 I'm Marsha Joyner, and this is Cannabis Chronicles, a 10,000-year odyssey. So tell me, Muse, of that plant of many resources, which wonder far and wide the ancient plant of food, fuel, fiber, cultivated for millennia. As we venture through the past 10,000 years, we will explore and discover the plant from which cannabis derives, the plant of many uses, hemp, cannabis, hashes, cannabis and religion, cannabis and medicine, cannabis and dear old Uncle Sam, and so our odyssey begins. Aodyssey is not long ago and far away, it is current and in progress. And therefore, we will meet two of my dear friends, and all of you that watch know I only talk to dear friends. And this is Helen Chow from the Apocrytheria, Aloha Green Apocrytheria, yes. This is, come on, I've lost it. Aaron Wine. Aaron Wine. They are here to tell us about their new venture, which is Cannabis 101. And so tell us all about what Cannabis 101 is, when, where, how we can get involved, what we can do, and what we can learn. How's that? Wow, that's a big question. Well, I'd have to say thanks for having us on the show. We're going to be doing Cannabis 101 this Saturday at the Kameki Library up on, let's see, Kilauea, is it Kilauea? I think so. And it's going to be at the library from about 11 to 1230 is the first show, a slide show and then we're going to have a guest speaker, Paul Kling, and then we're going to do a second slide show starting at 1.30, I believe, and we're going to go until about 3.30, something like that. It just depends on how it's going to flow. We've already had a lot of people that want to come. We're just excited about that. We've been getting a lot of questions at our dispensary regarding medical cannabis, its uses, how people can get a 329 card, how people can get some help with medical cannabis. It's just never stops, the phone never stops ringing. That's great. Well, that's where we're here. We started this program a year and a half ago because I knew nothing, absolutely nothing about cannabis. My daughter is a hospice nurse and we were doing the program about medical aid and dying. And she said, Mom, you know, if patients could have cannabis at the end, if they could choose cannabis, it would be a much smoother, easier way of leaving without all the tensions that go with the patient and the family. So I thought, well, okay, if that's the case, then I need to learn about cannabis. So here we are. You were one of our first, yes, how we started this venture of me learning and, of course, with me comes the audience. So I am glad to see that you are going to do something where we, the audience, can participate one-on-one and we can go to, and now I think that library, is that the one down the street from the fire station on 12th? Yes, that's the one. Yes. So we've been meaning to do this for a very long time. We have a lot of questions that, it's the same basic questions over and over again. One of the challenges for us is that none of the Hawaii dispensaries are allowed to advertise, which makes it difficult for us to get a lot of information out there to begin with. And so we decided, when people have their 329 cars and they can come into the dispensary, they can get all the information they need. They can sit down with a patient consultant or with Aaron and they can have this one-on-one time. But what about all the people who haven't even figured out how to get in? And so we decided to hold a monthly cannabis 101 series and we want to use, we want to use venues where we can get all over the island instead of... So you will move from place to place? Yes. Oh, great. We will. We thought that it was, it was unfortunate that every, all the patients have to come to us. Right. We can meet them where they are. So we decided to do a basic cannabis 101 class and to use the public library system, which is already a local community center, and to try to get to as many sides of the island as we can. I've always thought that to have all of the dispensaries within a block of each other, when you have people that live in Kahuku and Hale'iwa and all of these places, it seems almost discriminatory to do it. Have you had the conversation about why that even happened? Why? Okay, so there are legal limitations to where a dispensary can be located. You have to be X many yards away from a school or a playground or all of these places where it makes sense. You know, we don't want it to be too close to children or anything like that. And so when... Uh, wait. Hold on. But they're liquor stores on the corner. That's right. They have different... They're different standards. Yes. Different standards, that's right. And Safeway, Food Land, Cells, Alcohol and Tobacco. Yes. But we... And they are close to schools. Right. And parks, daycare centers, and there's a whole list on legislation, which is we support it. But unfortunately what happens is when you look at the way cities are planned, those things also tend to be in the center of the cities or neighborhoods. And so we have to sort of find areas where we're still easily accessible, and it turns out that a lot of times they're in the same places. The other good thing, though, is each licensee is going to be allowed to have three locations. And so the second and third locations for the licensees, we're hoping will, you know, be spread out. So you can move... You can spread out, I hope. Yes. Yes. But it's still within... Still within... Yes. Yeah. Still within the center of the city? No. Still within those limitations of being X-miniards away from a school or a playground or all those things. Out in Kahuku and all those places, there's enough land that you can be away from a school, yeah. So I think over time, as we open more dispensaries that needs going to be fulfilled, one of the reasons why the cannabis 101 classes were so important is because it's not held at the dispensary, you don't need a 329 card. It's open to the public. Anyone can go into the library and learn more about this. So if I don't have a card, I can go to the library and then I can find out if I need a card and how I can get a card. You also learn about basic cannabis 101 stuff. That's wonderful. Oh. A charge. No charge? No charge. No charge. It's free. It's open to the public. People are welcome to come. Do you have to make reservations? We do just so we know how many people are going to show up. The only reason why we have two events coming up this Saturday is because the first one filled up in less than 24 hours. So we decided, hey, there are too many people who want this information. Let's just do another one. So what time is the first one and what time is the second? Well, the first one begins around 11 o'clock and we're going to try and get everybody settled, everybody in by that time. Then we're going to go through the slideshow presentation and answer any questions. If people have questions, Paul is going to give his presentation on opioid addiction and how cannabis was used to help opioid addiction, currently is actually. The next one presentation will begin shortly thereafter. Yeah, 11.30. But we're going to do the best we can to stick to the time, absolutely, but the point being is that people have questions and it's always better to answer questions. Yeah, that's what they come. Yeah. It's to get their questions answered. Well we're there for the patients and this is, you know, our organization, Aloha Green Apothecary, is definitely a patient-centered organization. So we want to give people information, we want to help them choose what's right for themselves and sometimes that includes us sending them to other dispensaries if we don't have the type of medication that they need. It also includes discussing with them whether or not they really are, you know, it's the best fit for them because there's a lot of things that have to be overcome. You know, when you choose cannabis as your choice of medication, there are some obstacles that you do face because there hasn't been a lot of research done on it to a person has to kind of find their own dose. They have to kind of find what works for them and pain, you know, pain is different in everybody and so they need to find what it is that works for them. We can suggest that if you start off with this amount then you might have some of these effects but then, you know, work slowly with it to kind of develop something that really helps your needs. Now, there's this one organization that's anti-smoking locally. How do you deal with those people that say, well I don't want to smoke? How do you tell them that there's another way? Right. There's another way. A lot of times there's just education. They don't know. Part of, and I'm sure you'll cover it, part of the Cannabis 101 course is to show people the different ways you can consume it. It can be eaten, it can be, you can use it as a tincture where it goes through the blood vessels under your tongue. And there is also a very big difference between smoking it traditionally and using a vaporizer. And so we show people the difference between that. You can use it topically. There are so many different ways and so a big part of that is helping understand what the different options are and how it affects the body differently. That's wonderful. So for children you would want it as under the tongue or topically. I think whether they're children or adults it really depends on the specific needs of the child. Because I've heard so much about children with epilepsy, how it's helped them tremendously. Yeah, I think it depends on the child and what the options are and what works best and how much information everyone has. A lot of times people don't know that there are options that are okay for children. They don't know that there are different products with varying degrees of strength. And so our job is to make sure that they are armed with the right information and to guide them as much as possible and then to enable them to make the right choice along with their medical professionals. Now just a little bit, it says that if you have a card that you can grow what is it 10 plants? 10 plants. That just to me is like now what? I'm having enough trouble with my own garden. What do I do with 10 plants? So will you address that issue? So that's why the dispensaries exist. Until the dispensaries opened since 2000 that's what the card did and let you grow a number of plants. There are many people who don't know how they can't be bothered, they can't physically do it. Where do I get? Right. Where do I buy these? Exactly. And so that's what the dispensary fulfills that need of people. But I'm saying that will you address that as part of your growing tips? You mean like growing tips? No. Those very questions. If it says I can have 10 plants, where do I get 10 plants? What do I do with 10 plants? I live in an apartment. Where can I grow 10 plants? That's a whole different class. Right. But I can touch on that and the thing is that right now you can't buy seeds in a dispensary. You can't buy clones. You can't buy any of those things to grow. So where do you... Right. Those are the questions. A lot of times it's other medical cannabis patients that share seeds with other medical cannabis patients and then that's how people start to grow. And they also give advice, they also share stuff because it's legal to share. And there's this whole culture that when I first became a medical cannabis patient I was just so relieved and surprised at the same time. There's this whole culture that other patients want to help patients and that's where it's coming from. Well those are my questions if I thought, oh my, where, how, in all of these things. Well again, tell us time, place and how we can connect with you. So if our audience wants to come, maybe not this one but the next one. So tell us, how do we reach you? You can reach us at Aloha Green Apothecary. What's your... You got a telephone number we can call. So we've got 808-369-2888 that goes straight to the dispensary and then you can get someone to connect with Aaron. The other thing is also you can go to our website www.agapoth.com and there's a calendar that shows you when they're going to be. Wonderful. He knows the schedule a little better. We've got the next four set up. Oh great. Yeah. We do. I try not to look too far ahead. This is like kind of a groundbreaking thing for us. I don't think there's been anything like this. Well definitely for our dispensary and it's like definitely for me. So I think about what I have in front of me. It's going to be at the Kaimukki Library this Saturday, the 10th. We're going to get started about 11 o'clock and then we're just going to kind of keep moving forward trying to help people the best we can. And if we can't answer all the questions, we're going to end up having them. My number is going to be plastered all over the place. They can call me. We can talk and I can help direct people. Well wonderful. So I will do my best to be there Saturday. Like I told you I'm a caregiver so my time is not my own. Aloha. This is Marcia and we are going to take a break and we will be back in 60 seconds. So don't go away. Hey, Stan Energyman here on Think Tech Hawaii and they won't let me do political commentary so I'm stuck doing energy stuff. But I really like energy stuff so I'm going to keep on doing it. So join me every Friday on Stan Energyman at lunchtime, at noon, on my lunch hour. We're going to talk about everything energy, especially if it begins with the word hydrogen. We're going to definitely be talking about it. We'll talk about how we can make Hawaii cleaner, how we can make the world a better place, just basically save the planet. Even Miss America can't even talk about stuff like that anymore. We got it nailed down here. So we'll see you on Friday at noon with Stan Energyman. Aloha. And we're back and we are talking about a absolute great opportunity for all of us to learn about cannabis. It's cannabis 101 and we're talking to the people from Aloha Green Apothecary and they are going to have a, what do we call this, a workshop, a series of workshops. So all of us, like me, can learn about cannabis 101. And that, it will be four sessions, are there? Well, we've got four planned right now but we're going to do it monthly. Oh, okay. Every month. Every month. All over the island. Oh. Until you run out of people to go. Sure. Until nobody wants to come anymore. So one of the things that comes up regularly and that is the difference, is there a difference in CBD and medical cannabis? What is the difference? I see all of these products all over the internet and locally, the CBD. So what is the difference? Is there a difference? There is a difference. And he actually covers that as part of the 101 class. I'll let him take that. Okay. Or take that question. Yes. I get that question a lot. And it's quite an interesting question. There's been a lot of controversy surrounding, oh, what's better, you know, is it just like hemp CBD or CBD from a medical cannabis place? And what I have to say about that is that CBD is CBD. If it's hemp derived, then of course it's going to have very low amount of THC. If it comes from a medical cannabis dispensary, like the ones here in Hawaii, we use CBD and THC. So we use our medical cannabis. We also have THC in it, which, you know, produces the entourage effect. So you then are the only ones that can sell the CBD with the THC in it? Only dispensaries. Yes. Only dispensaries. So the outside products that we see on the internet and whatnot don't have the THC in it? Well, I believe that it's like 0.3 percent is allowed. It's a very, very low, low, low amount. Won't get you psychoactively in these? No, man, but legally, legally, yes, that they can sell without the THC, but you're the only ones that can sell with the THC. It's the THC that is regulated. CBD itself is not a regulated compound. Is it legal? I see some people say it's not. Some people say it is. CBD is still a schedule one. They may change that soon, because now, if they approve something, that's CBD-derived. However, when we talk about regulating it and all of that, that's all really THC stuff. Yeah. THC is a compound that gets you the highest psychoactive compound. But the hemp-derived is really just a CBD product, right? And that's what we see people selling everywhere. Everywhere. So, he touched upon it, but one of the things that we found, it's generally known now within the cannabis community, that there's something called the entourage effect, where there are hundreds of compounds within the flower, THC and CBD being the two most prominent. But there are so many others, like CBN, CBG, there are terpenes, there's a whole another category, and we found that when they all work together, they are much more powerful and much more effective to the body than as if individually they were used alone. Now, how does the body digest or ingest, I guess is the right word, the medical cannabis? So we have endocannabinoids, don't we? Yes. Well, we do have the endocannabinoid system. We can either inhale it, you know, they also have drops where you can put in your nose, they do have a dermal patch, you can ingest it, which is a very good way to do it. A lot of people that don't want to smoke end up using our tincture. But how does the body use it, I guess is what I'm saying. They're the endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system. So the body knows what to do, this isn't a strange... Oh, no. No, it's not. So cannabinoids are naturally produced in our body. Since we're supplementing our bodies with it, our bodies, it's not just us, it's every mammal, it's fish, it's birds even, and they have an endocannabinoid system. It's the endocannabinoid system that regulates sleep, homeostasis, so many things, and we find it throughout the body. The nervous system in the brain has a receptor that's called CB1 in the endocannabinoid system, and the rest of the body has a lot of the CB2. The THC binds better with CB1, that's the one in the brain, and the nervous system, which is why you get the psychoactivity, CBD binds better with the CB2 receptors that's throughout the body, which is why it's very effective for pain and for anxiety and these more general body symptoms. So the body knows this is familiar to the body. Oh, yeah, the body knows. It's the same compound that's just made differently where our bodies will make it one way, and plants make it another. Yeah, awesome. So that's... Then there's no issue about rejection or... Or is there? Well, I've actually heard stories that people have told me that they are allergic to using cannabis, and that's okay. I think that when the studies are done, we're going to find out a lot more about THC, a lot more about cannabinoids, a lot more about terpenes, and how they integrate and affect the body and the body system. Right now we're kind of on the cusp of just seeing all these things starting to take place. But the Chinese, 10,000 years, we have records from the Chinese using it. We do. And so it's just the Americans that are behind the curb? I think it's a lot of changes that have happened through modern society. I think all around the world there are lots of known pieces of wisdom that have been lost with modernization and with a very strong leaning towards, you know, understanding that science is science only if we use our modern techniques and everything that was done before them has kind of cast away. So there's a rediscovery that's happening right now. It's very exciting. Oh, that's wonderful. Like you said, there's so much. Thousands of years people have figured out how to live on this planet. And now we're like, no. I can remember how long it took locally for acupuncture before the Westerners would realize that there was some value there. Yeah. So anyway, again, tell us the schedule. When can we go to these, where they are and what have you? So the first one is this Saturday and it'll be at 11 or at 1.30, depending on which one you signed up for. The 11 o'clock one is full now, but there are still some spaces left for the 1.30. We've got one happening in early December. We've got another one set up for early January. And I think we even have one set up already for February. The locations right now that we have set up are Kaimuki and Manoa and Ayaya. Those are the three locations that we have. And we have the dates and all the information on our website at ajapoth.com and you can also call us. And your telephone number is 808-369-2888. And also, Erin and our patient consultants are available if you have any immediate questions. So if I call the dispensary, you are there to answer questions. There's an option that goes straight to him. Yeah. Oh, great. So anybody that has questions about this, and you can tell them how to get their card. We have some basic information on our website also is a list of physicians and APRNs who do certify. And so we don't, we cannot. But you can tell them who. We have a list available. Oh, that's great. Yeah. So they can find a doctor or an APRN that's close to them or specializes in something, you know, that they have symptoms of and then kind of go from there. Now, I have one more question and that is the tourist who come, since you can't carry this on the airplane, but they have a regular need for medical care. How do we do that? How does that handle? Right. When legislation first passed for the dispensaries, we were technically supposed to have reciprocity, which means people with medical cards from other states can use them here last year. And the DOH didn't have a system that could take care of how to register them. And so we had to wait. And so the issue isn't with the dispensaries is we didn't have a system to take care of them, to track it, to make sure that everyone was going to be safe, to make sure it didn't go into the black market. And so what's happening now is the DOH is currently working on a system to somehow handle the visitors who have medical cards from their own states and to use them here. Their timeline is early next year. We're hoping, at least before the summer, we hope that there will be a process. We don't know what that process is yet, but we're hoping it'll be there. There are still some challenges that we haven't all figured out legally, for example, like where can they consume safely and legally? If they're visitors, they don't have a private residence. They're probably in a hotel. Oh, my. You know, what are we going to do to make sure that they can still consume their medicine? So there are lots of other things that come with it that I think are lawmakers and are lawyers, and everyone's working hard to figure out the details. I guess I hadn't thought about where. Yeah. I don't. It's like, oh, yeah. Yeah. That's a problem. So there's a lot of support we need to build around the visitors as well. Yeah. That's a real issue as well, even if they can get it on the black market, for instance, is still where. Well, listen, sweetheart. We need to sayonara. We will see you Saturday, and then you will come back regularly and give us an update how it's going. Can we do that? Yes. Sure. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Aloha, and we'll see you next time.