Loni and Paul from Buddy Jane join us from Southern California on this episode of the podcast to talk about their brand new social media app for cannabis users.
Loni and Paul join the podcast from Southern California, where recreational cannabis use is legal in some counties, to tell us all about their brand new social media app for cannabis users, BuddyJane.com.
It’s a social app that was developed by a couple of ‘grown stoners’ who looked at the landscape of tech and cannabis and saw there was nothing that allowed like-minded people to interact. So BuddyJane can be described as “an IG that got pregnant by Weedmaps and had a party with a bunch of people!”
When people access the app, they are asked if they are 21 (or 18 with a Medical Cannabis Card), but the app is for everybody, not just Medical Cannabis patients. It is global and already has users in Europe, the UK, Australia, Asia, and South America.
They’re starting to see a global connection of the cannabis community. This is particularly relevant since Facebook and IG flag and delete cannabis content, and delete/kick users off the sites— as they did to comedy duo Cheech & Chong. This censorship in mainstream social media was one of the reasons they started BuddyJane – to give the cannabis community a voice that won’t get muted.
Tim confirms that this constitutes a significant difficulty in running a cannabis-related business, or allowing business owners to educate or promote using the words cannabis or marijuana. This pertains across the board, on Instagram, Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter.
The app is monitored to a degree, though they do want to represent the counterculture that cannabis represents. They’re not allowing any pornography, overtly sexual content or any illegal activity on the app.
Their users have to operate with verified business accounts before they are allowed any sort of sales activity. They want to create a safe environment and support the people that put in all the work, money, time and energy that it takes to run a legit cannabis business.
They’re a small startup, though it’s grown a lot faster than anticipated. They have a couple thousand users already and have begun to build a community. Some people who have joined Buddy Jane have become brand ambassadors and are helping them monitor the community (a way to self-police the app). They have already needed to turn away users trying to sell cocaine and guns.
The cannabis community has many patients who use cannabis for medical reasons; and it has a culture of enlightened business with an honest and positive vibe that they want to protect and foster. To keep it that way, they will kick off any ‘cockroaches’ that threaten the ethos.
Every decision that has been made on this app has been a decision by Paul and Loni. They have a team that does the technical support and coding, but every click, every module, every wireframe, every piece of the app requires their direction and approval.
Before Buddy Jane, Paul and Loni had been in the software world working on complex projects. Having worked successfully on projects before, they started looking at the cannabis landscape and detected a void (and opportunity), leading them to jump in and start development of their app.
The core of Buddy Jane is a social media connection piece, so users will find it similar to other social platforms. Loni and Paul wanted to create an all-in-one spot for all things cannabis.
The main goal is to make a single social space to connect all things cannabis. They’ve also just come out with Bud Cast, where you can live stream cannabis-related events, podcasts, and more.
Their future roadmap is pretty aggressive, and they’re currently negotiating a deal with a crypto currency company to establish reward points that users can use for discounts at participating dispensaries. In essence, they’re creating a self-sustaining ecosystem within the cannabis community that will benefit the community as a whole.
They’re looking at creating a filter for those who would prefer to use the app anonymously. People are not required to reveal their identity, and the app is not selling any CBD, THC, or flower products, making it safe to use for all.
Buddy Jane is essentially just a social media advertising app that people can access for free. Users of the app have freedom to be themselves, contact like-minded people and have access to an abundance of information.
There is no problem with trolls, or people being judged. The online shop mentioned will just be for small, ancillary products (a bit like Craigslist) with no plant-based products being sold. This aspect is still under development.
Loni has a background in design and 3D animation. Their app has changed greatly over the year-and-a-half of its development. However, one of the biggest surprises for him was how the community immediately embraced Buddy Jane.
They developed the app with a political aim— they want the community to be aware of some of the less-than-admirable motives that lie behind the move towards legalizing cannabis (namely money and greed). The cannabis community needs to pay close attention to the laws that are being passed. Their leaders must be given a platform to be heard so that they can fight for real change and have a voice to change perceptions, ideally leading to changes in law.
That’s been one of the biggest surprises for them— how this political motivation behind the app has been so fully embraced. This creates a powerful platform to democratize the cannabis movement. Hopefully Buddy Jane will contribute to meaningful change by uniting the cannabis community in large numbers to make their collective voice heard, despite media restrictions.
They have an active social media presence on Instagram and Twitter. They also have some partnerships in place that will allow for larger user numbers once they officially launch (e.g. with Cheech Marin and his brand Cheech’s Private Stash that will help them in their rollout). They will also feature Cheech’s animated series exclusively on Buddy Jane.
There’s also the cryptocurrency component and strategic partnerships in place for launch. Many people who’ve joined Buddy Jane are now also promoting the app by tagging friends on IG and other platforms.
They believe Buddy Jane will release on Android early in 2021, with an established community to help it succeed.
They are projecting between a quarter million to half million in the first year, of people downloading the app. Because it’s a global app, they’re starting to see users already picking up in Europe.
The app could also be a great conduit for information about new dispensaries opening, or simply for getting in contact with like-minded people. They believe the usership of the app will just grow organically, with the enormous commercial potential of the app appealing to the canna-business community.
No, first of all, the app doesn’t keep any personal information. Texts and chat messages are all encrypted at transit and encrypted at rest, so the privacy of users is secure. People also aren’t required to share any personal information or their location.
They do want people to use common sense and are not encouraging any illegal activity, so they’re not anticipating the Feds would have any reason to mess with app users. Buddy Jane is not a tool for illegal activity.
Loni and Paul are ploughing money back into the app for further development. They are self-funded so far, though they’ve had venture firms given a closer look lately. They are not opposed to funding at a later stage, but want to retain creative control, allowing them to take a cue from the community in terms of app direction in the future.
They want everybody to ‘hop on’ and join their cannabis community. There’s an overview and a brochure for businesses that list their services. They want to bring the education, science, and business communities into one place. The app is emphatically not simply for recreational use. There are mothers on there who use CBD for their child and professionals who use it in their daily lives for medicinal purposes.
Utah is a Medical Cannabis state with just over 20,000 legal medical users. The culture in Utah is that people are looking for others who also use cannabis, and are seeking education, which is severely lacking on social media. Tim’s Medical Cannabis patients are continually looking for more science from legitimate sources.
Connect with Loni and Paul on BuddyJane.com or follow Buddy Jane on Instagram and Twitter.
Tim is at UtahMarijuana.org if people need help getting their medical cannabis cards.
Chris is at the IAmSaltLake.com podcast.
Kenyon Snow, a cannabis patient of Tim’s, shares his struggle with severe ulcerative colitis, and how he benefited from Medical Marijuana while traditional drugs were not effective.
Kenyon was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis in 2014. He was put on immunosuppressants, like Humira, and was okay for a couple of years. However, in 2016, he had a bad flare-up on his wedding day. He was put on steroids to control it. After returning from his honeymoon, he had another colonoscopy before being put on Remicade, another strong immunosuppressant.
In February of 2017, another colonoscopy and biopsy were done, returning a precancerous result. This led to Kenyon’s colon being removed in March 2017. In July of 2017, his rectum was also removed. He then had an ileostomy, requiring him to wear a bag from the small intestine. His stoma is not on his right side, as is usual, because when he had a revision done in 2018 which caused him to develop necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria. Two weeks after that surgery, they went in to cut away a large part of his abdomen and move his stoma to the left side of his body.
This year he had a hernia, right next to his stoma. It looked to have become strangulated, so Kenyon was put on Oxycodone for a month (which he hates and describes as a nightmare). However, because of Kenyon’s past history, along with COVID hitting, they decided to hold off on additional surgery until absolutely necessary.
There are different levels of ulcerative colitis. The steroid prescribed is usually Prednisone, 60mg a day, which has unfortunate side-effects like water-retention. People can also have bad psychoactive responses to these steroids. Kenyon confirms that he nearly broke up with his wife, his then fiancée, because the Prednisone gave him bad paranoia.
Humira is also used often, which is a drug you inject weekly. You have to keep it refrigerated and it’s very expensive, along with being painful to inject. Remicade, which must be specially approved, is a once-a-month IV infusion that patients must undergo.
The more serious surgery that Kenyon had is called a total abdominal colectomy and proctectomy. Any further surgery would have been problematic, as they would have been dealing with a so-called ‘hostile abdomen’ (ie. enormous amounts of scar tissue).
Kenyon’s brother-in-law in Arizona, where Medical Cannabis was already legal, got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and also had to have his colon removed. He found that cannabis was very effective for pain relief. On a visit to Arizona in March, just as everything was shutting down for COVID, Kenyon decided to try it as well. He got a vape pen, and for the first time since his diagnosis in 2014, was pain-free without opioids.
It was the first time he had ever used cannabis, and his wife was initially apprehensive about its usage. At the time, Tim was one of the only QMPs in Utah. Kenyon accessed Tim’s website from Arizona and set up an appointment.
Tim was just setting up his office, and with the COVID restrictions patients were being assisted carside. Most of the consultation would be done by phone, followed by payment being taken by credit card, in-person, by those wearing masks and gloves. People needed that face-to-face contact. Tim remembers clearly that Kenyon had no previous experience with cannabis at the time.
He first started using vape cartridges but now prefers flower, as he finds it most effective and the easiest way to gauge appropriate doses. He also can’t help but remember when people died of ‘popcorn lung’ as a result of counterfeit vape cartridges. He buys his flower from the pharmacies and only uses vape cartridges when flower is not readily available.
Once Zion Pharmaceuticals started releasing products, Kenyon started purchasing from them. He mostly uses a vaporizer and considers Zion the best flower he’s tried (particularly their Pink Starburst Petrol strain, which has a wonderful aroma).
Kenyon admits that talking to his wife about his medical cannabis usage wasn’t easy, as cannabis (even now) is still somewhat of a taboo subject. It was a difficult subject to raise, particularly because they both belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She had the misconception, as many do, that the church was completely against cannabis use. Kenyon showed her in church doctrine where they’ve come out and said that as long as you have a Medical Card, there’s no problem with it. At this point she became more comfortable with the idea.
That’s when Kenyon started his Instagram account to try and educate people who had similar health issues that they could benefit from cannabis. He is trying to show them that it is a safe alternative to traditional medical drugs, especially when it comes to pain relief. Apart from a single daily antidepressant, Kenyon is now off of other strong traditional medications that he had been prescribed for years.
For the most part, close friends and family who knew his medical history and what he had been through, were understanding of his usage— particularly given that Kenyon had been so addicted to opioid painkillers that he was considering checking himself into rehab. Tim points out that opioids cause a lot of problems with constipation because they slow down the bowel function ‘to a crawl’ and can cause people to lose their appetite.
At work some people are still ambiguous about Kenyon’s Medical Cannabis use, and wonder if Medical Cannabis users are always ‘legit’. He thinks the biggest thing is to get rid of that stigma that is still attached to cannabis use so that people will just accept it as normal.
Obviously, inhaling takes effect a lot more quickly than ingesting, but then ingesting lasts a lot longer, so his use depends on what he needs. He’s got flower, vape cartridges, gummies, and tinctures. When he’s in a lot of pain, especially at nighttime, then he’ll take a gummy because he knows it’ll last all day and he’ll wake up feeling good.
Yes, he does so because every now and then to help with the nausea caused by his GI tract being messed up. He just got a new vape cartridge from Deseret Wellness (who recently opened in Provo) called Maui Wowie, made by Dragonfly. Hee highly recommends this cartridge for relieving nausea and leaving your mind clear.
Kenyon says that he started with low doses because he wanted to make sure that his body could tolerate it, and needed to determine how different dosages would affect him. His usage then increased from there. However, he now only uses medical cannabis when needed, which is a few times a week.
Whenever Kenyon tells people that he has a Medical Card for cannabis, one of the first questions they usually ask is, “what about recreational use”? Kenyon doesn’t see an issue with people who use cannabis recreationally. He thinks of it along the same lines as alcohol. When used responsibly, there is no harm, especially in Utah, where there is a narrow window of qualifying conditions (with some, like sleep disorders and irritable bowel syndrome, being removed from the list of qualifying conditions).
Tim points out that he understands no conditions will be added to this qualifying list in the immediate future. He believes it would take a big groundswell of public opinion to get any movement on that front.
He didn’t try anything that was “pharmaceutical” grade. He had tried some CBD oil just for trying to help with pain and sleep, but he didn’t notice a huge difference. It was also so expensive that it wasn’t really worth it. It was just better to stay on the sleeping medication he was on at the time.
Now that he has his Medical Card however, he’s able to buy CBD flower at the pharmacy. This CBD actually works really well for him. He likes to vaporize one part CBD to one part THC, and finds that effective for pain and anxiety without it affecting his clarity of mind.
His mom was apprehensive at first, having grown up in an era that viewed marijuana in a very negative light. Kenyon sent her articles that convinced her of Medical Cannabis’ legitimacy. But overall, his family has been super supportive – particularly having seen the huge change it’s made to his well-being. He can now fully participate in family events and enjoy life again.
Get in touch with Kenyon on his Instagram, @beehive.cannabis.culture
Tim is at UtahMarijuana.org if people need help getting their medical cannabis cards.
Chris is at the IAmSaltLake.com podcast.
Recorded live at Zion Cultivars’ cultivation facility in Payson, UT. We sat down with Shawn Hammond to find out about the flower they grow and what we can expect in the near future from Zion Cultivars.
One of their investors had an empty building in Payson that suited their requirements as it had been designed as a mint, so without windows. It is also located in an agricultural area, away from schools, churches, and public places. They got the building on January 31, 2020 as an empty shell with cement floors and open ceiling.
It is now a high-tech building (hence the spaceship) with lights and an HVAC system with environmental controls. It houses 288 plants per room. Their first harvest will be on December 23, which should produce about 50 pounds of flower. The plants grow amazingly fast, sometimes as much as two or three inches a day.
Visitors have to sign in as required by state regulations, and wear a Tyvek suit and sterile booties, as the facility is run like a clean room for pest and contaminant management. Visitors to the facility are limited and the small staff must wear scrubs, hairnets, and gloves. For this reason, they will not open to the public for tours, either. Their business is purely for growing quality medicine.
They grow two brands— Zion Cultivars, which is a genetic library they’re building from scratch which takes a long time, and a brand named Sugar House Selects which have really special genetics. Their current crop of Sugar House Selects, which is available at Beehive Farmacy, was still grown in their previous facility, Tent City, in Murray.
After harvesting, the flower goes to their dry room for a slow dry over two weeks, then is binned up and allowed to cure. They have to wait for state testing at this point, which happens when the crop has about a 12% moisture content. After the test results have been received, the crop can be moved to their processing facility to get hand-trimmed and packaged because it is a craft product.
After being tested again to ensure that the final product is satisfactory, it can be shipped out to the dispensaries. As there are only two testing facilities in Utah, this process is often slowed down considerably.
Shawn’s director of cultivation and his facility director have been growing and selecting cultivars out in California for years. In choosing brands for cultivation, they look for phenotypes that are ultra-special, that check all the boxes regarding flavor, potency, and the ability to translate smell to taste.
Sugar House Selects are their own genetic cultivars of special strains that are selected by their Director of Cultivation (except for Fatso, which was a gifted strain). The five flavors they recently delivered to Beehive are Ice Cream Cake, SinMints, Push Pop Cake, Cherry AK and Fatso.
Zion Cultivars will soon be following suit, putting out four flavors for the first time— and are in the process of testing now. They will soon be putting four different flavors into production for the first time, which include Candy Margy, Gelatti Biscotti, and Wedding Cake, and more.
They also have 23 additional flavors of seeds from Umami Seed Co, who are excellent breeders. Zion Cultivars will germinate and do pheno hunts during a testing phase for the exclusive Zion/Umami collab that they hope to begin production on in 2021. They have already developed a unique Sherbinski collab with Umami in the past.
There are different aspects to cultivation. One of the most important aspects is breeding, and the breeding of new flavors specifically. Fatso, for instance, is a cross of two popular cannabis strains, Legend OG and GMO, done by the breeder Cannarado, which created the new strain.
A pheno hunt will involve germinating seeds and then looking for the plants with the best terpene characteristics for potency, smell and flavor. The terpenes levels also influence both the physical and mental effects of the cannabis strain, rather like essential oils, while also increasing its medicinal effect. Their Sugar House Selects are loaded with aroma and flavor. They do not necessarily want high THC numbers, but they do want terpene-rich strains.
Once they find a good genetic line with high terpenes, they preserve it. They create a mother plant and clone it to keep that genetic line alive. This selection process is crucial to ensure that a strain has flavor, potency, morphology, yield and also ‘jar appeal’ – it has to look right.
This touches on adult use, which is okay, because shouldn’t patients have the best medicine available, and the best cannabis strains and delivery methods for whatever their purpose is? For this reason, dosing is so important for new patients, as it helps to educate them about finding the most effective utilization of their cannabis medication. They should be encouraged to experiment until they find the perfect strain for them.
Utah does not currently test for terpenes. However, Shawn thinks that this is very important, so they have third-party terpene tests done to put the information on their website. Knowing the terpene levels and other components in the different strains is often critical to patients, as it will enable them to choose strains and products that best fit their medicinal needs.
Now that their facility is open, they want to create more interesting extract products, including live rosin, live resins, live resin cartridges, and real terpene cannabis sauce cartridges.
High-end concentrates, like a live rosin, are made without solvents and are mechanically processed. So as soon as a plant is harvested, it is flash-frozen, and then washed in an ice-water bath to mechanically remove all the trichomes.
These are caught in very fine mesh bags that go through a refining process. In effect, they are ‘squished’ under high pressure and a low heat, leaving you with purely terpenes and cannabinoids, with no solvents at all. They have good flavor, work quickly, and are convenient to use in vaporizers, like a Puffco, for instance.
Distillates are made by taking the plant through an extraction and distillation process where you’re actually removing and separating pretty much everything except the THC. Most cartridges on the market are distillate cartridges with a high-end distillate that has had terpenes re-introduced for flavoring. These are often not actual cannabis plant terpenes, but botanical terpenes that have been formulated to synthesize a particular flavor. So it’s not the same as keeping the plant intact.
Zion Cultivars is also setting up a hash lab in Murray to regularly produce the high-end concentrates that the market is looking for. Harvesting is an ongoing, two-weekly thing, so starting in January, they’ll have either Zion flower or Sugar House Selects flower released every week.
They also have a 90,000 square feet greenhouse facility north of Payson where they have just finalized a harvest that was mostly designed to create distillate, due to the huge shortage in the market right now. This facility is where they will replant.
In their two locations, combined, they have just under 90,000 plants. They also have approval for the expansion of their current ‘spaceship’ facility to about four to five times its current size.
They’re most excited about their Umami collection, building their genetic library, and getting a lot of different flavors to various dispensaries. They want to make their excellent quality product available to patients. They would like to reduce costs, but will not be able to recoup the millions of dollars they spent establishing their facilities anytime soon.
Testing is very expensive, as is the cost of being compliant. So cost-wise they are going to set both a craft line and a mid-base line that is more affordable. They will also not only sell in eighths, but quarters and half-ounces, to provide a better customer value.
They really intend to put a dent in the production gap next year. Shawn points out that cannabis is a challenging plant to grow. So while he would not object to home-growing, people will not be yielding the same quality.
It has been reported in the media that it is being proposed to allow all doctors across the state, whether they’re a QNP or not, to write 15 recommendations for medical cannabis for patients. It is also proposed that all names on the Electronic Verification System (EVS) be put into the controlled substances database, which more people have access to. This is worrying, as they fear it could lead to discrimination and infringe on people’s privacy.
The bill is being sponsored by Congressman Ray Ward from Bountiful. All three of these guys feel strongly that residents should contact the Congressman to express their concern about the proposed changes. This is the time of year that the bills get written, so it’s a good time to make your voice heard. It is also suggested that Congressman Ward be invited to participate in the podcast, to provide a platform for talking about the issue as a whole.
There are many patients who desperately need the life-changing benefits of Medical Cannabis, so this issue should be urgently addressed at the highest levels by lawmakers, as these laws affect the quality of life of an abundance of patients. Patients’ caps should be raised and diagnoses expanded, such as including sleep issues, for example.
Shawn points out that in many instances, patients on Medical Cannabis reach a point where they completely dispense with traditional drugs, including mental health medication, which is a glaring issue for many these days. Improving the mental health of Utah residents is one of the most significant benefits of Medical Cannabis. A level of fear and stigma still stand in the way of utilizing this fantastic medicine properly, so open conversations are needed to help address these concerns.
Shawn has an Instagram account, @ZionPharmer. He documents transparency and wants his patients to see everything that’s going on, including how their medicine is made. His products are currently available at local dispensaries. They hope to be more widely available next year, when they can start releasing products on a weekly basis, and are even having conversations about creating a Cannabis Cup for growers and cultivation teams to compete for the best strain in Utah.
Tim is available at UtahMarijuana.org. Look for his billboards that will be going up soon!
Chris is at IamSaltLake.com, where he just won best podcast in Utah for the fourth time.
Dawn is an attorney and cannabis advocate. She worked as a prosecutor for 12 years, first at the City Prosecutor’s Office and then for six years in the DA’s office. During this time, her mindset started changing about marijuana as she became aware of its positive aspects and the complexities surrounding it.
After she left the DA’s office, she found a certificate program about cannabis legislation at McGeorge School of Law in San Francisco, California. California has been a trailblazer as regards cannabis case law. She started taking these online classes that covered several different areas, including its history and how it progressed from being an herb that was accepted by society to one that was prohibited. The course also included banking, business, constitutional issues, property issues, and marketing in relation to cannabis.
The more Dawn dove into the ethics surrounding the cannabis industry, the more she realized that people need help with it, particularly legal help (although there are some states that prohibit lawyers from doing so).
Although Utah has not stated a specific legal opinion on representation for the cannabis industry, Dawn feels that the Utah Bar Association would take a pro opinion on the matter, as the Utah Bar actually does have a cannabis law section with 10 or 11 attorneys on a regular basis. In fact, Dawn believes that cannabis law is becoming more mainstream in the legal world, with greater general acceptance that people in the cannabis industry should be entitled to legal counsel, just like those in other industries or fields of business.
Dawn’s legal cannabis certification entailed about six months and more than 200 hours of instruction. It involved watching videos, reading, and studying case law [mostly from California, but also other states] to see how the law is enacted in different states, which can differ greatly across the country.
Her law school is really good about updating people on impending changes in legislation. There are research services that allow attorneys to set an alert to be notified whenever legal changes affecting the marijuana industry are enacted. There are also several websites now dedicated to mapping out the relevant laws in the different states.
One book about marijuana law, written by one of the professors at McGeorge School of Law, may be particularly helpful.
She started Utah Cannabis Advocates, which is particularly geared towards helping cannabis businesses and growers to negotiate the daunting complexities of cannabis law, as regards regulations, contracts, commercial contracts, and leases.
She doesn’t do a lot of criminal law, but will take on those cases as well if she feels they present some unique challenges that can have an impact. She points out that there are several excellent defense lawyers in Utah to help legal cannabis patients who are still, bizarrely, experiencing legal harassment.
Dawn admits that when she was a prosecutor, she did lump cannabis in with all the other drugs. However, as she was more exposed to it, she started realizing that it does have a purpose and true value. Taking legal classes reinforced this thinking, and helped her realize that medical cannabis, in the form of Marinol, has actually been on the market a long time.
Dawn realized that more research was needed to deschedule cannabis, which can happen in two ways. The Department of Human Health and Services have to be convinced that cannabis has value and a medicinal purpose, and the legislature has to vote to change its legal status. It is upsetting, however, that the government does not allow sufficient research to be done to provide empirical proof that can achieve these objectives.
Can this situation be overcome?
Dawn thinks it’s very promising that five states, including South Dakota, New Jersey, Montana, and Arizona, legalized cannabis seemingly overnight. This may contribute greatly towards changing the mindset of other states, as there are now Senators and Representatives who view cannabis as something that has value, medicinally. This should create a positive effect on legislation, particularly with an ever-increasing amount of data being collected over time.
She feels that interstate commerce will inevitably start having an impact as well. Banking issues and issues of security (current banking regulations are in effect that force cannabis-related businesses to work on a cash basis) are also going to force legislators to pass more sensible legislation. Smaller banks and credit unions, those that are not federally insured, are already starting to provide banking services to these cannabis-related businesses.
One thing that could help overcome this banking problem is if cannabis businesses got together and started their own bank. Dawn feels that as the cannabis industry matures and practical issues are sorted out, this will become a much more realistic option. Dawn does not think that decriminalization of cannabis would help the banking situation at this stage, as banks’ federal insurance is the real issue currently.
Dawn thinks that it will, because the checks and balances and quality control that regulation brings to controlled substances make people feel safer. This would definitely apply to cannabis which can have negative effects, like any drug, if not used properly.
Dawn believes that sticking to our current track will do wonders for medical providers who want to be viewed as properly licensed providers of cannabis products. Using current seed-to-sale procedures, monitoring, following regulations, and showing people that the medical cannabis industry is safe and being conducted responsibly, will contribute to this goal.
Education and providing people the facts to make their own informed decisions are crucial to breaking down entrenched and outdated mindsets that assume marijuana is ‘bad’. Fortunately, younger people are growing up with a different mindset that accepts that Medical Cannabis has a legitimate purpose, much like prescription drugs.
Unfortunately, just as it happens with prescription drugs like opioids, there will be people who abuse Medical Marijuana. Again, education is the key, and with people generally being more informed about healthy choices these days, the outlook is more positive.
Dawn has a personal mantra – educate, elevate, and advocate. Educating her clients is important for building protection into their commercial contracts. By elevate, Dawn means not only convincing someone that they are capable of running a successful cannabis business, but also being there if those owners run into legal issues in the future. She also hopes to advocate by lobbying Congressmen and Senators about upcoming issues, allowing them to address Medical Cannabis issues for their constituencies.
The fact that cannabis businesses do not have access to proper banking services is a huge issue that should be addressed immediately. Dawn is also strongly against cannabis businesses not being allowed to file for bankruptcy. Likewise, the taxation that they are subject to is unfair as they are heavily taxed and yet do not qualify for any tax deductions (eg. running costs) like other businesses do.
Dawn thinks that part of the solution might lie in descheduling and allowing individual states to make their own, better regulations that are applicable to their specific regions and jurisdictions.
But there is still a massive amount of pioneering work to be done around educating more attorneys, police officers, prosecutors and judges about the benefits of Medical Marijuana. In fact, it almost amounts to deprogramming them from their previous mindsets. Research and ensuring everyone follows the rules is crucial, as decriminalization and legalization (which are not the same thing and major topics on their own), can play huge roles.
People don’t realize that the cannabis industry has a lot to offer in terms of jobs and opportunities. The labor-intensive nature of the multi-million dollar cannabis industry means that many businesses will need to continue hiring new workers, which in turn gives work to a greater number of citizens. Groundbreaking research work is happening as well, with new strains being discovered and new patents being registered all the time (including developments in the growing, transportation, manufacturing and extraction processes).
Dawn has an office in South Jordan, but drives all over. You can contact her through her Facebook page, Utah Cannabis Advocates, or her instagram page @utgreenadvocates. She can also be reached by phone at (801) 750-8320. Her kids suggested that she has a marijuana hotline, so hopefully that will be coming soon!
Dawn stresses to business owners the need to be proactive. You need to have a good business plan, find out where the pitfalls are, and seek legal counsel early to abide by all the regulations. Seek out ways to market your business and establish marketing relationships by attending events, approaching people, and asking lots of questions!
Tim is at utahmarijauna.org. A new video about the science of cannabis and how it helps people medically is out now on the Discover Marijuana Youtube channel, with Tim and Blake. Chris can be found on IAmSaltLake.com.
In this podcast, Mike Rodriguez at Premium Hemp Growers talks about his techniques to grow hemp in his greenhouses. He discusses the legal aspects of growing hemp and the state laws governing it. He also speaks about the various smoking habits of people and how people prefer smoking hemp flowers over cannabis. Mike even touches upon CBD’s medicinal aspects and how growing hemp can prove to be very profitable.
Mike shares that you must get a permit to grow any type of cannabis plant. You should also keep in mind that it’s not easy to grow on a large scale. The temperature and humidity need to be accurate. Mike says his greenhouse has around 30 windows that house almost 8,000-8,400 plants. These windows help in the optimal growth of the plants, mainly during the harvesting period.
Mike discusses how ingesting cannabis involves processing the cannabinoids through your liver, this usually takes about 30 minutes or even longer for the effects of the medicine to kick in. But when smoked, the lungs usually help absorb the cannabinoids instantaneously into the bloodstream, giving immediate results. This is the main reason why most people prefer smoking rather than consuming it. The same thing goes for CBD and CBG. Smoking the flower even has some benefits without many issues. However, currently selling the smokable flower is not allowed despite having a THC level well under state regulations.
The reason for this massive gap in the market is that the state does not allow for a broad spectrum plant to be vaporized. In addition, the state has already established that there is no reason to use a flame to smoke the flower because there are no medical benefits associated with flames. The state feels that a good alternative is CBG, which is good for pain, it’s an anti-inflammatory, and has been known to help with depression.
Mike says he sees the medicinal value of CBD & CBG and the potential of how the flower product can be grown and harvested at scale for its immense medical benefit. He says the process of growing hemp or cannabis in greenhouses, the way he does, is a cumbersome process. Each plant must be looked after and cared for meticulously, but in the end it’s worth it.
Mike knows some people prefer rolling one or two joints of cannabis after struggling through a tough day. However, others (such as people who are going to work or running errands) want the medicinal benefits without the psychoactive effects. This latter group often questions the reason for smoking hemp flowers when they receive no recreational value from it.
Mike continues by saying THC levels in CBD must remain consistently lower than that of flower, so as to not ruin the crop. On the flip side, the flower market is always wanting the highest concentration of THC as possible, which allows Utah growers free reign to push the limits of how much their plants can contain.
Mike shares that a “Cannabis University” of sorts does exist. Oaksterdam University has in-person and online learning where people can learn the art of growing hemp. There are also various grow schools in the country where people can quickly learn to grow hemp.
Mike says, before the USDA hemp bills were passed a year and a half ago or so, it was not a field that one could easily get involved with. The hemp bills opened the door for people who didn’t know how to grow cannabis, but were passionate about hemp, CBD, or CBG to more easily obtain a license to grow and take advantage of a wide range of equipment being sold for an easy setup.
Mike says there are obvious downsides of growing cannabis on large scales; for instance, if you do not pay enough attention, your entire crop could get infected by spider mites, caterpillars, aphids; eating up to as much as two-thirds of your crop. Spider mites or caterpillars are particularly common problems. Also, if the irrigation wasn’t done just right, the yield stands to be ruined completely. One needs to keep at mind that problems which may be more than manageable at a smaller scale, are greatly multiplied as your scale increases.
According to Mike, it is quite challenging to trace caterpillars on vast lands. You will not even notice them as you walk through the same field daily, and before you know it they would have finished off more than half of your produce. The best way to mitigate them is to check your leaves regularly. If you find bite marks, it means that caterpillars are likely feeding on your harvest.
Mike says there is a great opportunity to profit from growing hemp in a legal way (depending on what the state allows you to grow and sell). He also adds that in his experience anyone who may choose to go the other way by growing illegally, thinking that may be able to make more profits down the path, are being terribly short-sighted and the costs of doing so will always be lower than the benefits received. He absolutely recommends growing legally and sees huge potential in doing so. Mike recognizes the clear monetary value of growing and selling legally.
“Discover Marijuana” is an educational series in collaboration with Zion Medicinal. The series will be released on November 21st, 2020 on YouTube (out now!). The videos from the series will be focused on the “science meets the medicine” aspect of the marijuana plant and will be educational in nature, with Tim Pickett and Blake Smith (Chief Science Officer, Zion Medicinal). The series will look to cover some of the more frequently asked questions around the plant and its medicinal aspects.
Mike can be reached through his website, Premium Hemp Growers, or through the company’s Instagram page.
Tim can be reached here at utahmarijuana.org where we just launched a new chat feature and they have people standing by during the day to answer any questions.
Chris can be found on his I am Salt Lake podcast website where you can hear about local foodie people and the impact of COVID on local eateries.
In this episode of Utah in the Weeds, we are joined by Bijan Sakaki from Beehive Farmacy. Bijan shares his story and all about what introduced him to cannabis, as well as what we can expect at Beehive Farmacy.
Beehive Farmacy is the newest Utah Medical Marijuana dispensary, which opened October 2020. The address is 1991 South 3600 West, Salt Lake City, 84104, bordering the edge of West Valley on the North side of the I-201. Directions can be found on their Google page.
There will be a 3-lane drive-thru for recurring customers and online ordering. There is plenty of parking because it is a converted old bank building. A 40-foot podium sign with green crosses will soon be a very visible beacon of their location.
Their whole motto is plants over pills, so ‘Farmacy’ indicates that everything’s coming from one of the 8 farms here in Utah. As they’re not allowed to advertise, people mostly find out about Beehive Farmacy through their QMP offices like Utah Therapeutic Health Center, social media, word-of-mouth, and referrals from other pharmacies.
Beehive Farmacy does not cultivate, so they rely on the mutually beneficial relationships they have with cultivators to provide the wide range of products Beehive sells. This benefits their patients by giving them options. At the time of this podcast recording, they’d only been open five days, but the feedback’s been good about the varieties they sell.
On weekdays, they’re open 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Saturday and Sunday, their hours are 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Patients have found their online ordering feature very convenient. People can find them on Instagram and Google. Remember that it is Beehive Farmacy, with an F.
First-time patients that need a consultation can schedule one directly either from Instagram, or from their website at https://beehivefarmacy.co with their patient registration link. They will also be opening a second location in December, right across the street from Walmart in Brigham City to cater to the more rural demographic there.
Bijan was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when he was 12, but he didn’t find cannabis until he was 19 or 20. He comes from a very conservative immigrant family from Iran, so cannabis was taboo and had very negative connotations.
The cannabis tolerance in Utah at that time was also not nearly as positive as it is currently. Bijan remembers this as a very stressful time as he was very ill – it was even thought that he might have had T-cell leukemia. It was his brother who eventually introduced him to Medical Cannabis, which was extremely effective and relieved all his symptoms.
It was very difficult at that time to advocate for Medical Cannabis and source it, as it was still federally illegal. There was very little guidance on what to take, proper doses, and the effects of each; as Bijan discovered when he tried the very potent Rick Simpson oil. Bijan thinks we are extremely fortunate to now have access to products that have been properly tested and researched.
He points out that medical cannabis goes beyond just pharmacies; supply chain is just as important (with cultivators and processors coming into the picture, as not many pharmacies grow their own product).
Bijan believes that in the next 6 months or a year, the process will become much more streamlined. Well-known products like these are currently only being produced in neighboring states, and will soon be produced in Utah as well.
Bijan believes that patients ultimately want products that they know and trust, which he will strive to make available at Beehive Farmacy.
Around 2010, after Denver, Colorado and Portland, Oregon went recreational, Bijan had a vape pen, called a Wellness pen, that he began selling for profit at music festivals.
This made him aware of the marketing possibilities in the cannabis industry, though he was still very inexperienced regarding manufacturing, quality control, and quality assurance. It also taught him a lot about what not to do in the future, which helped him to navigate the cannabis market better as he learned from past mistakes.
After that, Bijan had a dispensary in Stockton, California, during the Prop 215 phase where it was going from the medical market to the adult use market, with many shifts in testing and regulations. You had to be nimble because as the law changed, your whole business model was impacted.
In California, recreational use meant added taxes, which made operating more difficult. Bijan points out that people have to be aware of that in Utah for the future. Moving from medicinal use only to recreational use will mean that patients have to pay more for their Medical Cannabis.
Over the last several years, Bijan exited from California to focus on Utah. He also joined up with two partners, one of whom is Paul Henderson, the current president of High Times. His other partner, Steve Brewster, is a local entrepreneur and tax expert who owns Millcreek Coffee. They all three bring complementary skills to Beehive Farmacy.
280E is the IRS tax code where you can’t write anything off except the cost of goods sold for a ‘federally illegal’ business. It was designed to capture drug traffickers. Lawmakers did not anticipate having some trades legitimized, like Medical Cannabis. In short, 280E prevents cannabis-related businesses from qualifying for tax deductions, and can also affect their access to banking services.
If cannabis were to be decriminalized and 280E goes away, it would have many positive effects for the cannabis industry, but could also complicate matters. One of the unknown factors is: How would cannabis then be treated? Could it then, for instance, be sold at regular pharmacies?
Bijan believes that because many of the issues around Medical Cannabis are complicated, they will not be resolved for several years. It needs to be done right so that the medical use of cannabis is not delegitimized, making the very real benefits of medical marijuana, discredited.
After Bijan got sick at the age 12, with a gastrointestinal auto-immune disease, he discovered paintball after no longer being able to play soccer. He soon started getting better at this new sport, as he learned to overcome his fears. This gave him good life experience as well.
It also introduced him to travel, as he was going to California every weekend. Once he did well regionally, he was fortunate enough to get picked up by teams from Australia and Holland. About five times a year, he went to Amsterdam to play professional paintball matches. Ironically, he was going to the only legal place for using cannabis, but he still didn’t partake himself.
However, in Holland he saw cannabis legitimized, giving him a different perspective not just on cannabis, but also on life. Paintball has a special place in his heart, for ultimately it led him to cannabis and changed his life.
At one point, Bijan was paying $11,000 a month for the medication he was prescribed, and Remicade was not covered by insurance.
One of Bijan’s favorite products is the Omura, a portable handheld device that vapes pre-filled flower sticks. They will work with the Sugar House Selects team in this regard and will have some of their own house brands as well.
He also wants to bring another device to market called the Indose which is a controlled dose distillate cartridge pen that actually measures the amount of THC being inhaled through the vapor so the dosage can be precisely calculated.
Tim agrees this is a big step forward for patients to be able to understand and maintain precise, consistent and safe dosing, especially for new patients.
Bijan is also thrilled to bring in Sugar House Selects’ strains of flower not previously available in Utah. They will also have Cookies corners in all of their stores, with all these products being cultivated, processed, and sold here in Utah. They will be implementing home delivery in the next couple of weeks.
Bijan will also be selling Puffcos, though they have no concentrates yet, as well as Volcanoes.They will also have high-quality DaVinci vaporizers, as well as Studenglass gravity pipes with electric vaporizers attached. They will stock grinders, and batteries for regular cartridges.
Bijan points out how important it is in the Medical Cannabis industry for people to help each other get in contact with the right people, to help and motivate them, and then paying that forward. This has helped establish the legal cannabis industry in Utah, good people helping good people. In fact, there are now about 20,000 legal cannabis users in Utah.
It is really important for any of these patients who are still letter holders to make sure that they get the legally required card, as the letters will expire on January 1st, 2021. To avoid delays in getting their cannabis medication, they need to get onto the electronic verification system [EVS], which streamlines the whole process.
Whereas a letter restricts a patient to one pharmacy, getting a card gives patients access to the many other pharmacies like Deseret in Provo, Curaleaf in Lehi, Dragonfly in Salt Lake, Wholesome in Bountiful, Perfect Earth in Ogden and Logan, and Bijan’s own dispensary Beehive Farmacy in Salt Lake. This also gives patients access to a much greater range of products and services.
Connect with Beehive Farmacy on their website or Instagram. Or reach out to Bijan on LinkedIn.
Tim can be reached here at utahmarijuana.org if anybody needs help converting from a letter to a card or needs help registering on the system. Chris can also be found on the official website for his I Am Salt Lake Podcast.
On this episode of the podcast, we get to chat with Stormy Simon, former President of Overstock.com and former CEO of High Times Magazine. Stormy is also running for election to the Utah House of Representatives to represent District 21.
Stormy Simon is the former president of Overstock.com and the former CEO of High Times. She is currently back in Utah, which has always been her home, to run for the Utah House of Representatives to represent District 21. She checked out different states but wanted to be part of the new emerging cannabis industry in Utah.
She believes in cannabis as a medicine and finds it iniquitous that people do not have access to it when they need it. She wants to be involved in the democratization and development of the massive beneficial potential of the Medical Cannabis industry, starting with its de-stigmatization.
Stormy comes from a marketing and management background. She started at Overstock in late 2001 as a temp, and was closely involved in building up the company from 100 workers to an amazing and very diverse workforce of 2000 employees.
Over the course of 12 years she became the president of Overstock, a position she held for three and a half years. During that time, she explored e-commerce long before it was even really a factor in the marketplace. By the time she left, Overstock’s business had grown from $18 million to almost $2 billion.
She left Overstock to become involved in the Medical Cannabis industry. She went to Denver, CO, which at the time was one of only two adult usage states for Medical Cannabis (the other being Washington). In Denver, she joined two medical dispensaries and a 90,000 square foot cannabis cultivation center. Here she learned a great deal about cannabis and the laws surrounding it.
In Denver, Stormy talked with many people and found out how effective cannabis was in treating a huge variety of diseases including irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease. It was a truly eye-opening experience for her, and she became convinced about the imperative need for Medical Cannabis to be made freely available as it can be life-changing for patients. Cannabis had, in fact, been used as traditional medicine for thousands of years.
She was amazed at the prejudice, ignorance, and blinkered views and attitudes that still surround cannabis. To a large extent, this can be ascribed to a deliberate campaign years ago by people like Harry Anslinger, Rockefeller, and Hearst to suppress information about cannabis as a medicine. Stormy is enthusiastic about the exciting possibilities of further in-depth and scientific research being done into cannabis and hemp, as well as its correlation to the human endocannabinoid system.
During her time in Denver, Stormy became aware of how unfairly taxation and banking worked in regards to the cannabis industry. Business owners were being forced into cumbersome and unsafe banking practices. She joined a group in San Diego that had a license with blockchain technology. They were successful in having a more equitable banking and payment system established at about 10 dispensaries across a few different states. She also joined the board of CannaKids, a groundbreaking company providing Medical Cannabis in California.
She had been on the board of High Times for several years before joining them as CEO when they really needed her managerial skills. By this time, Stormy had become an extreme advocate for cannabis as medicine, so she viewed joining High Times as an opportunity “to blow the horn and spread a word” about Medical Cannabis.
When she joined them as CEO, she made it clear that it would have to be a short-term appointment as she would most likely be running for office in Utah. She was with them for only about six months, as COVID lengthened the time she spent there.
Stormy has always regarded Utah as her home. As a US citizen, she feels she has the right to make her voice heard. She is not a fan of the Utah state legislature overriding anybody’s vote. They do tend to go back on legislation and change and adjust, as happened with Medicaid expansion, cannabis, and the food tax.
She also feels that there is a great need for more women in the Utah legislature – out of more than 100 representatives, only 26 are women. She feels that greater diversity in the legislature will contribute very much to the collective good.
Stormy is happy that Utah has cannabis as a medicine. She understands that this is a significant step in the right direction towards making Medical Cannabis available to everybody who needs it.
Regarding the huge effort and expense that went into drafting the legislation and having Utah vote on it, simply to have that vote disregarded and a compromise bill enacted, she sees this as deeply reprehensible. Having people vote on and accept one bill, and then enacting a compromise bill, was not only untruthful, but it was also insulting to the people of Utah. Utahns are smart enough to make decisions and smart enough to understand what it means when they vote, “Yes”. Their vote should be respected.
Stormy points out that the vote has not been decided yet, and that she is running as a Democrat in a strongly Republican state. She has been outspoken about her views that she feels strongly about. Mostly she believes in connecting people, and that everyone’s vote is important and meaningful. Everybody should work towards and cooperate for the good of their state.
All her experience tells her that this cooperation towards the collective good is crucial. Setting off on her current journey is the hardest thing she’s ever done. She’s been attacked and criticized and called names because she put a D next to her name. This has surprised her and makes her sad, not only for Utah, but for America as well because she feels so strongly that people need to get along.
Stormy confirms that VoteStormySimon.com is the website for her campaign. It outlines some of her issues like allowing more nuclear waste to be dumped in Utah, water issues, and inland port issues. She stresses that it’s important that citizens get involved. She also has another website, StormySimon.com that includes her podcast, Lunch with Stormy, where she speaks with many diverse people from various fields.
Cannabis is medicine and it’s important that people talk about it because it breaks down the stigma. Studies in Israel have highlighted its many benefits. The more people talk about Medical Cannabis, the less people will be scared of it, and be open to its many life-changing medical benefits.
The people who will be featured or have already been featured on her podcasts include Tommy Chong, Sarah Riggs Amico, Lennox Samuels, Dee Dee Sorvino, and Emily White, amongst others.
She just wants to urge people to be kind. She feels there’s room for all of us here. She believes we need to show more love and understanding and not so much hate just because of who we vote for. Stormy wants people to have more peace, love, and happiness in their lives.
Tim can be reached here at utahmarijuana.org where they just launched a new chat feature and they have people standing by during the day to answers questions.
Chris can be found on his I Am Salt Lake Podcast website where you can hear about local foodie people and the impact of COVID on local eateries.
We’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Zion Medicinal to bring you a brand-new educational video series, Discover Marijuana with Tim & Blake. We’ve worked hard to bring facts and information to the people who need it most: Medical Cannabis patients. Consider your hosts, Tim Pickett, a QMP in Utah and founder of Utahmarijuana.org, and Blake Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Zion Medicinal, your science guides. They’ll bring you the facts, you just sit back, relax, and learn all you’ve ever wanted to know about cannabis. Our first episode drops very soon, but to hold you over until then, here’s a little taste of what’s to come.
In Utah, Medical Marijuana was only just legalized in March 2020, leaving a lot of Utahns confused and wondering what that really means for them as patients. Well, now you can rest easy, Utah. Meet Tim and Blake. In this preview, Tim will help you break down the benefits of marijuana as medical treatment, providing special insight as a medical provider.
Looking for a more in-depth, behind the scenes explanation of WHY this all works? We’ve got you covered there, too. Blake Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Zion Medicinal, will get into the science of it all. He’ll discuss marijuana chemistry and get into the nitty-gritty of how marijuana works with a patient’s endocannabinoid system to treat and manage a variety of medical conditions.
When it comes to marijuana, for beginners especially, you’ve got to throw out almost everything you’ve ever known about medication. Medical 
Marijuana is a whole new ballgame. With the recent legalization of Medical Marijuana in Utah, many lifelong users were left wondering how to adjust their usage to adhere to the law, and many newbies were just wondering where in the world to start. In this preview, Blake gives you an idea of what cannabis compounds to look for when purchasing your CBD or THC products, and which to completely avoid.
Here’s a cannabis pro tip: Tim will almost always recommend CBD for beginners of Medical Marijuana treatment, to combat the possible “too high” feeling that you may experience as your body adjusts to the THC. You’ll want to store this away for later.
In Utah, marijuana is used by patients medicinally to treat chronic pain ailments more than any other condition — over 65% more Utah patients use marijuana for pain than the next most common qualifying condition in Utah, PTSD.
Tim treats hundreds of chronic pain patients in his clinic, Utah Therapeutic Health Center. You can catch him in this preview covering things from a patient/provider point of view to help you understand the many factors that influence a Medical Cannabis provider’s decision to recommend some patients at one dose, and some at another. From a science standpoint, catch Blake touching specifically on cannabis strains available in Utah, as well as the types of Medical Marijuana to most successfully treat your chronic pain, or whatever your medical condition may be.
Our first full-length episode launches next week — we can barely herb our enthusiasm. Be sure to subscribe to the Discover Marijuana YouTube channel to catch the entire series. You can also find Discover Marijuana with Tim & Blake here, with episodes being posted weekly, or on Zion Medicinal’s website. We hope you enjoy what we’ve created for you. Thanks for watching!
Shelly is the social media manager for the group Utah Patients for Cannabis and Natural Choices. The group was founded on Facebook in 2016, she affirms that their purpose is to lift the stigma on cannabis and improve people’s knowledge about the many incredible benefits of the drug. In fact, they were the first group to represent Medical Cannabis in a Utah Parade, which occured in Magna, Utah.
She is also a Medical Cannabis patient and was the first patient to buy a cannabis product in Ogden when she bought some Sundae Driver flower.
She dabbled a bit with recreational cannabis in her youth, but then, in the late ‘90s developed searing pain in her sinuses and a double earache that didn’t respond to antibiotics. It turned out to be trigeminal neuralgia.
She was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia, degenerative disc disease, and facet disease, and had a 5-level fusion done in her neck from C3 to T1. Being treated with conventional medicines was complicated by the fact that she had bad reactions to them.
The biggest turning point for her came when an aunt gave her some cannabis oil that not only alleviated her severe pain, and, in fact, set her on the road to learning everything she could find out about cannabis.
And that’s what she also envisages with the Utah Patients for Cannabis and Natural Choices group. It is to help others understand and learn about cannabis. She confirms that trigeminal neuralgia, also referred to as ‘the suicide disease’, causes extreme and debilitating levels of pain.
She applies cannabis bombs at the base of her skull, on her neck and at her temples and it helps tremendously because it works through a numbing sensation.
She has actually gotten into learning how to produce her own Medical Cannabis products because it is prohibitively expensive to buy the preprocessed medications.
She has learnt how to infuse oil which is extremely multipurpose. It can be used as a sublingual and capsules. You can cook with it, put it on your skin, and mixed with a little bit of coconut oil, it makes a nice cream.
She has a Levo II that she uses for processing her own product which makes it much more affordable. It also comes with a potency calculator so you can calculate the strength of your product. She starts with a sublingual in the morning to get her out of bed in the morning because she wakes up so sore. She will then supplement through the day as needed, either with her dry herb vaporizer or capsules. She’s even used the base oil she produces as bath oil to good effect.
Shelly confirms that by microdosing like this and with the acquired tolerance cannabis patients build up, they live a normal life. Their pain levels are controlled without them getting ‘high’. So they get the therapeutic benefits of cannabis, without having the side-effects.
She did hide it when she was raising kids, but now she has just come right out of the proverbial closet. Her family supports her, her friends support her, and they think it’s wonderful that she has the purpose of helping people through the Utah Patients for Cannabis and Natural Choices group. She enjoys talking to people and helping them out.
Shelly thinks the computer system needs a lot of help because patients have a hard time navigating it. She would also like to see patient caps removed as there’s no reason for them.
She also really thinks that education of law enforcement officers is urgently needed. She applauds the officers who have actually come into the pharmacy and asked for a copy of the law so that they could inform themselves.
Shelley points out that some legal cannabis patients are still being cited illegally and having their medicine removed by poorly informed officers. She advises people to always keep a physical copy of their card on them to prove that they are a Medical Cannabis patient, even though they may have a virtual one on their phone.
They should also put a lock on the bag or case that they carry their cannabis product in to comply with the law that states that cannabis should be in a tamper-proof, opaque container. They should also not carry large quantities. Having some proof of the original packaging with the pharmacist’s receipt would also be a good idea.
Shelly emphasizes that patients should make sure that they know what the law says, what their rights are, and ensure that they are within the strictures of the law.
Shelly points out that unfortunately not all officers are up to date regarding the law, and though illegal citations will usually be dropped, it can result in not just inconvenience, but also costs for the people involved. Ridiculous things, like somebody’s $100 bottle of cream being confiscated, unfortunately still happen.
Shelly points out that the group regards no question as stupid; they are all still learning constantly. It is all about supporting each other. Before COVID, they would have get-togethers. They also work with lawmakers to promote changes to the law.
They are mainly an education group – their main focus is to promote knowledge about cannabis and combat the stigma attached to it.
She first got fibromyalgia. Then one day she woke up and her left arm was numb. An MRI revealed that she had several bulging discs and many bone spurs probably caused by age and several accidents she had had in her life. They went in and cleaned up all the bone spurs.
However, that proved inadequate – so they had to do a second surgery with a fusion from C3 to T1. Fortunately, she now has better movement than she had before. The last surgery was done just a year before.
Her surgeon at the time was not comfortable with her using cannabis for pain control. But she was not getting the relief she needed from traditional medication, so she actually left the hospital after only one day because she knew she could take care of the pain better at home. She was only on pain pills for about two days.
She believes that cannabis and pain medication can work together, but she doesn’t like pain pills. They make her feel sick and tired, and all she wants to do is sleep. Cannabis, on the other hand, gives her energy.
She confirms that it’s been a long ride, but she’s glad it went the way it did, because if she hadn’t have found cannabis, she could have gone down some pretty bad roads.
She’s grateful to her aunt for giving her more knowledge about it. She’s thankful for the Utah Patients for Cannabis and Natural Choices group for giving her a purpose and she’s just happy to be able to move and not be in so much pain.
Shelly never expected Utah to legalize Medical Cannabis. She really thought she would need to move to a legal state once her husband had retired. She points out that it was pretty scary to live without legal sanction.
Shelly points out that there are only two months left to turn a Medical Cannabis letter into a card. On January 1st, it’s no longer going to be legal to possess cannabis with only your letter. But up until January 1st, it’s a blanket protection that anybody can use.
How the protection works is that they wrote in the law that you could possess cannabis as long as it was in the formats and the amounts allotted up until January 1, 2021. After January 1st, you have to have a Medical Cannabis Card, or it will be illegal.
Shelly takes message requests all the time online, and she and the group are on Facebook and Twitter. The social media group focuses on dispelling the stigmas around Medical Cannabis, educating to promote responsible and safe cannabis legislation. Education on the subject is important and she would be delighted for you to come join them.
Tim can be reached here at utahmarijuana.org where they just launched a new chat feature, and they have people standing by during the day to answers questions.
Chris can be found on his I am Salt Lake podcast website where you can hear about local foodie people and the impact of COVID on local eateries.
