking. I mean, cigarette smoke wiped me out. Yeah, but I was okay smokin a joint.

Honey Smith Walls 12:26

Isn’t it funny? The difference!?

Nikki Lawley, RN 12:28

It was a huge difference. Yeah. Actually why I left the casino was because of the cigarette smoke. I could no longer stand it in my lungs… it is pretty awful. It was horrible. And then you have people blowing smoke in your face, like eight hours a day. And it’s like, I’ve had enough of this. Yeah. So yeah, so I was definitely not really for this idea. So I jump down off the table. And my husband came back in the room. He’s like, What are you doing?

Honey Smith Walls 13:01

Oh my God. He saw you up there. Yeah, and he said,

Nikki Lawley, RN 13:04

What are you doing?

Nikki Lawley, RN 13:13

I was just looking… What? I’m like, the pool area. He’s like, you can see the pool area without getting up on the table. And I mean, it was a whole thing. And so I said, Oh, well, we can go get my weed card in Nevada today, and he’s like, Well, you’ve smoked weed before. Why don’t we try it? I mean, he was desperate, like, absolutely desperate. I was no longer the woman he married. I was no longer the same person.

Honey Smith Walls 13:41

Yeah, he realized what had just happened, didn’t he?

Nikki Lawley, RN 13:44

He got it. Yeah, I’m pretty sure…  of course. Yeah. Yeah. So then he says, Well, let’s go try it. What do we have to lose? I’m like, Well, I guess we don’t have anything to lose. But I’m like, we go downstairs. Get in the taxi line. And this taxi line is like a Disney. Back and forth.

Honey Smith Walls 14:07

Oh my gosh, turnstile, a turnstile for a taxi.

Nikki Lawley, RN 14:12

People were in line for the taxi snaking in and out, snaking in and out and I’m just like, OMG I can’t wait in this line. We’re going back upstairs and he’s like No wait, and so goes to the valet guy or whoever it is. Yeah. Hotel and says, My wife is sick. We’re going to a doctor. She can’t wait in that line. He’s like, Well, you want the limo?

Honey Smith Walls 14:36

Oh my gosh.

Nikki Lawley, RN 14:40

And he’s like, Well, if that’s what we have to do. Ya, like let’s just go. He didn’t care about the price. And if you knew my husband, he’s kind of thrifty.

Honey Smith Walls 14:49

What a Darling man! What a hero!

Nikki Lawley, RN 14:53

He really was… because I was not going to go if it involved hangin out.

Honey Smith Walls 14:56

Oh, yeah, you couldn’t… you just couldn’t.

Nikki Lawley, RN 15:01

Physically I could not. Okay, so I’m in a limo. We go to the clinic to go get my card.

Honey Smith Walls 15:10

I’ve never heard of anybody takin a limo to a dispensary.

Nikki Lawley, RN 15:17

Yeah, we got the limo to go get my card… it’s so ridiculous. It’s just seems surreal. At this point…  we get in the limo, go to the card, and they give me a piece of paper to fill out…

Now Honey, I can’t fill things out. I can’t remember what I’m even there for… I can’t remember what I’m even doing… right… and I couldn’t remember my drugs. I couldn’t remember my… you know… questions… my allergies and I’m just sobbing.

There’s like 10 people in there waiting to get the cards and you don’t even see a doctor. A girl comes to me and says, Honey, you don’t got to fill all that out. It’s okay, we’re gonna give you the card. And I’m just sobbing… I’m a nurse. I can’t remember.

Honey Smith Walls 16:09

Ohhhh Nikki.

Nikki Lawley, RN 16:13

She’s like, It’s okay Honey. Here’s your card. So then we go in the limo, to the dispensary to go get my quote… medicine. And at that time, I truly believed that medical cannabis was just something you could only get through doctors. I didn’t understand that the cannabis I used as a casino dealer was basically the same stuff. Yeah, as a nurse I thought that this was a higher level… different stuff. Right.

Honey Smith Walls 16:47

Well it’s veiled to us. The whole industry. We as a patient, we have no idea what we’re walking into.

Nikki Lawley, RN 16:59

None. And it was intimidating. It’s intimidating. Overwhelming. Overwhelming is an understatement. So we literally go inside and the bud tenders arrive who’s probably 20 something years old. I’m sobbin like an infant at 37 years old. And I’m in so much pain. I can’t think and I can’t sleep and you know… I’m in there for over an hour and Jack now comes to the security guy. Yeah. Great. He’s like we’re on an hourly rate with this limo.

Nikki Lawley, RN 17:46

He’s like, is she almost done? What is she doing? And so I ended up with this sack of gummies tinctures, sprays, whatever was available in the Nevada market and then a thing of two joints. So there’s like a pre roll of joints. So we go home, we go back to the hotel, not home. And I take…. no kidding… There’s no real guidance on this…

Honey Smith Walls 18:17

Yeah you had a 25 year old kid behind the counter selling you stuff.

Nikki Lawley, RN 18:20

So I’m like eating packages of these gummies Right. Like, let’s say had five packages. I think I ate four. Or they weren’t like low dose… like they weren’t like little five milligram… oh my god, they were like whole 100 milligram containers or whatever at that point in 2017. Nevada was not adult use at that point. They were just medical. So I eat these and I fall asleep. I fell asleep for the first time since my injury and I slept and I slept. I slept…

Honey Smith Walls 19:02

High dose THC and CBD probably…

Nikki Lawley, RN 19:05

But what’s crazy is… I should have definitely had a reaction that wasn’t positive… like other than asleep.

Honey Smith Walls 19:15

Why do you think that?

Nikki Lawley, RN 19:16

Because I ate so much. I mean who couldn’t….

Honey Smith Walls 19:21

How much do you think you ate? Now that you know what you know?

Nikki Lawley, RN 19:25

I would say a minimum of four to 500 milligrams.

Honey Smith Walls 19:41

I’m surprised it didn’t knock you out for a week!

Nikki Lawley, RN 19:44

I know. So I slept probably for 14 hours. And I wake up and I’m feeling so hungover like oh my god, I just got hit by the same truck that the same kid was riding…  oh my god.

Honey Smith Walls 19:58

That was from the cannabis?

Nikki Lawley, RN 20:01

Just I had no idea. I just was like…

Honey Smith Walls 20:04

Your body just needed sleep.

Nikki Lawley, RN 20:07

Right. Yeah. And then my husband’s like, well, you’ve got those joints still and you can’t take them home. So why don’t you smoke? And I’m like, Dude, the idea of smoking just sounds so horrific right now. But I did. And Honey, let me just explain.

I didn’t leave that room at all. The whole time I was there. That joint that I consumed allowed me to not only get out of that room, but I wanted to get out of…. oh, I didn’t want to go like play slot machines or anything. But I wanted to go to breakfast. Go be alive. Go be alive. Exactly.

And we went and had breakfast. My head was still killing me. It wasn’t like an instinct cure. And I want to really be clear about that. Yeah, it was more of a glisten of hope. It was the first time in four months that I was able to sort of function. You felt relief. I felt relief. I was no longer enslaved to the mindset of you’re never gonna get better. You’re in a really jacked up place girl.

Honey Smith Walls

It lifted your spirit too…

Nikki Lawley, RN

It did… But I live in New York State. Okay, so the next day we’re going home and the plane ride was more tolerable than it was on the way down. Oh, but it wasn’t like fixed, but it was definitely improved. Yep. And then we get to New York and I’m assuming since I’m a medical patient in Nevada, that I’m going to be a medical patient in New York.

Well, then I learned that New York did not recognize chronic pain or anxiety, depression or any of the problems that I was plagued with as one of the qualifying conditions to access our medical marijuana program at the time. So I started sharing this experience with the Workers Compensation doctors… like oh, hey, I tried cannabis in Nevada and you know, it really helped me and they’re like, well, if you’re good enough to go to Nevada. You’re good enough to go back to work. And again…

Honey Smith Walls 22:22

oh my gosh,

Nikki Lawley, RN 22:23

It’s literally a vicious cycle.

Honey Smith Walls 22:25

But what a stupid attitude. Oh, stupid!

Nikki Lawley, RN 22:29

But this is what I was dealing with. Yeah. And you know, I went from being a respected health care provider as a nurse to now being a number and a patient that is not getting listened to. It gets no respect, no respect. Gas-Lighting was a thing. That was possible, right? Like, yeah, as a nurse, you know, even as a nurse… if I went to my primary there was automatically like, a common courtesy, you know, like you got a better appointment. They spent more time with you, just because they knew your background was compensation. No, you’re no longer a nurse, you’re a number and you’re malingering or you’re faking or there’s no way you can possibly still have had pain, four months into this six months into this two years into this. And I kept saying, No, you don’t understand the cannabis like allowed me to function. And so then they put in my medical record, Honey, that I’m a drug-addicted and drug-seeking person. Because I smoked cannabis.

Honey Smith Walls 23:35

I hope you got that doctor’s name or that medical professionals name who wrote that down on your file. And I hope you can find out who he is and give him a real lecture!

Nikki Lawley, RN 23:45

I lecture everybody now, like, around me anymore. But at the time I mean, I felt bad again, like I felt like I was doing something dirty… doing something wrong. Exactly. You know, like Yes. I was like, literally shamed into trying to find them alternative or holistic means and then he’s like, No, you need another drug. So now we’re gonna give you something stronger. Oh my god. It’s anti-psychotics. I was on antidepressants. I was on anti inflammatories. I was on steroids. I was on so many different concoctions of drugs that they were what screwed my mental capacity up. They were worse. Totally messing with my brain chemistry and I couldn’t think… I couldn’t function and so I slipped back into that horrible negative face.

Honey Smith Walls 24:41

Oh my god, Nikki. No…

Nikki Lawley, RN 24:45

Yes. I got this glisten of hope. And then I literally was shot down again. It was like the balloon that was beginning to sail now got all of its air deflated again. Oh, and months and months go by… my husband gets a call from the psychologist and they say, “You’re aware that Nikki is suicidal, right?” Like no…. And it was one of the antidepressants they gave me called Cymbalta. And there is no other drug in the Pharmacopoeia that has a diagnosis code of Cymbalta withdrawal syndrome… and leave it to me to make sure I’m a medical anomaly, you know, yeah, normally, to make sure I you know, get this and what happened was when I was on Cymbalta, all I thought about is… a truck is going to come hit me. Somebody’s going to hit me. You know, I know I’m gonna die. There’s no way I can live like this. And then when I was coming off it, all I did was plan my death. All I did was plan my death.

Honey Smith Walls 25:51

Serious suicidal and death ideation, complete by Cymbalta. I want everybody to hear that Cymbalta gives you real shitty ideas about killing yourself. And death.

Nikki Lawley, RN 26:05

It really did and coming off it was worse than going on it. So be aware of this and I just wasn’t aware of it, you know, at all. And then I wrote like kind of a sad post on Facebook. Just it was sort of my goodbye post. And people from Canada saw it. And I said you know I got this glisten of hope but I guess it’s really not hope because weed fries your brain and I don’t know… I’m a drug seeker and it’s in my medical file that I’m seeking drugs… and if I smoke it, there’s no medicinal value.

And so I’m posting all this on Facebook. And my friends from Canada call me and they’re like, Hey, we’ve got pot in Canada. Like, I’ll get my medical card and you can use pot up here. You know, I mean, everyone was trying to help me and so they’re giving me medical cannabis refugee status in Canada.

Honey Smith Walls 27:03

Oh my god.

Nikki Lawley, RN 27:05

So I drove to my friend’s house, they got their card, and Canada’s so cool Honey because they actually mail your cannabis to you in the mail. We laughed hysterically because it’s so preposterous.

Honey Smith Walls 27:22

Wonderful!

Nikki Lawley, RN 27:27

And so, literally, I’m like, Whoa, you’re telling me the postman delivered. And they’re like, Yeah, wow. Maybe it is medicine. And so they started trying different products and we’re kind of smoking together and I tried the tinctures but I got no relief from them and I couldn’t understand why I really want to smoke but I’ve learned since why and that’s because I lack a cytochrome gene that actually metabolizes THC and CBD in your liver. And that’s why I didn’t get sick, eating all those edibles that first night. But I didn’t understand that.

Honey Smith Walls 28:09

Can I ask you something about what you just said? Because I’m really kind of geeky about the science. Is it? Is it the cytochrome P 450. Yeah. Okay. Oh, Nikki, I’m so glad I knew that. Thank you. Okay, well… see it pays to hang out with the science tribe on LinkedIn.

Nikki Lawley, RN 28:28

All right. Okay. Yes, that’s exactly what it is. Okay.

Honey Smith Walls 28:32

So let me just ask you again now that you have that particular issue and so you were not able to feel the effects of THC or CBD very well…

Nikki Lawley, RN 28:43

Any kind of fats… any kind of cannabinoids, basically, I didn’t feel. Yeah, but when I smoked it, I felt it. So again, it’s a whole bioavailability thing and it’s taken me years to get to this point. I mean, this was not like an overnight thing that Nikki just became super Canna science nerdy.

Honey Smith Walls 29:09

Hahahaha yeah me either.

Nikki Lawley, RN 29:11

I just knew the plant made me feel better and I really didn’t know how… I didn’t know how to dose it. I didn’t know why this strain worked versus this strain. Right. Like couch lock you know, there was a whole learning curve. But in Canada, they’re so much more advanced and they know so much more about the science and they had apps that you could use that actually had the back end test reports of the chemical composition of different products already loaded in their app.

So you could literally log your experience. And it’s really important for me to explain. I had to identify I can’t just say I have a traumatic brain injury because a traumatic brain injury that I have versus one that guy down the street has… Yeah, well, I think the only thing in common we have is a traumatic brain injury. They don’t overlap at all. They may be totally different. But the three things that I really suffered from were cognitive function, anxiety and depression and my chronic pain of my head and neck. So those are the three things that I’m looking for relief from cannabis for.

Honey Smith Walls 30:19

All of those heavily involved in inflammatory issues.

Nikki Lawley, RN 30:26

Correct. And the inflammation I had was just off the charts. And so understanding that… and then when I started to deep dive, and I started to look at my diet, and I started looking at my mental state, like when I was in Canada… I would go every other week to Canada to get medicated and then I had to come home to the US. With no medicine.

So my condition doesn’t recognize the Canadian border. Nor does it recognize, you know, North Carolina versus New York, nor does it recognize this versus Arizona, you know…

Honey Smith Walls 31:11

Legislators are so stupid.

Nikki Lawley, RN 31:15

And so, I would become hopeless during those two weeks between trips, but I would hold on to the hope that I know I’m gonna feel better. I know I’m gonna feel better. So about the fourth trip in to Canada… During my little medical refugee status.  I was playing Scrabble, Honey. I was actually playing Scrabble.. 

Honey Smith Walls 31:39

I adore Scrabble

Nikki Lawley, RN 31:44

But I did not like it. Even thinking I was top wasn’t it

or doing anything? Yeah, I’m playing Scrabble. My husband calls and I answer Hey, and he’s like, what’s wrong with you? Like, what do you mean? You sound normal. I’m like  yeah, maybe it’s this weed.

Honey Smith Walls 32:03

That’s the life in your voice. He could tell… it was you.

Nikki Lawley, RN 32:05

He could totally tell. Yeah. And he’s like, Oh my god, like, how can we get that here? Good. You’re a total crazy bitch when you’re high and so you know my trips to Canada will become closer and closer together because my quality of life was life changing.

Honey Smith Walls 32:30

Yeah, life is so much higher in Canada than in the US. Right?

Nikki Lawley, RN 32:34

So then I started like making friends… I like got on LinkedIn. Yeah. I started finding other people that were passionate about the plant. And that’s where I learned the most about cannabis was in Canada because I continued that up until the pandemic.

When the pandemic hit… the Canadian border closed down. Oh my God, everything changed for me. I had to learn the legacy market… right. Medical Cannabis isn’t that much different than regular cannabis? Other than you pay a lot less for it. But you didn’t have any COAs you didn’t have any back end understanding of what was working and why exactly…. what that app did for me in Canada was… it kind of gave me a little overview of what constituents of the plant I should be looking for to address these particular symptoms. And then I learned what terpenes were…

Honey Smith Walls 33:33

Oh my god, don’t you love Russ Hudson’s book, The Big Book of Terps!

Nikki Lawley, RN 33:37

I have it but I can only read about a page at any given time… I think it’s really geeky.

Honey Smith Walls 33:45

Yeah, oh, course honey, but it really is…

Nikki Lawley, RN 33:49

I love it. I love it. But it’s a great reference. But for me, just to sit and try and read it. Yeah, no, it doesn’t work. Yeah. I do much better listening to a podcast that someone’s talking about it.

Honey Smith Walls 34:03

And I do too. I have to learn audibly. I didn’t realize I was I was so backward in reading. Because I can read out loud very well but to sit down and study… that didn’t happen. Didn’t… just didn’t happen. I can’t retain it, but I can audibly and so when podcasts came and all these courses came out with video stuff and audio stuff classes, I was just, I was in heaven. I had no idea that learning could be so much fun until I got to be an old woman.

Nikki Lawley, RN 34:42

You’re not old.

Honey Smith Walls 34:44

So let me ask you something about the Canadian situation that you’re more familiar with it than that I… I do have some friends up there who talk about it a lot. And they’ve told me that there’s actually three different systems in Canada for cannabis. And one is the government and the other is the medical and the third is the native system. And what I keep hearing….

Nikki Lawley, RN 35:14

There’s really four…  the legacy market.

Honey Smith Walls 35:18

Oh yeah. And then there you have that. Yeah. So how did you decide to choose who or where to go to when you were there? And did you find you know, differences in anything? Can you make an assessment of the Canadian thing going on up there?

Nikki Lawley, RN 35:34

I’ve actually experienced all four aspects, so I’m pretty well versed in all four now. The medical aspect was definitely the most economical and the most convenient because they delivered right to your house and you bought it right from the producer. The only issue with the Medical program is at the time that my friends were patients because I couldn’t get a card because I’m not a Canadian, right? And so my friends would have to choose one particular licensed producer at that time. Then you can choose multiple, but at the time when I’m talking about in 2017 2018 2019 You really only had the choice of one, licensed producer and…

Honey Smith Walls 36:17

If I may interject here, the problem with that is that one producer only carry so many products and you cannot always obtain that which you need through one producer… is that the general issue with just doing it that way?

Nikki Lawley, RN 36:37

That and then when you find the product that finally works for you, and that producer runs out of it there….

Honey Smith Walls 36:44

You’re like oh my god, and you will… that happens to every patient. You find your favorite and then suddenly you don’t have access to it anymore.

Nikki Lawley, RN 36:53

Puff goes the magic dragon. So it’s really gone. And so that was a problem. And then this particular producer actually had some legal problems and so they ended up losing their license for a little bit.

Honey Smith Walls 37:11

So legislators are so stupid. I just have to say it.

Nikki Lawley, RN 37:14

It’s pretty intense. For sure.

Honey Smith Walls 37:17

Yeah. I mean farmers and growers and manufacturers and corporate people. Everybody has such a problem in this cannabis industry because of legislation and trying to work around and within the rules that keep changing under everybody’s feet.

Nikki Lawley, RN 37:33

Correct. I mean, the bonus of cannabis was they had a medical program for a really long time in Canada. Not anymore… They do… but it’s different. The market has since become very saturated with the adult use aspect of cannabis and they’re not focused on patients the way they used to be. The tribal Canadian cannabis is accessible but they’re too improving you know, they’re starting to get their products tested and go into different reserves there in Canada. They call them reserves, we call them reservations, but it’s basically the same thing.

Go into different reserves there you learn different things and you know I’m a true medical patient targeting those symptoms I mentioned earlier, right. I’m looking for relief. You know, one of the problems when you go into a dispensary in Canada is everybody thinks everybody wants high THC. I don’t.  I’m not looking for all this was so lit, it’s testing at 27% I’m like I don’t care.

Honey Smith Walls 38:44

That’s how they sell it down here… every damn dispensary down here in the US sells the highest high.

Nikki Lawley, RN 38:52

And people aren’t looking to get high… they’re looking to get well in life. Right?

Honey Smith Walls 38:56

Yeah, patients are looking to get well. It’s the rec bunch. That’s why I’m so damned afraid of recreation coming to Florida because you know, all these old farts are are going to stop paying for the expensive stuff that has a COA attached to it and go out and buy some over the counter crap that doesn’t… and they’re not going to know a thing about it or how to use it properly or effectively.

Nikki Lawley, RN 39:20

You’re in Florida I didn’t know that. I’m actually considering going to Benzinga here so maybe we can connect.

Honey Smith Walls 39:30

I would love that… Honey mi casa su casa.. anytime you come down here because I’ve got a big old house and hope you like puppies… I’ve got five little puppies and 2 cats. Oh, just little mongrels and you know just little little squiggly things that like to bark and Yap a lot. Nice little lovies. So I’ve always got room for you down here. We’d love to spend more time with you and go visit some doctors in the area… nurses and associations. I’m right smack dab in the middle on the East Coast. I’m in Melbourne, Florida, which is about 30 minutes away from Orlando and about three hours north of Miami. Okay, so…

Nikki Lawley, RN 40:13

Good to know.

Honey Smith Walls 40:15

Yes. Oh, it would be so much fun to host you down here and do some stuff and you know, do some conferences or go lecture people or whatever. So,  if you ever find yourself down here, doing lectures in this neck of the woods, I sure hope you’ll swing in and play.

Nikki Lawley, RN 40:33

I love that. But yeah, so that’s a possibility coming up here in April.

Honey Smith Walls 40:38

Oh, fabulous. So what happened? Oh yeah on 420s coming up, I got to tell my my beloved doctor friend, Dr. Mazo here in town. He’s my neurologist, but he’s also one of the first cannabis doctors here in town. And so I had to go see him the other day and, and I asked him if he’d come be my 420 special guest and he didn’t know what 420 was. He’s not from the US, you know, and so he just wasn’t familiar with the term or any of that jazz.

So I told him what it meant and he agreed he’s going to come and he’s wonderful in cannabis. You know what he told me the other day, he asked me how I was using my cannabis now and I said, Well, mostly I’m just smoking because Wah wah wah, I usually end up giving my CBDa away to somebody else who I think needs it more than me.

And so he shook his finger at me and said, well you really need to be ingesting the cannabis. Because, you know, if you’re thirsty and you only go take a shower, it’s not getting to where it needs to go. Yeah, you’re getting water on you. but you’re thirsty and your body needs it within, not on the outside.

So he said he said, you know smoking is fine for acute relief, but you really need to make sure you’re ingesting every day. So I love Dr. Mazo for reminding me to be good to myself. And for helping me process different ways to layer my medication so that I get the best effect. Yeah, that’s the most effective.

Nikki Lawley, RN 42:27

The layering effect because it’s totally a thing. And patients don’t know this. You know, they’re afraid they’re going to OD taking too much… but if you use a topical… if you use a tincture… if you use an edible that’s a slower release, you’re going to have more benefit. And then yes, have breakthrough smoking system. And it’s really for sure.

Honey Smith Walls 42:53

So what happened… I mean, New York finally flipped, didn’t it?

Bling

Anchor Commercial

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Promo: Dr. Mazo

Hey, my friends. I want to give you a tip about a neurologist I know and trust. Dr. Anthony Mazo is a highly rated specialist who is not quick to prescribe traditional synthetic chemicals when he knows that gentle cannabis plant therapy will likely give the needed relief. I know this to be true because I had to see him for my own old lady neuropathy issues. He did not prescribe the usual synthetic stuff. He told me to go get a particular kind of cannabis instead and use it in a very specific way to find relief. He also told me that smoking cannabis is like taking a shower when you’re thirsty. You’ll get wet but it won’t go inside unless you drink it. He said that smoking should be used for acute symptoms and ingesting will keep us healthy longer. Thank you Dr. Mazo. We think every doctor in America should have your knowledge in their little black bag. See his clinic details in my show notes. Dr. Anthony Mazo in Melbourne, Florida at the Brevard Neuro Center.

Seg 2

Nikki Lawley, RN 44:16

They did… so I got my card in New York State in 2018 when chronic pain became available, which was like May of 2018. And when that happened, I started trying different products. I actually got my New York state workers compensation to cover my medical cannabis… that sort of makes me a celebrity all by itself. Because it’s unheard of. Yeah. Because they’re a Federal Insurance Agency. Right. It’s the Hartford Insurance company and they fought it tooth and nail… the judge… you know… then they would do an appeal… and then I’d have to go back… and then it was a whole nightmare… but at the end of the day, I got it covered.

Honey Smith Walls 45:03

I’ve never heard of this thing done before. So I’m really hopeful. I mean, it’s a really hopeful story for all the rest of us. Sure, sure. Because you know we’re just fighting again legislation and insurance and corporate attitudes and lalala.

Nikki Lawley, RN 45:19

Schedule One is our enemy and until it gets de-scheduled preferably or rescheduled less preferably… but a lot of people don’t understand the difference between de-scheduling and re-scheduling… the problem with why we can’t do research and all these great things with cannabis is because it’s Schedule One. Schedule One means there’s no medicinal value, a high propensity of abuse and the fact that it has no medicinal value… I mean that’s like what it’s designed to do.

Honey Smith Walls 45:54

So. Cannabis being put on Schedule One was a corrupt idea to begin with, and they knew it… they knew that cannabis was not Schedule One material or criteria. Correct. So the fact that it is there now and that it remains there is actually because of Nancy Reagan. And then because she made her spouse make all of the other countries sign a pact about Schedule One. It’s really impossible to berid ourselves of this without other countries going into legal chaos.

Nikki Lawley, RN 46:40

Correct. And it’s very, very frustrating but people don’t get that and I mean, it’s not just a simple… Oh Biden’s just got to sign off on it… no it’s deeper than that.

Honey Smith Walls 46:51

It’s much more complicated. But that’s what what we were hoping… but it’s not that simple.

Nikki Lawley, RN 46:58

No, it’s not. And so if we reschedule it though, that’s the only way we’re gonna get insurance companies to pay for it like a medicine.

Honey Smith Walls 47:06

But if Well, now, I didn’t realize that.

Nikki Lawley, RN 47:08

Yes, and if you de-schedule it, then it’s going to be regulated like cigarettes or alcohol and insurance companies don’t pay for cigarettes or alcohol.

Honey Smith Walls 47:18

So you’re making a big case for rescheduling it… as a what, three? Isn’t there a four or five?

Nikki Lawley, RN 47:27

So 3, 4, or 5 is ideal but again, it’s a real complicated issue, Honey. It’s not like a simple thing. Again, we need to know what we’re fighting for. But I’m not really pro-reschedule. I’m more pro de-schedule, but at the same time, people need to understand if we fight for de-scheduling… we need to realize you have no hope in hell in cannabis being covered by insurance for medicinal purposes.

Honey Smith Walls 48:02

Can we not just force the insurance or create new insurance companies that will pay for that for us?

Nikki Lawley, RN 48:10

It seems to make more sense for sure. I mean, it’s got to be overhauled from a federal level Yeah. Each state is literally like their own country, right with how they’re doing their cannabis programs.

Honey Smith Walls 48:24

And the FDA has to grow some balls and make a decision but they won’t. They’ve left it up to federal right. Yeah. So it’s, it’s a mess.

Nikki Lawley, RN 48:38

It’s such a mess and it’ll stress me out the more I think about it, right. So I just do what I can with what I have right now. And the only things that I know I can control is my voice and my logic and my passion for this plant and to help patients find medicine you know and find relief and how to do the pot how to do the cannabis how to do it in a low and slow efficacy-based…

Honey Smith Walls 49:11

That’s right. That’s right. And we’ve just got to get the word out because the the low and slow alchemy of cannabis will get you there. You know, but you must have patience. You must learn about it. You must journal so that you understand you know the different effects from the different kinds of cannabis that you’re going to be getting because you’ll rarely be able to get the same kind for any length of time. This is true… crops fail and chemovars change and terpenes come and go and so… it’s a live plant.

Nikki Lawley, RN 50:02

There’s a lot of things that can go wrong or different. And we need to be aware of that. We need to talk about that.

Honey Smith Walls 50:10

Yeah, I don’t know. Oh, I do know something. I’m very, very excited about all of the oh, let me say this word. Oh heavens. The machines that strip the hurd from cannabis.

Nikki Lawley, RN 50:32

The action like CO extraction?

Honey Smith Walls 50:34

Noooo…. before that when you’re out in the field and for instance, for hemp farmers, and so they take their product to a manufacturing process and I just can’t say the name of that, but it doesn’t matter. Anyway. There’s a lot of them coming up in the United States. These manufacturing equipment companies that will turn cannabis hemp into hurd for making hempcrete houses and plastic and whatever you want out of it. So because there’s nothing that you can’t make into cannabis plastic, that isn’t already made from Poly plastics.

Nikki Lawley, RN 51:30

Right, right. Sustainable plant and has so many different you know, soil remediations.

Honey Smith Walls 51:39

Yes,

Nikki Lawley, RN 51:40

great things

Honey Smith Walls 51:40

Decordicators! That’s the word I was trying to think of. There are many decorticators or manufacturing machines being created now in the United States. Five years ago we had two… now there’s 30 some and surprise, surprise. Most of them are in Texas. What’s that all about when Texas is so slow to come up with cannabis?

Nikki Lawley, RN 52:10

I was just on the Texas Canna Collective podcast yesterday. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

Honey Smith Walls 52:19

So….

Nikki Lawley, RN 52:20

It’s pretty messed up. Yeah, they have a huge Lobby Day coming up the 14th. So if you guys are listening from Texas, get your butts to Austin and get involved because they need the numbers there. They need people talking about their experience. But everyone’s so afraid to come out of the closet because let’s face it, the boys in Texas they like their guns and they’re afraid because of the Schedule One status…

You got to fill out a form when you’re filling out your gun licensing thing and this is not my area of expertise, but it’s my understanding that you have to put that you use no illicit substances including marijuana.

And so that’s why you can’t get a gun permit… its my understanding if you admit to using a “highly abusive substance such as marijuana”,  but at the same time, if you have mental health issues, you can still get a gun.

Honey Smith Walls 53:23

You know what? In Florida you can get a gun and be a medical marijuana patient. They had to fight for that. But let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, I’d much rather face a guy with a gun who just had a joint to smoke than one who didn’t!

Nikki Lawley, RN 53:43

Me too me too…  because you’re probably gonna have a band started… Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Honey Smith Walls 53:52

Yeah. Music instead of death.

Nikki Lawley, RN 53:55

Yeah. I mean, it’s crazy to me. And, you know, people are really genuinely afraid to come out of the closet about using cannabis, whether it’s for the medicinal purposes or adult use purposes. They’re afraid. And that’s crazy to me.

Just I know where I was back in 2017 in my experience, and I have evolved so much that I forget that half of the world doesn’t think like me anymore. You know, like I got so many allies in the cannabis industry and people know who I am in my story. Because I’m so authentic and real and I don’t have all the answers on me.

I’m not the only person you should listen to… but I truly have a passion for this plant and want to see it change other people’s lives and give other people hope and prevent suicide… prevent some of this horrible side effects of addiction and how do we combat that together instead of fighting cannabis as being the enemy…

Cannabis is our friend…now you can’t shut me up. I mean, I will go the biggest naysayer ever, and we can agree to disagree but you will never change my mind on the benefit this plant gave me. It saved my life, Honey. I will never, ever forget the dark place I was in… and now the place I’m in.

Yes, I believe it. And I mean, we need to realize that we’re only on this earth for so long and if you’re miserable, and you have no purpose and passion in your life, you’re going to be miserable. How can we change that dialogue? And I mean, a lot of people will have a negative experience with cannabis. And then they don’t want to try it again. Because they didn’t use it right. They didn’t use it right…. They weren’t helped… walking through it.

Honey Smith Walls 56:08

They didn’t understand how to micro dose and titrate up to their sweet spot.

Nikki Lawley, RN 56:12

That’s correct. The sweet spot is everything and when you find that sweet spot and your quality of life is great… You just never want that feeling to go away. You don’t

Honey Smith Walls 56:21

You don’t ever want to be without the rescue of it.

Nikki Lawley, RN 56:25

Right! Correct. And so when I fly with cannabis, I mean… I’m no longer flipped out by it and I don’t cover up everything and try and take out a pill bottles… (just don’t go to Russia, Darling.) I’m much more relaxed about it. Yeah. Flying with it, but I mean, I don’t bring pounds… It’s my medicine you know… if they confiscated it… more power to them. I hope it helps them at the end of the day.

Honey Smith Walls 57:03

I’d like to ask you something really sort of, you know, just for your personal assessment, if you might consider giving us your opinion. And it’s pretty controversial and I’m pretty stuck up about it. And stuck in my head about it. I just can’t… I just can’t abide by it, but it’s our culture. Tell me… what do you think about football now… with TBI?

Nikki Lawley, RN 57:34

I love football. I mean, I love it over the top. I love it. I mean I’m Buffalo Bills diehard fan. So the controversy is real though because every one of these guys that plays football is at a huge risk. of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. repeated blows to the head, cause Yeah, they’re in football or hockey.

Even me, I mean I’ve had seven TBI’s and so we don’t know the long term effects of that. And so I truly believe in the neuroprotective qualities of CBD, and so does the US government because they have a patent on it. Yep.

Honey Smith Walls 58:24

Expired now, but Yep, yeah, they’re the ones that told us it was pro anti inflammatory. And that it was neuro protective. In fact, according to Dr. Ethan Russo, it’s retro-neuro protective. So I just love that about it. But yeah, I was furious when I found out that the government had a patent on it.

Nikki Lawley, RN 58:49

I mean, really, like, so preposterous! So you can…for all my football player fans, because that’s actually how I began to understand concussions and TBI was by talking to different football players and seeing how their life was impacted… watching these football players commit suicide and have all these issues.

It was just scary, you know, and I’m thinking… oh my god, I didn’t have a helmet when I had the accident. Yeah, right. And not that the helmet is a cure all… because it’s totally not. But at the end of the day, it was insane that cannabis could help with neuroprotective qualities and what was really interesting to me is my subsequent brain injuries, the effects were much less because I had cannabis on board compared to when I didn’t have cannabis in my system.

So like that third traumatic brain injury that changed my life forever. Really, you know, I got hurt worse, like I crashed into a glass countertop because…. (my God, what happened?) My balance sucks, and so I was bending down and I fell and I hit my head on a glass countertop. And it actually knocked me out. (Oh, Nikki!)

But I had cannabis in my system. And while that injury looked more horrific, if you go on LinkedIn, I did a Brain Injury Awareness post yesterday and the picture of me is there. But it blows your mind when you think that my effects have that severe blow to my head compared to the effects of before I had cannabis on board or significantly less like I did not have a flare up of symptoms where my cognitive function became more impaired or anything like that.

Like every time I’ve hit my head since having cannabis on board the injury may have been more severe, especially looking at it from the outside in. But understanding the less severe symptoms. I mean, I really didn’t have lingering effects compared to my original one if that makes any sense.

Honey Smith Walls 1:01:22

Oh, it absolutely does. I have a girlfriend who stroked out and you know, she was in theater and behind stage and people were saying to her, “Your face here is real red, you’re slurring your words, gee, are you okay?” You know, finally, she drove herself to the hospital in that state. And they told her she was stroking out. Well, she started using CBD that very day. And she did not have the damage that they expected her to have because of it. So she said that her recovery from that stroke was made even, you know, faster because of the CBD that she was using. I believe that Yeah.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:02:03

I believe. And we can all be mindful of that. And I mean to me on the offseason, the NFL has authorized cannabis… it is okay in the players but during the game, it’s not. I’m not suggesting we should have football players getting medicated right before the game but to me, why can’t we let them recover? You know, after a big football game? Why can’t they go medicate instead of on opiates but medicate with cannabis?

Honey Smith Walls 1:02:41

Yeah, and I would suggest also that medicating before the game… is medicating. It’s not recreational for the high.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:02:50

Right, but medicated. But do we really want our football players medicated?

Honey Smith Walls 1:02:56

Well you know… they pick the right terpenes and stuff and they will be highly focused and raring to go.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:03:05

Right, right this is true. But again, you know, we can only change what we can change and so there it is. I just do my best to really help others in a way that makes sense. And if I can just make a tiny bit of difference for somebody. I feel like my day is not wasted.

Honey Smith Walls 1:03:28

Well you’ve made a huge difference for a bazillion people and I just watch you go with the energy of the gods is all I can say… I’m I’m amazed at the work that you’ve been able to accomplish after this traumatic event for you and how you’re changing the world Nikki. I’m just proud to know you, honey and so grateful that you’re a writer!

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:03:56

I’m really excited for Dr. Bridget’s book coming out. You know Courage In Cannabis is going to be a great anthology with a great bunch of authors from all different walks of life. And she’s such an empowering, amazing friend of mine that I’m really blessed and privileged to be in the book.

Honey Smith Walls 1:04:16

And tell us a little bit more about Courage in Cannabis. Volumes One and Two because I’ll be doing this series for this book and go ahead and tell our audience a little more, won’t you?

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:04:31

Sure so there’s already a current Courage in Cannabis Volume One out now. And when I read through that book, I actually connected with one of the authors in it and her name was Candy Flores… she’s out of Texas and has a son that used cannabis as medicine.

Hearing her journey just blew my mind you know about Texas, right? And I mean, we all have a story. There’s a reason we come to this plant and hearing the different stories and hearing the different experiences and where we all come from. We’re all united together with this plan. And so reading that Anthology for the first time… I was like, Wow, there’s so many powerful stories in here about the plant and so I wanted to be part of the next one…

I reached out to Bridget that next day. I really didn’t know her other than, you know, just social media surface stuff and I said, I have a cannabis story and I think it would really benefit your next book if you’re interested. And then we became fast friends and you know, it’s really cool having a colleague that’s a physician. Yeah. Oh, that is a real MD that went to medical school and she wasn’t taught about the endocannabinoid system either, and just to hear success stories…

Honey Smith Walls 1:05:55

That’s why I love my friend, Dr. Mazo so much… because he talks just that way.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:06:00

Right? And if you don’t know what you don’t know, and that’s my biggest thing I say all the time, Honey… is that people don’t know what they don’t know. And we’ve been indoctrinated and brainwashed in this certain particular way. And we don’t realize how messed up that thought process is.

Yeah, so just seeing a group of people coming together and sharing their stories and uniting with the plant… They didn’t know each other before the book… they all just kind of came together and created this book. Wow. Powerful. It’s so powerful.

And so the second one that I’m part of, is going to make a really big splash I feel because the first one was almost sort of an experiment right? We’re gonna read it or people are going to be interested in it. Now, being part of the second one and seeing the buzz and the excitement of… oh my god, you’re gonna be in a book? It’s really humbling and it’s really cool because I really believe my story is going to change hearts, minds and lives… agreed. It’s not just about Nikki Lawley or my story. It’s about the plant and the beauty of the plant and how it’s transformed so many lives.

Honey Smith Walls 1:07:26

The compassion involved around the plant… empathy, utterly amazing,

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:07:33

Utterly incredible. And I’m so grateful to be part of it. And while my story is very similar to a lot of the things I’ve shared on this podcast, my story is not over yet… and I don’t know what the next chapter holds. But it’s about being in the moment. It’s about in the moment, and this allows me to live in the moment. It allows me to be open to other people, and other possibilities.

You know, I don’t have it all figured out friends, but I can tell you that it’s empowering, hearing other people’s stories. It’s empowering. Different people will relate to me than they will you. It’s just exciting. All the different people coming together to be part of this book. I mean, Bridget’s done an amazing job, just bringing the right people together to make a difference.

Honey Smith Walls 1:08:28

So Dr. Bridget is going to come on the show too. And so we’ll get to hear her story and I’m very excited about that.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:08:35

She’s amazing. Yeah, she helped me out. I recently had surgery to remove my toxic breast implants from my body. I called them my toxic titties.

Honey Smith Walls 1:08:49

You had toxic titties?! How did that surgery go?

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:08:55

It was an adventure… I had to go to Michigan to get it done because I needed a special microvascular surgeon. But I have silicone kind of cruisin through my body at all times. That’s why they were toxic. And Dr. Bridget came all the way from Ohio and stayed with me for a couple days to help me with my recovery. And like, gosh, what an incredible human to do that. You know what I mean? Like, wow, you didn’t have to do that. And she did. And that’s pretty precious. It was such a blessing for me. You know, just she took me to my first follow up appointment with the doctor and she was there for that and you know, I got to see the unveiling and I gotta be honest, when I was 44 I went through a little midlife crisis trying to and wanting to be 25 again. So I got these toxic bags put in me and then I did the tummy tuck and everything and I felt, you know, some kind of special, but I was terrified getting these things out because I was thinking flat. I’m going to be so gross. I’m going to look like a boy you know, I mean all the things that…

Honey Smith Walls 1:10:13

You are so frickin cute. It pains me to hear you say things like that about yourself because oh my god… You’re just so cute… Yeah…

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:10:27

Yeah, but the good news is Honey, I still have the girls… I still have boobies.

Honey Smith Walls 1:10:35

I think the good thing is that you still are you and you’re still as precious as you with or without!

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:10:41

Right right with or without… even if I was left with none. It really wouldn’t have mattered… but it’s just a relief. Knowing I still had a little tissue…

Honey Smith Walls 1:10:51

Good, good, good.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:10:54

I still can feel good about myself.

Honey Smith Walls 1:10:56

You know I’m so glad to hear that. You sound like you feel good about yourself. You sound healthy. You sound enlivened and invigorated to me and excited about life to hear your story. It’s just like night and day.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:11:15

It really is. It was night and day. It really was night and day. I was in the darkness. Now I’m in the light, literally. And I’m so blessed to have so many people supporting my journey and so many people curious about how to use cannabis and how to make it part of your wellness routine. And you know, there’s so many benefits and there’s so many products and I don’t represent any one brand or any one product, not a sales, quote person to sell any people anything.

I provide advocacy to be a voice for those that don’t have one or those that are afraid to use it. Yeah, well, I’m trying to normalize that conversation and be empowering to other people. And that’s… I think, where my passion lies. It’s in sharing the journey and helping educate and remove the stigma of the plant that so many people have fallen victim to.

Honey Smith Walls 1:12:21

Well you did it for me, I’m no longer afraid of it.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:12:24

There you go. There you go. And together we make a difference. Out of the damn cannabis closet. Yes, you’re not a bad person if you’re using cannabis as a mom, as a grandma, as just a student in college, you know, a human being or an animal.

Honey Smith Walls 1:12:44

There’s just no reason why we shouldn’t be using this helpful plant that can lift our lives spiritually and physically. And so that’s what we’re about. I’m very excited about your new book coming out and your story in it. And all the other stories that are going to be in the next volume of Courage in Cannabis. Yes. And then we’re gonna get to see you down here in Florida sometime in April. We’ll talk about that later offline. And maybe you and I are going to hook up. I would so love that. Oh, I would too. Me too.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:13:24

MJBiz conference was a busy week. Right? Yeah, yes.

Honey Smith Walls 1:13:30

I went to the Canadellic  conference that mashed up cannabis and psychedelics recently. Yeah, that was down in Miami. And although it was wonderful fun, and I felt like I was in the lap of love with about 1000 close friends… there was no science there except for a bunch of lawyers on a panel talking about D eight science.

So it was more about clinicians trying to open up with the new psychedelics that are going to be available. So it was more about that and the other farmers and growers and people in Magic Mushrooms who were there… They were passing out goodies like crazy. I put everything in my mouth and ate it that I could get a hold of and never got high once.

So yeah, so I’m wondering what you said about the P450 enzymes might be true about me too, because I haven’t been high in years. So and my doctor, my women’s doctor… Dr. Genester Wilson-King… who’s the vice president of CannabisClinicians.org… she reminds us all that if your hormones aren’t right, you’re not gonna get many effects out of your medicinal products either!

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:14:45

Right? Totally makes sense. Oh, yeah. Our bodies are like these crazy little science experiments.

Honey Smith Walls 1:14:54

They absolutely are bag of bugs. They’re all trying to eat something and get nourishment from something and cannot find each other and it’s amazing. Oh, Nikki, I’ve loved chatting with you. Thank you so much for gracing our show and helping the audience understand what it’s like to go through a TBI experience and come out on the other side successfully.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:15:20

Thank you so much Honey for having me. And I look forward to meeting in real life and to really connecting because I think you’re an amazing human.

Honey Smith Walls 1:15:29

I think you’re an amazing human. Tell my audience how they can get in touch with you and about your website.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:15:35

Sure so you can find me on any social media platform. You can even just google me Nikki Lawley, but I also have a website Nikkiandtheplant (spelled out) .org And I’m on Instagram as Nikki and the Plant as well as YouTube.

Honey Smith Walls 1:15:54

Yep. And Nikki and I hang out on that cannabis science tribe on LinkedIn. And so if you’re on that, on that app, it is a magical place to learn about the newest… I’m talking the very newest cannabis science out there on that LinkedIn tribe. Pretty amazing in there.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:16:16

It is…. I love it.

Honey Smith Walls 1:16:18

I love that Slava Bobrov who does all those video graphics. Oh my god. I’ve never seen the likes of anything… well, just to be able to see your… what a neuron looks like…  it’s creepy crawling around in your mind looking for another neuron to connect with.

Right What? Yeah, amazing science and advances in video technology. Love it. Love it. Thank you, my sweet dear friend for gracing our show. I hope you’ll come back if you ever have anything else to talk about that you want to tell us about? You’re always welcome. You’ve got the golden invitation darling.

Nikki Lawley, RN 1:16:55

Oh, thank you so much, Honey. I look forward to talking more.

Honey Smith Walls 1:16:59

Okay, take care and have a happy day. Bye. Bye. Bye bye.

Promo Dr. Dustin Sulak, DO

Friends, I’m just stunned to realize how difficult it is to find trustworthy, high quality CBD products that are full spectrum. You know… the whole plant with all the natural compounds extracted for you to consume as nature provided. They just don’t carry it in the dispensaries in my town.

They push their own isolate brands. And you know, that’s just not good enough for me… it doesn’t have all the compounds. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about how to find consistent over the counter CBD products and I have a solution. Last year I became an affiliate partner with Healer hemp products.

Dr. Dustin Sulak, who created this line is truly one of the greatest leaders in cannabis to this day. Giving his patients relief from their issues for many years with his Healer CBD products that can be shipped now to all 50 states. I use his acidic version of cannabidiol or CBDa. It has everything plus a lot more of the compound which Dr. Sulak and other leaders in this industry have found to be more potent, thereby using less,  which ends up making a big difference in your wallet.

But it also adds many benefits to your body. Start lifting your quality of life with Healer CBD Products today and check out that sweet discount just waiting for you in the link below.

Outro

You’ve been listening to another Cannabis Truth Podcast with 21st century cannabis shaman Honey Smith Walls, (that’s me) about the importance of using verifiably safe products.

The process of getting a diagnosis from your family doctor and taking your records to a cannabis specialist can lead you to the correct cannabinoid therapy for those issues. Otherwise, you’re just your own guinea pig looking for answers without any foundational knowledge or ability to determine the best choices or strategies.

To find a qualified cannabis expert in your area, visit cannabisclinicians.org It is National Society of cannabis experts and you’ll see that link down in my show notes.

Unless otherwise proven by a reputable third party lab test, please regard all street weed as contaminated. It may do grave harm to a patient with a delicate immune system who already has inflammatory issues like arthritis, IBS, fibromyalgia or worse.

Thanks so much for listening today. I hope you found value in understanding through my podcast. I have many more thoughts upon the subject that go into more spiritual direction. So in that vein, please join my live stage every Sunday at 8am. Eastern for Cannabis Truth on Clubhouse.

Oh, I think I hear the cows calling

MOOOOOOO!!

Sources

Cannaba Verum is Latin for Cannabis Truth. Sourcing factual information about cannabis hasn’t always been easy for a variety of reasons. However now because of modern innovations, it is. My sources are from leaders in cannabis science like:

Roger Adams, U.S. Organic Chemist who isolated the structure of CBD,

Raphael Mechoulam, Israeli Organic Chemist who isolated the structure of THC,

Ethan Russo, Dir R&D International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute

Dustin Sulak, DO – my favorite doctor at healer.com, teaching the art of Cannabis Healing to the world, and other industry greats like:

Rev. Dr. Kymron DeCesare, Ed Rosenthal, Jack Herer, Michael Backes, and Michael Pollen and so many more… plus I use classical sites like: PubMed.gov, JAMAnetwork.com, ResearchGate.com. I listen to several daily podcasts to keep up with the latest cannabis news across the nation and throughout the world like: Dr. Codi Peterson et al on The Cannigma Podcast,  MJTodayDaily.com and MarijuanaMoment.net.  I trust the CBDProject.org and CannabisScienceTech.com. I watch the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) at: thecannabisindustry.org and many more like: NCIA’s Cannabis Industry VOICE (CannabisRadio.com)

Over past episodes of Cannaba Verum, we’ve listened to some amazing scientists and medical professionals talk about their discoveries and patient successes as hundreds of questionable compounds rise to the public grasp. I am especially interested in the pharmacists movement becoming an integral part of this new medicinal choice.

Watch this machine roll into action through conversations with pharmacy doctors all over the nation like Dr. Leah Johnson and Dr. Codi Peterson out West and Dr. Alan Ao up North. There are so many more getting involved now… these are just a few who have come on my show to explain the situation and it’s fascinating.

You’ll find citations available on my podcast blog at cannabaverum.com

PS: Helping society get past the fear of using cannabis will be a lifelong journey for me. This industry is just opening up and most patients and doctors are seriously cannabis naive and need help understanding where to turn for trustworthy information.

If you need help opening that cannabis discussion with your family doctor,  please reach out and grab the Dear Doctor Letter I wrote for this exact purpose. It will explain your decision to try cannabis and ask for their help in monitoring your labs and progress. It will also show them where they can find medical research on the subject of your diagnosis and the effects of cannabis.

You’ll find that letter at cannabaverum.com  

My specialist in hormonal help: Dr. Genester Wilson-King, M.D. and Founder

Victory Rejuvenation Center – Orlando, Florida

VictoryRejuvenationCenter.com

My Neurologist and Cannabis Expert Medical Marijuana Doctor in Melbourne, FL:

Anthony Mazo, M.D.

Brevard Neuro Center

(321) 733-2711

315 E. Nasa Blvd.

Melbourne, FL 32901.    

All opinions are my own and should not be mistaken as medical advice.

Here are some other helpful links as well:                                                    

(1) Microdosing – https://healer.com/cbd-cannabis-dosage-guide-project-cbd-interview-with-dr-sulak/

(2) Concentrates – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29307505/

(3) Cannabis Helps Dementia Podcast – Anchor.FM/cannabishelpsdementia

(4) Society of Cannabis Clinicians – https://www.cannabisclinicians.org/

(5) Take the Pledge – GreenTakeover.com

(6) Handbook for Clinicians – Principles and Practice – https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393714180

(7) Dr. Angie Krause, DVM – BoulderHolisticVet.com

(8) The Cannigma Podcast = https://cannigma.com/podcast/behind-the-scenes-on-cannabis-normalization-with-jm-pedini/

(9) Curious About Cannabis Podcast = https://cacpodcast.com/

(10) The Big Book of Terps by Russ Hudson = thebigbookofterps.com

(11) Learn Sativa University = SativaUniversity.com

Show Notes:

I want to say Happy 420 to those in the know and I’m sending peaceful thoughts your way. On this show, my friend in the industry is one of the authors in a great series of books called Courage in Cannabis – an anthology of inspiring stories written by heroes. Collected by Dr. Bridget Williams, MD. My buddy Nikki and I have been hangin out in the same science tribe for the past several years on LinkedIn but hadn’t met yet. Of course I get real excited and she’s got a compelling story! Come on in…

Texas Cannabis Collective Podcast – https://txcannaco.com/

NikkiAndThePlant.org