Welcome Back: Favorite Guest Returns
00:00:04
Speaker
hello Hello. Back in the stew with our favorite guest. What a treat. What a treat. We're happy to have you. well I'm happy to be here.
00:00:16
Speaker
Thank you. We're happy you're here as well. Okay, everyone's happy.
Marijuana's Legal Status and Medical Benefits
00:00:21
Speaker
Okay, so we're back and today we've decided to talk about ah subject that we're all interested in we all partake i would apologize to my work for saying that, but I don't have to because I think they support it.
00:00:37
Speaker
You can apologize to me for saying partake. Partake? Okay. Dabble. It's an activity that we dabble in um and something that has actually been a medical phenomenon in the last, I don't know, five, 10 years, probably more recently than that in terms of legality. But today we're going to be talking about marijuana holistically, but specifically in the sense of aid for cancer patients and just medical benefits
Hosts' Personal Stories with Marijuana for Medical Use
00:01:08
Speaker
So yeah, I think everything from our own history is using it medically and recreationally, but mostly medically. um Everything from that to actual suggestions that our dad has got from his doctors to suggestions that we've actually got from some listeners who have said that a specific type of marijuana is specifically helpful for GBM and brain tumors.
00:01:32
Speaker
um We're going to cover all of that, but why don't we just kick it off by saying, and Dad, ah what are your thoughts on
Guest's Nostalgic and Current Views on Marijuana
00:01:39
Speaker
weed? Yeah, what do you think? Well, it's fascinating to me that weed and gambling today are illegal because as a kid, we're not going to talk about gambling, but. That's next up.
00:01:51
Speaker
As a kid. um Health benefits of gambling. Weed was, um there are none. The weed was was, you know, it was illegal. So it was something you had to go find and you had to, you know, be somewhat discreet about.
00:02:05
Speaker
And um as I told my oncologist who was giving me prescription for going to the weed store in Somerville, Massachusetts, that I said it's not the same as being a kid in Westchester, New York, going into the Bronx, Pittman Ave, and knocking on the window, hoping that nobody shot your head off, because that's how we operate.
00:02:26
Speaker
and what But the thrill of it was fun, right? Oh, as I say, part of the context was, I said, this is no fun anymore. Right. It's also no fun because of dealing with GBM. yeah But I mean, there's it's not...
00:02:38
Speaker
The thrill as as a younger person of getting weed was was part of the, you know, the daring part of it was fun. The risky behavior. Yeah. The risky behavior, yes. No, it's ah it's like, sorry, what were you going say? um Death glare.
00:02:54
Speaker
I was just going to ask, you say as a young kid, and I'm just curious if you can like put a little bit of an age on that.
Societal Shifts in Marijuana Perception
00:03:01
Speaker
um seven well when i i couldn't drive then when we would drive to the bronx price 17 but we were smoking weed much more before that because it was a different era era era yeah that makes sense no i was just curious sorry no it's all good um no it's interesting the like thrill of it i remember like when I turned 21 so badly wanting to be ID'd but like I didn't even get carded that and like it was sort of it's not fun to to like feel like you're just doing something to not feel like you're getting away with something like there's definitely a edge or a fun to that especially when you're a kid too like that like feeling of like being yeah like oh I did it like I don't know it's
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's, it's like the thrill, I guess. Yeah. No, that was part of it. I mean, it just, and and your parents were super on your case about whether, not your parents, my parents were on my case and most parents were on on their kids' case about not smoking and all this stuff. So I remember saying to my mom,
Family Dynamics and Marijuana: Generational Views
00:04:05
Speaker
who was no longer living, but when she when she was, toward the end of her life, was prescribed some, you know, weed-based drugs.
00:04:14
Speaker
I think it was a tincture for um for pain. Yeah. And I looked at her one day as she was putting dabs of tincture down her throat. I said,
00:04:26
Speaker
Come a long way, haven't we? It's sort of like thats very false our the table is flipped a little. Yeah, it's just. Oh, they do turn. Well, I remember she one time in their house, took like too much, I think. And she was like sitting on a couch and she was like, i can't feel my legs. Yeah, that was that was that was her whole. Well, she was really interested in medical marijuana. It is interesting, yeah.
00:04:46
Speaker
But for her, which was so funny, because all I remember hearing you say is like your parents were always so not that you guys were like, yes, smoke weed. You definitely didn't want us to be smoking weed. And I think our sister, our editor will have a lot to say about that because she was probably the the biggest user. are of us growing up. um But I remember you would say like you would go up to your room and your parents would come upstairs. They just didn't get it in a way that you understand it because you did it. Like I don't think they'd ever really been exposed to weed. And they, what would they say? Like, are you puffing marijuana? Have you been puffing marijuana? That's so funny. And I, and I used to say, do you mean bong hits? No, but I was, I was really funny then.
00:05:26
Speaker
dear You're just as funny now. um No, but I remember her taking the, she was really interested in it. And then she was taking the drops. And I was like, oh, grandma, how do you feel? Like, are you okay? And she was I feel amazing, but I have no idea where my feet are. That was such a funny moment for me.
00:05:43
Speaker
Such a lot. Yeah. But I mean, i guess we can i guess we can ask just point blank.
Legal and Health Implications of Marijuana for Tumor Growth
00:05:49
Speaker
Like, do you think it should be legalized? Like, yes, it takes the thrill away. But what are your thoughts on it as like that whole a process?
00:05:56
Speaker
Yes. What are your thoughts on it as like a health treatment, I guess? Well, I think medically it's been helpful to a lot of people. I don't know if it's helping me. I'm using it I'm trying.
00:06:08
Speaker
Well, I mean, your your tumors aren't growing. and yeah I don't know if that's related to read to the weed. No, but there's some there's a type called Rick Simpson oil that has been proven in many circumstances to help reduce tumors and and have an impact. So that's part of my treatment too.
00:06:28
Speaker
I don't know how accurate it is or not, but I take it. and Yeah. You know, makes you a little sleepy, which is good because I take it at night. um That is good.
00:06:39
Speaker
But as far as legalization, I mean, i don't think it should be legal personally, but I don't think that that matters, what I think. Yeah.
00:06:50
Speaker
No, I mean... You guys weren't so, other than Lucy, weren't so heavily involved in weed, I didn't think, as kids. we We weren't. I mean, i definitely wasn't in high school. I remember i didn't really, i didn't, like, smoke in...
00:07:07
Speaker
conclusive. I didn't smoke in high school in the sense of I wasn't getting high in high school. I don't think I was ever actually high or just going to be super honest now. I don't think I was ever actually high probably till like senior year of high school because I would go to parties and people would have joints and the gummies like weren't really a thing. They weren't. It was it was like bud and joints and I would go to parties and like dudes would be passing around joints and I would be like, oh, I'm so cool. And like,
00:07:35
Speaker
not to quote Bill Clinton, but I wouldn't inhale because I didn't even know how to. And I remember like actually being high for the first time I inhaled and I was like, oh shit, like now I understand this.
00:07:46
Speaker
And I didn't like it. And I still don't actually like being high, but to go back to your earlier question of like, did Haley and I really partake or dabble in that? um I actually really started leaning into using marijuana And i'm I'm saying it so formally, but because I felt like it was formal um when I was having really severe stomach issues in college. like i was about a junior in college and I was just having like really bad digestive problems at to the point where like I couldn't really eat ever, almost
Personal Medical Use: College Experience with Marijuana
00:08:19
Speaker
ever. Like I was in constant pain. I was constantly nauseous.
00:08:22
Speaker
And my boyfriend, who I'm now married to, um at the time was like, you should try you should try this. Like you should try to take something or you should try to take like a micro hit of a joint or a pen or something because it'll increase your appetite.
00:08:36
Speaker
Yeah. and it will help with that pain. And it really did. Like I hope with nausea. Yeah. And I'm not in that point anymore. Thank goodness. But I, it was definitely, there was definitely a point where like I had to have some sort of weed so I could eat food because I just wasn't like I, whether it was anxiety or something, like it just wasn't working for me. And it really helped me in that setting. And I think ah that's still a moment that I do use it. i don't use it for like de-stress or anxiety,
00:09:04
Speaker
or anything like that, but it really is like digestive stomach based for me. And I found it to be extremely helpful for that reason. um but like, I don't think, I mean, i don't know what restrictions are on being high and driving a car. i don't think that should be allowed. Like that's crazy to me.
00:09:19
Speaker
I think it's, you're not, you're not supposed to drive under the influence. I think like the DUI thing. But how could they like test, like can they breathalyze weed? um don't think they can breathalyze it, but there's certain tests. I feel like a lot of people drive high. that But that's what they got. You're not supposed to drive high.
00:09:33
Speaker
Anyway, that's like my, I guess that's my story, my journey, if you will, with Well, if you ever get pulled over when you're high, I mean, you should just say, I'm stoned. Can't you see I'm trying to get home? That's why I was driving so fast.
00:09:48
Speaker
I don't think I could drive fast. that's someone else's joke. um that That is fun. Yeah, I, you know, I don't know. I don't think it should be legal. It was fun as a kid. I literally stopped smoking weed when I got to college because I had smoked all through high school, parts of middle school. and All the weed in Westchester was gone. We we entered theunlic a potato fan smoked a lot. But it was, you know, the end of the 70s, end of the 80s. It was a different time.
00:10:16
Speaker
A different era. Yeah. A different era. Yes.
Modern Treatments: Rick Simpson Oil and Beyond
00:10:20
Speaker
Why does that end? Well, do you find now with what you're taking, I know you were saying you don't necessarily know if it's helping or not, but you're still taking it frequently. Like I know today, if you don't mind me saying, you sort of felt a bit nauseous at one point and you took like your little M&Ms from the the doctor gave you and they're like, just like M&M chocolate edibles, right? Are the M&Ms Rick Simpson?
00:10:42
Speaker
Rick is at night, right? Yeah. yeah And is that just a literal oil you put on your tongue? Yeah, or they're they're gummies, but I right now have the tincture. Does it taste good? Doesn't taste like much.
00:10:53
Speaker
Does it taste like you're like drinking olive oil? That kind of smells like skunk? Probably that. Gunk oil. Yeah, I think your mother said, oh, that stuff smells. um Yeah, but it's a difference, right? I don't know.
00:11:06
Speaker
But it's interesting now, like, using the same, I guess not necessarily the same, I'm sure, what you were picking up on the um picking up from, like, places was probably a little bit different than, like, the very... um Concentrated? Concentrated and, like, clean oil that the doctors are giving you, but it's interesting to think about, like, 17-year-old Doug, look at you now, and, like, for such different purposes, but...
00:11:31
Speaker
You also, I mean, well, you got into like the doses, those little pens and stuff for a while. And that I think was helpful because it wasn't, I mean, at least like when and our experience with them, it doesn't like make you high. I think it's probably similar to what you're doing now.
00:11:47
Speaker
Yeah, take the edge off or whatever. Exactly. It is. But for me now, the Rick Simpson oil is is meant to be therapeutic. It helps you sleep a little bit. And then for the middle of the night, I have another gummy they've suggested if I wake up.
00:12:01
Speaker
That I should take it. When you, so you're working with, you quoted or you referenced her on one of our other episodes. The, what does she call herself? Ganja queen? The queen of ganja. queen of She doesn't call herself that. Someone else named her. But saying it should be the goddess of ganja.
00:12:16
Speaker
Yes. Sounds better. at The alliteration. Yes. And do you, and has that process been helpful and interesting? Like that, having that as a profession, yeah like a medical we need distributor, like that's cool to me.
00:12:29
Speaker
Yeah, no, she's a very interesting doctor at Mass General and easy to work with and helpful and knows so much that, you know, she knew about Rick Simpson. She knew about, um you know, all the other things that I should take, whether it's the M&Ms that will be a little more uplifting and help cut the edge of not being hungry from chemo. And then there's, you know, the gummies at night that, in addition to Rick Simpson, that help you sleep.
00:12:58
Speaker
It's more natural. I'm good with it. i have no problem with it. Should it be legal? ah that shouldn't That's not what this is all about. No, you do keep coming back to that. I i have a thought. My mind is smaller than it is. I just think that... Sorry. It's not. I just think that in terms of... i mean, obviously it was different. I didn't grow up in the same era as you.
00:13:20
Speaker
But, like, the way that I would, like, understand marijuana in high school was, like, I would like go and try a little bit of it, but like I would be with someone who was bigger than me or something like that. And like, I would never be able to control how much I took in. So I find myself in situations where I'd be like uncomfortable or like not feel good.
00:13:40
Speaker
And that wasn't really fun. And I feel like now with like the, like cameo edibles that like we all like, I only really, i don't really get, I don't really use weed unless it's like similar to Emma for like stomach problems.
00:13:51
Speaker
I do a lot for sleep, honestly. That's yeah helpful for me because I struggle with sleeping. um But like, I'm, I've never been the type of person that like would be high during the day. Like that makes me want to cry and ah in a ball. I could never do it. Or even at night with like.
00:14:04
Speaker
Unless I'm going right to bed. Exactly. Yeah. Like people who can be out and take a gummy or like, oh, at the end of the night, I'll sit in a circle with their friends and smoke joint. It's like, I'm not going to do that unless you are not interested in ever hearing me speak again. And I also have this weird thing where I get, sometimes if I'm like too high, I get really, really cold.
00:14:21
Speaker
I don't know. They're just weird side effects. Like I don't like to be, i don't like to, be high in situations that aren't like I'm about to go to sleep or like me and the comfort of my own home. think everyone approaches it differently, but that's, yeah.
00:14:35
Speaker
I think it depends on the people too, but i agree. i do feel like what you've been doing is definitely like a microdose type situation too. It's not like you're sitting here super high all the time. So i don't want to give that an impression. No. and I like sometimes wish I was, but no, I'm not.
00:14:50
Speaker
I think that that's sort of like what I was trying to touch on is just with the legality and with the like medicalization of marijuana. it's now you have what? No, you're right. Oh, it's now like a word haley the, the control and the amount. It's not like, Oh, eat a brownie. I'm like, see what happens. Right. Ha ha. Rip a bong
Pandemic and Family Marijuana Experiences
00:15:09
Speaker
and see what's happens. Like,
00:15:10
Speaker
That's when shit gets scary in my opinion. But now being like, like I have friends that have never, ever, ever dabbled in weed, but I think what they would enjoy it sometimes. So like if we're on like a girl's trip, for instance, sometimes we'll be like, okay, you over there, come here. I'm going to, you're going to take a tiny little bit of the edible. If they won't, we don't peer pressure.
00:15:27
Speaker
But like, then my, and my friends are like oh, I really liked that because like, it's tiny. And I didn't feel anything except I was a little giggly or like, I like, like felt a little sillier. And it's just like, it is, I like the idea of being able to control it that way.
00:15:40
Speaker
But it also is like can of edibles, like million dollars. Like it stinks. I am like that exact person with my friends too. They're like, like they'll call me if they know that I'm going to California for work or something. And they're like, I'm like, first of all, it's literally legal in New York. You can walk down the street. But it's like different in California. Like understand they taste better. Yeah.
00:15:58
Speaker
and they'll And they'll be like, oh, like I've really been thinking about, you know, like trying to get into... into weed for sleeping or something like that so do you think you could like go and pick up me some stuff i'm like yeah so but it's just because i don't actually know that much i just in comparison a lot of my friends no me and one of my other friends are like that too and they'll like our friends will be like so what do you think if i take a nibble or should i do a fourth how much is that and we're like you'll be okay it's i promise you but it is so so funny have you been pushing it on your friends No, of course not. Well, actually have a question. Yeah. Because I actually have a lot of my friends' parents, growing up at least, um a lot of them would like get high.
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah. and we like and it was, I mean, not when they had like children, children, but like when we were in high school and stuff, like that was the thing. Like a lot of them had joints. I remember like, I like used one of my friends, like parents, like weed ones, which is probably like, but like, but like we like, and yes. and as well meet And we, but like, we would, that was like a thing that I was around and I understood like, it wasn't weird to me that parents would like take an edible or like have like a one hitter. That was like, and like things like that.
00:17:05
Speaker
But I feel like you and mom never really dabbled in it and unless we, don't know. Yeah, I mean, we we weren't. no But over COVID, all of us got high together, which was awful. Yeah, that actually really kind of sucked. Did you? Did you? Yeah, with all of us and Will, like the four of us and Will, I don't think Lucy had been home yet. She would have probably coached us through the process a lot better. um She would have. We needed her there. People ate edibles, right?
00:17:28
Speaker
You did too. We ate like the smallest, smallest dose of an edible. And mom um lost her mind. She was laughing so hard, but I didn't know if she was laughing or crying. and i was ready call the police. We didn't know she was breathing.
00:17:39
Speaker
Like she was like... Yeah, she was like unwell. But no, we, that was funny because I feel like also during COVID it was like, well, what else the heck are you going to do? We nothing else to know. So we an edible before dinner and I remember so specifically like, I felt a little high. Like it doesn't, I don't know, like we took an edible and mom is sitting at the table like.
00:17:58
Speaker
Oh, I was look funny now because she was, she was like, I can't feel it. Do you feel it? And I was like, well, obviously you do. But then I saw her being so high and like saw you like giggling And I immediately was like dead stone cold sober. Cause you know how that happens? Like in a situation where like you can't be like the more impaired one. that like you guys were in danger writing means, but like, i was just like, wait, what? Okay.
Cultural and Generational Perspectives on Marijuana
00:18:19
Speaker
It doesn't happen all the time to me.
00:18:22
Speaker
Usually you guys are the ones sobering up to help me. Like, it's like, Yeah, but the idea, by the way, of parents getting high with kids is so weird and bizarre to me. Well, no. Yeah. and no I think of it separately. Like the parents would get high while the kids would like have the partner type thing. No, but I remember being in college and someone's parents came up from like New Jersey and said.
00:18:41
Speaker
was always Jersey. Yeah, it's always New Jersey. um Even if it's not, you just say that. But, kid you know, they said, oh, who wants to get high? We have some joints. And I was like. So weird. you're like 40 something and I'm like 17. Why do I want to get high with you? It ruins it. It ruins it. I'm all for like parents getting high like together, like go get high with your husband, go get high with your wife, like whatever.
00:19:03
Speaker
But like, you don't need to rope in the kids. No, it's not a family activity. It's not. I hated what we did in the bed. In my opinion, no shade to anyone who actually does that. But it's like the cross generation weed usage is not for me. Well, I actually remember in college,
00:19:18
Speaker
we my sophomore year we lived um sort of in like a dorm my girlfriends and I that was that was not where all the other people were like so we became really good friends with the other people in our dorm because we were kind of isolated and it was COVID so we didn't do much and we became really close with the boys on the first floor we were on the third and their suite and us would like hang out a lot and I remember one of my friends in that room's dad was visiting and he didn't live like in the U.S. like it was like he lived very far away but his dad came for a bit I remember they were like, oh, do you guys like want to come over? And we were like, yeah, sure. And we went over and they're sitting in their bathroom, which is where they would smoke, ripping a bong with his dad. my friend and I were like,
00:19:54
Speaker
we're actually going to go back upstairs. Like, I'm not going to partake in this. But there was a 50-something-year-old man holding the bomb, being like, oh, you want some? And I was like, I'm actually all good.
00:20:05
Speaker
it was really endearing. Like, she was bonding with his son, but like, it's just not for me. And cross-culture, too. Like, I think it's it accepted differently in different cultures. well Like, it's so new to being legal here. I don't know if that's going to change. Like, when we have kids,
Research and Funding in Medical Marijuana
00:20:17
Speaker
I have no idea. Maybe, yeah.
00:20:18
Speaker
It's just the difference between, like, your age group, I feel like, was the first... like widespread shit, like child is not the right word, but the first widespread like adolescent weed users, I feel like. So, yeah, I mean, there might've been a little bit of a generation before ours, but yeah, no, that's right. Not grandma and papa. It could have been some of them. It was funny because I would at one point, um, smoke a bong in my room, blow it out the window and then go down to dinner.
00:20:52
Speaker
And the funniest part of that, though, is I used to tell my sister, were only my sister or me and me and my parents, but, and she sat across from me at the dinner table. My parents sat at the other side, the other end.
00:21:06
Speaker
And I remember saying to her all the time that I'm high. So she would freak out. So she was freaked out watching me but at dinner and I would be, you know, acting it up for, cause it was fun.
00:21:18
Speaker
Yeah. promeic relief Yeah, and and just it would just make her nuts. It was so much fun. Yeah, you must have been really fun to grow up. There's nothing, no I so understand there's nothing better than like twisting the knife on a sister. You understand that.
00:21:31
Speaker
I do. It's like, they're so funny. It's just like, it ah it's like chef's kiss. That's great. Oh, well, I mean, I'm happy that you're in a spa right now where it's helpful for you, where it's helping you. We think so. And it's not.
00:21:46
Speaker
I don't know. Like, I think there's a stigma or a stereotype that, oh yeah, cancer patients are like getting high, blah, blah, blah. But it's to know, and I was one of my friends actually, so shout out to him who had reached out and talked specifically about the Rick Simpson oil when we first launched this podcast. Like, to know that there are people out there who have not just found comfort in the medical benefits of this. Some solutions. Right, but also in some ways, some solutions. So, I mean, I think it's the same thing as there's- Improvement.
00:22:13
Speaker
Exactly. But I i mean, i think it's the same thing as- There are other drugs or herbal remedies or stuff that I think are coming out that have shown that they're helpful for tumor shrinkage or this specific type of cancer. And that's all part of the research that's being done. Oh, for sure. And there's a lot of stoned mice out there. So many hormones. But beyond that, the um you know some of the things that are discovered is that Prozac,
00:22:40
Speaker
helps break the blood brain barrier. So there's more penetration of the chemo, more penetration of things like the Rick Simpson oil. Fascinating. You know, but there's so many smart people working on this. Yeah. ah You know, hopefully the government doesn't take away so much funding like they claim they will.
00:22:58
Speaker
not Not getting political, but I think that there's private funding. there's There's so much going on. Yeah. And you guys have been part of private funding, as have we, because... It's interesting that, you know, this is, this is, it's a long-term battle and, and people not just, I'm not saying me, but I'm saying it's a long-term battle against cancer and it takes a lot of money and a lot of people and
Future of Cancer Treatment and Marijuana's Role
00:23:22
Speaker
a lot of brains. A lot of brains working together.
00:23:25
Speaker
It's, it's unbelievable how much progress there seems to be and how little progress there seems to be. So, yeah. It is so crazy to like just highlighting the outreach aspect that you were touching on, how someone reached out to you about Ricks and Sint.
00:23:37
Speaker
the Prozac someone reached out to me who um and sent it to me and was like, hey, like, just you know, like, this is something I've seen. Like, I think it might be working. And I just it's so interesting that that's, like, just, like, people in our circles, but then also just thinking about how much more is out there and how much more is hopefully, we at least I'm hopeful, will continue to come out and even be more fine-tuned in the next few years.
00:23:59
Speaker
So that's sort of, like, the whole bit of this. Like, the battle is, yeah, there's not a cure necessarily right now, but the battle is, like, be there for when these things keep coming out and all these remedies and solutions and other words that aren't cure, but similar.
00:24:14
Speaker
yeah so what we're What I'm trying to do, what we're trying to do with the oncologist is buy time. yeah That's what it's all about. Time right now is very valuable, especially with all the advancements happening. Exactly. Your point's well taken.
00:24:28
Speaker
Exactly. And I think we we feel very lucky that stuff hasn't progressed for you super quickly or at all at this point. And it's sort of like, we know that that won't be the case forever. So as long as we can keep that going and as long as people keep finding new stuff or pre-existing stuff like Prozac, like specific types of weed that can be helpful. Like I think it's so interesting when doctors find that something that was there all along can solve something totally different. I mean, not to, and this is very different than what we're dealing with, but even thinking about like,
00:25:01
Speaker
ozempic for obesity versus diabetes like that it's just stuff that's been around and i have opinions on that being abused also but it's like stuff that's been around and been in the sphere like the medical sphere can then just be repurposed i find that to be so interesting so yeah don't forget um uh what i forgot the drug sorry good lord you just like don't forget no viagra was created for Lung issues. It was a pulmonary issue. and yeah and someone discovered Yeah. Someone discovered that there was a secondary use. I mean, I just think that's all so fascinating and and it's hopeful.
00:25:42
Speaker
There's so many smart people working on all this stuff. but And they're probably not high. Probably not. You never know. Maybe ketamine. I don't know. Maybe. Yeah. All the doctors in a cable. Jeez.
00:25:56
Speaker
All right. That seems like a good point. We'll wrap it up. Maybe we should go eat a brownie. I don't think so, but thank you. Well, I'm in a regular brownie. I want a dessert. I want a special brownie. We love you.
00:26:06
Speaker
I love you. Thank you for the time and the interest in doing this. It's good. To many more. To many more. Many more gummies. Many more Rick Simpsons.