In this episode, you will meet Christine, a dental hygienist whose life changed after discovering the benefits of cannabis. She shares her experiences of being prescribed pain medications, weaning herself off, and finding immediate relief through natural remedies. Despite living in a conservative town, she now educates others on the benefits of cannabis and how it can improve your quality of life.

A picture of Christine Claypoole, a guest on the Well With Cannabis Podcast.

Features

  • Release Date: Monday, May 29th, 2023
  • Episode Number: Season 1, Episode 18
  • Special Guest: Christine Claypoole

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Why You Will Love This Episode

In this episode, you will meet Christine, an incredible 51-year-old woman who isn’t afraid to admit that she grew up thinking of cannabis as a “drug” with no real value.

Due to the physical demand of working as a dental hygienist for over a decade, she ultimately developed chronic pain, leading her to turn to her doctor, who prescribed pain medication to alleviate it.

After taking the prescribed medication daily for years with little relief, she decided to wean herself off the medication and opt for natural remedies.

It wasn’t until one magical day, when Christine tried a vape pen from a friend, that she found immediate relief from her pain. She started researching cannabis and soon after obtained her medical marijuana card.

Cannabis has not only helped her chronic pain but also her anxiety, which she didn’t even know she had. Ultimately, cannabis has helped her feel better, improve her quality of life, and develop an improved relationship with her family.

While Christine is still new to discussing her cannabis use, she believes it’s important to share her story and help educate others who could also benefit from this plant.

Tune in to listen in and discover how cannabis can be an effective alternative to prescription medications for chronic pain and can improve your quality of life, just like it did for Christine.

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Full Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to the Well With Cannabis Podcast, a show dedicated to telling the life-changing stories of those who live well with cannabis all while teaching you how to do the same. Meet your host, Emily Kyle, a registered dietitian nutritionist turned certified holistic cannabis practitioner. Emily changed her life for the better with the help of the cannabis plant, and now she’s committed to helping others do the same.

Tune in each week to hear heartwarming stories and gain the knowledge you need to feel connected, inspired, and supported on your own cannabis journey. Whether you’re a new cannabis consumer or a lifetime lover, you’ll benefit from these uplifting tales of real-life journeys that will show you how you, too, can live your best life well with cannabis.

Disclaimer: Hi there. Before we jump into today’s episode, I wanted to share a note on potentially sensitive content. The episodes on the Well With Cannabis Podcast are created for adult audiences only. We will, at times, cover sensitive topics, including but not limited to suicide, abuse, mental illness, sex, drugs, alcohol, psychedelics, and the obvious use of plant medicine. Explicit language may be used occasionally. Please refrain from watching or listening to the show if you’re likely to be offended or adversely impacted by any of these topics.

The information on this show is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice. If any of the content on this podcast has brought up anything for you, please reach out or speak to a professional or someone you trust.

Emily: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Well With Cannabis Podcast. I am so excited to be here with our friend, Christine Claypool; she grew up not liking cannabis at all but has a magical story about how her mind has changed. She’s here to share that with you today, and I’m super excited. Christine, thank you so much for coming on today.

Christine: Thanks for having me. That’s exciting.

Emily: You have a really interesting story because you said that you were very anti-cannabis, and so I’d love to explore that a little bit with you if you feel comfortable and how you made that transition to where you are today.

Christine: I’ve thought a lot of recently; why was I so against it? Growing up, I just wasn’t ever around it, for starters. I don’t remember my family saying it was horrible, but there wasn’t alcohol in the house; there wasn’t marijuana anywhere. I assumed we were not supposed to do that. Then the “War on Drugs” started the month before I was born. Then going through school, they’re just telling us how, you know, it’s a drug, and it’s going to ruin your brain.

I just thought it was horrible. The friends I hung out with, my girlfriends, they weren’t doing it a lot. I just never thought I would do it. Honestly, I judged… Looking back, I just said to my husband, “I feel so bad for like the people I judged because I thought, ‘Oh, they’re a pothead.’ because I didn’t know about it.” I was okay with alcohol because it was socially acceptable.

Moving forward, when I met my husband, he told me right off the bat that he sometimes smoked weed. After our first day, I went back home to my mom, and she was like, “Well, how’d it go?” And I said, “Oh, it was really good, he was really nice, but I’m not going to go out with him again.”

Emily: Wow.

Christine: I know, and she’s like, “What do you mean? Why, if he’s nice?” I said, “Well, I just don’t think it’s the kind of person I… He told me that he smoked weed.” She said… And my mom never drank, smoked, or anything. She was just the kindest person, and she says, “Well, that doesn’t make him a bad person. Why wouldn’t you go on another date with him? You can’t just judge him for that.”

I was just like, “Oh.” I thought she would say, “Oh yeah, you shouldn’t go out with him again.” But not at all. She just said, “Well, that doesn’t mean he’s bad. I don’t think that should end it.” Anyway, for years after that, I didn’t want to know.

Emily: Don’t ask, don’t tell.

Christine: Right. We have a small camp in the mountains over in Pennsylvania, and he and his buddies, we would all go up there, and they would literally have to walk away from the campfire so that I didn’t see. I didn’t harp on him about it; I just…

Emily: Right. He was respectful.

Christine: Right, that’s how it went for a lot of years. I’m a dental hygienist, and I worked, I did dental hygiene for over 25 years. I did 10 years full-time. By the end of that 10 years, I was just in tons of pain and ended up on pain meds. I didn’t ever take more pain meds than were prescribed, but I was taking them at 10:00 and at 2:00. I knew when I could take another one.

That started to really scare me when I realized that clearly, I was dependent on them, even though I wasn’t taking more than prescribed. And so I weaned myself eventually after years, honestly, of those… I weaned myself off of those just because I felt like I was doing so much damage to my body, and it wasn’t really even helping my pain.

After four hours, actually, probably after two hours, I was in pain again, and then I was counting down the next two hours until I could take something. I just hated that. And so I decided, I was going to take myself off of ’em. And I did that, and then I was just in pain for several years.

Emily: Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.

Christine: I survived, but I took a lot of Alieve and other stuff that was probably damaging. I lived with it, but in the meantime, I take a lot of supplements and try to do anything natural that I can. They tease me because we all have our own vitamins and things. We all have different stuff, depending on the time of the year, so they think I go a little overboard anyway, and I might.

During all this research, more and more stuff about cannabis was popping up. And I’m thinking, ‘Well, no, it is natural.”, I was okay taking, I was all right with Vicodin? I kept thinking about it, but I still felt bad; I have kids and shouldn’t do that; I’m a mom. My mom wouldn’t have done that.

So then finally, one of my cousins, who I really respect, and she’s a successful business person, and we were all at a Steelers game, and she says, “You want to try my vape pen?” I had pain; my neck was hurting because we’d been walking all over and doing stuff, and I took like one hit off of that vape pen.

I remember looking at all of them, like, what’s happening? It wasn’t the high feeling so much as I felt like the pain melt away, literally. I felt like I was going to cry because when you spend that many years in pain. I was just in shock because it wasn’t at all what I expected. You know what I mean?

I had tried, and when I say I was totally against weed, I should back up because I did a couple of times get talked into it. I think I tried it like once in high school and once in college, and that’s when I decided it was not for me. But from those two experiences, all I remember was feeling tired. It was probably not really great marijuana. But I didn’t have pain at that time, so that wasn’t something that jumped out at me. So after I tried that pen, I was like, “Okay, I need to do more of this because this is the best I’ve felt in years.

Emily: I bet like the game was enjoyable after that. You probably had the greatest time.

Christine: I did. We had a lot of fun. I just remember thinking, “Why have I not looked into this?” So I went and got my card then because I felt so much better.

Emily: It is such a great safety net. Yes. It makes it feel so much more safe and legitimate, and justified.

Christine: That’s how I got to where I’m at.

Emily: What did your husband say? Was he surprised? Was he excited for you?

Christine: His buddies were really shocked. Like right away, the one guy was like, “If you had said she’d be the first… I was the first person that they knew that got their medical card.” He says, “She’s the last person that ever; I would’ve bet a million dollars that she would never do this.” So it was funny, they were all shocked. At first, I don’t even think they believed him; they teased me.

Emily: That is great. Oh my gosh. Why?

Christine: They had to hide from me for so long, like when we would all be somewhere.

Emily: It’s nice. You can all enjoy it together now. It’s a pain relief and a social thing when you’re out about doing things. I’m sure it just makes it easier for everybody in general.

Christine: Oh yeah, my husband’s; he’s not a big drinker, and it makes it a lot more fun. I’m not a big drinker either, but I mean, he could have none. It does make a lot more fun to go out somewhere. And obviously, the hangover aspect is, you know. That’s why I try to tell people who’ve never done it or have not really tried it lately, like you could go out and feel totally fine the next day. I don’t think they get it. I’m like, “Why wouldn’t you want to do that?”

Emily: Now, are you sharing your cannabis journey with others and telling people how much better you’re feeling? How is that going?

Christine: No, this is…this is definitely the first time I’ve ever talked to anybody ever like this.

Emily: I’m so proud of you. That’s amazing. It takes a lot of bravery. Let me just give you that because when you grow up thinking that it’s bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, it’s so hard just to come out and say, “Well, I’m doing it anyway.” I give you so much credit; thank you for doing this with me.

Christine: It was a little bit of a debate. When you said, will you be on video or use your real name? We talked about it, and I said, “Well, why would I do it if I’m not going to?” I just felt like I shouldn’t be doing the podcast if I couldn’t tell my story and say who I was. We live in a very small town; I think the village has 1500 people at most, and then scattered around is the township. It’s very small. Everyone knows each other. I have literally hundreds of relatives in Andover, where I live. That was the only reason I’m comfortable with it now because I found out my kids knew. I didn’t think they knew. They’ve known.

Emily: Oh, can we talk about that a little bit?

Christine: Yeah, we will. I thought it was really slick too, but I’m not. I just know so many people; I help at the school a lot, and I’m up there whenever they need something. We have a small business locally; we’re a custom cabinet shop, so we have clients. There was a lot for me to think about, you know? Is that something that I want to put out there? But again, I got my card, I am legal, and I haven’t felt physically as good since I started. I mean, in probably 15 or 20 years.

Emily: I mean, that is incredible.

Christine: I feel like, why wouldn’t I tell people?

Emily: I’m so glad you’re doing it because my whole goal is that someone will listen to this on the other end and say, “I see myself in Christine, and if she can find cannabis and find such relief, I can.” Nobody wants to live in pain. If someone can hear your wise words, say, “Wow, if Christine can do it, I can do it too.” That makes it all worth it, so thank you so much for sharing with us.

Christine: Yeah. Well, I hope. I feel like there are a lot of people that still let the stigma…

Emily: I mean, rightfully so. If you spend your whole life being told something, you’re going to believe it. I don’t ever want anyone to feel bad that they were ever not pro-cannabis because it’s just like being told that so does bad for us.

Christine: They just aren’t educated.

Emily: Right. Yes. All you need is just a little piece of an open mind and just take your time. You know, you don’t have to jump in head first if you don’t want to. I mean, even just listening to this and listening to your story, at the end of the day, it’s about feeling better. That’s really, that’s all it’s about, is improved quality of life.

Christine: My husband and I were just talking about that. And I said, “Even if someone only used it at night because my sleep is so much better than it was.

Emily: See? That’s huge.

Christine: I didn’t ever have a terrible time sleeping, but I feel like I get more quality sleep. Even if it is not as long as I might like, it’s good quality. I think that’s a lot of why I feel better; whether I use cannabis the next day or not, I still feel better from using it at night. I don’t know if it’s because it’s still in your system or more likely just that I slept so well, I’m rested, so it does affect the next day for me a lot. Even if I only use it at bedtime.

Emily: I feel like it really can affect your whole wellness in the sense that you sleep better. And then, when you sleep better, and you’re not in pain, you are more active and more energetic. You’re more likely to eat better; you have the energy and the fortitude to be able to go out and go to the farmer’s market or make yourself a meal. I feel it all just snowballs into this really, ultimately like, healthy lifestyle for a lot of people. People misjudge, but it’s happening everywhere to everyone. Do you agree?

Christine: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I think that it’s just people are being educated. Thankfully, that’s what happened to me; I just wasn’t educated. I go down a rabbit hole once I start on something. So as soon as I tried her vape pen, I’m like diving, like, what are the dangers?

I have to go to a doctor because I’m scared to get it anywhere else because just that’s how… I think that was from being raised that way. I felt like if a doctor told me it was okay, I felt better. But I also, I didn’t add, I used to smoke. This is something I want to throw out there because I keep hearing people still that aren’t quite educated enough talking about how addictive marijuana is. But I was apparently; I was addicted to the pain meds. I’m convinced; I mean… I was at least dependent physically on them in some way. But the cigarettes I was definitely addicted to. I mean, quitting smoking was the hardest thing I ever did, I think.

Emily: I smoked for five years in my twenties, and thank God I got pregnant, and it made it easier to quit because I don’t know if I ever would’ve been able to do it by myself. It’s very hard.

Christine: Yeah. I quit when I got pregnant the first time and then didn’t start again until my second son was two. Why, you know? Then it was full bore again, just smoking quite a bit. I know what it’s like to have to go without something that you’re truly addicted to. Both the pain meds and the cigarettes. When people say that to me, I say, “I now know.” Because if you told me I couldn’t have any weed for this week, I’d say, “Well, that stinks.”

Emily: Right. You’d be sad, of course, because you don’t want to be in pain.

Christine: I’d say, “Okay, I’d survive.” I wouldn’t be… And honestly, I don’t even think I would be tense. I would just wish I could have it, but okay. If you had told me that I couldn’t have a cigarette for a day, or even probably a few hours, I was a mess. You know what I mean?

Emily: I’m so glad you said that. It’s a perfect way because people really are afraid that it is addicting. I find that your experience is so much like my experience, where I’ll be sad without it, but like I’m not going to go crazy. And that’s we choose not to go without it because we’d prefer to feel better, but for anyone who’s listening and who is afraid of it being addicted, I have never met anybody who displayed any type of behavior like being addicted to alcohol or cigarettes at all.

Christine: Well, the evidence is there. I mean, it’s there.

Emily: You know? And I mean, you could become dependent, I guess, on anything.

Christine: Anything. Food, drinks, I mean, yeah.

Emily: You know? I feel like more people need to know.

Christine: I also recently said that if your doctor gave you a supplement or, you know, and they said, “This is all-natural, it’s going to help you,” and they listed the things that marijuana could do for you, you know, which is this long, you know? Your pain, your anxiety, all of them. There are a couple of side effects because, with every medicine, there’s a side effect. But if the side effect is you might have euphoria, going to feel good, you know? Music is going to sound better. You’re going to enjoy music more, you’re going to enjoy shows more, but those are the side effects. Why wouldn’t you take it?

Emily: Absolutely. Especially with your experience with pain pills. I mean, having no side effects or minimal. There can be some side effects with cannabis, I guess, for anyone listening. I mean, dry mouth, heart racing, too much THC, panic attack, anxiety, I’ll just throw that out as a disclaimer. But if you educate yourself and you know what you’re doing, you actually won’t even get yourself into that situation in the first place, which is perfect.

Christine: I’ve made some mistakes with dosing.

Emily: We all have. It is a natural part of the learning process.

Christine: I experiment with that when I know I don’t have to go anywhere at all that day. The other thing I try to tell people is, once you learn what you’re doing, I have to go… We’re at a lot of sports events and stuff for kids, or both my sons play sports, and I time it. You’ll learn what you can or can’t do. If I wake up and I am having pain… I mean, I still have pain, you know what I mean?

But it’s 100% better than it was. I have arthritis from here to here in my back and bad days. If I know I don’t have to go anywhere, then I get up, and I’ll eat a cookie or, you know.

Emily: Yeah, absolutely.

Christine: Make some weed tea or something. If I know I have to go somewhere later, I just time it, and I’ll know if I do it now by then. I don’t see why someone wouldn’t use something like that, or at least… I’ve told people to balance out with some CBD, and then you won’t feel really high.

Emily: Absolutely. I’m so glad we’re having this conversation because people think there’s only high, THC high. There are so many ways to manipulate it; as you said, whether or not you have tea, you can adjust it to your mood, your preferences, and how you’re feeling that day. I think that’s the beauty of it; unlike a pill where it’s the same and you just take your one dose, you have full control over altering anything in your cannabis regimen. When you’re educated and know how to take care of yourself, it’s such a good feeling.

Christine: Yeah. I love, like, I’m figuring out, like, oh, this kind is going to do this and this kind… If I mix the two, I like that. I like to play with it. I’m getting a little more into it now.

Emily: It’s exciting. It’s really fun. Now, can we talk a little bit about your medical card experience? For anybody listening who is like, “Oh, maybe I would try it if I had a card.” How was it? Was it easy to get? Was it comfortable?

Christine: Very, it was very comfortable. I went to a Sports and Spine Institute for mine, just because I have neck and back issues, but I’ve also taken friends to… Took one friend to another one and referred several to them. There are so many doctors now; if you just Google it, you’re going to find one local. There are so many conditions that it treats that I’m convinced pretty much everybody has one of them. I mean, like, how do you not have one of those conditions? I didn’t even realize I had anxiety, and I do. I think I realized it more after I started using it. Sometimes it made it worse, the fight to use the wrong stuff or in the wrong situation maybe.

But I’ve gotten kind of past that. Now I think that it’s more helpful than anything for it. It’s better than alcohol in so many ways, for, like I said, we talked about the hangover, but also just in general, the way I feel. Hopefully, it becomes legal in Ohio. It should be up in November. There’s a really good chance.

Emily: Oh, yay. Oh my gosh, yay.

Christine: That we will go, they’re going to go, if there’s an initiative. I think they have until May. If they don’t approve the initiative, then it’s going to go on the ballot, so we’ll get to vote on it. So I’m hoping-

Emily: I mean, so many of… I mean, people want it, I don’t know what the politicians want, but the people want it.

Christine: This will be the first time that it’s on our ballot with this wording. I mean, it’s going to allow, I think, two and a half ounces per adult and six plants. I think 12 plants per house. I didn’t read all of it, but that’s the bases.

Emily: Can you grow with your medical card right now?

Christine: Nope. Actually, you’re not allowed to smoke, technically.

Emily: Technically. That’s how New York did theirs for a while as well. They would sell the flower ground and expect you to use a vaporizer, which I actually prefer a vaporizer now anyway. But when people bring it home, you can’t control what they’re going to do with it. Just let people do their own thing; leave them alone.

Christine: I think they knew that, I’m sure.

Emily: Yeah, it’s just that the wording and the… I was talking to someone yesterday in another state, and I believe it maybe was West Virginia, and she was like, “We’re not allowed to have edibles.” There are just so many weird state-to-state differences; that’s why I love to ask people because none of them really make a lot of sense. They’re just random in state by state. I will cross my fingers for you.

Christine: Yes. I’m hopeful.

Emily: If you’re into herbalism and all of that, growing a cannabis plant is really magical and fun to watch. I have a feeling you would really enjoy it.

Christine: Yeah. I’m excited that you might be able to do that. And boy, it would save money.

Emily: Oh, man, it’s the ultimate money saver. I feel like it’s very, I don’t know, very spiritual in a way, getting to grow the plant, harvest the plant, reap the benefits.

Christine: Can we do a garden? We grow and can…

Emily: See? Then It’ll fit perfectly in with that lifestyle. We do the same. That’s how we taught our children about it, is it’s growing, it’s right next to the tomato plants, just a plant. It fits in perfectly with that lifestyle.

Christine: I didn’t want to forget the speaking of the kids.

Emily: Yes. Where I was going next. I am very interested. How old are they, and how did that go?

Christine: They are 15 and 17 boys old.

Emily: Okay, old enough to totally know what cannabis is. Okay.

Christine: Yeah, but I just like… They never asked me. I’m not going to lie. But I’m also not like, “Hey, I’m smoking weed”. They never said anything. I had girlfriends that were like, “They totally know.” I’m like, “No, I’m telling you, they don’t.” I had, like, I would make cookies. I would leave, like, go to my aunts down the street to make cookies or anything I wanted to make.

Emily: Oh my gosh. Really?

Christine: Yeah. I bought a Magical Butter Machine and kept it there. And then I would bring the stuff home. I’m a vegetarian, so I had vegetarian patty bags. Well, when they were empty, I would fill them with my cookies, and I would reseal them. I had stuff in the vegetable drawer for a long time, and they didn’t look in there because I knew they weren’t going to get their own vegetables when they were younger.

Emily: That’s just a great suggestion, though, for anybody with parents of kids.

Christine: Yeah. Well, it didn’t work, though. I mean, it did probably for a while, but when I find… I forget how it came. When they finally said, “Yeah, we know.” And I’m like, “Wow.” I was like, “How long have you known?” They’re like, “We’ve known him for a long time.” I was like, “Why didn’t you say anything?” And my older son, right? He’s like, “Nobody cares.” Literally, he was just like, “Nobody cares, mom.” I was like, “Oh.”

Emily: Aww, that’s like the best answer, though. It’s too sweet.

Christine: Yeah. Well, and so it made me feel a lot more comfortable. They’re very mature kids. I knew that they weren’t going to be upset. It wasn’t at all that I thought that they would; we are open about things normally.

Emily: And if they see their mom feeling better.

Christine: That’s literally, they’ve said that.

Emily: That’s all they care about. I mean, and that’s even for them to notice that is amazing.

Christine: Right. No, they’ve actually said they could see a big difference after I started. Probably because when you sleep well, and you’re not in pain, and also, weed just makes you have more fun. You know what I mean? I’m sure they noticed a difference. I just in the overall attitude and feel in the house, I’m sure.

Emily: I mean, hearing that out of the mouths of your children has to be like the best feeling because I know, as a mom, we all feel super guilty when we start. Am I making the right choice? Am I doing the right thing? Am I being a good mom? Am I being a bad mom? Where does the line draw to have your mature older kids say, “I’m happy for you; feel better.” That has to feel so good. And now you don’t have to hide, and they have a happy present, Mom.

For a lot of moms, cannabis can really improve the motherhood experience. It’s hard. And if there’s something that can make it a little bit more enjoyable and make your time with your kids more special, why wouldn’t you want that? So I’m so glad you shared that with us. But I hope anyone, any mom listening, can be like, “What if I could show up as a better parent for my kids?” That’s all we could ask for. That’s amazing.

Christine: Right? Well, and back to the pain meds. I know when I took those, I was irritated. I was irritable anytime. That was just a side effect, I guess, of the pain meds. I just felt irritable all the time, and I would freak out over nothing, which I’m not saying I never do that still. I mean, I do sometimes. But I did it more then. And over really dumb stuff because I think that also something else marijuana has done for me is it makes me a lot more compassionate.

Emily: Oh my gosh. Yes. I’m so glad you said that.

Christine: Have you found that?

Emily: Yes. Compassionate, empathetic, and more able to have gratitude for what I do have too. I’m so glad you said it. It’s such a humanizing thing. It’s so important for people to be compassionate. If we can have something like help us with that, that’s for the greater good of mankind.

Christine: Yeah. I thought that was a side or something that I get from that I was surprised about. I think it just makes you stop and think like we’re all the same. Everybody has a story or a problem, and you don’t know. I try to say that to the kids all the time, like, “You don’t know those kids are going through at home.”

Emily: It’s so true.

Christine: They get it; they understand that. That’s just something, another side effect that I’ve noticed.

Emily: It’s so good to share that, though, because anyone listening says they’ve never used cannabis is under the assumption that it makes you apathetic or that you just don’t care about anything.

Christine: Right. So the opposite for me.

Emily: Yes. I don’t even know where that stereotype came from, I guess because I don’t think you’re alone in feeling that.

Christine: Right. And, the music, how you’re saying it just makes everything more… Like, we listen to music a lot, I always have loud music on, but it makes it so much better, you know? And I know it sounds, like a hippy thing, you know? But oh, so true. Like, why not? There’s just a lot of different things that it does.

Emily: Absolutely. Little things. Someone was talking about yesterday how they just like to go to the beach and enjoy the sound of the waves. As you said, there’s something that just enhances the already enjoyable things in life.

Christine: Right. Yeah. That’s a great way. That’s exactly what it does.

Emily: Without the side effects, without a hangover, without, you know. And if we can just get rid of the guilt, then we’re good to go, like, everything’s great now.

Christine: Without the hangover, you’re talking about too? We know a lot of people that work for companies that test, so since they can’t do anything, they drink all weekend, like three days, and then Monday, they’re a wreck, you know? I’m like, but if they would just let them smoke weed, they’d have a relaxed, rested employee on Monday, not a hungover one that can’t keep their eyes open.

Emily: Hopefully, any business owners or legislators listening to these wise words, it makes no sense that we treat alcohol differently. We consider adults responsible enough to handle alcohol but not responsible enough to handle cannabis. And yet here we are. Where are we going with alcohol, truly? I mean, it’s a problem for so many people.

Christine: It’s a poison.

Emily: I’m not saying I don’t enjoy a cocktail here and there.

Christine: Right. I do; I drink.

Emily: I don’t have an issue with alcohol at all, but probably because they have cannabis. Who knows if I drink more alcohol if I didn’t have cannabis because, for me, cannabis is a social thing too. I enjoy it when we go out. I don’t drink. I’m more than happy to have no drinks if the kids are around. I don’t mind because I have cannabis, and I’m good to go. And I can still get up at 6:00 AM with the baby the next day and not feel bad about it. That’s been a great social piece for me.

Christine: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I hope that once they come up with better testing because I think that if they could test and say, “Okay, you’re not high right now while you’re running this machine at work.” You know what I mean? The problem now, I think, is they don’t know if you did it yesterday or you did it today.

Emily: Which is totally fair, you know, if you’re a surgeon or operating machinery, I would like to know that you are in the right space to do that. And sometimes I’m like, how can we, like, send people to the moon, but we can’t figure this out yet?

Christine: I find it very hard to believe that they don’t have a test instant or that can detect levels, but…

Emily: Exactly. Especially with science the way it is today. We’ll cross our fingers, hopefully. And hopefully, you know, new legislation’s coming for Ohio, and hopefully, we’ll get Federal legalization, and we can just kiss all this nonsense goodbye, but… I’m a wishful thinker. We’ll see how that works.

Christine: I wish with you.

Emily: Thank you. So I want to be respectful of your time. This has been a great conversation. I always ask my guests the same four questions. Are you ready for them? The first one up is, what are you most proud of to date in your life?

Christie: It’d had to be with my kids. They’re good students, they’re good athletes, but just their character, they’re good people.

Emily: That’s so sweet. And that’s all you can ask for, right? I mean…

Christine: I know whatever they decide to do, if they go to college or if they don’t go, I know that they’ll be successful one way or another just because they’re good kids.

Emily: That’s got to be such a good feeling. My kids are younger. I have an eight and a one-year-old, but I would like to see myself in a couple of years feeling like you, where it’s like, doesn’t matter because I know they’re good.

Christine: Right. And that’s… They’ll do what they want. I mean, I want them just to do what makes them happy.

Emily: You are a good mom, oh. Well, moving on to number two. What would you say your life would look like today if you didn’t have cannabis?

Christine: Well, it wouldn’t be as fun at all. More pain, more… I would be more irritable and have more anxiety. I just enjoy things more, like we were just talking about; I just enjoy everything more.

Emily: It’s like, just that quality of life aspect. It just takes it to the next level.

Christine: I also find, when someone’s asking me, “Well, don’t you just want to lay around if you’re high?” I said, “I get so much more done because I’m not in pain.” I don’t care if you’re a little high and you got to pull weeds out in the yard. Like, that’s what I’m doing.

Emily: So much better. Cleaning the kitchen. And that’s a great thing for any women or mothers listening to know it is an unspoken side effect of cannabis, that cleaning and everyday mundane chores are just better. They just are…

Christine: Put on some loud music and clean, and you’ll have a blast.

Emily: Yes, get it done. Yes. I’m so glad you said that because it’s so true.

Christine: My family thinks I’m a little crazy. I always hope no neighbors come to the dork when I’m like; I’m dancing around and hip-hop music or something.

Emily: But how much better is that than feeling like you’re so mad and angry because you’re the one cleaning, and no one else is cleaning? I remember I used to be so resentful, and now, I’m like, “Whatever. I’ll do it; I don’t care.” And so that’s just better for your whole family—you and everybody.

Christine: Usually, they get home from school. I’ve got loud music on, and I’m dancing around doing something, and they laugh, whatever. I’m sure they’d prefer that to me before…

Emily: they have memories of a happy mom dancing when they get home from school. What, a kid wouldn’t want that?

Christine: I feel like I’m just more productive; I’m happier, everything around.

Emily: Yeah. It’s beautiful. , I feel the same way about cannabis. So hopefully, anyone listening, and they’re like, “Oh wow, look at all these secret benefits.” I hope that they are pulling them from this conversation because there are just so many besides just the ones we talk about every day. There are these little hidden gems that make it just enjoyable.

Christine: Yeah. Things I never knew or would’ve believed even. Beause they’re like, “Okay, you must be high.” If someone was telling me like all these, I’m like, “Okay.” Sure, it’s that great.

Emily: I’m so, so excited that you found cannabis. And that brings us to our next question. If you could sit down with yourself 10, 20, or even 30 years ago and give yourself a little piece of cannabis advice, what would it be?

Christine: I’d say stop being so judgy and be nice to those people. And not that I was ever mean to anyone. I just remember thinking, “Well, I won’t ever do that.” Now, I’m like, “Well, that was mean.” But here I am, probably doing it more than they are now. But get educated because that was what did it for me. I have to know; I want to know how things work, I want to know where it came from, and I got to know it all before I do something. I would tell myself to get educated and then form my opinion based on facts, not the War on Drugs. I don’t think I had the facts, and I wish I had looked into it sooner, honestly, just because I would’ve had even more fun. I would’ve had fewer years of pain.

For anyone who’s listening, it’s never too late. Just start your journey, and jump down that rabbit hole. Go and enjoy it. There’s a lot of information out there, not as much as we’d like, but there’s enough information to make you realize, wow, this is a real thing; it really works with our bodies. There’s a lot of science to back it up. There is research out there, so jump down that rabbit hole, everybody, because we never know. I think people are coming around. I feel like all the time I’m hearing more people getting on board, at least. At least not looking at it the same as they used to.

Emily: It takes conversations like this. There are people who are going to listen to this and say, “I listened to Christine, and she felt this way, and now she feels this way, but now she lives this life that is fun, happy, and great. What if I could be Christine-“

Christine: And I still have my moments. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t.

Emily: We all do. Absolutely. But if it helps. Life is hard, and being a human is hard. If there’s something that can bring on some joy and relief as you go along like everybody deserves that. I hope that people can listen to your story and say, “If Christine can do it, I can do it too.” Because everyone deserves to be happy like you are today.

Christine: You know what’s funny is Joe Rogan’s podcast; I don’t know, do you listen to him ever?

Emily: I’ve never listened to it, but it was funny. I said to my husband, “If Joe Rogan can have a podcast, I could have a podcast.” Because I got kicked off of , I was like; maybe I’ll go for podcasting because they’ll be less likely to get canceled.

Christine: Yeah. He is very pro-weed, you know. He smokes it on the show all the time. He’s always smoked it on there. I watched a lot of his podcasts because he’s got a lot of scientists and doctors on there, and he’s the same way; he goes down a rabbit hole, and he wants to know exactly everything. And why and the facts, you know. I heard multiple doctors, as well as him, talking about the benefits of marijuana. And at least how it wasn’t like the doctors that were on there would say, “No, it’s not harmful.” That’s where I got a lot of my education.

Emily: It’s that conversation. Think about how many, like millions of people listened to that podcast and, just have that seed planted. That’s why I’m so glad you’re here and we’re doing this today because hopefully someone on the other end is going to be like, “Oh, maybe I should look into this.”

Christine: Right. I hope so, because I… And hopefully it’s like I said, it’s legal soon, I hope. And I think that’ll help a lot of people that are on the fence maybe.

Emily: Of course, because none of us want to be doing something. We don’t want to feel bad for doing something. Nobody wants to feel, like they’re breaking the law and nobody wants to feel bad. Especially, feeling bad for wanting to feel better,

Christine: Righ I think especially parents. It’s harder, because you’re trying to be a role model.

Emily: Absolutely. And if there’s something that makes you feel better and be a better parent, but if society found out you’d be a bad parent. How do you juggle the two? That’s what I hope this show will help people learn is that you can be a great mom, dancing home in your kitchen when your kids get home from school and be present and happy. Your kids at the end of the day might say like, “Wow, mom, I’m so glad you feel better.” Nothing else better we can ask for.

Christine: I think they probably will.

Emily: I mean that’s great. I mean, it’s better for you, it’s better for your kids, it’s better for your husband. I’m sure it’s just-

Christine: Oh yeah, for sure. I’m not harping on hit, well, he doesn’t have to hide, I mean. And now we do it together, it’s a bonding thing. It’s not like we don’t sit in the house so and do it because of the kids. But we’ll go outside and you know…

Emily: It’s something you can do together. I don’t know if you notice this, but like as a wife, I’m much less naggy or snippy or I just can let stuff go a lot. I do feel like it is an enhancement to my relationship because marriage is hard.

Christine: For sure. You do let a lot more, I think. There’s a lot of times, I think, “Do I want to, no, that’s not worth it.” You know what I mean? I’ll just keep my mouth shut, but just hard for myself-

Emily: That does come with wisdom and age, but I feel like the cannabis helps a lot. Our very last question. If you could be remembered in the cannabis space for just one single thing, what would it be?

Christine: I guess just helping people, and especially, like I said, moms or anybody really just realize the benefits that it could have in their life. I think if you could just get someone to try it for one reason, they’re going to… They’ll end up enjoying all the other things it does too. You know what I mean? But if the only reason they tried is for pain. Great. It’ll work. I’m actually having surgery, I hope pretty soon on my foot, and I am determined I am not going to take any pain meds. I’m going to try RSO and I said, “Look, I might be high for a week but-“

Emily: But you’re not going to come out feeling side effects from other medications, like, you probably feel so much better in the end.

Christine: We’ll wait and see, but that’s my plan.

Emily: That’s so brave of you too, to say…

Christine: I had two kids with no pain meds. I think I can do it.

Emily: You superwoman. Superwoman’s status right there. Oh my gosh. I wish you the best of luck with surgery coming up. And I hope-

Christine: Oh thanks. It’s not a major one.

Emily: Oh, but still, I mean, anything is… But I’m really proud of you that you feel like confident, that you’re like, “I’m going to use cannabis instead.” I know that probably I’ll feel better at the end of your recovery, so I’m super proud of you for that. I mean, if you need something else, you need something else. I always want to tell people like, I’m not against, certainly not against anything that makes you feel better. I’m always for like a you do you, I hope you feel great no matter what you do type thing. I think that’s a perfect place to end this. Thank you so much for sharing just you story and your journey.

Christine: Thank you for having me.

Emily: Think this is such a great interview. I feel like someone on the other end is going to be listening to this, whether she’s a mom or just a wife or a woman. Maybe she’d be like, I can just try it like Christine, and maybe we’ll see what happens. So thank you for showing us that.

Christine: Oh, just try it, just try it.

Emily: Yes. I mean, and then you could find like the rainbow at the end. You know, you’re there, you’re vibrant, you’re happy. I’m so happy for you that you found cannabis. And thank you for sharing that with us.

Announcer: Congratulations, you’ve finished another episode of the Well With Cannabis Podcast and are one step closer to discovering how you, too, can live well with cannabis.

Thank you for listening in today. We hope this episode has been a helpful and informative one. Please visit emilykylenutrition.com for more information on today’s show, show notes, guest information, recipes, and other resources.

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Cover art for the Well With Cannabis Podcast featuring Emily Kyle standing in a cannabis garden.

About Emily

Hi, I’m Emily Kyle and I teach people just like you how to use cannabis to find joy, enhance productivity, improve relationships, and naturally support your overall health and wellness.

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