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Hey, hey, what's up, Stoner fam? Welcome to another episode of the Cannabis Man Podcast. Thank you for clicking on the show. I'm your host, Don Clepon. And if it's your first time here, welcome in. This is a show where we try to take a journalistic look at all things cannabis. I like to bring expert interviews to you or at least interviews with people who are involved in the cannabis industry somehow, whether they're entrepreneurs or, you know, they've created some product or business that they're bringing to people that might be a new experience in states that have legalized cannabis. There are now 21 adult-use states, possibly 22, or are set for maybe a few more this year, and over 35 for medical. So lots of new states with new businesses popping up. There's also a lot of people doing research on cannabis. Scientists, professors, people with getting government money now to look into cannabis and answer the questions we all have about what cannabis is actually doing, what it can do for your life, and, you know, what it doesn't do. Something to suss out the truth from some of the falsehoods out there. It sort of feels like we're at this snake oil salesman part of it. I don't mean to say that CBD has no benefits. I believe that it does, but there is a difference between what CBD actually does medically, what benefits it offers, and sort of over-promising that it's going to solve every problem in your life. And then when it doesn't, you feel like, you know, the whole thing was a hoax. So, trying to suss out the legitimate truth of what cannabis is doing, there are a lot of people studying exactly those questions right now, and I like to speak with them and bring those interviews to you, as well as government officials, relieving these state run groups now that are responsible for establishing the rules of legal cannabis going forward in different states and kind of seeing which policies are going to take hold. When hopefully soon here, cannabis does become decriminalized federally. Hopefully someday soon moved off the Schedule 1 substance list and ideally legalized so that we can have interstate commerce and we can kind of actually establish a country-wide framework for what a cannabis market looks like, not this sort of patchwork state-by-state legalization that the way that we've done it. It's caused a whole host of problems which we get into on the show. And I've got a great interview for you today. There's a woman who is really just coming into her acceptance of what cannabis means to her what it's changed in her life in a positive way. And it took her a long journey and kind of a long way through personal grief and loss. And you know, utilizing alcohol as she puts it for a lot of that and it didn't allow her to process her grief for a long time. And now she uses cannabis to help others process their grief and kind of move forward to a place of acceptance. And she's here to talk a little about that and what her sort of goals for the future are. And I've got some news stories to share with you on the news joint wrap and I'll get into what I've been smoking on this week as well as some other topics around cannabis. Be sure to follow the show pages at C-man podcast on Twitter and Instagram. That's the letter C-man podcast. It's the Cannabis Man podcast on Facebook and YouTube and you can always email the show host at CannabisManPodcast.com. I also want to say thank you very much for everybody who's been leaving the great reviews and ratings on the different podcast platforms, whether you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Podcast Addict, you name it. There's so many platforms which is amazing and I'm so glad that there are a lot of options for ways that people can choose to get their content they like. And the Cannabis Man podcast should be available at all of them. Let me know if it's not. I endeavor to make sure the show is available everywhere. So definitely let me know if you don't see it somewhere you'd like it to be. But anywhere that you usually can get podcasts you can find the show and people have been leaving ratings and reviews a very positive for the show. And I just want to say thank you so much if you were one of those I really do appreciate it. With that, let's move into this 42nd episode of the Cannabis Man podcast. Here we go. Yeah, and we're back. Want to thank you so much again for listening to the show. Really appreciate all the great listeners that have joined in the last almost a year since I've started this show April 20th of 2022. That was the inception date and or the launch date I guess the inaugural episode and we're approaching that one year anniversary and I got to tell you listener I have a really exciting interview that is lined up for 420 for that episode got a lot of special things in the works but that interview I've already recorded it and I got to tell you I know that you're going to love it. It is profound in a lot of different ways and the guest the interview guest that I have for that episode. I know you know who they are and I know you'll be excited to hear what they have to say. And with that, let's roll into this episode and move on to the news joint wrap brought to you by Illinois news joint.com. Think of it as the joint you can hit for all your Illinois cannabis news and reviews and I like to gather some of the great news stories and events and kind of reviews that Illinois news joint.com does and I read some of them that I think are worth your attention that I can in these episodes. And the first one I'd like to start with today is that Illinois cannabis oversight bills move forward. A four Illinois house bills involving cannabis oversight and regulations were assigned to the executive committee last month at the end of it February 28th. And these bills HB1436 specifically amends the cannabis regulation and tax act and it creates the cannabis equity and oversight commission. The bill, quote, provides that the commission shall administer and enforce the provisions of the act relating to the oversight licensing registration and certification of dispensing organizations, cultivation centers, craft growers and fuser organizations, transporting organizations, laboratories and agents, including but not limited to the issuance of identification cards and establishing limits on the potency or serving size of cannabis or cannabis products. Is that the commission may suspend or revoke the license of or impose other penalties upon dispensing organizations, cultivation centers, yada yada, all the groups that I just mentioned. So this is establishing that commission, which is going to be a lot more hands on. It seems regarding these licenses for all these different cannabis sorts of industries, transportation, cultivation, craft growing, infusing, you heard it all there, laboratories too. And another bill, HB2430, provides the Department of Agriculture shall adopt rules to establish cannabis nursery licenses that allow for the sale of cannabis seeds, seedlings and cuttings to registered qualified patients under the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act for the purposes of home cultivation subject to specified provisions. So this has to do with the suppliers where you can get your cannabis grow from home supplies that including seedlings and cuttings, anything that you might need to kind of start your home grow, at least in terms of the genetic material that you need for the plants. That's what this HB2430 has to deal with. Another one, HB2522, sponsored by Repsonia Harper, deals with delivery licenses and requires Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to issue cannabis delivery organization licenses and, quote, contains provisions regarding applications for cannabis delivery organization licenses. So, I've talked about this on the show a few times before listener. I have said that we are right on the precipice of cannabis delivery in Illinois. I had a feeling that in 2023 it was going to be legalized. We may be looking at 2024 now with the pace of how this is moving, but we are about to see legal cannabis delivery in Illinois. I, I mean, I expect some small businesses to start offering the service. I expect new companies to jump forward, maybe, but unfortunately, ultimately, I expect this to fall under the purview of like your, your average door dash or Uber eats or postmates or whatever you use as a typical delivery app, GrubHub, maybe. I have a feeling that you're going to start to be able to see we delivery in those apps the way that you can get alcohol through door dash now. A lot of these have sort of broadened their delivery horizons. Postmates, it feels like you can get a lot on there. So, expect to see cannabis added to your door dash or, you know, your Uber eats delivery menu sometime in the next year or so. That'll be exciting, but as I said, I'm also excited to see if there are any small businesses that start offering this service and kind of compete with that. Me personally, I guess I would kind of prefer it if my cannabis driver was only delivering other cannabis products as opposed to like foods or alcohols or groceries or something. I'm not sure why, I guess maybe it's, I just don't want the smells or the taste of whatever food that they might be delivering to kind of, you know, pollute the, I know it's in a container, I know it's sealed and all that. I'm sure this is an irrational fear of mine, but I would just rather it if it was somebody who was delivering and, oh, their only responsibility, their only products were cannabis products. That to me feels like it might be, I don't know, just something I'd be more interested and I might even pay a little more for that versus just kind of slapping it into my door dash order where they can, oh yes, stop at 7.11 and grab me that, you know, cookie sandwich on the way here with my, with my eighth of weed and my gummies, you know, but we'll see how this goes either way, like I said, expect that delivery sometime in the next year that will be very exciting when that comes through. Another topic here on the news joint rap, let's move along. Illinois Senate Bill addresses cannabis use and probation. This is as Jason Brown at Illinois news joint.com says is an under the radar cannabis related bill currently making its way through the Illinois Senate. He was assigned the subcommittee on cannabis last week and with a deadline established for March 24th. I'm recording this on the 16th right now. It is the official start of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Happy March madness to anybody who celebrates that. The brackets likely already busted, but, you know, that's, that's part of the fun who knows it's a crazy, crazy chance is in the tournament. And so anybody who's watching the games, this is a fun time. But back to the Senate bill 1886. A men's Illinois unified code of corrections and would provide quote that a person on probation, conditional discharge or supervision shall not be ordered to refrain from having cannabis or alcohol in his or her body. The rest of the sentence adds a caveat by stating unless the person was sentenced to probation, conditional discharge or supervision for an offense which had as an element of it the presence of an intoxicating compound in the body or the person's taking part in a problem solving court certified by the administrative office. In addition to that 1886, Carves Out of Provision for Illinois's registered cannabis patients, providing that quote a person on probation, conditional discharge or supervision, shall not be ordered to refrain from use or consumption of any substance lawfully prescribed by a medical provider or authorized by the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act. So this 1886, the Senate bill that Jason Brown highlights here, which is making its way through Springfield, has to do with being allowed to use cannabis while on probation or under some kind of court appointed status. There are people who would be medically prescribed cannabis by a doctor, but if you have a certain status on the Illinois courts, even though it's perfectly legal in this state, you fall into this weird gray area where you're not allowed to have your medicine because of that. So this Senate bill 1886 is going to deal with that little weird overlap, which is nice. And then cannabis expungement bills are moving through the Illinois House. This is another article that Jason Brown pointed out for Illinois House bills that would expunge all criminal history records of an arrest for a cannabis conviction were referred to Rules Committee on March 10th. The two first of these bills, HB 1090 and 1101, automatically expunge all criminal history records for adults while the other two, HB 2632 and 3846 expunge juvenile records and college students cannabis convictions respectively. So this has to do with just cannabis expungement, something that we have talked about on the show. I've certainly had guests come on and issue some pretty stern corrections and, you know, mentionings of this problem, which is the fact that even though cannabis is very much legal, allowed recreationally and medicinally in Illinois, there are still people who have these crimes for cannabis on their records. And they might be a part of one of these court programs so they can't have access to their medically prescribed cannabis. And we are still dealing with these piece by piece changes because of cannabis having been so recently illegal and prohibited. So it's encouraging to see these house and senate bills moving forward having to do with things like delivery, expungement and allowing people to get their medical cannabis even if they are under some court appointed program. This is all great stuff and it's very exciting. It'll be good to watch the developments of them, I will certainly bring you any new information about the path of these bills. And finally one event I want to mention. Cannabadi is going to host a second stoner speed dating event. I spoke recently to Miss Cannabadi herself and she was talking about stoner speed dating events. It was an episode not that long ago. Definitely recommend you go back and listen to it. Listener if you haven't yet. But the second event is set for April 13th at the rise, lounge and smokey-se in Mundaline. And you can hear more about these events in that episode I mentioned or you can check out that story and all the news stories I mentioned at IllinoisNewsJoint.com. And speaking of smoking cannabis, next time you're in the market for some cannabis products, don't forget about my friends at 420pipes.com. These guys are doing excellent work. They're taking locally made products and products that are sold locally in whatever neighborhood you might be in. And they've got their smoke local initiative. You can just input your zip code at 420pipes.com and it'll populate a list of head shops all around you and you can choose products from those local businesses and you will get them shipped to you thanks to 420pipes.com and you'll support the local business and you'll get the cannabis products you're looking for all without ever leaving the comfort of your home. I love what they're doing with that smoke local initiative. Plus they have wonderfully priced items every day. You want a new glass piece for $4.20? That sounds great to me all the time. I know I've broken some of the past. I tend to gunk them up with the dead resin that we've talked about and I hate cleaning them. 420pipes.com is an excellent alternative to just cleaning your glass pieces that build up that dead resin. If you're like me and you want something new to smoke out of every month, check out their sample box. You will sign up for a subscription. It's $10 a month and you get a box in the mail of new 420pipes.com products and their cannabis things grinders, glass pieces, cleaners. You can utilize in your smoking day to day life and you get new stuff every month. So head to 420pipes.com, pick out some stuff you like. Canas you're checking out, don't forget to use the promo code CannabisMan and you can knock 10% off your order. That's 420pipes.com promo code CannabisMan to knock 10% off your card order. Hi, my name is Steve Owens and I'm inviting you on a weekly journey. Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know the fun stories and impactful moments of actors, directors, musicians, athletes, authors, comedians, artists, astronauts, and regular people. New episodes every Monday available on all platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and I Heart. With well over 300 episodes, you're bound to find stories you connect with on Fascination Street podcast. And if you're thinking of starting your own home grow, lots of people interested in it. Maybe you want to save some money at the dispensary every month. Maybe you'd like to add a fun plant to your garden. Maybe you just want to see what it's like to smoke something that you grew and that you brought to fruition. Some reason or another, lots of people interested in starting home grows here in Illinois if you are a medical cannabis card holder. You can grow up to five plants at home and if you're going to start a home grow, you have got to be thinking about high quality genetics for your seed. Bank, you've got to be working with good genetics. Otherwise you're going to come out with a subpar product and nobody is making higher quality genetics right now than my friends at Deep Space Creations. Matt Ross started the company a few years ago. He's been growing cannabis for many, many years and he realized the importance of working with good genetics. So Deep Space Creations is really kind of a group and a company that has to do with that vision and that goal of providing good quality lineages and genetics for people who wanted to be able to go to a seed bank and know that they were getting the best quality stuff because nothing will snuff out a good harvest quicker than working with mid-grade or low quality genetics. You really cannot get beyond a certain threshold of quality when you're working with lower mid-grade genetics. So go for the good stuff and head to Deep Space Creations. You can find them on Instagram. You can search for Deep Space through Neptune's seed bank or some of the other large seed market corporations there. But they're definitely on Instagram. You can head to Deep Space Creations. LLC, if you are thinking of starting a home grow, you've got to be thinking about good genetics and if you're thinking about good genetics and cannabis seeds, you have got to check out my friends at Deep Space Creations, LLC. Oh, and just a note before we get to the interview listener, we did run into some technical issues while we were recording. We started on clean feed, which is kind of like Zoom, so you can kind of hear that clear audio up front. And then we ran into some interference and we kind of got some bleed over and we really couldn't get it fixed so we moved to a phone call and instead of restarting the interview, we just kind of went from there. So you'll hear the interview start on clean feed and then it kind of moves to a phone call. Sorry about that. I just wanted to give you a heads up when you hear that audio change. It was just from some difficulties. Enjoy. Listener, welcome back. My guest today is a cannabis related counselor. I would say also an entrepreneur, but what she's really focused on is helping people in some of their most difficult moments of life. I think many of us have experienced grief in some former fashion. We've experienced loss and it's tough to get through, you know, depending on who and when in life those circumstances can really rock you and sometimes just completely obliterate your foundations of good quality of life and of happiness and all that stuff. So here to talk a little about how cannabis can help grieving people and talk a little about her experience with guiding people through some of these difficult moments and how cannabis can help and some of what she does on her very own podcast where she's helping people do exactly this and figure out more about it is Miranda May. Welcome, Miranda. Oh, thank you, Dawn. I appreciate you having me today and, you know, I'm really excited to have this conversation. This is actually the first time I have publicly spoke about this and my advocacy about cannabis around grief. So it makes me a little nervous if I if I've got to be honest, but it's a conversation that needs to happen and it needs to be talked about more, especially around healing, healing our grief. Totally. Yeah, you're absolutely right and I can relate to that. I understand the nerves, you know, there's it's unfortunate. We as it's becoming legalized even in sort of a patchwork way state by state that it is the stigma against it from the refer madness from the prohibition days, dare education that many of us got in public school that that stigma is alive and well and I I felt nerves myself kind of just I mean and stakes aren't that high. I'm just like a broadcaster, but as a news person before I started my podcast, I was concerned about, you know, appearing impartial losing any, you know, even perceived integrity or whatever. I just there's there's stakes. It feels like, but I want to, you know, commend you on making the decision to kind of step up and and take this journey and have the conversation that's might be risky, but is worth having. And on that note, what was it that kind of got you thinking about cannabis and and how it relates to grief? Yeah, you know what, it actually dates us back to almost 14 years now. In 2009, I was 27 years old and I experienced my first significant loss, my first death and that was my husband. He was in a motorcycle accident and he did not survive. Oh, gosh. And that was, I mean, everything you could probably imagine what you go through losing your partner or your spouse. And during that time, I would have to say that I was a drinker. It was just part of my lifestyle, social drinker, bartender and it was just alcohol was just kind of a part of my life. Sure. And then when my husband passed, it was, it ended up, you know, becoming more prevalent. And, you know, we'll get into that, I think later. But there was one night a week where I would go visit a friend and it was a Tuesday evening. And our thing was we're not going to drink. We are going to, we called it Chmice. That was our code word. And we would chmice together. And she was really the only person in my life that I could talk to about this or even explore that plant with because it was, it was very taboo. So smeezing just to clarify for everybody, that was you guys smoking cannabis together. That's a smoking cannabis together. God, God. I mean, I mean, we don't even know where we got this from. It could have been a regular at the time. Sure. I mean, it was terrible, but it, it helped. Yeah. So much. That's great. That was really the first time where I could eat again. And I was laughing and I was having introspective conversations and the tunnel didn't seem so dark. And that's when a light bulb kind of went off like, wow, this is actually helping me as opposed to what I was taught for this plant to be detrimental to our mental health. Right. Right. I laughed at the mainly smeezing. It's a funny word first of all, but also I remember, yeah, but I remember the codes as well, you know, in the days of prohibition when it wasn't something that we were just talking openly about. Me and my friends would say a paint. We were going to go paint. And that was our code word. Even though painting is a real thing that people would do. Wait, that's not what we were. That's not what we meant by it. That's so much more classier than smeezing. So it was, all right, it was covert, right? Like this. It actually wasn't activity that maybe somebody would go do. So if we were overheard, the thinking was that, yeah, there would be no suspicion, but I totally get that. Oh, man, smart. You're already 10 steps ahead. Well, Eddie, but you know, I think it sounds to me like, you know, it's really great that you had that friend though that and you, and you already one night a week, you found the value in not drinking. And you guys would utilize cannabis together. And the way you describe those sessions and kind of how you felt maybe just even momentarily alleviated like the tunnel didn't feel so dark. And the notion of that moment when you sort of figure out for yourself the difference in the reality of what cannabis is or can be for people versus what the prevailing information that was kind of publicly known, the propaganda that was put out about what the plant was and what we'd all heard for so long. That awakening, I think it's kind of a powerful moment for all of us who've discovered cannabis and what it can do and it sounds like it was that way for you too. When you said that I had kind of an awakening in 2009 with this plant, I would say it would made me look at cannabis in a different light than what I was taught. But the awakening I had with cannabis didn't really happen until 2020. And that was really the year when I had to start asking myself big questions of what do I need to change in my life and how am I going to change that in my life. And really the biggest problem or the biggest area that was holding me back with the addiction with alcohol. And that alcohol really played a significant role in trying to heal that grief when my husband passed away. And when I needed to get alcohol out of my life, I struggled with it. I struggled a lot with it. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. And I was introduced to cannabis again because in 2009, I ended up moving away to Colorado. And I never had, I didn't have that friend again. She went to New York, I went to Colorado and so everything changed. And Colorado wasn't legal yet. So I went back to drinking and then I kind of depended on it more. And so it wasn't until like I said, 2020 where I had this big, come to Jesus moment with myself and I had to eliminate what was holding me back. So I was reintroduced to cannabis in 2020 and it was this moment of, okay, I cannot care what people think of me. Like if a mom should know I do this, that's her own judgment and for me not to carry. And it was this idea and this stigma that is just so prevalent right now that this is bad, this is bad. When so many people in this circle of moms drink constantly, like that's what they do. They drink. But when I started telling close moms that I'm an advocate for cannabis, it's really funny how many people have come out and say yes. I meet gummies or I hide this behind my kids back or my husband's back and I just do it for me. And so I had the awakening in 2020 because I started accepting it and I stopped caring what people's judgment was about me and about using this plant. And I had to say cannabis was a huge step for me to stop drinking and I'm not even alcohol free, right? I think that is just one of those that are excited me that I have to constantly get myself in check and it did and it definitely did stem from from loss and from grief. And I wasn't, if anyone is listening to this, I'm sure you're shaking your head of like yeah, when we are drinking and we're facing a significant loss, you don't feel it. When we talk about not being able to process our emotions or not being able to feel what the pain is, alcohol will completely numb that out. And it takes you back 10 steps because it's a present. It makes the process 100 times worse. And so when I stopped drinking in 2020, actually around 2020, I kind of stopped back 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, really when I stopped. But I had to go back in time and grieve my husband's death because I never gave myself the permission to do it because I was angry. I was intoxicated. Right. Yeah. And that's, I think that's you bring up a lot of great points there Miranda. There's a lot kind of two unpacked, but I want to dial in just on two key ones. One, that notion that you just said about kind of how alcohol is, it presses pause. You know, it's sort of like you in that moment, you know, you, you, you just like dive into that pool of liquor, let's say, and, and you're just the rest of your life is, is beyond it. So you're not processing the emotions, the loss you're feeling, you're not, your, your mind is not able to kind of move through the stages of grief and get yourself to that acceptance and being able to kind of exist in a more peaceful state. Alcohol doesn't, we lean on it as a crutch, but it, it's even though you'll feel you think that you're, you're kind of dealing with the problem, but it's, it's more of a, it's not a solution. It's a, it's a distraction. And the other thing I want to say is that kind of rolls into the normalization of the substances of things like alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, for a long time, you know, alcohol the worst one. But I mean, there are certain substances that have been normalized as part of society in America. And sort of food. Exactly. Fast food, sugars, you know, there's, there's these things that are kind of utilized by, you know, but whatever controlling power you kind of want to point at in a moment. But basically it's the people who are interested in keeping the status quo as it exists. They have a vested interest in those specific substances being normalized. Things like alcohol and cigarettes and caffeine, things that are sort of, I guess in their minds, accepted as the productivity drugs. And that normalization, the normalization of those things of the cigarettes of alcohol, caffeine. And so, a lot of people who are hooked on these substances and don't realize how powerful those holds are over them with the substance and the behaviors that are tied to them as well. And I just think it's so crucial that you found cannabis as this alternative that offered you a sort of off ramp to that tunnel. And I think that one of the reasons I started the show and one of the things that I'm endeavoring to do here is that I want to try and take this stigma on as well. And just by talking with people like you and anyone else who's kind of had a life-changing experience in a positive way from cannabis, trying to put these stories out there, allowing people to know that there are alternatives to these things that society says are the way to go when you're having a problem. There are better alternatives out there. And cannabis is right at the top of that list. You're absolutely right. Now, I always like to play devil's advocate. You have to. Because I know that the people listening to this podcast are in favor of cannabis, right? So you have a particular audience. Now what if you get the random person who says, Marlana, we that's a gateway drug. That she's just turning one addiction into the other. And I get that. Like I'm not sitting here and saying, you know, could smoking cannabis turn into addiction? Absolutely. So guess what? It hasn't. It hasn't controlled my life like alcohol did. It didn't. I didn't wake up one evening after smoking cannabis in the next morning. I regretted what I said to my husband or my daughter or a friend or did I have something stupid? You know what I mean? It's people are so quick to judge and say, it's just one addiction. And I'm like, okay, all right, John, now let me ask you a question. What's your addiction? What is yours? Because we all got something and you mentioned that. Like we all have got this thing inside of us that kind of keeps us in check that we need to be in control of. So it doesn't take over our life. Cannabis has not, has only improved my life. Like, and we're going to get into that too because everything, everything of who I've become and how I work and how I help people is through the help of this plan. And I'm really glad you did say that. And then believe me, I, you know, as I mentioned, you know, I do news. I'm a broadcaster and a list. I, I try, at least think of myself as somebody with like a little bit of integrity. And I do, even though I'm pro cannabis and I've made that, you know, it's clear from the show, I've spoken to people on the show who are not pro cannabis and I make, I always let people know that I'm not here thinking that cannabis is a panacea for everybody's problems. I don't think it's a perfect solution for, for everybody. I, I have plenty of close people in my life who've tried it and there it's not for them. And that's, that's totally fine. Like it's, it doesn't, it doesn't lessen my enjoyment of it. And I don't think that their disenjoyment of it or they're not taking pleasure and it is some kind of mistake or, you know, folly like they didn't do it right or something. I don't think it's right for everybody, but it's more what I do believe is that for those of us who have decided that it is right for us and we prefer it to the alternatives of alcohol or pharmaceuticals that might be prescribed us, I think we should be just as allowed to have it as a normal part of our lives as those other substances are given the green light to be a total normal everyday part of everybody's lives as well. Yep. So, yeah. Yeah. And so, so Miranda, on that note, you know, you, we met on the wisdom app and you, you utilize that as a way of communicating with people and kind of hosting talks. If, if you're not familiar listener, it's kind of an app where people host live, live conversations. You can ask questions of people and they'll provide audio answers and whatnot. And Miranda, why don't you tell, you know, the listener about kind of the talks that you host on wisdom and the stay dry while you cry initiative that you've got going on. Ah, so cool. Thank you for bringing that up. You know, wisdom has been one of the most instrumental platforms I've ever been introduced to, especially on a social media level. It has changed everything about me and how I want to speak, especially about grief and I guess cannabis and just taking our spirituality to the next level. So I'm a medium. That is one way that I help people work through grief. A medium is someone who has the capabilities or the ability to tap into the other side and communicate with your loved ones who have passed on before you. But I will never say that this is my gift. I don't put myself on this pedestal. I am no different from you, Don. I'm no different from anybody listening to this. We all have this ability to tap into higher consciousness and connect with any energy. And I just so happen to connect with energies of loved ones of people who are working to grief, working to death and they need to know their, their beloved is okay. And I reach for people once and then if people, if someone comes back to me and says, I need to feel, I need to care from them again, I say no. I'm sorry. I really? Now teach you. I will now teach you how to do it because a lot of people, they rely on psychic mediums to build this connection with them and their loved ones and I say no. This is up to you. This is, this is your grief healing path. If this is something you really need so you can move forward, let me show you how. Wow. I'm so happy that that ended up just being my passion, my purpose because after I give someone a reading, the question is, what's next? Okay. Great. You told mom with me, she gave me evidence. I know she's here with me, but what do I do now? I'm still, still broken. I feel so like I'm missing pieces. I still miss her. That was the component that's been missing in spirituality and connecting with their loved ones that I saw that needed a solution. Wow. What's the next step after the reading? The next step is you're going to start doing it. I'm not saying you need to become a professional. I think you do it how you think. No, totally. This is fascinating because I think you really touch on some interesting points there and I got to highlight a big one that jumps out at me, which is that you are the point about you making clear that you believe that the medium is a skill more than a quality or the outgift, as you say. I guess the back. It's a skill that you believe everybody can exercise and become better at. If you know how to do it, you can be a functioning medium or I guess at least do the work that you would go to a medium to have done for you. I got to say that Teach A Man to Fish approach versus instead of you building a client list and maybe growing a business this way as a service of a medium. I think it's really, really cool that you're taking a more educational approach and you provide a service for people who as you say are grieving and are in need of some kind of spiritual connection like that. But then to not push that forward, to not, I suppose, treat it as a source of income for the future, the way that I think a lot of people who might be skeptical of mediums and psychics tend to fear with those professions, I think what you're doing sounds like a really noble thing and it sounds like something a lot of people could probably benefit from. Yeah, I hope so. I think one of the biggest obstacles I'm facing is a lot of people are saying I'm scared. I'm scared to do it. And so that's one of the biggest, I guess, positions of where I come in as well is not only am I going to teach you how to connect with your loved ones, but I'm also going to help you work through the obstacles, right? Because sometimes when our loved ones pass away, there's unsaid words. There's no, you couldn't say goodbye. There is a lot of what it could have showed us that we hold on and some people hold on to shame and guilt and blame. And I think it is so imperative to work through those obstacles first because then when you're really ready to start building this new relationship with your loved one, you feel almost healed and you're now looking at this relationship from a different point of view. So not everyone's up for the work. Sure. Yeah. And that's okay. Like that's okay. Just like exercise or nutrition. I think that there are people who are comfortable saying I would rather outsource the hard stuff to a professional and go to them once a week to kind of stay on track versus develop that skill myself. It sounds like there's a parallel there with the spiritual connection that you're talking about. Yep. You're absolutely right. I'm going to be honest. I'm in limbo stage right now. I do meditate twice a day. If anyone asks you, well, how do I strengthen my spiritual connection? This isn't the only way. But meditation is one of the most powerful ways. And it helps disconnect. And I'm actually going to tie this thing with cannabis now. And when I really put a hold on drinking in 2020 and I was fapping into cannabis, I was really into this spiritual practice, this spiritual awakening. And I was using cannabis with intention. So every time I would actually light up, I would set this intention. Like when I go into meditation, show me what I need to see. Bring somebody forward who I need to talk to. Like in the wildest stuff comes up. The wildest things happen. The ideas flow, the creativity flows. People that I had no relationship with in a physical world will come up and talk to me. And it's mind blowing. It's absolutely mind blowing. And cannabis has allowed me to remove my ego. I do when I kind of surrender to the plant, that means I'm surrendering my ego and whatever comes to me and whatever flows, I have to trust that that's what I need to see and hear and feel and sense. And anyone who does enjoy cannabis and you're wanting to kind of expand your consciousness or whatever or thought, I set intentions every time you light up, but you cannot mix alcohol and cannabis. You cannot mix the two. It doesn't work that way. It works just straight cannabis. Fascinating. And actually, I'm really glad that you said that. I, a couple of things there. One of them being the tie-in between cannabis and meditation. It's funny because as we talk about how cannabis needs like a rebrand, like it needs, the stigma needs to be forgotten about. And if we could just move forward without all these negative connotations that kind of linger from the reframadness time, it'd be so much better. I feel the exact same about meditation. Like there's so many people that when they hear the word meditation, they think of like dirty, shoelace hippies out in the desert or something. And they just, unfortunately, they're missing like an activity that's sort of a tool in the tool belt that can really be helpful for a lot of life changes. And I found that cannabis really opened me up more to meditation. I usually try and do it at least once a day for about 12 minutes or so. And I certainly do it a few times a week. And I just, I find that it, there's a lot of benefits to it. But I really am interested in the experiences that you said that you're having where you set an intention ahead of your smoke session. And the what's presented to you, the kind of, I would imagine, the energies, the thought waves, the patterns, the people that come up. It gets to something that, you know, I think anybody with any psychedelic experience, any substances, LSD, MDMA, even mushrooms, the set and setting before you head into one of these sessions really can dictate what kind of session you experience thereafter. It's not that like, I mean, you know, psychedelic experience, there's going to be some, I think it's a journey no matter what. And it doesn't mean to say that you can, you can be great at setting a, you know, setting the, the, the intention and you may still like, I don't know, feel some vibes that you're not the most comfortable with, but you, but you pass through those things. But it's like, it's like 80%. Like you can control, I would say something like 80% of the positivity of your session with the appropriate intention setting. Do you, do you think that's like fair? Oh, yeah, and I'm so glad and I'm glad you finished up that sentence because I, it's important for people to know that every time, and it's, I love that you call going into session because every time I do that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm going into this session with myself and, and I'm learning so much and it's not always this amazing eye opening experience, right? Feeling experience. There are times where I feel really anxious. There are times when my breath is short. There are times where I get paranoid and I get in my head and you know what that's telling me right now, you need to slow down Miranda. You need to separate yourself from this situation and you need to go into the bedroom and you're going to breathe this out. Absolutely. And so when someone comes to me and says that we that we, they'll say we'd marijuana, we'd give me anxiety. My first question would be, will you have anxiety in your life? Right. Oh my God, I'm anxious about everything. Okay, well this, I, you ask, I'm going to tell you this plant is telling you something, telling you to chill the fuck it, it's just, what, sorry, plant telling you to chill out. Yeah, that's fine. Plant is telling you to relax. If your kids are driving you bonkers or your husband, you know, making your skin crawl, just go on a walk and say I'll be right back. Right. And go do it. Step away. Like that, like you have to listen to what the plant is telling you. And don't get in there at times where I had a little too much and I'm like, oh, I feel in control, I'm having a really high moment right now and I need to talk myself off the ledge a little bit like I need to call myself down. Right. So you have to be very mindful of how much you do take and the people you're around. Oh, absolutely. It is, it makes an, it's a huge difference if you're in the safe environment where you need to be. 100%. I think that's crucial. And that goes to the set and setting part of it. The intention that you're talking about Miranda ahead of the session, that's your mind set. Right. Like that's the set of the setting, the intention. It's like that's what are you bringing to this party? Are you anxious about things? Are you with people, you know, or really like what your emotional state is? And then the setting is the other part of it. The, you know, location you're in. Who you're with? Are you with people that you're comfortable and familiar with that you trust as sort of, you know, shepherds or guides on this or at least aren't going to really mess up the vibe in the room or anything? Or are you in a home that you haven't been in before with people you're not that familiar with sort of in a situation where I guess paranoia or discomfort is not that far away. And all that stuff, the set and setting, people don't realize how much that dictates the experience you're going to have. Yep. And it also, you know, you mentioned being mindful as you're consuming and you want to be kind of, ideally, you know, introspective, you know, knowing very comfortably where you are in any of those, what your status is of your mindset and the setting. And I think that gets back to not consuming alcohol while you're doing this stuff. I mean, I know people do like I believe I've done it myself. I had a party. It's like gummies, gummies and alcohol sometime if you're comfortable with both, they can do a nice little dance in your system. And it could be great. But the thing is if you're, if you're not comfortable with both or you're sort of, I don't know, just not in control or in command of your set and setting in relation to these substances, the combination of alcohol and cannabis is really inviting some just potential disaster to the scenario. And I think a lot of people make that mistake. You couldn't have said that better. You really could not. Couldn't have. But you said something about being in control. And it made me think of, I think that's a lot, a lot of people have reservations about cannabis is because they were using it in a wrong environment. They smoked too much. It was the wrong strain. However it was, probably mixing alcohol with it, everything was a perfect storm. But people get really chipped up when they're not in control of themselves. And I think that's a good thing though, because we do. We want to feel in control. We want to know what our next step is, what's coming out of our mouth. And I do so that people with problems with alcohol too, you know, it's this point of losing control over yourself. Right. That's a lot of people. I guess kind of fear because we're just, we're beings, we're human beings. And I think just certain degree, all of us have this sense of wanting to control. And honestly though cannabis is used in the right way with the right intention, it allows you to surrender and allows you to let go and to really go within. And that's why it's so impactful and appealing journey because you get to face it. You get to face all of the emotions that come up and that's the scary part. Like I get that. That's why no one wants to go there because they don't want to feel that. But you have to feel that if you want to move through that. You really do. But you know, and once you do have that emotional release, you feel better the next day. And you know you were doing it the right way as opposed to being inebriated in your closet. So drunk, having these moments of wailing and you're waking up the next day like, I don't feel better. I feel worse. Right, right. But you asked me like if I do any services with cannabis. And I actually have this dream. I have this big dream. Play it on me. Share it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to retreat. I know retreat is a hot topic these days. I want to see a cannabis free free treat where you come for three days and it's all inclusive. And I already have the house. I already got rights that you cannabis on the property is doing it the right way. Beautiful. And I did this. I did this stupid thing and reached out to the state. I didn't say anything. But I just wanted to know legally like what I could do if I could get it. You know, and you can't get it. If you get caught, you do some community service. I'm like, I can keep the whole life. I can go pick up some trash. I'm not worried if you hardly worth it. Right. Right. Exactly. Like I can do that. Sure. Is it worth the, yeah, it's worth the problem. I guess unless you were at this point and I don't, you were, so you contacted a state. I'm imagining like if you were some medical caregiver maybe like if you were for a medical patient, there may be some wiggle room there. But it's like going through all the paperwork and having to like sign up and be a caregiver for anybody who would be taking part in these retreats would be way too much complications. And that would, that's not really feasible. It seems like either. But, um, but we're, you know, this patchwork legalization state by state. This is not as I talk about on the show all the time. This is not going to be what the future of cannabis looks like. It's matter of fact, Washington, I'm not sure if it was DC or the state, but they just put out, um, there's a bill that's moving through their legislature where they're establishing the framework for interstate commerce of cannabis. And when we get to this place where it's more of a under the federal umbrella when the states can talk to each other, when it's not so much like every state is its own individual country right now with cannabis laws, I think that you'll, you'll have a lot more opportunity. You'll have a lot more wiggle room with something like this cannabis grief retreat, which sounds like an awesome idea, by the way. Oh, thank you. It's going to happen. It is definitely going to happen. Um, but that was kind of like my, my little thing to like you're, you're not there yet because I really want to do this the right way. I don't want to get in trouble for it. I want, I don't want to hide anything. Um, and so, but. And that will come down the path. And I'm just, uh, for now you are still doing stuff though, like you're using wisdom and you are, you have your podcast where it sounds like you, you do readings and you offer people, um, support that way. Uh, I'm just, would you let people know, you know, when you're on wisdom and when they can look for your podcast? Oh, I appreciate that. John. Yes. And now as far as reading goes, I only do in person sessions when it comes to green feeling just, I can't do it through screen. For sure. So to come to, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, if you want to read it. Um, but I'm always doing improv to talk on wisdom. So you can find me at Miranda May and Grease medium and then my podcast, my podcast is my baby. It has changed my life. It has called letters to the living. Um, basically I write letters to channeled letters to people who have faith significant loss and who have walked the green feeling past. Um, I am all about death, grief loss in the afterlife and I am here to answer anyone's question. Wow. So that is. So it's letters to the living. That's the podcast, right? Letters to the living. Yep. All right. That's, that's awesome. So listener, you heard it there. You can find Miranda May on wisdom. She does improv to talks there or you can check out her letters to the living podcast. Um, and, uh, and look out, you know, just keep an eye out down the road for some, for some cannabis, screep retreats. If you're, uh, that sounds good to you like it does to me. I think that would be an experience that sounds cathartic and therapeutic, um, for a lot of reasons, a lot of, you know, a helpful, you know, support there that I think again, something that people can definitely make use of and benefit from. So, uh, Miranda, I like to, uh, kind of wrap these things up. I could definitely talk to you. I'll tell you about these things. But I like, uh, I like to wrap these up by doing some quick hits questions about, you know, what are your favorite, you know, things here? Are you, are you game for this? Sure. Okay. Great. All right. Cool. All right. Quick, quick hit number one. It's always the same morning bird or night owl. Which are you? Morning bird. Uh, how, or, is it like sunrise? Is it like 6am? Like where's the? Six, six, six, six, six is it? Yeah. Okay. Six is a good time for me. Uh, for sure. Yeah, that's, uh, that's, I feel that myself. Favorite, uh, movie, let's say, what do you like to, or TV? What do you like to watch? And this is something where it's either a, a classic that you, anytime you see it, come on the TV, you're happy to throw it on or, uh, something if you're looking for a certain mood, you'll, you'll put it on and you're just always happy to watch it. What do you like? Oh, I don't, I, this is the toughest question for me. I don't answer it because I don't watch a lot of TV. And, um, that's all right. There's movies where people will look at me sideways like you haven't seen that movie. Um, I, I, I, I don't, I don't do that. I don't pass judgment on people for whatever content. I don't say, if, if it did me movie, if Moana is ever on, I will always be on a much Moana. Moana. Okay. Okay. That's, that is a classic. I hope you edited it hard out. No, definitely saying. I don't know how to answer these questions. No problem. That's definitely staying there though. I will say, uh, all right, next, next quick, it is, um, substance of choice. And I know we were talking about, you know, we've talked about cannabis and how important is that can be your answer to? And obviously, you know, alcohol with, with the past and stuff, it's, I, I would understand if you're not, um, imbibing in that. But I always ask the guests like, we all lean on substances. Do you like to drink coffee in the morning? Are you a tea drinker? Do you, you know, have, uh, a joint at night? Like what's your, what do you lean on, you know, day to day? I definitely enjoy, um, uh, a nice, intercub bowl at night. Small. And then I love to drink coffee in the morning with hazelnut creamer. Nice. And I love water, lu, sparkling water. Oh, sparkling water. Yeah. I like, uh, like some fizz. I like fizzy water. That's good stuff. Yeah. And listen, I'm not completely alcohol free either. And, you know, what? I do enjoy glass of red wine. Yeah. For sure. And the red is, it's got the flavonoids. It's healthy, hard healthy, and it's, um, and it's tasty. You know, it's, uh, sometimes it's nice to do every now and again. Uh, and then, um, what do I, uh, it's, it's favorite cuisine or restaurant food. Like if you're celebrating something, what do you like to eat? Italian. I, I, I love Italian. I live for Italian food. Yep. Nice. Love it. Pasta's. I love, uh, yeah. Nice. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. That's a classic. And, uh, and I guess just, uh, music. What music do you like to listen to? Either if you're trying to cultivate a vibe or unwind at the end of a long day, you know, what do you like to kind of put on? Um, I have many playlists going on. It all, they all change. I will say that when I'm writing or when I need to open my cell phone, I will listen to, uh, keep for radio. And then there is a food player on insight timer, his name, Kwame and Kwame will get you to another dimension. Wow. I like it. Swammy on insight timer. Little plug there. I love it. I, I like insight timer too. I use that for meditation, by the way. It's, it's just a great little app. It's free listener if you want to check that one out. Highly recommended. Yep. And, and I have a list of amazing meditations that will help in area, any areas of your life. So definitely reach out. I've got some additional questions. There you go. Listener, look for Miranda May on wisdom, look for her on insight timer and check out her podcast letters to the living Miranda. Thanks for everything you're doing. Thanks for stopping by today. He really shared some great info. Yeah, yeah. And I hope we can chat again in the future. Absolutely. Appreciate the opportunity. Thanks, everybody. Have a good day. You too. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. And there you have it, listener, I want to thank again my guest, Miranda May. She is just lovely and I'm really happy that her personal journey has, you know, sort of found cannabis and that it's helping her so much and she was able to kind of get off of alcohol, which is problematic long term for your health. Everybody kind of knows that I think now accepts it to a degree. So I'm really happy for her and it's really cool what she's offering people this knowledge of if you like how to sort of do your own communing with those you've lost in your life. If that sounds like something interesting to you, you can reach out to Miranda on wisdom or on the insight timer app like she mentioned. And I'm really excited to hear more about her plans in the future and those grief retreats involving or utilizing cannabis, I guess. I'm very excited to see where that goes. I also wanted to let you know, listener, Miranda emailed me after the interview and she sort of didn't really give an answer in the quick hits about her favorite thing to watch and she mentioned sort of correct it herself that she really enjoys the show Ted Lasso, which I've got to agree with. There's a new season coming up on Apple TV Plus. Jason Sadekis is wonderful. It's got kind of a shits creek vibe to it. If you're familiar listener, it's sort of a show where the stakes never really get too dire. Things don't really get, you know, there's not hyperviolence. The conflict doesn't have to do with, you know, world peace or somebody trying to take over the universe. It's very sort of small stakes family life and usually the conflicts are resolved with dialogue or a handshake or a hug or something and it's very much a feel good show. And I so I enjoyed, I'm looking forward to that third season and I think that was a pretty good choice by Miranda. I'm glad that she opened up and shared that choice once she thought of it. One more thing of note before I let you go listener, Delaware Senate tells Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition as the state moves to enact legalization. This is from the marijuana moment publication.net. If you're interested listener, I won't read the whole thing. But Delaware lawmakers are moving closer to enacting cannabis legislation this session. The Senate approved resolution last week urging the state's congressional reps to support legislation and to end the federal cannabis prohibition. The measures from Representative Eric Buxen, he's a Republican, had cleared the chamber in near unanimous 15 to 1 vote on the same week that the House passed complimentary legislation and sales regulation bills. That's for cannabis. The whereas section of the resolution starts by describing how cannabis remains a schedule one drug under the Federal Control Substance Act. Despite the scientific consensus that cannabis has established medical benefits for certain conditions like pain and multiple sclerosis, let me add nausea, stomach issues and asleep issues, things like insomnia. I would say that is probably, I would say the jury's no longer out on that, I believe that science is back that up as well. It explains this bill, how prohibition has meant that medical cannabis patients make large out of pocket expenses for their medicine, with access to insurance coverage options. This is something I've been seeing come up more and more as well listener. If you're seeing stuff on social media like I am, people are starting to wonder when medical cannabis is going to be covered by things like Medicare or Medicaid. I mean, these are our medical insurance that we pay for to cover certain treatments and prescription drugs and all of that. If cannabis has been established medically as it has to have these benefits and now it's being prescribed as a legitimate medicine which it should be, people who have medical insurance coverage should absolutely have that cannabis that's been prescribed them covered by their medical insurance benefits. I think that this is no, that's the end of it. There's no debating about this, there's no question of whether or not this should be done, this should be done and it should be done immediately. There are high out of pocket costs for medical patients right now and the fact is that these are all, I mean not all of us, but a lot of people are paying money every quarter, every month sometimes out of their pocket for insurance benefits as well as paying out of pocket for the medicine that they've been prescribed by a doctor by going to dispensaries or whatever. So this is something, this is another one of those sort of contradictions that is still in existence because we're moving to the legal cannabis, you know, world. This contradiction needs to be resolved and it needs to be resolved immediately. This is something that is foolish for medical patients to basically be paying for coverage twice through the insurance and then buying their own medicine. I think anybody would look at that and say that it's foolish. So this is something that Congress needs to get on right now. So that was what I wanted to bring to your attention. I will share the marijuana moment article on the social media pages again at C-Man podcast on Twitter and Instagram. If you're not following the show already, I tend to share articles there. I'm also looking into starting a newsletter. This is something that I've been thinking about for the show, sort of a collection of the topics I talk about, a little breakdown of the interviews with my guests as well as some things to watch going forward in the weeks ahead between my episodes. So if that's something you might be interested in, definitely let me know in the comments section. You can always reach me by clicking in the show description notes, reply or question and that'll take you to Galis FM. You can also do it through Spotify now. Listener, if you're listening to this through Spotify, if you go to the episode show notes, there's a reply section. If you want to leave a reply to any episode, I'm definitely interested in what you thought of this interview, what you think of what Miranda's doing, what you think of possible cannabis delivery, and whether or not you agree that cannabis should be covered for medical patients under programs like Medicare. Let me know what you think in the reply section of Spotify to any of those questions. I also wanted to ask, I'm in the market for a stainless steel grinder. The one that I've had for many, many years is kind of stuck and teeth on it are broken, so plus it doesn't really gather the Keith very well anymore. So I'm looking for a larger one. I've obviously had recommendations from people and I've got a couple in mind, but I wanted to know if you have a grinder that you love or you've got somebody that makes products that you love. Let me know about it. Email the show hostacannabousmanpodcast.com or you can reach out on social media or as I said in the Spotify or Galis FM function links there. Thanks so much for listening to the show. I will be back again with another interview and more information in an episode next week on the cannabis man podcast. Bye bye. Cannabis Man is an original production of myself, Don Clepon, original theme music by Yusu Kim, aka Goodson, other music by Pat Perez and logo designed by Vorbroker Media. If you like the show, please rate, review, subscribe and share whenever you can.