- 2 days ago
Michele Harrington, Dr. Safiya Lyn-Lassiter and Mary Prior discuss the impacts of medical marijuana.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, ladies. Thank you so much for joining us. I have the pleasure to be here this
00:14afternoon to talk about medical marijuana and CBD and its healing properties. My name is Dr.
00:19Safia Lynn Lassiter. I'm the founder of Ask Dr. Lynn, a South Florida-based company that helps
00:25patients acquire their medical marijuana card. I also have a background in emergency medicine,
00:30and I've been practicing down here for the last eight years. It is a pleasure to share this platform
00:35with both of you, and I want to get right into the conversation so we can waste no time at all.
00:40Thank you, Mary. Thank you, Michelle. Mary Pryor, you have the pleasure of joining us today.
00:45Co-founder of CanEclusive. Tell me a little bit about yourself and tell me what brought you to
00:50this space that you're in. Absolutely. Co-founder of CanEclusive, also chief marketing officer at
00:56Tonic, CBD, Chickola Farms. I came into the space in 2017 with CanEclusive with my two additional
01:03co-founders, Tanya and Charlize. We're a team of about 10. Now I'm doing work nationwide and
01:10supporting marketing advocacy and inclusion work across cannabis and hemp. And on this end, I came
01:17into it really for the betterment of my health. I'm a patient first, an advocate second, and a
01:22businesswoman always. So yeah, that's my story. Absolutely. That patient work, how did you fall
01:29into cannabis? Because I'm sure with your history, you've been very public about your Crohn's disease
01:34and your journey in Crohn's disease. How did you fall into using cannabis as your primary method for
01:39treatment? Honestly, it was through just like friends that were informing me of the different studies
01:45coming out of Israel regarding IBS, IBD, UC, Crohn's. As we all know, cannabis isn't really heavily
01:52studied in the U.S. due to the Schedule I item in terms of like what's happened on prohibition.
01:57But through that, in 2015, it kind of gave me a new lease on life in terms of incorporating that
02:03into my regimen. And it's also something that I utilize as a now retired death doula for people
02:09that are looking to transition with pain being less of an item that they have to deal with in terms
02:15of that happening. I love that. I love that. Definitely. 2015 has opened a lot of boundaries
02:20for all of us to be able to use the power of the plant. Michelle, welcome to the conversation.
02:27Michelle Harrington, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Gloria. Tell me a little bit about how you
02:33acquired this role and what helped you to jump into this CBD space. I think with the pandemic,
02:39it allowed me time to kind of, you know, figure out what I wanted to do. We were home a lot and I
02:47started using Gloria products, you know, diving right into it, using the tonic, you know, with the
02:52uncertainty of the pandemic. It allowed my anxiety with my children being all home at the same time.
02:58It allowed me to relax on a deeper level. And it's funny because in the world of Zoom,
03:05I jumped on Zoom with about 20 of my friends and I seeded them product because I felt like
03:12no one knew about Foria. So I seeded them product. Their feedback was unanimous. We jumped on another
03:19call. Everyone was raving about, you know, the benefits of their pain relief, of using the tonic for
03:26their anxiety. And I just, I, I pitched to Foria. I told, I pitched to Foria. Like we aren't, when you're
03:34not leaning into this multicultural market, we don't know about you. Right. And that's pretty much,
03:39I pitched to them and I, they created a space for me and I pretty much pulled up my seat to the table.
03:46I love it. I love that ownership. I love that, that grabbing the bull by the horns attitude. Like
03:53wasted no time. You found something that you believed in, you tested it amongst your peers,
03:57where you knew you were going to get that honest feedback from your girls. Absolutely. The pandemic
04:01has been a struggle on all of us in many different ways. So I'm happy to hear how honest and candid
04:07you're able to be about your anxiety and how it's helped to be able to minimize that and help you be
04:12able to, the best mom possible and the best wife possible and woman possible. So we're so happy to
04:17have you and so happy to learn more about this product because you're right, before your partnership with
04:22them, I hadn't heard of them. And like all of us, we've been in the space for several years.
04:27So we're so happy you're able to bring their brand and leverage them to a greater platform and
04:32spotlight, especially for women of our color. It's nice to see someone like us and reflected in that
04:38space and taking ownership. Let's get right into it, ladies. So I want both of you to describe your
04:46wellness philosophy, if you have one, and how has this wellness philosophy really matured in the
04:53space of activism and advocacy for cannabis? Both of you are in extremely highlighted roles and
05:02extremely popular roles. And you get a lot of like being a black, being a woman, being young,
05:09you know, you're constantly fighting all these social norms. So tell me about your own personal
05:15wellness philosophy and how that has changed as it became more of an advocate.
05:21I think, go first. I mean, go first. I think I grew up in a time and I say this a lot. I grew up in a time
05:30where a lot of stuff that I ate as a kid growing up in the projects was out of a box or process or just
05:37plain old convenient. You know, my mother works seven days a week, sometimes overnight shifts just to make
05:43sure that me and my sisters had what we needed to survive. She didn't really teach us much about
05:49wellness. So I think it's important for me to teach my children the importance of eating whole
05:56and organic foods, teach them the importance of wellness early on in life so that they don't
06:04have to struggle and go through what I did. Preparing them with healthy habits. It took years for me to find
06:11my wellness routine. And I don't want my girls to have to go through that. I think when my girls are
06:17of age, I'm going to introduce them to wellness products and they're going to use for menstrual
06:23cramps, relief, you know, things for like anxiety about tests, just so that they know they have other
06:32options. Absolutely. Bring it down to their level. All of our daughters are dealing with
06:37the struggles of returning to school after having been homeschooled for the last year and a half.
06:42The anxiety of, am I going to get my menstrual period? Am I going to go on that school? Do I have
06:46to miss our physical activities because of this cramping? You know, all of those things, especially
06:52for our young African-American girls, it's important to show them options because traditionally it's been
06:57get on birth control, get on hormone therapy, use Tylenol or Midol for your symptoms. So it's nice to show
07:03that there's other platforms and opportunities that you don't have to do what has traditionally
07:09been done. You can create your own pathway. So I love that. Mary, talk to me, talk to me about your
07:15wellness philosophy. Talk to me about your advocacy and how that has shaped your wellness philosophy in
07:202021. I think that we have now seen that health inequality is real, right? For those who weren't
07:27aware of before, who wasn't aware of like how health inequality and health equity is an issue.
07:33We now with the pandemic seeing like a lot of the fluctuations of things that have not really hit
07:38our communities or haven't been supported with our needs in mind have exploded as a thing that is
07:44clearly an issue. And so I think that with someone who thinks about this as being a caregiver,
07:50someone who might be handicapped, someone who might be differently abled, someone who might have a
07:55chronic illness, someone who might have grown up with the drug war being very evident or being a
08:00survivor of such, we have to think about when we talk about these issues in wellness, we now are very
08:06aware through being in isolation to some degree that we have to take care of ourselves. And whether
08:12it's been through the idea of using work to like speed away or just like push that aside, it's more
08:18evident now that like if you don't have those issues there, when those things are not available for you
08:24to be able to have within reach, what are you going to do? If you have no way to get to a doctor, if you
08:29have no way to really get access to fresh food and vegetables, if you don't really have a way to
08:34understanding holistic medicine as a way of like adding to your current wellness or regimen, right? So I think
08:40that we are now aware that this is a plant that has holistic properties. This was able to operate as an
08:47essential business in several states. It kind of saved certain people's budgets. Yes. Everyone
08:53was finding a way to consume in certain ways through different form factors for their needs. So this is a
08:59medicine. And I think that we have to speak to that more. We have to be more honest about how health
09:03inequality affects us across the board, especially as black women, and what education around this plant
09:09can really do. Getting your girlfriends together on a Zoom, that's the first step. But helping them
09:15understand their biggest journey, their biggest ability to be in this industry or to even like
09:22use the plant effectively for themselves. There's so many things that are changing every day with how
09:27the science works. We have to try to like educate each other on a regular basis and not be afraid
09:31anymore. So now I think people become active. Definitely. I want to lean into that. So the cannabis
09:37inclusion, that's really equity, entrepreneurship, education, wellness. That has been your platform for
09:43many, many years. What motivates you to stay authentic and not sway with the distraction of a big farm and
09:52big corp? What motivates you to stay authentic in the space of cannabis inclusion? Honestly, the state of us, right? We've been
09:59through a lot as a melanated people. When you go through like a whole entire summer of being active
10:07about our rights, telling people to stop shooting us. When we talk about what's even happening with
10:11Sha'Carri. There's a lot of like stereotypes and things that were told to us about our use with this
10:18plant that simply isn't true. And it's been kind of like used against us in terms of criminalization
10:24and not giving us a chance to actually have operational businesses or be included in this
10:29industry. But when you think about who's in jail and who's seen as the bad guy, it's mostly black and
10:34brown people. So I think that when we talk about inclusion, there needs to be a bigger idea going
10:40on than just we need more jobs. We need more opportunities. What are we doing from the holistic
10:45level of making sure that there's access? There's inclusion across all frame of minds of what touches
10:51this plant and how we operate as a people. So I think that right now, my biggest concern and my biggest
10:58worry is that we haven't been able to be consistent to see change ever. And now we have to really
11:05utilize the time that we have because things were still slower than they used to be to like make sure
11:10this message is heard consistently and across the board over and over and over again. Thank you for
11:15allowing me to segue into this perfect question to tie this all up. So essence, the essence of all of
11:22this ladies, tell me and finish the statement. My wellness hope for black women is Michelle, start for
11:30me. My wellness hope and journey for black women is my wellness hope for black women and journey is for
11:37us to be intentional with our time, making it a routine to have some sort of me time if we're not
11:42taking time for ourselves and being available and present. It's not going to allow us to be available
11:47for anyone else. And also like Mary said, spreading the word, continuing to touch other people so that
11:53we're continuously spreading the message and changing the narrative. I love that. Give me a quick answer,
11:59Mary. My wellness hope for black women is conversation and intergenerational sharing and downloading of what we
12:08need to live better, be better and want better. There are many things like Michelle said that may not have
12:14been taught to us given how we've grown up, right? We have a lot of catch up to do on a regular basis
12:20and that's okay. We don't need to be afraid of that. Willingness and the intent is what matters.
12:25I love this. I love this journey. We all share the same mind frame and hope for our community and
12:33hopefully this segment will be able to touch everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for
12:38discussing the healing properties of this plant because we all know of its benefits and we need to get that
12:44word out there. I'm Dr. Safia Lynn Lassiter, Michelle Harrington, Mary Pryor. Thank you both Essence. This has been amazing.
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