Cannabis Legalization Saves Vets Lives Beyond Big Pharma

need to go to rehab. Right. By the way, on your way to rehab, go pick up those morphine. You know, I mean, it was ridiculous. I mean, like I said, I can't slam the VA. I used to slam them a lot more, but they've done some really great things. Even recently with the Spartan Pledge, the VA has, you know, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the VA. They're actually using the Spartan Pledge now in their suicide prevention programs. And, you know, that's not nationwide. You know, at least it's in the state of Nevada, and hopefully it'll be in some other states. COVID ruined, you know, some big events we had across the country with the VA. This last year, hopefully we'll square that away and get things hopping again. There'll be Spartan Pledge ceremony days. There'll be Spartan Pledge days at different VAs. They're a lot of fun. It's great. It's very helpful to a lot of people. It's just really good. So, I mean, I can't say that the VA hasn't been making changes in the right direction. I can just say it's a long, arduous process. And if you want to make those changes happen, you've got to be out in front. You've got to be leading these things. It's not something you could sit back and just bitch about. You've got to be out there. You've got to be pushing. And that's the way you make the change happen, and it is happening. Well, that's good to hear. I'm glad to know that they are progressing. Oh, I understand that they're using the Spartan Pledge as an exit pledge for the military now. Is that correct? Congressman Brian Mask in Florida, who was a wounded combat veteran, he created something based on the Spartan Pledge. And I know Brian. He's a good guy. We've spoken. I mean, he's a good dude. And he's been very helpful. We were speaking about the Spartan Pledge. And the next thing I know, he throws it on the House floor and it turns into law. But it's changed a little bit. They morphed it a little bit because of whatever. And they couldn't just use mine because it was already copyrighted and trademarked. And it's not mine. I just wrote it. It belongs to the community. So they changed it. But they called it the oath of exit rather than the Spartan Pledge. And it's something that you're supposed to do when you leave the military to kind of give you an azimuth on which way to travel as you go through your transition. Sure. And is cannabis use as far as replacing zombie dope and other drugs, is that fairly commonplace among vets? Yeah, it is. It's becoming more and more. It's becoming more and more normalized. The first time I spoke about cannabis on social media was probably 2011, maybe 2010. And it was crickets. I mean, I was on big pages within the community. And at that time, they weren't choking the hell out of our feeds or anything. So it was pretty free discussion. And it was crickets, man. Nobody would talk about it. They're afraid to talk about it. And now people openly talk about it. And so, yeah, the cannabis thing. And there's been some really good folks out there. I was watching a video probably a month ago, Nick Irving, a reaper. He was riding a skateboard smoking a joint. I forgot where he was at. So it's become more normalized. So he's not really out there pushing the cannabis thing, but he's an active proponent. If he's not an activist, he's at least a proponent. And so it's things like that. And it's been very helpful that the Farm Bill passed. So CBD can get around the country easier. And people are like, hey, this stuff's kind of okay. And then it kind of opens the door. And people talk about cannabis being cannabis or marijuana being a gateway drug. I'm like, no, no, that's not marijuana. That's milk. What do you mean? I said, well, I've never seen anybody get hooked on hard drugs who didn't drink milk as a child. So milk must be a gateway drug. It's just, we have to expose these crazy arguments that have been put out before like gateway drugs and things like that. And just, you know, normalize it and let people know the facts. And three facts are, it is not, it's non-toxic to humans. It can't stop your breathing and it's non-addictive. So therefore, it is safer than grapes. That's a fact. Yeah. Yeah. And man, as a medical patient myself, I mean, I can't even, it's such in a different realm from pharmaceutical drugs that it's, it's so difficult even to compare. I mean, the side effects of any of the number of drugs that I've taken were, were so bad that I couldn't wait to get off of them. And I mean, cannabis just doesn't, doesn't have that effect. So it's, it just doesn't, it doesn't hamper life the way the pharmaceuticals like to, so. I've seen guys, no, it's, it's a lot better. It's, I mean, it's just better. It's, I'm sorry, everybody out there doesn't agree. I'm just telling you it's better. And I've seen guys, I had a call from a friend of mine who's getting ready to have back surgery. He's been in horrible pain, horrible pain for, he's been, he's been waiting on a surgery for like a year, two years. They tried this, the spine nerve stimulator on it. They tried all this stuff on it, trying to avoid surgery and it just wasn't working. And he, I was telling about cannabis because people ask me, because I talk about it openly. And so I was trying to tell him about cannabis and I was explaining to him, you know, how to use Leafly and to research different strains. It's important to get the right strain because I've had guys come to me and go, oh, I tried that. And yeah, it didn't work for me. So what strain did you use? Well, I don't know. It's just some stuff my buddy gave me. Okay. Well, you know, again, it's, there are variants and you need to find the strain that works best for you. So my buddy calls me the other night and he says, I took, you know, a hundred milligrams of CBD and 50 milligrams of THC and it really does help. It really does help. And I'm like, okay, good. You know, good. I'm happy for you. And I'm happy for everybody. It helps because he was on opiates for a long time too, and probably a little bit too much drinking as well. So, you know, this is what stops those things. You know, we can, we can get rid of cirrhosis and suicide or at least strongly diminish them, you know, as soon as we start accepting cannabinoids, because people are going to drink less and they're not going to want to kill themselves as much. Exactly. Yeah. They've shown, they've shown both that suicides and alcohol abuse go down in states when cannabis is made available. So yeah, it's, I mean, it just saves lives. There's no good reason not to do it. So as far as it being illegal, I'll throw you another one that I think people should pay attention to our law enforcement officers. I don't want to see, I mean, seriously, a family man trying to raise a family, doing a noble job, being a police officer, this guy's going to blow out a knee chasing a guy down with a dime bag. Really? That's, that's sensible. That's not sensible. That's ridiculous. Yeah, it's crazy. Well, and you, you mentioned being in Nevada, where of course they've got adult use regulation now. Have you seen benefits from legalization specifically as a medical user? Yes, because now I'm not relegated to just what the guy over at where my mailbox is can sell me over at the Del Taco parking lot. You know, I mean, I basically take what you can get when you're not in a, in a, in a state that has been, that the prohibition has been stopped, you know, against cannabis. You know, when you can go into a dispensary and you can talk, these budtenders are very, very knowledgeable. You know, they really are. I give them a lot of credit. Most of them. I haven't run into anybody that was kind of nutty and they'll, they'll walk you through things. Oh, it's insomnia. Well, look at this one and then you can look at it and you can look at all, you know, look at all the, everything that's in it and you can see how pure it is. You can, I mean, you can look right at it. It's right there. And then, you know, you look at the name, you go to Leafly.com and you can look up the name and see the things that it helps with and go, okay, yeah, this is what I want. This is what I need. Now you're making decisions for yourself. And if that, if that strain isn't right for you, they'll recommend another one. You look it up on Leafly.com. Oh yeah, this one sounds better. I think this is the one I'll take. So you couldn't do that before. You just kind of had that, okay, I'll meet you at the Del Taco parking lot at 730. You know, and then you got to get there and you got to get a, you know, one vehicle to the next and you got to make a little small talk and change your cash, get your baggie and you're out of there. You don't know what the hell's in the bag. Right, right. What pesticides, what growth regulators, whatever. I mean, you're, you're at the mercy of the grower and you don't know him. So yeah.