Well today we’re gonna hear from an author who sees this whole weed shebang with a pretty cynical eye… I’m pleased to introduce our new friend to Cannaba Verum, G. Scott Graham, author of Determining Marijuana Use in the Age of Legalization.
I want you to know I agree with some of his ideas… but I had to argue with others and his book really pissed me off. I understand how frustrating it is to live in lies… to not trust your foods or medication… to see a rouse in everything those in charge are doing!
But there IS empirical knowledge. We can determine fact from fiction.
So let’s see if you can catch some of our differences in framing this industry and the truth of the matter. Right after the intro.
Intro[1] :
Welcome to season three 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 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 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 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.
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 experts 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 in cannabis in historical, political, and scientific terms, so you can make educated decisions about the medicine you choose to ingest.
Seg 1
Honey Smith Walls 3:20
Hey, Scott, do I have you?
G. Scott Graham 3:24
You do have me.
Honey Smith Walls 3:25
How are you? Great. I’m so glad that you could spend some time with us. Thank you for coming.
G. Scott Graham 3:33
You’re welcome. You’re welcome. It’s a privilege to be here.
Honey Smith Walls 3:38
I was just looking at your book “Determining Marijuana Use in the Age of Legalization”. And I noticed you just put that out last year.
G. Scott Graham 3:50
I did I did you know I got published last year but I had been working on it for maybe eight months prior to that. And I started thinking about the real issues that were facing us in the substance abuse counselors from a public health perspective. Probably a good year before that. But yeah, and I come from two perspectives in the book and you know there’s a lot of people out there in the cannabis marijuana movement that are in one of two camps. They’re either in a completely pro marijuana and it’s like the best thing since Jesus….yes, yes, it’s great. And then there are people in the camp that are total prohibitionists like cannabis is the worst thing since…. I don’t know…Jesus!
Honey Smith Walls
Hahahahahaha Can’t win for losin…
G. Scott Graham 4:56
Can’t win for losing. And so I’m in the middle ground here. I you know, I am a….
Honey Smith Walls 5:15
Uh oh… did I lose you? Well, I don’t know… I just lost… Did you hear me?
G. Scott Graham 5:22
I did hear you. Did you hear me?
Honey Smith Walls 5:23
Well no, not at all. But I’ve got you now. All right. So you started to say you came at this from two different perspectives…
G. Scott Graham 5:35
I was telling you about my marijuana use and my little medical marijuana farm here in Vermont. You’re in Florida, right?
Honey Smith Walls 5:43
I am… I’m just so jealous.
G. Scott Graham 5:50
I wanted to rub that in. Florida. You can’t grow your own pot plant to save your soul!
Honey Smith Walls 5:56
Boy, I am a farm girl from Oklahoma. And so this hurts my soul. It does. You know I can’t touch the plant. I can only consume it but I can’t love it and grow it and you know pick a seed or none of that. No… the legislators down here are just insanely naive about cannabis science.
G. Scott Graham 6:22
That’s a nice way to talk about bigotry and and conservativeness…
Honey Smith Walls 6:26
Well I’m trying to learn how to because I have to speak to the idiots and it just pisses me off. And when I get angry I can’t think straight and I can’t say what I want to so I’m practicing on you.
G. Scott Graham 6:40
You’re doing a good job. Yeah, I have a friend who is in his 70s… So he really can’t smoke. But he gets it because of his age… it’s just not healthy for him. And he so badly wanted to grow marijuana and produce marijuana because he wanted to do it his whole life. And he gave me some plants. He was such a connoisseur that he just didn’t go out and get any pot plant. He got he got Gorilla Glue number four, cherry picked up and said like this is an award winning marijuana plant and I’m like, whatever.
And I grew this and you know, I smoked one evening and I’m like, oh my god, I cannot get off the couch. I had to crawl up the stairs to go to bed! I’m like, Why didn’t you tell me about this? I said I thought this was like an award winning plant. Like you know, I was thinking like wine… No, it’s really good. He’s like, was it good? And I’m like, ohh yeah!d
Honey Smith Walls 8:02
Oh Hells Bells… The last thing I heard you say was, was it good? I know you’re still hearing me but I can’t hear you. There you are. Okay. And so, let me ask you this. Was he ever able to imbibe in with cannabis?
G. Scott Graham 8:22
A little bit um, but he’s become quite the witch doctor in our area cuz he makes cannabis butter and cannabis bomb tinctures.
Honey Smith Walls 8:38
Uhhhh we call those alchemists now…
G. Scott Graham 8:43
He’s really popular with everybody else in our small little town.
Honey Smith Walls 8:49
He must be very well loved.
G. Scott Graham 8:52
He is… he’s like the you know, he’s like the I don’t know the Easter Bunny.
Honey Smith Walls 8:57
The Granddaddy Ganja… Yeah. Right. So that’s a cool story. So but you’ve got some property up there in Vermont. And when it legalized, you were able to grow some pot?
G. Scott Graham 9:09
Yes. Yeah. I’m on 107 acres.
Honey Smith Walls 9:15
Wow! That’s impressive… that’s decent acreage.
G. Scott Graham 9:17
That is decent acreage. And so it was really nice to be able to grow this.
Honey Smith Walls 9:26
How many times do you process a year? Are you growing? I’m assuming you’re growing outside.
G. Scott Graham 9:31
Yeah, I’ve got a little greenhouse to get going. We’ve got a very short season here. Yeah, in Vermont. But you know, really, it’s just once a year as a growing season. You know, you get it going in the spring. And then in our harvest in the fall, get a bunch of plants growing.
Honey Smith Walls 9:51
I’m just wondering how do you produce up there and do you sell to dispensaries? I don’t know how that works in Vermont.
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Seg 2[3]
You were about to tell me what got you into cannabis… I understand that you’re up there and you’re growing your own. And now you’ve got this primo product from Granddaddy Kush, the town, Grandpa Ganja… what are you doin with it?
G. Scott Graham 11:35
So this is just homegrown stuff for me and friends you know, I grow my own marijuana… I make my own Acer Glin which is honey and maple syrup that you turn into Bucha and cider.
Honey Smith Walls 11:58
I can give you my address? Can you ship that stuff? You sound like a good old farm boy out there having some fun with what you’re growin.
G. Scott Graham 12:08
I am… I’m trying to move into the direction of kind of more self sustained stuff. You know if you pulled out the book “The Good Life” by Helen and Scott Nearing where they talked about living in Vermont and doing their piece and I’m working to do that. So with one of the things that happened with my huge marijuana crop because I like it, you know, I don’t smoke that much but I really liked it… I had so much. I don’t know if you remember in Oklahoma… you know there’s this time in the summer where there are so any zucchinis out there… They’re makin zucchini pies and zucchini breads, and that’s exactly what it’s like with my grow… I still have a big bag, big grocery shopping bags from my harvest from last year and the year before!
Honey Smith Walls 13:40
I’m wondering what the degradation is on that. You know, on that weed that’s been sitting around for a year or so but I’m sure it’s gonna be wonderful. It no matter how old it gets.
G. Scott Graham 13:54
With the concentrates… how concentrated it is, you know, like, we sit around and be David Griffin for many years and it was the way it was when I was in high school. God knows what I smoked back then.
Honey Smith Walls 14:12
Well, it was you know, 10 or 11 or 12%. Nothing like what they’re growing today. That’s for sure. No. So are you doing or using any of the acidic version of your grow for your self? No? Okay, because it’s really helpful but I just wondered.
G. Scott Graham 14:33
I’m certainly an advocate. I certainly grow my own. I certainly am. You know marijuana but I bring to this the concerns around the rapid growth, the lack of regulation, the lack of measurements across states, the lack of really purposeful planning on the part of legislators to manage this.
And so it really leaves it up to the consumer to try to figure out what the hell is going on when they go buy any marijuana product. It’s so inconsistent across products. It is so inconsistent across stores, different stores with the same product. You can go get things for one store tincture at another store and you have to try decipher the potency of these products… really makes it tough on the consumer. And the rapid spread of this is…. in my opinion going to create a huge public health crisis because they haven’t thought it out.
Honey Smith Walls 15:54
I agree with you completely.
G. Scott Graham 15:57
I went to see my doctor and he asked me, how much do you drink? That’s part of my annual physical and that’s one of the key questions. Do you drink and if you drink more than like five glasses of wine, that’s a pretty sure sign you may have a problem if you’re drinking five glasses of wine a day. And so he asked me about my alcohol.
And we finished and I’m like, don’t you want to know about my marijuana use? And he said, Marijuana use? He had no clue. He had no clue as to is that good or bad? Is that a problem? Is that healthy? And and as more and more people start engaging with the marijuana industry and cannabis products, they are going to be you know, there could be health issues that come up… we just don’t know and because it’s not a standardized measurement it’s a crapshoot.
It’s crazy to me that we can go to the grocery storen and we can look at the back of a bag of fucking Oreos, and know how much fat is in it and how much calories in it and be able to compare the Oreos to the items in the cheese section because it’s got a standardized nutritional labeling piece on it. And we can’t do that with marijuana.
Honey Smith Walls 17:42
It’s crazy. Where’s that government oversight to keep the public health safe? And so you’re absolutely right. The government has not taken a stance yet of leadership on cannabis. And that’s why we’re complaining and why we must continue to complain to them, because they are allowing the the legacy market and customers to dictate what’s happening and the religious frightened to dictate what’s happening.
You know, in all these small towns, it’s “Not my backyard! Oh no, you’re not!” You know, it used to be down here in Florida that you couldn’t find a dispensary in town… you’d have to go out to the industrial section. And that’s because they didn’t want it in their back yard but they didn’t think about the old farts who were, you know, hobbling into these places with with pockets full of cash on walker’s with cannulas draggin an air tank so they could go get their medication from the medical marijuana dispensary that the damn state legalized… and so now this person is a potential victim for robbery as he’s hobbling in because everybody in Florida knows there’s no banking and you gotta carry cash, or you have to be savvy enough to be able to work one of those money apps…
G. Scott Graham 19:26
Right right.
Honey Smith Walls 19:29
That hook up to your debit card. And so that’s just because of the ridiculous rulings of these naive legislators that don’t know think about what they’re doing and what the consequences are of their actions.
And so I’m really upset about it and I fuss about it and I’m about ready to go get up in their face down here in Melbourne, Florida, but on the same token, you know, I’m so grateful I’ve got five different dispensaries within 20 minutes of me, and yet I’m so goddamn mad about having to go into a dispensary and decipher what the fuck they’re saying to me, because they talk about indica and sativa.
And they don’t tell me what’s in the profile of that product that I’m trying to buy.
I’ve been in this industry for a half a dozen years. I know what I’m talking about. I understand cannabis, but I can’t understand the bud tenders. Because all they’re telling me is it’s an indica… it’s a sativa… it’s a hybrid… and it makes them feel good. They like it. So why don’t I buy it?
It’s frustrating. I hate going into a dispensary and they hate seeing me come in and that’s not a happy place to be for either a patient or a semi professional medical marijuana bud tender.
G. Scott Graham 21:01
Right, right. And you think about this on eBay as you’re talking about this issue. You’re an educated consumer. That’s right, the consumers that are rolling in and have half of 1% of that knowledge…
Honey Smith Walls 21:16
Yeah.
G. Scott Graham 21:18
Right. And and again…
Honey Smith Walls 21:20
They’ll get the horseshit every time.
G. Scott Graham 21:22
Yeah, the mantra. Go slow and start low or is it start low and go slow? Yeah, that is such ridiculous bullshit… I mean, can you imagine if instead of going to the liquor store, instead of having 20 proof or 80 Proof, you know, and instead of having this awareness that a glass of wine equals… or a bottle of beer equals… a shot of hard liquor, we all know instead of that type of stuff, instead of having a piece where they can say okay, if you’re driving down the road, and you’re over .08, that’s gonna get a DWI.
Can you imagine if they had none of that for liquor and people just went out to bars and were like… start low and go slow…
Honey Smith Walls 22:18
Yeah. Thanks for bringing up that point. Because how do you start low and go slow with a concentrate? How do you titrate a concentrate? You can’t. You can’t micro dose a concentrate… Its concentrate!
It’s however many times potent the original thing is… so it’s an infuriating situation. And the language of cannabis continues to roll under our feet. Because the Schedule One debacle and the Schedule One debacle continues until Biden lets loose and I don’t know what his problem is. But he’s one of the original problem makers for this. So you know, he was one of the original….. Well (deep breathe)… sorry….
G. Scott Graham 23:24
So the Democrats need to stand up with the same fervor that Trump did. If Trump were a Democrat and had his zeal, forget about his political life…He had the orientation of Democrats and Trump were in office…. Weed would be illegal because he would pass something or order someone to make something happen. And we’d be dealing with the fallout and complaining about it, but he would act, he would act
Honey Smith Walls 24:00
Who did you say? What else did you say that? If Trump…
G. Scott Graham 24:03
If Trump were in office, and his orientation was Democrat, pretend that Trump was with his fervor and zeal… he would have just passed some executive order…
Honey Smith Walls 24:19
Well he had plenty of opportunity to do that when he was in office, but didn’t.
G. Scott Graham 24:25
Well he’s not pro marijuana.
Honey Smith Walls 24:28
He’s not pro human. He’s not human. He’s not pro animal. He’s not pro human. So you know, he doesn’t give a shit about what people want. I have no evidence that Trump is human.
G. Scott Graham 24:53
There’s that orange glow from…
Honey Smith Walls 24:56
He’s just too disconnected from humanity to be called a human.
G. Scott Graham 25:05
And the other piece, Honey, around this stuff that I am just so sick of hearing about is the how…
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Clubhouse Promo:
[5]
Hey friends I just want to remind you of my new clubhouse room called “Rising Cannabis Connections” on Mondays 8am Eastern. There we explore the spirit of humans which medical scientist believe is key to our happiness and how communing with cannabis can help that process of recovery in mind, body and soul. I’ve been looking for a live outlet to speak with you personally and Clubhouse affords us exactly that. It’s kind of like live radio, but you’re in a live audience as well. So you can ask questions or come up on stage and tell your story or whatever if you’re inclined. This new medium of communication brings connection back to us. Or you can just be a fly on the wall. What ever you want.
“Rising Cannabis Connections” airs every Monday morning. Eight o’clock. I love getting up with the birds don’t you? Eastern time don’t forget. And it’s on that new app called Clubhouse. Be sure to get the app first… then join my room. If you can’t find “Rising Cannabis Connections” because you can’t remember it… Then just look for me. Your sweet host Honey Smith Walls. See you there.
Seg 3[6]
G. Scott Graham 0:01
But the news media only talks about how potent marijuana is… Four years ago marijuana was that and now marijuana is this… it’s really potent. Well, you know if it’s labeled who gives a shit, really? Because if you know that you could say oh man vodka is much more potent than beer.
Honey Smith Walls 0:25
Well, you’re right. We don’t drink vodka like beer.
G. Scott Graham 0:30
Exactly, because it’s labeled correctly. Right? We understand this is what you do. So if you go get some bud that you’re smoking or you go get a concentrate…. as long as you understand what the potency is… You’re gonna have no issues consuming marijuana, but it’s a crapshoot.
The problem is not that marijuana is more potent. The problem is that people haven’t been educated about the different policies and nothing’s labeled. So it’s a crapshoot.
Honey Smith Walls 1:11
You’ve been given misinformation about the language in cannabis. And they don’t know. They don’t know what to call it, what to ask, or how to use it, or how to determine safety. They don’t know any of those. And so every bud tender Tinder and every dispensary is different…they’re giving different information and misinformation and until the standardization starts taking place… and I want you to know, there is good news about that… there are government agencies like the ASTD I believe it’s called and I can’t remember all the names of that acronym, but it’s the government agency. Maybe it’s not government, but it’s the agency that oversees all standardization of medical law and all that. So they’re busy doing this. I know those people are doing it because I’m watching them do this.
G. Scott Graham 2:14
Yeah, there was there was a meeting of the National Conference of Weights and Measures. Yes, a month ago. Yeah, right. And they voted to… they had a series of cannabis proposals…. And they voted on these and I think two of the measures were rejected, but some other stuff came about. Unfortunately, this is the important piece. The National Conference on Weights and Measures is a 501 C6 not for profit. It’s not a government agency. It’s like the Chamber of Commerce.
Honey Smith Walls 2:49
Yeah, yeah. It’s a trusted organization. Yeah.
G. Scott Graham 2:53
The government still needs to act. Right. Government still needs to…
Honey Smith Walls 2:58
They have to back these things. They just have to and they will eventually but you know that all that falls back on our back to vote. We’ve got to vote the right people. Raise up standards. There’s got to be standards for politicians and there aren’t any… obviously… if Trump could be president. I heard somebody tell me that the country needs to be run like a business… well bullshit. This country is not a business. This country is a live spirit and philosophy of many, many, many different cultures living side by side and disagreeing with each other.
G. Scott Graham 3:36
Honey if we applied that philosophy to Trump, we would say let’s look at all the businesses he started that went out of business!
Honey Smith Walls 4:35
Not a single successful business he’s had. Do you remember many of them?
G. Scott Graham 4:43
Trump’s steak? Oh, there was a whole bunch of them… his university… Right?
Honey Smith Walls 4:53
Right. So no… he’s gettin his come-upins.
G. Scott Graham 4:57
In my book, at the very last piece of my book, I wrote the book and then after talking to some other educators who wrote the preface of the book and kind of an overview… I wrote another section in the appendix and I said, You know what we need, we need a huccle! You can call it anything you want, but that’s what I call it in my appendix. I said, we need a huccle in the marijuana industry and the cannabis industry.
So that we can say okay, this joint is 4 huccles… This candy bar is one huccle. This Ganja Keef is 10 huccles! If we had everything graded by huccles, you could just make up a name and then say, this is a standard piece. And we would know what I’m buying. you know, like somebody say’s, You know what, I can only have two beers. And that’s my limit. We’d have somebody say, You know what, I’m a three huccle person. If I have more than three hucces in an hour, I’m going to be in trouble.
All right, I’m gonna go to bed tonight. I just want one huccle that helps me fall asleep. And they could do it. Doesn’t matter what form you take it in, whether it’s a cookie, a candy bar or a potato chip, whether you smoke it or however you do it, oh man,
Honey Smith Walls 6:23
We got to be able to figure out how to determine what a huccle is though.
G. Scott Graham 6:28
That’s it… that says it.
Honey Smith Walls 6:30
There’s 1000s of compounds in cannabis, not just hundreds, but 1000s. They’ve only named just a tiny few of them. So…
G. Scott Graham 6:42
If we can send a person into space, we can figure out what a huccle is.
Honey Smith Walls 6:48
I think you’re right. I think you’re right.
G. Scott Graham 6:51
We’re focused on taking recreational trips for billionaires into space. And at the same time, all this cannabis information is not being regulated like it should.
Honey Smith Walls 7:08
Well, that’s right. I’m so happy to hear about your advocacy with this plant. Also that you’re able to grow your own. That’s the coolest part that we don’t get to do down here yet. And that you’re having success and helping so many people understand what the issues are because only with understanding can we make changes, you know, that’ll benefit all of us and help everybody… not just a few.
G. Scott Graham 7:41
So, absolutely, absolutely.
Honey Smith Walls 7:44
I’m having a ball doing this. I hope you are too.
G. Scott Graham 7:48
This is a great conversation.
Honey Smith Walls 7:50
It really is and it’s wonderful to be able to keep an eye on the country to see how it’s all going to shake out to understand what the grassroots groups that are coming up are because now, a pharmacist is not just a person who’s gone through medical school. Now they’re doctors. They’re actual Pharm Ds and they are actually going through cannabis courses up in the Maryland School of Pharmacy and getting degrees in cannabis and chemistry and all of that and coming out with expertise and expert knowledge in what’s inside the plant as to what we’ve discovered up to now.
I mean, talking about the daddy of cannabis Rafael Mechoulam is still a 92 year old lab rat in Israel. Trying to figure out what’s in cannabis.
And so we’ve got incredible masterminds at this now and digging into what the truth is, and these naysayers, they can put their hands over their ears and say, don’t bother me with the facts… I know what I believe! But they cannot deny science because of the empirical values of truth.
G. Scott Graham 9:35
Although there are people out there that still deny science…
Honey Smith Walls 9:39
They do…. Yeah, well.
G. Scott Graham 9:44
There are people out there.
Honey Smith Walls 9:45
I’m the eternal optimist. Yeah. My own 89 year old spouse just told me a few days ago that he didn’t believe a word of this cannabis bullshit. He listens to all those guys that I listen to. He means the scientists I listen to and he says, I don’t believe a word of it. I saw something on Facebook and I just, you know, my eyes started vibrating in the back of my head and I’m like, going numb and thinking, oh my god, oh my god. Here’s my own husband lives with me. 24/7 didn’t believe a word I’ve been saying for the last six years about cannabis. What have I done wrong, you know, and that’s just the obstacle that we’re up against.
Right… that fear and propaganda that people have had for the last 100 years is so huge. That my own husband, I mean, he listens to true cannabis science on my podcast over the loudspeaker all day long. And he just had the nerve to say that to me… I’m like, this is a very tough problem getting past people’s fear and their own decision that this is bullshit.
G. Scott Graham 11:01
Right? Right. Yeah. So people have another piece that’s out there that I feel like I need to just put out for folks… there’s this myth that Cannabis is not addictive. Now, let me rephrase that, that you cannot become addicted to cannabis. And I’ve heard this from a number of people who are like, yeah, pot’s safe, right?
It’s not like like alcohol. I’d say it’s because you’re not gonna get addicted. And that is just not so. That is a complete myth. Those folks who say that cannabis is not addictive, are simply saying and this is true… There is not a physiological addiction to cannabis that builds in the body, like there is with heroin…
Honey Smith Walls 11:55
But that’s what they’re thinking…
G. Scott Graham 11:59
That is not the definition.
Honey Smith Walls 12:03
Okay, so we have to educate the people.
G. Scott Graham 12:08
Because here’s the flip side kids and there’s and this is the same thing that is true about this stupid…. and I know that this is another hot topic because you cannot go to the doctor now and get some sort of narcotic painkiller because they’ve all swung in the other direction because of the drugs pushing pharmaceutical companies that were trying to make all this money. And oxycodone.
Honey Smith Walls 12:34
Well, it’s a litigious subject, yeah.
G. Scott Graham 12:38
If if there’s a person who has been in pain, and they are taking oxycodone, for example, for their pain… They are going to develop tolerance over time to that oxycodone and they’re going to have to take more oxycodone to deal with their pain and have mitigating effects of that substance to alleviate their pain.
That’s actually why marijuana is much better for pain and these these folks that are taking legitimate painkillers for their pain and develop a tolerance. They’re not addicted. They have a physiological tolerance to that, but that’s not the definition of addiction.
So here’s the definition. I give you a simple definition of things to look for… two things, only two, well, there’s more but these are the two core things.
One… you’re using it to cope… using it to cope, you’re using it for relief. That’s kind of a term so so I’ll come back to this. So you’re using it for relief.
And then the second part of it is some aspect of your life is fucked up because of your use.
Very simple. Those two things need to happen. So you see somebody who, again, let’s just talk about alcohol, somebody who’s coming home and they drink on a regular basis, no big problem. At some point if they’re moving into the world of addiction, they need to drink to relax, they come home and they say or they think I need to have a drink because it’s been a hard day. I need to have a drink because I’m really stressed out.
You see this with smokers people that smoke cigarettes, right when the stress rises around people with cigarettes, they start smoking more as the nicotine becomes a coping skill for them. Didn’t started off as a coping skill but that became a coping skill. And that’s a problem because then you need that piece to cope with the stress.
That’s why when somebody stopped smoking cigarettes or stuff they talked about stress management, meditation, all these things, because those people lacked coping skills. So coping skills is used for the same reason somebody’s smoking pot for. You know, I’m a recreational user. I’m only talking about recreational users and that’s somebody who is smoking because they’re anxious and they’ve got a marijuana card for that peace.
Honey Smith Walls 15:40
So here’s this about patients. You’re talking about rec or recreational users who might become addicted to using cannabis because of the way that they’re using it.
G. Scott Graham 15:50
Exactly, exactly. That’s exactly what I’m talking about because patients who are using cannabis for anger or let’s say anxiety, right all right, a doctor prescribed me marijuana because I’m anxious and so I’m taking it for that or I’m taking marijuana for pain, right?
So but in the anxious person, that marijuana is being used to help that person cope, because they have legitimate, medical, psychological issues that’s being treated. That’s like somebody who has pain taking Oxycodone.
Honey Smith Walls 16:28
Yeah, man. I sure hope that patient is taking a low dose of THC for anxiety because THC is not exactly an anxiolytic.
G. Scott Graham 16:39
Right? Yes.
Honey Smith Walls 16:43
It can really… and the other thing about cannabis is that it’s biphasic. So at one dosage, it will help you do one thing but at another dose, it can do exactly the opposite. So you might… I’m just tellin my audience who knows I’m just reiterating something I say all the time.
You really got to be careful about your dosage with THC, if you have anxiety.
So anyway, I’m so glad you brought all of that up and I agree with you about habitual using as a recreational user. It’s very easy to slip into, habitual use. I kind of…. (Coughing)…pardon. I’m kind of loath to say that they can become addicted to it when I feel like it’s… I understand that it’s not a physical addiction, but I feel like habitual addiction is very easy to fall into.
Yeah, yeah. Especially when people are already a smoker, it’s very easy to vape and then you’re vaping concentrates. So you can’t control your dosage with concentrates when you’re vaping those at all… and you just do that hand to mouth thing. Oh, man. I used to be a smoker and I’m still… (coughing) pardon me. So sorry, there’s a lot of pollen down here. I just took my little wolves out for a walk and the pollens real thick down here in Florida right now. And so it just clogs up your throat but I appreciate the fact that recreational users are in for a hard time. I agree with you. And I worry so for the elders.
G. Scott Graham 18:53
Someone can get addicted to gambling. Some of those pieces don’t have a physiological component. I mean, there’s a trigger to that stuff, but it’s not like sheroin, right? It’s not like oh, now I feel terrible. And the only way I can feel better is to watch some porn.
People use them as a coping tool. And then the other piece that I said some of your life has to get fucked up. Like yeah, talking about like your relationship. Right? Well, you know I used to be on the football team or the basketball team or used to go running and now you’re just home in a haze of smoke. That’s a prime.
Honey Smith Walls 19:34
Well, that sounds like depression to me too. And if you’re not being helped by cannabis with that depression, then you’re not using it. Right.
G. Scott Graham 19:44
Right. Right. Well, that’s exactly it.
Honey Smith Walls 19:47
So learning how to be mindful about cannabis use is something that recreational users would benefit from those who are medical marijuana patients being taught that to be mindful about what cannabis they choose… whether it’s hemp or medical marijuana… and what terpene profile is in either one of those, and the effect that you’re looking for, and then titrating to find your sweet spot.
So we practice micro dosing down here so that we learn not to build up our tolerance. And micro dosing has been a big, big thing down here in Florida. But I don’t ever hear that coming out of the mouths of a rec user or recreational user.
G. Scott Graham 20:51
Hey, listen, tell my audience how they can get in touch with you. If you’d like for them to and where…
G. Scott Graham 20:58
So the easiest way to find me is GScottGraham.com. That’s my main author website. GScottGraham.com. And it’d be great if you put that in the show notes. So that someone clicks on that it’s the easy way to find me. You can also type into Google GScottGraham, Author, and then look for the guy with the long hair, not the guy who wrote the mystery novels.
Honey Smith Walls 21:29
I’ve got that.
G. Scott Graham 21:33
I would love to write a mystery novel someday.
Honey Smith Walls 21:37
I am on your GScottGraham.com. And I’m seeing a bunch of people climbing a very large structure.
G. Scott Graham 21:56
Yeah, it was. I used to work for Outward Bound and that video that is there is people climbing the tower on Thompson Island Education Center in Boston, Mass.
Honey Smith Walls 22:09
That’s awesome.
Honey Smith Walls 22:11
Scott, I want to thank you so much for coming today and sharing your story and your advocacy for cannabis. It’s very important to open our mouths and say what is truth about cannabis and I appreciate you so much. Will you come back and talk to us again… Won’t you?
G. Scott Graham 22:35
I will thank you very much.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Outro[7]
You’ve been listening to another Cannaba Verum podcast with 21st century cannabis shaman Honey Smith Walls 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 to help you in your area.
Visit cannabis clinicians.org It is a 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 be advised that all street weed is contaminated. It may do grave harm to a patient with a delicate immune system who already has inflammatory issues like arthritis or IBS, fibromyalgia or worse.
Thanks so much for listening today and don’t forget to catch us live online on the clubhouse every Monday at 8am. Eastern. I hear the cow’s callin…
Show Notes:
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