In less than 24 hours, Maryland’s adult-use industry will launch. I will make my first adult-use cannabis purchase tomorrow morning at Trulieve in Rockville, Maryland. I will not be surprised if I cry when that bag is handed to me. That moment has been decades in the making. It’s deeply personal from my first experiences with cannabis as a 13-year-old.
Yes, 13 years old. My exposure to the plant continued in high school, with a couple of nickel bags and Thai sticks here and there, and on to college, where I met friends with greater access and more money to spend on “weed.” While raising my three beautiful, highly productive human beings who each impact the world personally and positively, I kept “Mommy Spices” in the freezer. While that big stupid giant DARE dog (the to-date most expensive and failed U.S. education program) walked the halls of their elementary school, I was at home teaching them about substance abuse, including an example of their alcoholic great-grandmother and mental health disease that was present on both sides of their family tree. I didn’t know enough of the science on how or why cannabis can or cannot impact mental health. Still, I did know enough through my “Mommy Spices” that it managed the trauma I first experienced at age 13, both at home and at school, and more traumatic occurrences than I consider any human should until my early 50s. My 50s included a divorce, launching two startups, being hit by an SUV as a cyclist, significant multiple personal losses, and closing an award-winning conventional healthcare startup.
I didn’t know enough of the science on how or why cannabis can or cannot impact mental health, but I did know enough through my “Mommy Spices” that it managed the trauma I first experienced at age 13 …
I was the parent who shouldered most of the parenting and household maintenance while caring for neighbors’ kids, studying architecture for some time, and always working, including launching my first entrepreneurial projects, including the legacy cannabis industry. It was cannabis that calmed me and treated what I now understand to be layers of trauma and PTSD, and ADHD. It was cannabis, and it still is, which works far better for my brain and body than any pharmaceutical or alcohol.
I’m an award-winning conventional healthcare entrepreneur, now an award-winning cannabis industry entrepreneur with distinction. I have a Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics and am an adjunct professor in that same program at The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
The photo shared is one of me, full of joy while climbing a tree with my perpetually untied shoes because of my dyslexia. That dyslexia gave me the gift of many things, including finding a way to tie my shoes like no one else. That’s pretty much the way I am today, utilizing the power of the plant to support my brain while I figure things out my way. The plant has introduced me to many of the smartest and kindest humans I know. Cannabis has helped me to found a for profit social enterprise and a nonprofit organization that I know is changing the world for the better. That’s my tikkun olam – repair of the world. And, me. With the power of the plant, I’ve healed decades of trauma and have found my way back to my joie de vivre.
Jacquie Cohen Roth, MS, is the Founder/CEO of the social enterprise CannabizMD and nonprofit The Tea Pad Foundation LTD.
Dr. Rasean Hodge is a trailblazing physician in the field of medical cannabis. He’s a Morehouse School of Medicine graduate with a medical practice focused on treating chronic pain with both conventional healthcare and medical cannabis.
During this thought-provoking discussion with CannabizMD Founder/CEO Jacquie Cohen Roth, MS, Dr. Hodge shares his remarkable journey from traditional medicine to becoming a passionate advocate for medical cannabis. Discover how a personal health challenge led him to explore and champion the therapeutic benefits of cannabis and a transition from skepticism of the efficacy of medical cannabis to advocacy for medical cannabis as a viable treatment option.
“We caught a raw deal with prohibition with community destruction. We have to maximize our returns on the opportunities, not just medicinal but generational too.”
Rasean Hodge, M.D.
Dr. Hodge shares his insights into Georgia’s evolving medical cannabis landscape and candidly discusses social equity in the cannabis industry. Jacquie and Dr. Hodge end their conversation with their respective visions for the future of cannabis in healthcare.
Don’t miss Dr. Hodge live at Tea Pad Atlanta on September 12, 2024, at One Flew South BeltLine, 6:00-9:00 PM. Nonprofit Tea Pad empowers equitable participation in the cannabis industry through education and professional development. Join the conversation at Tea Pad in Atlanta and be part of the movement advancing women and people of color in cannabis STEM fields! Additional information and tickets to Tea Pad ATL can be found here.
Fifteen years ago, Dr. Jordan Tishler was working in the emergency room at the Veterans Administration in Massachusetts. As he recounts in a CannabizMD Profile, his stories of what he saw and treated are mind-blowing including a lot of complications from substance abuse-related issues. At that time, conversations about the legalization of medical cannabis in Massachusetts had begun. He’d been trained that cannabis was a harmful drug. If it’s so harmful, he considered, why wasn’t he seeing disastrous patient outcomes related to cannabis in his emergency room?
Forward to 2022 when Dr. TIshler is now a Cannabinoid Specialist with a private practice where he treats patients with cannabinoid therapies. He’s also founded the Association of Cannabinoid Specialists and has put together a rotation for later medical students at Harvard Medical School where he’s an adjunct professor.
“Cannabinoid medicines are a game changer for most of my patients, shifting them from ‘end of their rope’ back to a meaningful quality of life. When carefully prescribed and monitored, cannabinoids are safe and effective for a wide range of illnesses not well addressed by conventional medications.”
Jordan Tishler, M.D.
Dr. Tishler is the keynote speaker at the 3rd Annual CannabizMD Cannabis Science + Policy Forum on September 24th, 2022. The Forum is a hybrid event hosted in-person at the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore, Maryland, and virtually on Zoom.
Dr. Peter Grinspoon has a decades-long relationship and understanding of cannabis very few physicians can match. His father was a legendary cannabis Harvard scholar and as a child, he witnessed his older brother being treated with cannabis to alleviate the impact of cancer and the treatments – both were transformative for his views on cannabis. Dr. Grinspoon has been treating patients with medical cannabis in his practice since it was legalized in Massachusetts in 2015.
During his interview with CannabizMD Founder/CEO Jacquie Cohen Roth, MS, Dr. Grinspoon is refreshingly open and with great humility, shares his first-person experience with cannabis as a medicine and recreationally. In his most recent book, Seeing Through the Smoke, he untangles the complex history and truth physicians have had with viewing cannabis as a viable treatment option for their patients.
“You can’t make an informed decision about any drug, including and particularly something as complex as cannabis unless you truly have a balanced, neutral, and reasoned discussion about both the harms and the benefits. So, I’ve said things in the book that get people on both sides a little bit upset. But I figure if you’re getting sort of shot at equally by both sides, you’re doing a pretty good job.”
The interview includes discussions on the validity of cannabis causing schizophrenia, cannabis use disorder (CUD), protections for medical cannabis patients in an adult-use market, and the critical need for cannabis education for both cannabis consumers and patients.
Dr. Grinspoon joins the Boston CannabizMD Cannabis Science + Policy Forum on June 16, 2023, as both a panel member for “Clinical + Research Applications of Medical Cannabis” and as moderator of “Innovation + Emerging Trends”. The Forum is a hybrid event hosted in-person and virtually on Zoom. Additional information and registration can be found here.
