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This is The CannaMom Show, a podcast chronicling the inspiring stories of real women in the emerging cannabis industry.
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Your host, Joyce Gerber, mom, lawyer, political activist, has been speaking with women from coast to coast and around the world who are leaders in the revolution of cannabis and caregiving.
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continuing on her mission to lift up the stories of the women creating the cannabis industry by sharing their canna stories with you.
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So go make yourself a cup of tea or roll yourself a joint, sit back and learn something new about this magical plant on The Canna Mom Show with Joyce Gerber.
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From the Tip O'Neill Studios in North Cambridge, Massachusetts, it's The Canna Mom Show.
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Now here's your host, Joyce Gerber.
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Thank you for listening again to the Cannamom show where we continue on our mission of crushing that cannabis stigma.
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So Dave, I got big, big news.
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Do tell, what's going on?
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You know, I've been talking about the hemp guitar by Josh Lamkin.
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Can you see Josh behind me?
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If you're watching on YouTube, you can see him.
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I can, yeah.
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Yes, you can.
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So he- Well, it's not literally Josh behind you.
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It's just a picture of him, an image.
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So, let's see.
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So, we've been talking about the hemp guitar.
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I'm not really quite sure what we're going to do with it.
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I've been talking about this for months now.
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But this weekend, something happened and it's just pushing us forward.
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So, we are, yeah.
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What happened?
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What happened?
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Josh posted a like 30 second video of him smoking from the guitar.
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Really?
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Which has gone viral.
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Wow.
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Wow.
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Check it out, people.
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We've had like 20 ,000 shares or something, and it was just unexpected.
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It was a very small moment, people, and it's been going up fast.
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So today, actually today, which is actually next week, because we release this next week, we are launching the Hemp Guitar Campaign.
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It's going to be through.
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It's actually through the Lampkin guitar website.
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Of course, all of that will be in the show notes.
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And this is how it works.
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So for your support of twenty five dollars or more for the Canamon show mission, your name will be entered to be the owner of this one of a kind hemp guitar that you can play and you can smoke.
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All right.
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All I mean, all the questions have been answered.
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I kept asking, can you really smoke out of it and play it?
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And apparently you can not simultaneously.
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I don't think.
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But we Um, so to be clear, you can smoke out of it.
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You're not actually smoking the, the actual body of the guitar.
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It's we built a, you don't like the guitar on fire.
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No, you don't have to like Jimi Hendrix.
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Yeah, maybe he will at the end of the, I don't know.
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So, um, so this is how it's going to work.
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The drawing is not the drawing.
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The winner will be announced on four 20, our national holiday.
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And it is going to be displayed at the goods dispensary in Davis Square in Somerville.
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So if you want to actually see it, it'll be there for the month of April.
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And, um, and there might even actually be videos of Josh playing it.
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So you might be able to see it being played to prove that it's actually playable and smokable because the internet is blowing up with them smoking it.
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That's amazing.
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It's a great thing to be famous for funny.
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I've never seen anyone smoke out of a guitar before.
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So, well, you should go check it out.
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All right.
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We've been doing a lot of work trying to, you know, talk about issues with moms and cannabis and care and, you know, how are we going to move this forward?
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So your support for those issues.
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There you go.
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Love it.
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Yay.
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All right.
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So I've been rounding out the schedule for 2024 and I realized I'm still 10 States short to cover the entire United States.
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I don't know everyone pays attention to this thing.
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It's usually in the back of me.
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If you're not on YouTube, you can't see it.
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Yeah.
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And those are Kanamon listeners?
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No, those are actually interviews.
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So kind of the middle of the state.
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I'm missing the middle of the state.
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Anyone in the middle of the state who wants to talk to me?
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So Nebraska, I guess Montana is bare.
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I see that.
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I have Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Georgia.
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Oh, and Alabama.
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So there you go.
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I wanna say- You can be on the map, people.
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No big loss.
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I shouldn't say that.
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Anyway, it would be fun to say that I've been every state.
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So if you're listening and if you're from some random state that I haven't talked to, reach out to me.
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Not counting Alaska and Hawaii?
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I've been Alaska.
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Oh, and I had Element Apothic, I think was from Hawaii.
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Okay.
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You got that.
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I don't think she's actually on Hawaii at the time, but I technically count her as Hawaii.
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That counts.
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Yeah.
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Is that everything?
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Oh, the one other thing.
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It is the Association for Cannabis Health Equity and Medicine, ACAM.
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And they are working with National Association of Black Cannabis Lawyers.
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These are really the people I hang out with.
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And they are doing a groundbreaking program.
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I talk a lot about medical people and legal issues of this.
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So they're doing a groundbreaking program that will train medical providers and legal experts to assist cannabis medical patients facing civil and criminal charges is for possessing and consuming plant-based medicine.
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Because this is really a thing, it's still happening.
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There's a woman in Oklahoma we talked about a couple of weeks ago, it's not necessary and we need people to help fight back.
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So you know the law thing.
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So yeah, if you're a lawyer out there, you're interested in this, reach out to me, reach out to ACAM, I'm sure they'd help you, love to have your support to help, you know, whatever, move this forward.
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And I do talk about the cannabis stuff that I'm really kind of involved with if you're interested that, you know, moms who are using cannabis and have medical cards and they're working with their professionals, there's no reason for family services, there's no reason to do a tox scan on
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It should stop.
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There you go.
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Yeah.
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All right.
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People of the world changing it.
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All right, I have no culture corner today.
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Anything you've been talking about, listening to, thinking about that you wanna share?
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Well, lots of things.
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As you know, I watch way too much TV.
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Did we talk about the movie Maestro?
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Have you seen that?
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I have.
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Good, right?
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Very, and my husband is a Bernstein fan, talks about him all the time, but nobody seemed to know part of that story.
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So, yeah.
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Bradley Cooper should win everything for that.
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I mean, just pretty amazing.
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And I do like the way they filmed it in black and white and color.
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It kind of gave that sense of going back and forth in time a little bit.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Just everything is the the music, the I mean, there's one scene where he's leading an orchestra, which is what maestros do, which is what conductors do.
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But the I can't even begin to even on like a small screen watching in your home.
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It was so moving.
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It was so friggin powerful.
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And apparently Bradley Cooper did like the Tom Cruise thing and immersed himself into this and learned how to be a conductor.
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He embodied it.
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I did.
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Right.
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There you go.
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All right.
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There you go.
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That's all you get today.
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That's all you get today.
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All right.
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And, um, yeah.
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And again, guitars, you should enter, Dave.
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You know how to play, right?
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A little.
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What do I have to know how to play?
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The guitar.
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Oh, you don't need to play it.
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No, I meant I thought you meant like play the game in order to win.
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No, I'm I.
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Yes, I have a guitar right nearby.
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And I'm terrible, but I'm an aspirant.
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And so, yes, I'll enter.
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I'm in.
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I shouldn't enter.
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I'm an employee.
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I'm an employee.
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Oh, you can't.
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Sorry, I can't do it.
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Come on.
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And we actually have terms that I have my legal stuff.
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All right.
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Good.
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But tell your friends who are not, because I'm sure there's a bunch There's a bunch of middle-aged men out there who would love to have a smokable hemp guitar.
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Absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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And I have some guitar players in my network will do.
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Excellent.
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All right.
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And now we are moving on to today's guest.
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All right.
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Um, I know if you could see this bag behind me, if you're on YouTube, this is connected to today's guests.
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We're going to talk about that a little bit later.
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So, uh, today's guest, she is an accomplished development professional with decades of experience in strategic philanthropy philanthropy, who just recently began her cannabis journey because of her friendship with the one and only Marcus Johnson Smith of KUSH Groove, one of the very few men I've interviewed on the Canna
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I brought today's guest to the Green Goddess Invitational and opened her eyes to the wide and wondrous world of cannabis in Massachusetts and beyond.
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I am looking forward to talking with her today about her own canna journey, how her friendship with Marcus led her to support KUSH Groove Dispensary, and how we can support moms in cannabis with a campaign we'll be running with Cush Group, hopefully this spring.
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She is here today to share the story of her Canada journey from just a kid from Cambridge to a Canada entrepreneur.
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Please welcome to the Canada Mom Show, Jennifer Foley.
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Welcome.
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Thank you, Joyce.
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That's a really nice intro.
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It makes you feel good.
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All right.
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And where are you located?
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Yeah.
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So professionally, I am a fundraiser in health care.
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So that is, that's what I do on the other side of things.
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But I feel like the past year has really been a fast education.
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And it's been a really great learning experience.
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And you can, you know, you're a bridge, you're sort of in that world, and you're talking about something, maybe people that don't really talk about that much because of the federal illegality and all the many other issues associated with cannabis, yeah.
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There is more and more kind of talk around it in the healthcare industry, as you know.
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I mean, it's been there for a while, but I think that also there are more questions being raised and people are being more open to it, so yeah.
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And again, like once we know, I talk about this with the mom thing, like if you're reporting, like I said earlier, if we're reporting women who are using cannabis to children's services based on a policy at a hospital, not because they have to, but it's based on some other
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But it means you can't collect data on what is happening with these children, and no one's going to do reverse study.
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So whatever, we need to prove it's how it's working, or else we can't actually doctors can't help these moms.
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I mean, it's kind of frustrating.
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It's true.
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It's been interesting as well to see philanthropists coming around this.
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I have some philanthropists that I work with who asked the question of, you know, how is cannabis being used and then other just, you know, with all the great dispensaries and businesses, cannabis businesses in Massachusetts, I see some of them kind of wanting to sponsor events at the hospital
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And so that's interesting to see growth there.
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Little bit of acceptance, I would say like a couple years ago, one of those companies wanting to sponsor something would not be received so well.
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But now, you know, the conversation happens and people are asking really great questions.
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So yeah, That is I'd not even honest to god.
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I'd never even thought of it from that angle.
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All right, we're gonna keep talking.
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We got a long way to go Uh, all right.
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Let's just begin with marcus.
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How do you know him?
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All right, how did he bring you into the drug world how did he do this That's a hilarious question So I i've actually known marcus since before he knew cannabis because i've known him since he was about four years old Um, which is crazy to say but it's true.
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He um grew up He and I both grew up in Cambridge.
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We grew up in the same area of West Cambridge, Cochran Park, and he has been best friends with one of my brothers since they were literally like four years old.
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The first time I saw Marcus, he was knocking on my door, telling me that my brother hit him with a rock.
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So it's been a very long time.
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And- Yeah.
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You know, he's family.
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We grew up together.
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He's kind of been a constant in my life through my brothers.
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And so he's been at holidays and just known him my entire life.
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And as he kind of grew, push through from the clothing company and launched into the dispensary world, there was an intersection with what I had going on in my own life.
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I had come into cannabis for medical reasons, something you mentioned earlier.
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On my medical card, I was diagnosed with endometriosis.
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And so the doctor suggested going down this path because I was not crazy about the pharmaceuticals that were being recommended.
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So I got my card, started exploring from that angle.
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And at the same time, Marcus and Mike were about to launch Push Groove in West Cambridge.
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And that was an opportunity for me to come in as a co-owner.
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And, you know, I took it because I love supporting family, friends and community.
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And the opportunity to be part of Push Groove kind of embraces all of those values.
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It's been a lot of fun.
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That's awesome.
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All right.
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You're a supporter.
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You're like, how did you how do you how do you work with the push group?
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Yeah, I'm sorry and West Cambridge.
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Yep So I'd say if I had to kind of characterize what I do with them the most it would be thinking about Marketing and reaching new audiences and particularly when we think about the Panama audience.
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And in bringing people into the Canada world who may not be, you know, comfortable getting into it may have a lot of questions.
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And I feel like that's where I've been for the past year and a half, really trying to learn about it.
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And so I try to help bring that perspective.
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Because, you know, Marcus and Mike, they're very, you know, they're very cool.
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They're all about this.
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They've been in it for decades.
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And so that that lens of how do you bring people in and make them comfortable with cannabis and let them learn about it and let them realize the benefits that are there and that you can integrate it into your daily life when you are a busy mom.
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I know what that looks like and just- But we exist.
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That we have.
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So, I mean, that's obviously our mission as well.
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And the idea that we have to be seen to know that we exist.
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And I do talk about Cush Group because it's one of the dispensaries I visit.
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Yeah.
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It's a very anyone in Watertown, it's a great way to it's right there.
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So put a sofra and get some coffee and then walk.
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Yeah.
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Or you're on the bike path, which is literally underneath it, you can see the turtle on the bike path.
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So this is our mission people.
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We're going to do this.
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We're going to bring you in.
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All right.
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You came through it, your own, um, health issues, but, and I know you're eyeopening when we went to the event.
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So what do you think really has surprised you about the whole cannabis world?
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Yeah.
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Because I'm in my younger years, cannabis was not a thing for me.
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I did not smoke, no particular bias, but it just never was something that worked for me.
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And so to jump back in and to learn A, all the different ways you can explore how cannabis works or doesn't work with you.
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And also the huge community around this.
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I mean, the day with you Joyce and going to Green Goddess and meeting all of the women in cannabis, all of the people that are working so hard to understand what the industry needs and how to kind of normalize it.
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That was so eye-opening.
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And these are smart, fierce, amazing women just driving.
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Healthy.
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Yep.
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Responsible, productive.
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I mean, I think it's been really eye-opening to to see all the all the strong women in this industry, but also just everything that's behind this industry.
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You know, it's not just about going out there and getting high and, you know, doing whatever.
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It's it's more than that.
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And I really wish that my eyes had been opened earlier, quite frankly.
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So that's okay, we're gonna talk more about family stuff.
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Why don't we actually talk about your own journey?
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So I'm sure you grew up during D.A.R.E.
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Drugs are bad, you'll go to jail.
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You're a smart woman, you know, you didn't wanna kill your brain cells.
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I kind of, I've been through the whole thing.
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And, but you weren't feeling good.
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So how did you find cannabis?
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What were your symptoms?
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And like, how long did it take you to actually find it?
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And often I hear this as women, we've discussed this, you know, they've come to their last wit, like they don't want no one else to do and they try it literally out of desperation.
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And then that moment, even though they're not feeling better completely, they like that moment that they can actually feel a little bit better, right, spark something, and then they go down that journey.
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And yeah, so everything was pretty recent.
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I have a rare form of endometriosis that that comes after you give birth.
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So typically women's health, if you're endometriosis, you can't have kids, right?
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Or it's going to be challenging.
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And so after I had my son, literally for five years, I went to doctor after doctor and they kept telling me, oh, you're just, you know, you're just recovering from having a baby.
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You need to go to physical therapy.
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You need to do this.
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You need to do that.
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Nothing was working.
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So what were your symptoms?
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What were you experiencing?
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So- All of your body or- It started as lower back pain, and then, you know, extended to my pelvis, and then actually kind of just took over my body because what happens with endometriosis is you have this excess tissue growing, typically in your pelvic area.
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But as that tissue grows, it can tighten everything else up in your body because if your back's not functioning properly everything else just kind of tightens up.
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So it was literally extreme pain that just kept building year after year after year.
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And what would they tell you to use for medication?
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Aspirin?
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Well the tricky thing is the beginning they didn't tell me anything they just kept saying you're still recovering and you know a year after I had a baby I was like I'm still recovering and they're like well you know you're older because I was in And my, I think
00:20:03 1
And so, you know, you're older and might take a little while.
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Somebody told me, well, when you don't have more babies, your body can't recover properly.
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A doctor told me that I was like, okay, so it's just, it was years of misinformation.
00:20:16 1
It's so crazy to talk about it.
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Then I finally was referred to an endometriosis specialist from doing my own research online and seeing the symptoms and saying, wow, this really sounds like me.
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First visit, he diagnosed me.
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And he told me there's a rare form.
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It happens after you have a child.
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And so from there, he recommended a few different prescriptions.
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I don't even remember what they were, as well as more physical therapy.
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Were they trying to reduce like some kind of inflammation?
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It's pain management.
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And the other tricky part is they cannot like really confirm the diagnosis unless you have the surgery, which I have now had twice.
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The first surgery, there was a ton of tissue.
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So they were like, yes, you have endometriosis.
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The second, the tissue had come back.
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But what I realized during that journey is that the tissue growth is directly related to stress.
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And during that conversation is when my primary care was like, you know, have you thought about cannabis?
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And I said, no, I haven't.
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And she referred me to, you know.
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done my body's like Got the second surgery.
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Oh Actually, so after I got the second surgery rate, what they do for endometriosis is they put you on birth control, right?
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So they think the hormones will help it.
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That is something I did not want, but I gave into that and had, you know, all kinds of severe reactions.
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So stop doing that.
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Then ask the question, um, you know, got the recommendation for the cannabis.
00:22:37 1
All right, so it's just 2022.
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So were you told that you can use it in different ways?
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Did you have any idea how you could actually consume the cannabis or how to, once you got the, cause I know it's confusing, like how do you figure out what you want to use?
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Yeah, so once you have that initial meeting to get your card, you know, I received information on, you know, you can smoke it, you can have gummies.
00:23:00 1
I think those are the two main things we talked about.
00:23:03 1
And it was recommended that I go the gummy route because it was an easy entry.
00:23:08 1
And, you know, I could take a gummy at night, and it would help me sleep, which is also a major situation because the pain would wake me up.
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So that was what I wanted to deal with first.
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Yeah.
00:23:22 1
So when so I so I've heard different people have different reactions to gummies.
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That's the thing about edibles that they are literally metastasized through your body in a different way and come out a different molecule and they last it's a whole different and then consuming it by smoking it or vaping it.
00:23:34 1
So when you used the, did you find that the gummy worked effectively?
00:23:38 1
And then what, did you find that you wanted to find something else that was more immediate or how did you figure out how to, how'd you figure out how to dose yourself, I guess?
00:23:44 1
So, so that's been the past year of exploration for me.
00:23:48 1
And the gummies in the beginning, they, it, it definitely immediately helped, right?
00:23:53 1
And so I started, I think I started, I laugh because now I'll take usually two at night, but I started with like half of a gummy And it would make me just, you know, fall asleep, have no pain while I was sleeping and actually get eight hours of sleep,
00:24:08 1
which had not happened in decades in my life.
00:24:11 1
And then prior to this, had you tried any CBD products, any creams or any kind of CBD before you went to the THC?
00:24:17 1
I did try like CBD, like in a liquid form that you can, whatever.
00:24:23 1
It didn't really do much for me, not that particular one.
00:24:27 1
And I didn't spend too much time researching other options with CBD, so just started with the gummies.
00:24:35 1
Once I was comfortable with the gummies, and I'm trying to think about timing-wise, but honestly, I think after we went to Green Goddess, like I really, before that I had definitely, you know, smoked a little bit, but I hadn't been mindful about it, I guess you could say, and
00:25:02 1
And so now I mix the two, right?
00:25:05 1
And so I think smoking has more of that immediate calm you down and which is just a game changer for my hectic, stressful life.
00:25:16 1
And- I mean, I do say that for people like, again, when I was kids were little, I would give myself time out in the bathroom.
00:25:31 1
My whole experience as a parent would have been different.
00:25:34 1
It's a change in your perspective.
00:25:36 1
It's something I can't when people don't use.
00:25:37 1
It's like that moment where you're like, your brain is just telling you what to do.
00:25:40 1
I don't know your brain's expecting you to be stressed out.
00:25:42 1
I can't explain it.
00:25:44 1
And something about that hit.
00:25:45 1
Yeah, yeah, hold on to the anxiety of whatever you're dealing with.
00:25:49 1
And that hit.
00:25:49 1
But I mean, what I would, what's been really eye opening is, you know, you take one or two hits in my body.
00:25:56 1
It's like my nervous system relaxed.
00:25:58 1
I don't feel particularly like a head high, but I am able to be relaxed and deal with, you know, a number of situations.
00:26:08 1
It's funny, like two weeks ago, I had to address something with my son, and it was a school issue, super stressful, and I was at my home office, and I was just like, all right, you know what, I need to smoke a little bit before we have this conversation.
00:26:29 1
But it's like, when you do that, you're able to keep your calm, your kid's coming at you, has all his pushback, and you're able to just kind of sit there and be in that neutral space and still be focused and get done what you need to get done without
00:26:53 1
I mean that I will say that was my relationship with my guitar-playing son who you know, yeah, he came out that way And we used I'm a divorce attorney by training and we would fight like we literally fought like he learned how to fight for me I think but
00:27:21 1
a little bit and you can be more present and then you don't overreact because overreacting just causes chaos, usually.
00:27:27 1
And if you think about our lives these days, it's like, you know, if you're a working mom, you're going from the office and sometimes you're not going from the office anymore because you're working from home.
00:27:36 1
So you're switching from one, you know, high stress situation to another one with no in between.
00:27:42 1
So it really, you know, having this as a tool is- It's a tool.
00:27:47 1
It's a tool.
00:27:49 1
It really is.
00:27:54 1
Let's talk about your friends.
00:27:55 1
Like, so now I don't know what your social circle is like.
00:27:57 1
I don't know what they, you came with me or like, you know, my God, there's drinks.
00:28:01 1
There's like, you're like, what is happening here?
00:28:04 1
I think we should say, I am probably like the biggest novice out there.
00:28:09 1
And so if anybody's listening and they haven't given this a try, like if it works for me, it can work for anybody.
00:28:14 1
And what you were talking about before is really layering.
00:28:16 1
So we talk about, you know, I have a good friend of mine.
00:28:20 1
She's going through some cancer treatments and I've been helping her use, she's vaping CBD flour.
00:28:25 1
And that is helping with the nausea.
00:28:27 1
It has taken a couple of ways to figure out how to get her.
00:28:30 1
So you know, but the thing about the gummy is the gummy lasts a little bit longer.
00:28:33 1
So you're layering it.
00:28:35 1
So you can take something that helps you immediately and then something that'll kick in maybe 30 minutes later and will last a little bit longer.
00:28:41 1
So that's what they talk about when they're layering with the cannabis plant.
00:28:45 1
So, all right.
00:28:46 1
So you friends, I'm sure they're like, I don't know what they think of you doing this What are they especially mom friends?
00:28:52 1
What are they asking you?
00:28:53 1
Are they looking for advice?
00:28:54 1
I mean, I know you're new too, but it's almost better that you're new Could you remember how it felt so you can explain it pretty right?
00:28:59 1
Yeah.
00:29:00 1
Yeah, that is that has been helpful Yeah, it's it's been a shock to everybody which is kind of hilarious including my brothers who are like you're doing what now?
00:29:10 1
But it's kind of funny because in the beginning everyone it was just kind of disbelief, right?
00:29:17 1
So people don't even engage in the conversation with me.
00:29:19 1
They just kind of like laugh and be like, what, you?
00:29:21 1
No, but now it is interesting because people will kind of circle around and be like, so do you recommend like a particular type of gummy or what do you use for this or what do you use for that?
00:29:34 1
And you know, we'll have family holidays now and I like cousins that are decades younger than me and I'm like, do you guys want it?
00:29:41 1
And they're like, really?
00:29:43 1
Yeah, okay.
00:29:44 1
But, you know, it's been really interesting.
00:29:46 1
And even like my mom, who just couldn't wrap her head around it for the longest time, and then turns around and was like, So do you think that there's a gummy that would help me sleep?
00:29:57 1
And I'm like, absolutely, I do.
00:29:59 1
So, you know, it's, and I know a dispensary where you can get it.
00:30:04 1
And she, you know, she's known Marcus, same, same amount of time, she drove him to all his baseball games and everything.
00:30:10 1
So he's truly family.
00:30:12 1
So she knows where she's gonna go if she goes to get it.
00:30:15 1
I'm a Canterburidian, he's a local kid.
00:30:19 1
This is, in many ways, it's become a local thing.
00:30:22 1
Like I can walk to my local dispensary.
00:30:24 1
So you live in a neighborhood, the dispensary's a neighborhood that you can walk to.
00:30:28 1
It's right next to a supermarket.
00:30:30 1
And I know, I wanna talk about what we were talking about with the Can-a-Mom program.
00:30:34 1
I don't know if you've seen this.
00:30:34 1
So there's a bag that Marcus had designed.
00:30:36 1
I don't know if you've seen the bag.
00:30:41 1
I'm loving it.
00:30:43 1
I know It's a podcast.
00:30:45 1
It's audio.
00:30:46 1
So, um, my daughter took this who's pretty cool because she thinks it's so great.
00:30:51 1
So it is.
00:30:52 1
Oh, yeah, that's I love it.
00:30:53 1
I love it in the bag too.
00:30:54 1
We were looking at shirts, but it's basically the four seasons of the Canada mom.
00:30:58 1
I think I might be the winter one, the lady with the gray hair who's like all cozy and purple.
00:31:02 1
That's me.
00:31:07 1
So I know we talked a lot about this in marketing, getting people connected.
00:31:10 1
So the bag is part of that to have a little, you know, swag that makes you feel connected to the dispensary.
00:31:16 1
I have talked about how the Cush group dispensary is right there in a mall, a little strip mall next door.
00:31:22 1
I think it's a hairdresser.
00:31:23 1
And then there's a hair salon, there's a supermarket, there's an amazing coffee shop, a great coffee shop.
00:31:33 1
Like I was thinking like Mother's Day We should invite everyone from the neighborhood and maybe we should do like a can of mom Mother's Day special with our bag And yeah, you know, I have my I have my can of romance.
00:31:43 1
I've been writing I can print out some copies you can like
00:31:49 1
Reading Joyce I could do a reading but yeah, I mean again getting women into the dispensary because you know, you agree with me it's still a little uncomfortable even though it's in a strip mall and I mean, what are your ideas?
00:32:00 1
You've been in a bunch of times and even the way it's set up and who you're talking to.
00:32:04 1
So what are some of the things you think should be happening in that little space that we're gonna engage more people in the neighborhood?
00:32:09 1
More women, my tennis lady friends, everyone, people shopping, all those ladies who are food shopping.
00:32:14 1
Yeah, I mean, there's food shopping.
00:32:16 1
And then when you come into the dispensary, Cush Groove is also a clothing line.
00:32:19 1
So there's clothes to be bought.
00:32:21 1
And it's a really, it's just a relaxing space.
00:32:24 1
It's funny, people laugh at me all the time, but I literally will just leave the office and be like, I'm going by push group because I just like walking in there.
00:32:31 1
It's a very relaxing atmosphere.
00:32:33 1
And everybody is.
00:32:35 1
It's like everyone knows your name.
00:32:37 1
It's true.
00:32:38 1
And it's his mom is at the desk sometimes.
00:32:40 1
Yeah, she's out there doing her thing.
00:32:43 1
It's great.
00:32:43 1
And and, you know, I think that's a little unique about us.
00:32:46 1
We do have a great female presence in there.
00:32:49 1
We have Patty at the desk sometimes.
00:32:53 1
We have T behind the counter.
00:32:54 1
We have a lot of women who are in push group.
00:32:59 1
But also, I think when I think back to the first time I walked into my first dispensary, which wasn't kushkru, I was so overwhelmed and so intimidated.
00:33:11 1
And when you walk into kushkru, it's not that I mean, everybody's just like, hey, how can I help you?
00:33:16 1
And even if you're like, I don't know how you can help me.
00:33:19 1
I don't know what I'm looking for.
00:33:20 1
Like, I need to learn about this stuff.
00:33:21 1
There's so much information there, if you want to peruse it on your own, but also everybody who works there is so happy.
00:33:30 1
And they are very good about giving recommendations of, you know, people, there's a lot of different products now out there.
00:33:36 1
There's a lot of different ways to decide how you want to consume.
00:33:38 1
You know, there's a lot of decisions to be made, like you said.
00:33:41 1
So coming into a space where you feel like people know their product line, I mean, the bedtenders are the first line of defense.
00:33:47 1
So you want to make sure they know what they're selling and how to talk about it.
00:33:51 1
Yeah, he does carry some good, do you have any, I don't know I feel like this Bob with it like any of the products that you've tried there that you really think are working well for you Or that you recommend to your mom or to you know other mothers.
00:34:01 1
Yeah, I mean so I usually stick with The you know the Kiva the dummies the Camino Road ones Those are kind of favorites of mine, but we are actually going to be putting our slow and steady edibles back into circulation So those will be coming out soon and one
00:34:29 1
I know they are like specialized for like, I know some of them have more CBN, CBG, are you that connected to the cannabinoid world?
00:34:37 1
I'm learning Joyce, I've been reading up on all those things, so I'm getting better at it.
00:34:43 1
I don't know if we're going to have the mixes with the CBN and the CBD in there, I'd have to ask, but that would be great.
00:34:49 1
Because I think, you know, the ones that I take at night have the CBN in there.
00:34:53 1
And so that's great for me.
00:34:55 1
And we're also going to be adding since we're talking kinemoms, we're going to be adding like some lotions and some cosmetics and topical dolls and lip balms.
00:35:07 1
Marcus has been doing a lot of research and bringing some new stuff.
00:35:10 1
Yeah.
00:35:19 1
That's like a whole nother line of products that people are, but again, there's, you can eat it, you can wear it, you can drink it.
00:35:25 1
It touches everything from criminal justice to cosmetics.
00:35:28 1
And we, you know, these dispensaries are gonna be offering more things now that there are more things to offer, I suppose.
00:35:34 1
It's, and you're just part of the mainstream.
00:35:36 1
You're normalizing it.
00:35:37 1
So let's, I got a couple more minutes.
00:35:39 1
Let's talk about, you have one child, right?
00:35:47 1
Slowly I'd say we're getting there Like I said it it really is a bit of a shock to people in my life because I'm kind of a rule follower So it's it but you know, this is fine now And you know with my son what he notices the most
00:36:14 1
Yeah, it's really interesting look.
00:36:16 1
And so my son loves it.
00:36:17 1
And he's always like, Oh, mama, I love that kush crew shirt.
00:36:20 1
I love your kush crew sweatshirt.
00:36:21 1
So I have a sat down and talk to him about, you know, everything that it means.
00:36:26 1
So it's kind of how old is he now?
00:36:28 1
He is nine, gonna be 10 in March.
00:36:31 1
So he must know what he knows what it is.
00:36:33 1
Does he does it work?
00:36:34 1
Does he know You must know Marcus, right?
00:36:36 1
Yeah.
00:36:37 1
Yeah.
00:36:40 1
So it's funny.
00:36:41 1
They're at a point in school where it's coming up.
00:36:44 1
They talk about smoking weed and joke about getting high and stuff like that.
00:36:47 1
So it is a point where I need to talk, sit down and talk to him about like all of it.
00:36:52 1
But there's just so much to talk to, talk about with these kids that it's like on the list, but I haven't gotten there yet.
00:36:59 1
Oh, I mean, I also thought that is the genesis of the Cannabom show.
00:37:02 1
Cause my kids were teenagers when this whole, my cannabis awakening happened.
00:37:06 1
So this idea, and I was talking to a friend who had younger children, and how do you talk about it and what do you say?
00:37:11 1
Because with the moms who've been, it's just part of their lives forever, those kids don't think anything of it.
00:37:16 1
It's just like coffee or alcohol or whatever it is that, you know, whatever, they know about it.
00:37:21 1
Their parents mentioned it, but they know they don't wanna, it's not for them.
00:37:25 1
But cannabis, especially, you know, for transitional cannabis moms, it's like, where does the introduction come?
00:37:31 1
Because they actually have books now about what's growing in grandma's garden.
00:37:36 1
It's just a plant.
00:37:38 1
And then the idea that, I don't know, I mean, you're breaking it, like I'm breaking the generation with my kids and you're breaking it with your kids and then it's not even gonna be a thing anymore because there won't need to be a talk.
00:37:49 1
Yeah, we have talked about the what is cannabis conversation, we've had that.
00:37:54 1
I think the next step is, what does mommy do with cannabis?
00:37:59 1
And I will say some of the moms, their kids know, they're like, mom, I think you need to take your medicine.
00:38:12 1
They want, they just want you to like them.
00:38:14 1
That's all they want to see them and like them and not need to chill out.
00:38:18 1
Basically.
00:38:18 1
Yes, exactly.
00:38:19 1
Um, all right.
00:38:21 1
We got a couple more minutes.
00:38:22 1
Let's see.
00:38:23 1
So I know you went to that event with me.
00:38:25 1
You're more involved with Chris groove.
00:38:27 1
Like what are you looking forward to this year in terms of like, how you're going to connect with the neighborhood?
00:38:32 1
How you're going to involve more friends?
00:38:36 1
I don't know what he's doing.
00:38:37 1
He's always different places doing different things, talking to people.
00:38:39 1
So, you know, what is it that you focus?
00:38:42 1
Yeah, focused on like the West Cambridge store.
00:38:44 1
And I know he's opening another one in Brockton, right?
00:38:46 1
Yeah, exactly.
00:38:47 1
So West Cambridge is open.
00:38:48 1
Brockton, I think, is opening in April, maybe.
00:38:51 1
But, you know, lots, lots on the horizon.
00:38:54 1
As you know, the mural is up, the turtle mural.
00:38:56 1
And so we'll be having an event around that maybe in April.
00:39:08 1
We will have been open for a year in April.
00:39:11 1
And there is definitely a large push group following Marcus and my both just, you know, have a great network and a lot of support.
00:39:20 1
But now that we are in this neighborhood, it really is, you know, letting people know that it's a it's a great addition to the neighborhood, come in and get to know us.
00:39:35 1
And we've talked about this too, like around parents, and there's just so many different demographics that benefit from this.
00:39:42 1
So we really want to think of, you know, more ideas of how to educate our local community about, you know, how to come into Cush Crew, how to learn more about what they want to do, how to get to know the people of Cush Crew, and networking just on
00:39:58 1
So we're always connecting with Sofra and the supermarket.
00:40:01 1
I mean, this is very local.
00:40:03 1
So I do talk a lot about how cannabis is local because there's no interstate commerce, but this is really local.
00:40:08 1
This is a kid from Cambridge, friends from Cambridge, in a nice Cambridge neighborhood, you know, that we are just integrating it like any other business.
00:40:18 1
And they want to support local businesses and social equity and just trying to make some kind of like building, building small businesses in America, like this is a small business.
00:40:27 1
So you go to a lot of other dispensaries or other dispensaries in the area that are owned by bigger companies.
00:40:37 1
It's like how unusual.
00:40:39 1
Yeah, it's it's family.
00:40:40 1
Honestly, there's just a lot of us in there that have known each other for forever, quite frankly.
00:40:46 1
And so you get that vibe when you come in.
00:40:48 1
And I mean, and when I think of Cambridge, and I've grown up here, and I lived in other places and came back, It's Cambridge is a place where community means something a little different.
00:40:58 1
It's a little bit more special It's a little bit more connected and I think that Cush crew really Elevates that you feel it when you come in you feel that we are all from Cambridge.
00:41:08 1
I love that I just did the MLK Day of Service over in Cambridge.
00:41:12 1
They do it's this huge event for anyone who doesn't know It's four locations of sewing and making valentines and creating all sorts of I know it's a day of service We take it seriously here in Cambridge and there are just so many people that I knew and haven't seen
00:41:31 1
Yeah, we did a food drive for that one last year.
00:41:33 1
Yeah, I sew, I do, I help sew the blankets.
00:41:37 1
So my ladies I see like once a year, we just catch up once a year, it's funny.
00:41:43 1
Yeah, I can't sew.
00:41:44 1
But I collect the food, I'm like, I'll do a food drive because I can't sew.
00:41:49 1
You're still adding value.
00:41:50 1
Um, I think we actually are up on time.
00:41:52 1
Let's see.
00:41:53 1
So Jen, people want to come to Chris groove and come in and visit.
00:41:57 1
How do I get there?
00:41:58 1
How do they connect with you if they want to meet you personally?
00:42:00 1
And yeah, if they want to meet me personally, they can just ask when they come in.
00:42:05 1
But Cush groove is right on Mont Auburn Street, right next to the Star Market on Auburn.
00:42:09 1
We have nice big sign you can see exactly where we are.
00:42:14 1
Ask for me you can ask for Marcus, you can ask anybody who's in there for you know, whatever you're looking for whatever you're trying to learn.
00:42:22 1
And, you know, make a day of it.
00:42:24 1
Come over, grab a coffee, come to kush group, go get your groceries after.
00:42:28 1
And it's on the it's on the bike path over at fresh pond to stop on by you can't miss it.
00:42:33 1
There's a giant turtle on the outside.
00:42:36 1
Yes, slow and steady turtle is right on the wall.
00:42:42 1
And yeah, they'll be good walk most of the way.
00:42:46 1
Thank you, Jen.
00:42:47 1
So there's supposed to be another Jen here today.
00:42:49 1
I don't know if you want to give her a plug, but just couldn't join us.
00:42:52 1
Yeah, there's two gens Cambridge on the on the kush crew ownership board, if you will.
00:42:59 1
So they are actually all at a meeting about the Brockton store.
00:43:03 1
So I am representing today, but she, her and I have known each other almost 20 years, too.
00:43:09 1
So yeah, I love it.
00:43:11 1
The foundation is just a couple of kids from Cambridge.
00:43:13 1
So thank you, Jen.
00:43:14 1
Thank you for joining us today.
00:43:16 1
So another show.
00:43:17 1
So for my you're welcome.
00:43:19 1
Thank you.
00:43:28 1
We're on a mission to enhance the impact women have in the emerging cannabis industry by sharing and preserving their stories of love and kindness, wisdom, and hope.
00:43:35 1
Thank you for listening and sharing these amazing stories so that together we will crush the stigma around cannabis and caregivers.
00:43:41 1
I'm your host, Joyce Gerber.
00:43:43 1
This is the CannaMom Show, and we are a production of Pod 617, the Boston Podcast Network.
