Cannacurious? Here’s What You Need to Know…
Can Smoking Be Spiritual? How CBD May Interact with Prescriptions, Why I Never Cross-Fade & More
We’re bringing cannabis education to the Marriage & Martinis Podcast!
Check out the highlights of our discussion below, or CLICK PLAY listen to the full interview right here.👇
Danielle: Hi and welcome to Marriage and Martinis, we’re so happy to have you, Tammy!
We're both very interested in cannabis, especially for me as a sufferer of anxiety.
We don’t know much about it, though. We're just not that attuned to it.
Do you find that there are a lot of people who are like that? People who are at the point now where they want to learn?
Tammy: Absolutely. I like to refer to these people as the cannacurious. Twenty-five years ago, cannabis was probably one of the most demonized things on the planet.
And now, medical ethics and efficacy have proven it’s great. So people who really don’t know and really believed what the government told them about this plant are just now understanding its benefits. So they're yearning for the proper information.
Danielle: So when you got into cannabis, what were the things that surprised you about it as opposed to what we all grew up hearing?
Tammy: The biggest surprise was finding out that we have a set of locks in our body. These are metaphorical locks, and there's only a certain key that's going to be able to fit them.
And these locks are actually receptors. And the key would be a cannabinoid. Once this key goes into a lock, it relieves you of whatever it is that you could be dealing with, whether it's insomnia, appetite issues, irritability, mood, anxiety, depression.
Knowing that we were biologically engineered to receive this plant was the biggest mind blowing fact.
Danielle: So when you started using it, was it the type of thing where you just started researching it?
Tammy: No, it was kind of an intuitive thing.
I came from an area where nothing good really happened. So I had a negative view of the world.
But then I found this plant, and it helped me with my anxiety and depression.
I was able to open my mind creatively, lovingly, and see the world more positively, versus my first 18 years which was just pain and depression.
That's what I came to understand—there's a spiritual component to cannabis.
Adam: Everything about it sounds so amazing.
I want you to clarify this, if you can. It was a few years ago, and I had already been drinking, and then I smoked.
Three minutes later, I am sweating. I couldn't stand up. I had to go to bed.
Is there a smoke first and then drink rule?
Tammy: The term for that is cross-fading.
I am not a fan of cross-fading because it puts me on a merry-go-round and everything spins.
You're talking about alcohol. That's a drug, and it's damaging to the liver, to the brain, to the body, and to your mental health. It's dehydrating and terrible.
And then you're talking about an anti-inflammatory plant that's here to put your body back into balance. Homeostasis is what cannabis promotes.
So I just don't think they're intended to be consumed at the same time.
And I absolutely believe that plants have a spirit just like animals and humans. And I believe that the essence and the spirit of cannabis does not want anything to do with alcohol.
Adam: So what's the right way to smoke weed? How do you get started?
Tammy: You always want to set your intention. If you are going to consume cannabis, you need to respect the entity or the spirit that is cannabis.
You need to take the minimum amount you need. As soon as you are high, you are good to stop. You don't want to overdose yourself.
Now an overdose with weed is not going to be like alcohol. An alcohol overdose could kill you.
A weed overdose is going to put you to sleep or make you feel lethargic. And if that's not the goal, you don't want to do that to yourself.
So, again, you have to set an intention.
For example, I'm going to use this cannabis because I'm in a social setting, and I just want my spirit to be lifted. Cannabis is going to magnify that intention.
Danielle: I've been on SSRIs for so long because I suffer from anxiety and OCD. And there was one night when I tried pot again.
My paranoia just took over. I actually wound up calling my dad and being like, “Dad, I'm really high, am I ok?” That turned me off to doing it again.
So, question one, if you're on SSRIs, is there any correlation or anything? And number two, for people who have had a bad experience before and are afraid to try it again, what do you say?
Tammy: Okay, yeah, so first I’d like to address the medication thing, and this is my understanding. CBD is going to interact with an enzyme that is responsible for breaking down a lot of pharmaceutical drugs.
So when it comes to CBD, if you have any medications that say do not consume this medication with grape juice, you also need to apply that same logic to your CBD. It’s the same enzyme.
But I think the beauty about CBD is that it's going to act on those same chemicals. But because it's a plant, it knows how to regulate itself.
If it sees that there's too much stuff going on, it's going to start to shut stuff down. If it sees that there's not enough happening, it's going to start making stuff happen.
My next advice is that when you go back into smoking, make sure you get as much information as possible beforehand.
Smell the weed you have. If you do not like the smell, there's a good chance you may not like it in your body.
For me, I hate cannabis that smells like oranges because they make me feel really weird. It's just not compatible with my body.
You have to think of it as nature. Some of us are allergic to nuts, some of us aren’t. Same thing with cannabis.
And if you overdose, know that you're okay. You're going to feel like you're gonna die, but I promise you that you won’t.
Danielle: Right, I don’t think anybody overdoses from marijuana.
Tammy: Yeah, I’m not aware of any evidence saying someone ODs on weed, just like there's no overdoses from kale, tomatoes, or grapes.
Danielle: And just to clarify, when you say CBD, you're not talking about the CBD that’s in oils and stuff? You’re talking about the plant?
Tammy: So, CBD is CBD. It’s a molecule. That's it.
So for whatever reason, the hemp and cannabis plants have been explained as two different things, hemp and cannabis. But they are one thing.
It is a plant that makes certain molecules. The only difference is that a hemp plant is not allowed to produce THC.
It's just a legal term and the legal parameters are that hemp is 0.3% THC or less.
Adam: There’s sativa and indica. Can you explain the difference between those two?
Tammy: Sativa is a plant that grows really tall, and it's typically used for its fibers. So ropes, clothing, and stuff.
And then you have indica, which is the medicine variety. That's a plant that's going to be producing higher amounts of psychoactivity, or more THC. The difference is how they grow and what they look like.
Sativa means cultivate in Latin. Indica means India in Latin.
For some reason people believe sativa gives you energy and indica puts you to sleep. That is not true at all. Whenever we classify plants, it's based on their physical characteristics.
Danielle: I know that a lot of moms feel ashamed of using. Can you talk to the moms who are feeling that?
Tammy: Yeah, I used to feel ashamed whenever my kids would see me drinking a glass of wine or anything, which is why I quit.
Alcohol is a drug that is 100% a drug. We have classified a hangover as this cute little package version of drug withdrawal, but it's still drug withdrawal.
Danielle: So instead of parents just saying to their kids that pot is bad, what's the right approach?
Tammy: I would say educate yourself. You know, at one point, kale was a garnish until we learned it was a superfood.
Tomatoes were once considered to be deadly. If somebody threw tomatoes at you, it was a death wish until somebody finally said, “Hey, not all tomatoes are like nightshades, some are actually really beneficial.”
So that's just what it comes down to as mothers. We have to be discerning on what it is that we put in front of our children.
Adam: Well, Danielle, you slipped up and said marijuana earlier. You're not supposed to use that term, right?
Tammy: Yeah, I don’t like the M word. So, whenever the powers that be needed cannabis illegal, they started demonizing it.
They wanted to keep it from competing against paper, or nylon, which was new at the time.
They used xenophobia. Mexicans from South of the border, when they were running from the Mexican Revolution, were coming in as refugees. And they were smoking cannabis.
People started calling it marijuana and saying that Mexicans who got high would become violent and kill people.
The scientific word is cannabis. The Marijuana word, again, is to instill fear into Americans.
Danielle: Wow, this has so much history that we know nothing about.
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