Angelina Blessed Unfiltered

Margaret 00:00:04 Welcome friends. Episode 308 where I chat with Angelina Blessed. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles where I help you take control of your life. I'm your host and Certified Ganjier Margaret and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here. Welcome back, friends to Bite Me, the show about edibles, the podcast that explores the intersection of food, culture and cannabis, where I help cooks make great edibles at home. And Margaret, what are we making today? You might be asking? Well, we're not making anything because instead we are going to be listening in on a fabulous conversation I had with Angelina Blais. And I think you're really going to enjoy this conversation. So if you're tuning in for the first time, thank you so much for being here. This conversation is going to be a real treat. And if you've been listening for a while, thank you so much for showing up week after week. I really appreciate you. It is because of the listeners that I continue to do this show.

Margaret 00:01:02 Now, Angelina, if you're not familiar with her, she is a retired Muay Thai fighter. And you are going to get to know her much better today. She has long used cannabis and edibles to help manage the aches and pains that inevitably come with a career in fighting. She's also been a long time edibles maker, working in the legacy market and attempting an entry into the Ontario legal market. Spending her winters in Thailand for a number of years, smart woman, she has turned her focus to the Thai market, creating beautiful single source infused chocolate bars. We don't only talk about that, but we also talk about how she uses cannabis while training her experience with cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, how she approaches CBD for daily health, her skills and hash making, the differences between North American and Thai cannabis culture, and a whole lot more. This was a fun and informative conversation that I really think you're going to enjoy. Without further ado, please have a listen to this conversation with myself and Angelina. Blessed. All right, I think we are now recording everyone.

Margaret 00:02:12 I am joined today by Angelina Blast. I'm super excited to have her on the show. You have been sort of in my radar for quite a while now. I know I've been in the same room as you before, but we've never actually met until today, so I'm very excited about this conversation. And Angelina, would you like to say hello to the listeners of Bite Me and tell them, you know, the elevator pitch about who you are and what you do?

Angelina 00:02:34 Well, thank you so much for having me, Margaret. I really appreciate being here. I appreciate having a platform that is dedicated to edibles and all things. That's kind of in my heart. I am a retired professional Muay Thai fighter, and I fought, professionally, mostly in Thailand, China and Mexico from the years of 2006 to about 2019 was my last fight, and I just started medicating because I was trying not to take painkillers. And so I started making cookies and butters and oils for all the guys at CCM number one, which is a muay Thai gym in, in Toronto, Ontario.

Angelina 00:03:12 And, I just kind of noticed what they were doing and they would all go outside before training and smoke a little something, and then like, I would just watch them kind of move into a flow of training. And it was never stigmatized to them. And that was really cool. Now, I don't think at the time that they understood that they were, kind of, medicating themselves and using it as a medication. But I really saw the benefits of all of that. So starting to feed them cookies, was a really cool thing. And then they were noticed in the legacy market, people like Amy Weinstein, who ran other people's pot, and she ran a bunch of really great, legacy dispensaries, for one six. Medicinal was one of the names. And she got me on to a vice documentary called, Called cannabis Candyland, and that got millions of views. And it was me and all the edibles and, concentrate makers of Toronto back, I believe it was 2016. And it was really funny because all the shatter makers and whatever.

Angelina 00:04:09 Were all wearing balaclavas and had voice overs, and I was just me and my Muay Thai shirts going like, hey everybody, I'm Angelina. And and then I took, Damian from vice into the ring, and I beat him up and then took him into the kitchen and made cookies for him. So it kind of started there. And then I was part of the, green market through Lisa Campbell and Sara and, really honored to be to have a table there and be one of the first edible makers in Toronto to have a table there and got to, stand with people like Rena from High Society Supper Club and Fritz, who made the first hash brown and gummy and, you know, those became the best of people. from there, legalization happened and I got my which was once a 100 milligram vegan chocolate bar into a ten milligram vegan chocolate bar in the legal market in Ontario. and I'm really proud of that. It was 100mg of CBD and ten milligrams of THC, and only one milligram per THC per square.

Angelina 00:05:10 So it was a really great what I thought. Starter chocolate bar. And, you know, the Ontario market being what it is, and all of the greedy people that have their hands in all the products, it became very different than me making chocolate bars and selling it to people and getting the money to myself. It became all these licensed producers and salespeople that had their hands in it, taking percentages and whatnot, and we're owed a lot of money. And then they just bankrupt companies. So it's tough and heartbreaking. And, and then I really, you know, hit a probably two year depression of, you know, my dream might be gone and whatnot. And not trusting any legal licensed producers in Ontario any longer. And, you know my dream. Like I've been spending every winter in Thailand for the last, I believe, 21 years now. So I would go and I would train and fight and, you know, I wasn't meditating obviously, in Thailand because of the rules, but they legalized a few years ago.

Angelina 00:06:08 And then, my dream kind of changed where I got an opportunity through a producer or through a sales company in Thailand, where I was able to bring my chocolate bar to, the legal market in Thailand. And that was, kind of a mind blowing dream of all of my worlds coming together. Because the stigma is even worse in Thailand with how, people and Thai people thought about cannabis. so it was, a dream come true. And so I've now had two trips over there where I've been able to go to the gyms, talk to athletes. and I got to design a chocolate bar that was above and beyond anything that Ontario could have ever produced. So my Ontario Bar Legal Bar was produced in Kelowna through Valens, and then shipped here and gone through a sales license company and then had to ship ship to the OCS and blah, blah, blah. And it was, you know, like I said, 100mg of CBD to ten milligrams of THC. And, but the bar that we got to make in it comes out of Chiang Mai, which is in the north of Thailand.

Angelina 00:07:14 And, I got to design it, through this company that was already making chocolate bars. And I got to teach them how to infuse it with, the full spectrum that I wanted to, which wasn't really my choice with Ontario. It had to be distillate or nothing. And, you know, they didn't really tell me anything about what was going on, but, my chocolate bar in Thailand is made on an organic cacao farm made with super love. And the quality of the chocolate is just like nothing I ever experienced in Ontario, except for the legacy one. And it's, it's been really cool that I've been able to just, do sales tours, talk to the stores, see the insanity going on within the Thai legal market right now and the ups and downs of it. And, you know, it's a bit of a wild West out there right now, but it's super exciting. So.

Margaret 00:08:03 that's amazing. You just said so many things that I want to touch on.

Angelina 00:08:07 It's a bit of a blurb, so yeah.

Margaret 00:08:09 Like a pretty long career in fighting. And so I can imagine it's only natural that you gravitated towards edibles to help you with performance and recovery. One of the things I just wanted to touch on was, in Thailand, you mentioned that there's even more stigma around cannabis use there than there is here, and that surprised me in a way, because it just feels like even though it was illegal for so long, that it was sort of part of the the life there in a lot of ways, like I've heard some people describe cannabis use in cooking as like sometimes using another herb like basil or something like that. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Angelina 00:08:44 You know, I think it's really, I think it was really stigmatized with the ties because of how illegal it was for them, right? So now but what we're seeing, what we're seeing in Thailand is the Thais aren't buying the weed. It's a very, very low percentage of Thai people that are buying cannabis, because the prices are actually more expensive in Thailand than it is in Canada.

Angelina 00:09:05 So like if you're walking around, say, Kozan Road or any of the kind of more popular touristy areas you're looking at like 10 to $15 per gram of kind of maybe sometimes questionable cannabis. but what who are buying it? Are, any of the foreigners, you know, a lot of the Muay Thai fighters, a lot of people that are there for a long time and especially popular in, like, the, wellness communities. So that stigma is breaking. But I still feel that, like, I still can't walk into, like, an all Thai gym and really talk about cannabis because people will still kind of look at me a little bit sideways, especially when it comes to like Muay Thai and cannabis, right? So, but there are some super weed friendly gyms, especially Bangkok and Phuket, and that's really cool. But it is mostly foreigners for sure. And, people are figuring out the wellness benefits to it. So that's that's a big, big plus. And I think, I think that's really where the conversation needs to kind of be pushed as well, as opposed to just being, say, intoxicated by weed.

Margaret 00:10:06 Right, right. Yeah. A little more mindfulness around it would probably bring more people to it, because it makes sense that if it's been so legal for so long that people would be not necessarily just suddenly like, oh, okay, it's fine now. Like, right. Not often how people's minds work.

Angelina 00:10:20 So even in Ontario, you know, people still there's still a still heavy, super heavy stigma to it. You know like yeah.

Margaret 00:10:26 There is I just forget about it because I work in this.

Angelina 00:10:29 No, we absolutely do. But my, my partner was, teaching the Cannabis and Society course at Centennial College, which he wrote. but it was really interesting because most of his students are international students. So a lot of kids from India and a lot of kids from China. So a lot of their papers that they're writing are being like, yo, I just came to this country and there's weed shops everywhere, and I've never even smelled it. And everyone's on the street smoking it and they're frightened by it.

Angelina 00:10:53 You know, so even though they're taking the course and wanting to learn about it and like probably doing it to, like, upset their parents and whatnot, but, you know, it's a course that they would never have been able to take in their homes. So, exciting for them to some, some of them come around and be like, yo, I went in and I bought a little something and that was really crazy. Or, you know, but sometimes they really like it and sometimes they really don't. But, you know, if you've never smoked a joint and you walk into a shop and you get a pre-roll that has, you know, distillate and diamonds and rapped and teeth and whatever, you're probably not going to have a great experience. Right.

Margaret 00:11:29 But and that's where the bud tenders are so important. And I used to work in a dispensary, like back in when we had the first legal store in the town that I live in, and people were coming in to explore, my favorite customers were like a few little old ladies that came in that wanted to buy weed in a pipe, and they're like, I haven't smoked it in like 60 or 70 years.

Margaret 00:11:48 That was the best. But honestly, like, are you directing her to the, you know, infused pre-rolls like you just mentioned? No. Yeah. Definitely not a good idea.

Angelina 00:11:57 And like, doses are really low. Like, my dad walked into a store and somebody gave him a ten milligram edible, and that should be doable. But he had a really kind of scary experience about it. And that's terrible because unfortunately, I would say a majority of people probably have a bad edibles experience when it shouldn't be like that. Right. But like.

Margaret 00:12:15 And you've been involved in the edibles space for a long time. So, you know, I'm sure all too well that ten milligrams for one person is nothing and ten milligrams for the next person is like, like you said, with your dad a horrible time. Yeah. And so the start low goes slow thing that people always repeat is so important because it's it's true.

Angelina 00:12:35 Like well that's the thing that's I think that's why I did well in the legacy market because a lot of people were just kind of setting up tables.

Angelina 00:12:40 And, you know, we were still learning how to measure THC and a lot and like we were still doing it from flower. So that makes it even more like unspecific as to what the dosage could be. But, we were there to answer questions, and that's like we got the old ladies who just were like, I have arthritis pain. I have a daughter that's bothering me, you know, like it's just like, you know, they're there really needs to be someone there to be able to answer the questions. And, you know, it's it can you know, we a long time ago, I did a yoga class for people who had not consumed before, and I fed them like two and a half to three milligrams. And for people that haven't experienced cannabis before, you could see that they were a little bit touched by it. Right. And I think that's kind of cool and exciting. So, you know, it's it shouldn't be a scary experience for people like if we're, you know, like, yeah.

Margaret 00:13:32 But it is sometimes, which is why it's important that people like yourself are out there doing the work that you're doing because you're just educating people around how to consume edibles safely, which I think is super important because it's more. what's the word I'm looking for is that people are more intimidated by edibles, probably than other forms, because that bad time can last for so damn long.

Angelina 00:13:53 Yeah, it sure can. I had a lot of experiences when I first started experimenting where, you know, I licked the wrong fork or something and just like.

Margaret 00:14:01 Well, we've all done that. If you've made any edibles, we've all probably licked the wrong.

Angelina 00:14:06 Yeah.

Margaret 00:14:07 Haven't you been eating your baked goods yet? And you're already fried. But.

Angelina 00:14:09 Right, exactly.

Margaret 00:14:11 Now, as far as your athletic career goes, was there anything in particular that brought you to cannabis?

Angelina 00:14:17 absolutely. you know, getting getting punched in the head for a living was definitely, you know, and the thing about the kind of, time frame of fighters that I came from is that we weren't taught anything about recovery.

Angelina 00:14:30 You know, I, I basically, like, didn't have a period for six years because of my, you know, the fight weight that I was keeping myself at. You know, the constant head traumas. I went to China and I got knocked out by someone that was way out of my league. You know, as soon as she hit me, I knew I was in big trouble. And, you know, so flying back with that kind of a concussion. and then I started, like, listening to, you know, Joe Rogan talk about sensory deprivation, talking about the healing benefits of CBD and stuff like that. And I really had to start to consider that because, you know, I would go to the doctor and be like, I don't feel well. I'm super nauseous. Lights bothering me, screens are bothering me. And I didn't really know what to do. So, you know, kind of seeing what the guys were doing at the gym, I just kind of followed suit, but having kind of bad lungs.

Angelina 00:15:14 I didn't want to be smoking at the same time. So, I found, you know, a real benefit from kind of high fat, low sugar edibles. And there was nothing on the market at the time that was kind of covering that. And, you know, as a fighter, keeping myself within a, a low fight weight category, you know, I couldn't go home at night and, you know, eat a bunch of cookies or whatever. Didn't feel right about that, especially knowing like the the anti recovery benefits of sugar. You know like it just wasn't it wasn't making sense to me.

Margaret 00:15:46 Right right. Yeah. So and so you started to introduce cannabis into your regular training regimen.

Angelina 00:15:52 Absolutely. And just you know and as recovery to start I started working with strains like, you know, pink Kush and blueberry and those like, heavy indica strains and really finding the benefits of what would happen as soon as I started to sleep a little bit better and then eat a little bit better, because, like, you come home from sparring and you're kind of like jacked up with pain, and then you kind of like toss and turn all night, and every time you turn over, you're like, oh, this hurts and that hurts, and you're not getting the sleep that you need.

Angelina 00:16:18 So then your body isn't recovering. But as soon as I started adding things like the sensory deprivation tanks with all of the magnesium and then, you know, a little bit of breathwork and then, you know, some edibles, like, I've really found that the recovery was better now it was after another severe concussion where I had to take some serious time off and wasn't able to have any kind of impact or have anyone punch at my face that I just started, like using it for shadow boxing and like running at at home. And that really made a huge difference in my mental state. Even so, you know, learning about my own flow and stuff became a really kind of cool thing. And then I started playing with sativa and, you know, learning about how they energized me and whatnot. So it, it was kind of a kind of cool, thing that I figured out or felt that I had figured out. So it was really fun for me to just to start my runs and, you know, rip a couple bongs and do that.

Angelina 00:17:15 And then I, you know, had gone to Kelowna and brought my legacy brand out there and, partnered with, Ross. So I was had all of my edibles. I made kombucha and chocolate and cookies and took it all to Cologne and sold it out of his store. And so that was a big, a great partnership just because he and I were athletes who got it, you know, and, And. Yeah, that was that was a really cool, fun time. Very illegal, but very cool time.

Margaret 00:17:42 Yeah, it sounds like, I mean, infused kombucha. That would be pretty. Pretty delicious, I think I love kombucha.

Angelina 00:17:47 It just, you know, I call it, like, the champagne of cannabis, right? So it was just like, something about those bubbles. I just I felt like it kind of went straight to your head and, you know, the, the benefits of the Scoby and ginger and all of that, it just, it was a really cool product.

Angelina 00:18:03 You know, I I'm so sad that making edibles in Ontario was such an expensive and overpriced thing. You know, I wanted to put out infused water and stuff, but like, there, like it's going to be $8 retail and like, we're still talking about water, right? So it's it's it's tough.

Margaret 00:18:18 But I've heard from a few people that have been in the edibles making game, like on the legal side that it's a double regulated industry. You have all your food regulations and on top of that you have the cannabis regulations making it a pile of regulations. Yeah.

Angelina 00:18:32 Health Canada's got their hand in there. The government's got their hand in their the ox has their hand in there. The sales license. People have their hand in there. It's it's an impossible situation. You know, like my my legal, you know, my legacy. Chocolate bar was $20, but you're getting 120mg of THC from it, you know, and then the legal bar was $10, and you're getting ten milligrams of THC in it.

Angelina 00:18:54 So it's it's hard to get people to do that, especially, you know, it was the middle of the pandemic and all of that. So like, who really had money for it. And then you see the chocolate bar companies that were doing well, and they've got a $5 piece of chocolate on the market that tastes like terrible. But people unfortunately that's where the economy's at. But they're like, I want to get high. It's five bucks. Whatever. So it's it's hard. That's just where we're at in this economy unfortunately. Yeah.

Margaret 00:19:21 Now were you using THC as well like during your training? It sounds like you were mentioning that you were using CBD for for recovery, but you were introducing THC into your training program?

Angelina 00:19:32 Yeah. The last few years of my training, there was always, you know, I would always smoke before I would go to the gym, you know, and not on a sparring day or anything like that. Because, like, your reaction time is different. Like, don't be fooled.

Angelina 00:19:43 but I like for warm ups, for tech sparring, for, you know, bag work. It's just gets me out of my head a little bit. And I'm always so, you know, ADHD and reeling that it's good just to kind of slow myself down a little bit. And that's kind of excuse me, what it does for me.

Margaret 00:19:59 Right, right. Yeah. I mean, that makes a lot of sense. A lot of people are trying to get out of their head all the time. So it would be very good for that. Now, you've also talked publicly about having cannabis hyperemesis syndrome. Can you talk about how you got the diagnosis and how you treated it in the aftermath? Because I think it's something that a lot of people hear about, but they don't necessarily understand.

Angelina 00:20:22 I had gone through a few years of like a severe depression and heavy, heavy anxiety post-pandemic. and I really wasn't sure what was kind of setting me off, but for years I'd been having nausea at different times of the day, and I always thought it was from possibly like overtraining or old concussion stuff or, you know, I had all sorts of weird things in my head about, you know, what it could be from.

Angelina 00:20:45 And then the symptoms just started getting worse and worse. And so the thing about cannabis hyperemesis syndrome is that I didn't, correlate that my nausea, was, because of the cannabis that I was consuming. Now, I was consuming a lot, a lot, a lot post-pandemic. Yeah. You know, I medicated myself into a bit of a corner, but, you know, I was, like, smoking quite a few bongs, quite a few infused joints. And then I was consuming hundreds of milligrams of either so or hash based edibles or rosin based edibles. And, I was starting to get, vomiting, severe, severe, severe pain in my, upper stomach and, right side. Pain through my shoulder. And, vomiting and trembling. Episodes that would last for hours in the middle of the night. Now, smoking cannabis during those would make me feel better. but then hours later, I would have another episode. So I took multiple trips, to the hospital I got I was taken out of my house in an ambulance one day because of my weakness.

Angelina 00:21:55 And, basically what happens is that, the sickness, will stop you from eating, and then it slowly starts to shut your kidneys down. I had two emergency room doctors try to, diagnose me with this, and I was in complete denial about it. I thought that cannabis did not hurt people. I thought that, I was quite safe with it, and educated about it. But, you know, after my second diagnosis and going over the, the list of symptoms, I, you know, me and my partner were both like, this is exactly what it is. So I had to do a severe detox, which was very uncomfortable for me. And, I was completely, sober from any cannabis products for six weeks. now, luckily, through the guidance of, amazing cannabis doctor and emergency room doctor, doctor IRA Pryce, from Hamilton, he, he told me that I could start to consume CBD again. So that was a bit of a godsend. And, And I figured that out.

Angelina 00:22:57 Now, it was really heartbreaking for me thinking that, oh, my gosh, I'm never going to be able to consume edibles again, because I was about six weeks away from going to Thailand to get to taste my Thailand chocolate bar. So I'm like, if I get all the way to Thailand and get sick from this, I'm just gonna.

Angelina 00:23:13 Be so unhappy.

Angelina 00:23:14 So, you know, I had been sober for six weeks and then got to Thailand and got to try a square of my chocolate, and it was awesome. And I didn't have any, any more symptoms. But I do have to be careful, because if I start to go on a path of, of overconsumption again, my body tells me almost right away, so I'll start to get nausea. I'll start to get the weird pain in my arm. I'll do weird stomach pains. so I do have to be really careful, so I, I've given up almost completely given up smoking flour. my hundreds of milligrams a night is probably, maybe once or twice a week at 5 to 8mg of THC.

Angelina 00:23:52 But, I'll. I'll put back as much CBD as I possibly can. We keep a bit of isolate around the house. CBD isolate so I can. I literally throw it into smoothies, coffees. You know anything? So.

Margaret 00:24:05 So the. So basically, you can still consume copious amounts of CBD, but not THC.

Angelina 00:24:11 No, I really have to. I really have to keep it, low again. Really, really low. So I'll smoke a couple dabs a day, of hash that I know where it comes from of, you know, we've made it. And, you know, I don't I can't I seem to have a bad reaction to a lot of the legal flower that's out there. You know, I think we I think that things aren't being tested properly. I think that there's a lot of I might be having reactions to anything, any of the nutrients that are being used, any of the preservatives that are being used. You know, unfortunately, people aren't being super honest within the, Ontario legal market as to what's actually going on in their flower.

Angelina 00:24:53 So I have to be.

Margaret 00:24:54 And sometimes the repercussions for some of these big companies are not that don't seem to have a lot of teeth.

Angelina 00:25:01 So I think if somebody has, if somebody say, buys a product and is unhappy with it, they don't take the kind of right steps. You know, so if somebody say gets a, I don't know, a bad quality flower or something that's moldy. People don't call Health Canada. They just call the brand. And the brand will be like, oh, let me send you a free bag of something. And that usually will solve the problem or shut the person up. But, you know, it really comes down to like if something is wrong with it, if you catch mold on it, then you call Health Canada and there needs to be a recall, you know?

Margaret 00:25:31 So yeah, absolutely. And you can't go on the Health Canada website and see recalls that they have. Oh, wow. yeah. I mean, the company has to be willing to take down that whole crop if it's got, you know.

Angelina 00:25:44 And imagine imagine the loss, right? Imagine the cost of that loss. So they're going to do.

Margaret 00:25:49 Everything because if it's profits over people, the odds are they're they're going to put the profits first and then and then here we are. But yeah. Yeah. so I really appreciate you sharing that story with me, because I think it's something that not a lot of people are willing to talk about because like you said, we have this belief that cannabis can solve all our ills. And I think it can solve a ton of ills for sure, for a lot of people. But you do have to be maybe mindful of your consumption sometimes, because the products that we're seeing on the market these days are so different than the ones we saw even 20 years ago, or let alone 50 years ago or whatever. So, yeah.

Angelina 00:26:25 And even what you're consuming and where you are, makes a difference, you know? So, like, if my stress levels are different, you know, I could smoke something and I could have, like, a bad anxiety reaction to it.

Angelina 00:26:36 So that's just because of my stress level being different. And everyone is different that way. Right. So like my, you know, my newer recommendations for people are definitely, you know, definitely starting with CBD. You know, it's you know, people are really over consuming high THC cannabis products. And I think that it's not helping people in the way that they think it is, you know.

Margaret 00:26:59 So yeah. Yeah. And I think also, you can consume a lot more CBD than you think. You can like to get some of those, like therapeutic benefits. You often need a lot more CBD than what you might get in a legal market. Edible.

Angelina 00:27:12 Yeah. Like consuming five milligrams of CBD isn't doing anything for anybody. So even though, like, say, the edible is ten milligrams of THC, having that five milligrams just kind of balances the product a little bit more, but it's not really doing anything for you, especially like athletes or women or older people. Like, I would love to see people eating at least 100mg of CBD per day.

Angelina 00:27:33 CBD. CBD doesn't work because you eat it one time. You know, it's more of a, more of an effect of, like, take it every single day and you're putting, like, a little bit of a barrier on your brain. It's helping, you know, what do I call it, like.

Margaret 00:27:48 Accumulates in the body, too, right? Like, it needs to accumulate a little bit before you sees the maximum benefits versus taking it one time.

Angelina 00:27:56 Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

Margaret 00:27:58 Now, do you have any advice for people who suspect they may be dealing with, like a cannabis hyperemesis? Am I saying that correctly?

Angelina 00:28:05 Cannabis hyperemesis? Yeah. you know, unfortunately, the only thing that you can really do for yourself is take a break from the products, and that is really difficult. And, I think we are a little bit more dependent on these products than we kind of want to admit or believe. So. weaning Meaning is important. And, you know, cold turkey may not always be the correct answer to.

Angelina 00:28:29 Which is what I tried to do. And I had, you know, I did not have a great reaction to it. You know, my endocannabinoid system was just like, this is not okay, but, Yeah, you need to talk to a doctor who knows something about it. And unfortunately, not a lot of Canadian doctors or, you know, Canadian doctors are familiar with it, but all they kind of tell you to do is quit. So there's, you know, I did, like, a bit of a kidney detox and liver detox and all of those things for myself, and, just gave my, you know, they say green tea really helps. And all of those kind of, bio accumulator kind of things, but, there just needs to be more research on it, and they're just really isn't. So I think kind of spreading the word about it is, is important. But, yeah.

Margaret 00:29:14 Yeah. No, I agree with you. Because like I said, so many people just want to discount that whole idea of cannabis being harmful in any way.

Margaret 00:29:21 But again, with legalization, we're seeing really potent products on the market, and if you're consuming those, you know, extensively, then you might be crashing at your endocannabinoid system, because that's all about physical balance, right? Like the purpose is to balance out all the systems in your body. And yeah, if you're leaning too heavy one way, but nobody wants to hear that they have to take a tolerance break. It's always better when you choose to take a tolerance break than when you're forced to. So yeah.

Angelina 00:29:49 Yeah, it wasn't fun. It wasn't fun. I was really happy when I could go back to it. And, but it was also nice to kind of start over because I was really, not good about kind of forcing myself to do tolerance breaks over the last 10 or 15 years. Right? You just get so comfortable with where you're at and you get so comfortable, like sleeping right through the night. And, you know, as a woman my age, I don't always sleep through the night.

Angelina 00:30:11 So, you know, I never wanted to kind of take that way, take that away from myself. And I never wanted to have to depend on, say, pills or, prescriptions to kind of get through that either.

Margaret 00:30:21 So naturally and like you, like you, I do use a lot of cannabis in the evenings and it does help. Sleep is one of the benefits of it. And when I don't, I definitely notice those vivid dreams that.

Angelina 00:30:33 I'm definitely, definitely.

Margaret 00:30:35 For. So yeah.

Angelina 00:30:37 You're like, wow, what am I doing? You know, the days that I eat a ton of edibles and I wake up the next day and I realize I haven't rolled over, I'm like, am I getting a good sleep? I'm not sure.

Margaret 00:30:45 But yeah. Now, changing gears just a little bit, you're a muay Thai athlete and you embody the image of a powerful woman. So does this translate into business and what's been your experience as a woman in a pretty male dominated industry? And that could that could probably be towards both the Muay Thai fighting and the cannabis industry.

Angelina 00:31:07 I think, with the kind of generation of fighters that I got to grow up with in, like in Thailand and Toronto, I was usually one of the only females in the room, which I kind of liked. And I wasn't really you know, I was treated a bit different in Bangkok and some of the gyms that I trained in because of the, say, superstition that comes with women, you know, the, the, original big Muay Thai stadiums had signs on the side of the ring in Thai that says women are not allowed to touch this, you know, so there were, you know, women weren't allowed to fight in the big stadiums just until, I believe, the last two years. so it's, you know, there were even rings that I wasn't allowed to step into where I had to train on the floor. Now, I always got treated very well. but I think that, you know, I don't feel the kind of stereotype towards myself because I think there's a level of toughness to me.

Angelina 00:32:05 And, maybe sometimes that might bring a little bit of fear, but I think that's okay. but I, I really haven't dealt with stereotypes in the market because I feel that I've brought a bit of a specialty to it. And, and I think people kind of maybe respect what I've done. And, and I appreciate that. So, you know, I don't feel that I was treated super well within the, legal, legal market in Canada, but I feel that the legal market in Canada is run by people, for the most part, that don't actually care about the community that's behind it. They're very it's very rare, that those people are still left. You know, a lot of the legacy, producers got, walked out, got IP stolen from them. so I'm happy that I still have, even though, like, my, my bars aren't on the Canadian market anymore. I think we kind of took them off at a good time, but, Yeah, I think I yeah, I think,

Margaret 00:33:08 You haven't had to deal with it too much, which I haven't had always nice to hear.

Margaret 00:33:10 It's always nice to hear when. Yeah. Because I don't like to hear the bad stories, to be honest. Although it sounds like your experience with the Ontario legal market was in itself not a great story or not a great experience for yourself either.

Angelina 00:33:22 No, not a great story at all. You know, like the people that we dealt with, took care of themselves and their brands first, but they promised us to do a lot with our brands. And, so it wasn't just blessed that came in, it was blessed. And a few other really cool brands from the legacy market, and they just kind of took our stuff and, you know, put out some products, but didn't push it in the way that they should have, didn't communicate with us in the way they should have and definitely did not pay us. So. Right. so that was, a massive heartbreak and something that, you know, if it had happened in the legacy market, people would have literally been slapped for it.

Angelina 00:34:00 But for some reason, the robberies that kind of happened, are allowed within the legal market.

Margaret 00:34:06 So which doesn't make a lot of sense. It's like that white collar crime that just gets looked the other way. Whereas if it was any other kind of crime, the book would be thrown at them. We'd be hauled off to jail.

Angelina 00:34:17 And like, I think people just don't check resumes, which is crazy to me. So these people can be allowed to take companies bank, bank, bankrupt companies, not support the brands that they promise to, but they can still move on and take over other companies and take on other brands and still keep going. So, you know, like, if I bankrupted a company, I hope the next person wouldn't hire me. You know, if they look at my resume and be like, oh, wow, she did a terrible job running that company. So like, why are more brands signing with these people? But I think that's the thing is that people don't go like, I never went online and named names and I never went online.

Angelina 00:34:56 And like said, so-and-so needs a slap. You know, like, even though I say it at home a lot, but, you know. but I think that's it, you know, like, we'll probably have to fight in court for years if we ever get to see anything from it, but, Right. You know, it's sad that we weren't taking care of in the way that we were promised.

Margaret 00:35:15 For sure. Yeah. For sure. Now, I also wanted to mention you, you mentioned in Thailand how some women weren't allowed to. Well, some women weren't allowed to fight in certain rings until a couple of years ago. And I'm just curious. This is a little off topic, perhaps, but are you seeing more of a resurgence in women's sport? Because I feel like in Canada and maybe in the US, there is a lot more interest in women's sport now. And I think that's really exciting. Actually.

Angelina 00:35:41 The level of fighters that I see coming out of Thailand right now, I'm just so excited for because, you know, there were like the original women that I got to kind of grow up around, like the Kaylie Reeses, you know, and, you know, the Julie Kitchens and those women, but they were rare.

Angelina 00:35:57 You know, there was like a handful of them. And now the level of the women that are coming out that are just shredded and super talented and super aggressive and, just amazing at what they do. So, like, I'm really I'm really excited for them. You know, I wish I was ten years younger again, that I could still be a part of that, but it's just, like, they're badass and it's Thai women and it's, you know, it's women from all over the world. So the, easiness of traveling to Thailand and becoming a part of a gym and all of that, it's very different than when I started going in 2005, and we didn't even have, like, you know, we barely had a, like an internet cafe that we could send emails from. Right? So like, now with, like, Google Translate and, you know, TikTok advice and stuff, like, people are able to get to Thailand and do it a lot easier. So, you know, when I went in 2005, I was dropped off by a bunch of people that, you know, did not speak English.

Angelina 00:36:54 And then I had to find my way back to the gym at 6:00 in the morning, getting chased by dogs. And, you know, it was just, you know, it was me in a room full of Thai boys that didn't speak English and were just like, who was this girl? You know, like, why is she even here? Girl? Yeah.

Margaret 00:37:10 You're in Thailand. Yeah. So you are seeing it and it makes sense that you're seeing it in fighting, because I'm also seeing it like basketball and soccer and like all these areas where women's sport seems to be growing, and there's a lot of fans who are coming out to see games and fights and all that kind of thing.

Angelina 00:37:24 What's the what's that rugby player that, that American rugby player. And she's just like.

Margaret 00:37:29 She.

Angelina 00:37:29 Was like, I own a mayor or something like that. What's her name?

Margaret 00:37:32 Yeah, she's. I think that was pretty brilliant.

Angelina 00:37:34 Like, she's like a girl crush. I'm like, why are you so powerful and cool and, like.

Angelina 00:37:39 And I think that's, you know, like, when I see, like, little girls fighting on, like a TikTok video or whatever, like these little badass, like, six year old girls, just like choking boys out, you know, in MMA tournaments and whatnot. I'm just like, this is just the best thing for them. You know, little, little girls growing up strong is just like such an empowering thing to see and something that I just like, love and would push forever. Like if I had a little girl, she would be in jiu jitsu so quick. Like that kind of strength and empowerment, that kind of, you know, I think that's where you get a lot of your confidence from, like walking down the street. And sometimes I'm like, I could beat that person up and I could beat that person up, you know? So like, it gives you like this non fear of just walking around. And I think there is so much fear in our society right now.

Angelina 00:38:25 I think like having that strength, you know, knowing that you could lift yourself up over a wall if you needed to, you know, like it's, you know, like I think there's just too much badness in the world right now to not be kind of protected in that way.

Margaret 00:38:36 Right? Yeah, exactly. Which brings me back to edibles and beyond recovery. Are there any other benefits you believe edibles offer people who use them, and how do you usually educate your audience about them?

Angelina 00:38:48 I think it's kind of, you know, like the conversations that we're not allowed to have in Ontario for marketing purposes or whatever. I could have never said, CBD will help you or eat this and your body's going to feel better. But in Thailand we can, you know, and that. So that's exciting. So, you know, I think that yeah, people just need to have the conversations about why they would want to medicate. And I think that's where it comes from. Like, are you medicating for pain? Are you medicating because you need to sleep or are you medicating just to, you know, ignore your husband for a few hours? Like what's, you know, what's why are you here? And I think that's I think that's a really important place to start.

Angelina 00:39:27 You know, like I started medicating because I had severe body pain and didn't want to take pills, and I was having severe anxiety and didn't really know what to do with myself. So, you know, I think everyone's question could be different or should be different.

Margaret 00:39:41 And yeah, I think it sounds like that just goes back to the intention of why you're consuming so you can consume mindfully. And that's not to say that you can't still consume, you know, large amounts if that's what you're into. But just doing it with a knowledge of why you're doing it.

Angelina 00:39:55 Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Margaret 00:39:57 Yeah. I don't I don't think people talk about that enough or they should be talking about it more, but that is important. Now, I am curious because you've mentioned you spent so much time in Thailand, which I think is wonderful And you are so smart to get away from those Canadian, shitty Canadian winters. Wow. A little envious over here. I mean, it's a beautiful day today, but Canadian winters are notoriously shit.

Margaret 00:40:21 Yeah. What are some of the key differences you've observed in cannabis culture and consumption practices between Canada and Thailand?

Angelina 00:40:30 Canada, Thailand just kind of opened it up in a whole way that I'm not going to say is better or not, but they started right away with your consumption spaces. You know, like I my chocolate bars are in medicine in Thailand. And like, what a space like number one looks like a mac store. number two had an incredible flower selection, edibles selection, incredibly educated staff. But when you walked in and you say bought a gram, they give you a rolling tray with a grinder with papers. and you can there are a bunch of different seating areas. There was a safe room that had video games and couches. You know, you had two different patio rooms and they wanted you to stay, but they were also serving alcohol. So like in the in the fridge was like beers and edibles and, you know, and drinks and whatnot. So it was like I don't, you know, especially in such a tourist kind of place.

Angelina 00:41:28 I'm not sure if that's the safest thing because you've got tourists, who may or may not be comfortable with cannabis, who are now, putting it with, alcohol and then possibly getting on a scooter to get themselves back to their hotel. Right. So it's, you know, I really appreciate the openness of what I saw. You know, it was anything from people on street corners with card tables and weed and glass jars. And I think that's like one of my favorite things from the legacy days in Ontario was the fact that you could go into a shop, you can see the flower, you know, like, I'm not going to buy a, you know, I guess if I was buying online, maybe. But like if I was going to buy a sweater, I'd like to see it. I'd like to touch it, I'd like to look at it, you know, but, not being able to see the cannabis, not being able to smell the cannabis like my body tells me right away when I smell weed, if I want it or not, you know, like it's an absolute like, yes or no for me.

Angelina 00:42:23 So, you know, I love the Thailand places that allow for that. Now, there's some really great things going on. Like, my friend Brian Lunt owns a place called The Beach, which is a the first licensed, cannabis hotel. And they are like super, super into wellness. And they have like a natural doctor that will talk about what you want. They have a lot of really heavy CBD products in there. And you have the option of having my chocolate bar on your pillow at the hotel. And that was just like, oh, that's the best thing ever. But I think that's how it should be. And, you know, there is that discussion of like, is this product suited for you and how is it going to make you feel. And you know, so they are able to have, you know, they're doing like a breath and bud workshops where you can do breathing and it's, you know, you can consume and they offer you whatever you want to, you know, and I just, you know, I think that's a really beautiful thing.

Angelina 00:43:20 And Ontario is kind of like, lacking that, you know? So it's, you know, I, you know, I it's sad that we can't really talk about the benefits of what cannabis does for you in Ontario, and it just puts us in a weird kind of place of like, I don't know, you can still have alcohol. Advertisements. Right. And you can see people drinking and smoking, whatever. So it's it's terrible that cannabis can't have the same, affiliation, you know.

Margaret 00:43:51 Yeah. And also the fact that we're six years at this point into legalization, we still don't have any, like, consumption lounges, I think is kind of a missed opportunity because I'm sure a lot of people who come to visit places like Toronto or any other big city in Canada would love to be able to come and sit down and just buy enough weed to roll a joint and enjoy it. Right. But that's still not a thing. I mean, they just legislated to be able to take the paper out of the windows or whatever.

Margaret 00:44:17 So you could see into the store.

Angelina 00:44:19 Like I'm like, yeah, that took us six years. I'm like, that's so sad. I'm like, so you can bring your kid into the Lcbo, buy as much booze as you could possibly ever put in a trolley that doesn't have a single warning label on it. Like, tell me how a bottle of 151 proof doesn't have a warning label on it. Like the level of sickness that I would get from drinking that. But then like a pre-roll has like, you know, if you.

Angelina 00:44:43 Consume this, all bad things are gonna happen.

Angelina 00:44:45 You know? I'm like, yeah, I know, but don't worry about the vodka, you know, or whatever. So, but, you know, like, I loved I love Thailand because, like, when I got to the beach seminar, you know, the staff brought up brought me a bong to my room. I'm just like, where.

Angelina 00:45:01 Am I right now? This is amazing.

Angelina 00:45:03 You know.

Angelina 00:45:04 So. And I love that like any of the consumption spaces that you in. And you could either rent a bong, you know, they would clean it, they'd bring it over like it's just, you know. How was that? Not awesome. And it was awesome. And, you know.

Margaret 00:45:16 It only sounds like it's a little more, even though legalization has been newer for them and it's gone through some fits and starts. Yeah, that they're more quickly normalizing it a little bit so that it's not like this back alley thing. You can go to a nice hotel and have them bring a bong to your room or.

Angelina 00:45:33 Right.

Margaret 00:45:34 CBD chocolates on your pillow. I mean, that sounds amazing, right?

Angelina 00:45:37 And like, how was that? I don't know, like, most, most people will go to Thailand and get absolutely, like hammered drunk when they get there. And like, that seems to be way more dangerous than a bunch of people say, sitting in their hotel room and maybe eating a 5 or 10 milligram chocolate.

Angelina 00:45:50 Right. So.

Margaret 00:45:50 And yet, if I was to go to a hotel in Toronto and ask for a bong, they would probably look at me like I had three heads.

Angelina 00:45:55 Like like you got you're not smoking on our property. Yeah. Like.

Angelina 00:45:59 Yeah. Yeah.

Angelina 00:46:00 Let alone even getting a patio on your hotel room. Right? So. Yeah.

Margaret 00:46:03 Well, the last time I stayed at a hotel in Toronto was a while ago. But I did make sure to get a hotel that had a patio a little.

Angelina 00:46:08 That's nice.

Angelina 00:46:09 Yeah, it has.

Angelina 00:46:10 To be done outside. Has to be done.

Margaret 00:46:13 Yeah. Now you've. I've also learned that you're a hash maker. what brought you to hash in the first place?

Angelina 00:46:19 Well, it was kind of crazy. That was, because of my partner, Joe. my partner Joe has been a long, long time hash maker. And, we got together, like, 3 or 4 years ago now, and he was just, like, such a breath of fresh air in my life.

Angelina 00:46:33 And he's always been pushing for brands. He was, he helped a lot with, the hash corporation in the beginning. he's designed a lot of, products on the market. He helped bring Fritz's hash, rosin, edibles to, legal market. He's done a lot. Designed a lot of the hash snake, pre-rolls, say, for Benny and whatnot. So, when Jim and I got together, What I always say is that he put his hash in my chocolate, and we just kind of were inseparable ever since. So, me taking my chocolate bar from being a distillate and isolate based bar into a full spectrum, hash edible was, I found life changing for me. I find that the, buzz of hash is, much more, medicinal as opposed to. Yeah, I always kind of, say that, like, a distillate buzz is much more of a punch in the face with THC, where, a hash buzz is much more of, like, a gentle hug on the couch. And I think, you know, if you ever experienced hash when you were in high school or whatnot, you remember how kind of chill that was.

Angelina 00:47:45 And I think that's kind of how people want to feel off cannabis products. but we've kind of we're just, you know, I think starting with distillate in the legal market was a real mistake for us. And, I think that it is kind of slowly backtracking now and people are kind of figuring out, the benefits of how hash makes you actually feel. now he and I, Joe and I started, making hash together, and he, in all of he works as a quality. he does QA work for the cannabis industry. so he does a lot of regulatory work that way. so I took over the lab for us, and we were just making a lot of, craft cannabis for friends of ours. And, I like to mostly work with, like, fresh frozen material, and, it's become a real, learning curve for me. I was always in the kitchen and whatnot with my edibles making, but now I spend most of my day, in the lab and, and producing, bubble hash.

Angelina 00:48:44 And that's been really fun for me. And, and kind of cool, exciting work. So it's been really nice to see, to take flower from people that I really trust, where the quality is beautiful, where they freeze it in the proper way for me, and then I can make it into anything. So it's it's nice to be able to have products at home that I can trust and consume and feel really good about. So.

Margaret 00:49:10 And I think you are on to something, because I'm starting to see a little bit more of full spectrum products in the drinks and edibles space. Yeah, because I think, you know, the companies are starting to realize that distillate, like you said, it is like a punch in the face. It hurts for a bit and then it goes away. And then the full spectrum is very gentle and it lasts longer and it's just an overall better experience.

Angelina 00:49:36 And absolutely.

Margaret 00:49:37 I think people are now starting to get smart enough, like the consumers, that that's what they're going to gravitate.

Margaret 00:49:41 That's what I gravitate towards anyway. Like if it's if I have a choice between distillate and a full spectrum, it's full spectrum 100% and people are getting really creative with that in the market. So I'm really happy to hear that you've gotten into that. And I did smoke a ton of bottle talks in high schools, so.

Angelina 00:50:00 I can't believe how I smoked hash in high school. I'm lucky to be alive, really. But you know. yeah. The bottle toke days are. That's insane. But, Yeah, like on a cigarette and whatnot. I'm just like, wow.

Margaret 00:50:12 But I smoked them too, so.

Angelina 00:50:14 Yeah. Me too. Me too.

Margaret 00:50:17 Yeah. And you see, I guess the next question I was going to ask is if there's any common misconceptions about edibles and hash that you'd like to clarify to the listeners.

Angelina 00:50:29 Joe and I always have a kind of funny conversation about it because, like, when you see any of the hash draws in online, I think people really kind of celebrate, a wider hash as being better.

Angelina 00:50:40 And I think that is really based in some racist bullshit. you know, I don't believe that a wider hash is a better hash. I believe that a wider hash, could possibly be slightly cleaner, but you're also removing a lot of the plant material from it, and you're removing a lot of the kind of goodness from it. So I think the stereotype of white hash being a better hash is not necessarily the correct answer. I believe as much of the goodness you can leave in it, it makes it kind of more of a broad spectrum kind of energy. And I, I like that. I don't think you need to strip it down and strip it down and strip it down. but, I, I do believe that, people will kind of catch on a lot more to eating hash products and, and definitely seeing the benefits of what's going on there.

Margaret 00:51:23 Right. So you see people eating them, eating it more even.

Angelina 00:51:27 Well, I know I do. Right. Like I think, you know, I think when you give somebody the difference of, say, if you take, so she, she's making hash rolls and gummies now, and, and I love him and he's a, he's an incredible, incredible, person in the legal market and very deserving of what he's doing.

Angelina 00:51:47 but I think if you take his gummies or one of the Fritts hash rolls and gummies and compare it to just a distillate gummy, mean, there is just such a massive difference and people weren't educated on it in the beginning, but I think people are kind of seeing the light with it right now and seeing the massive difference in, in, in quality and how it makes you feel and I think strain specific even better. You know, we tried some products, last night. I usually don't consume, legal edibles very often, but there is a brand called Ali out there, and they were doing some really cool things with other minor cannabinoids. You know, they were doing CPC, they're doing CBD, G they were doing THC, and all of that is very medicinal benefits. And so they're still putting in the ten milligrams of THC, but putting in all of those other minor cannabinoids, is just a whole other, new step in, in, in showing people the benefits and actually how you can make it quite a bit stronger as opposed to just the ten milligrams of THC.

Margaret 00:52:47 Right. And I am seeing, I think, a lot more home edible makers incorporating concentrates into their edibles more for a few different reasons, one being that they can, if they know the potency of the material they're working with, they can use a lot less of that to like, infuse, and then they can better predict the potency to or calculate the potency.

Angelina 00:53:09 Absolutely. Like if you buy a gram of bubble hash or you buy a gram of rosin off of the OCS website, it'll tell you exactly what the percentage is. You know, you're melting that down into your D, carving it, melting it down into a butter or an oil or something. And you can literally throw that into anything. And you're going to know approximately, you know, once you divvy out your portions, which one? You know, what each square is going for or whatever. If you're making brownies or cookies or whatever, it's an easy divide. But when you're just doing it from flour, especially if it's untested, especially if you don't know if you do it for the right amount of time or, butter loss or whatever, you're not sure.

Angelina 00:53:48 And like, that's like the first bunch of edibles I made. You know, we were really guessing in the beginning, right? And then we figured it out, especially as we moved more to a distillate product and whatnot. But, you know, I'm sure the first 3 or 4 batches were completely wrong. You know, they were probably 25mg as opposed to 250mg. I was just putting the zero or the decimal in the wrong place. Right. But, you know, I think, you know, when we had spoken about recipes, it's just it is easy to just make stuff at home now and you can do it with a legal oil, or you could do it with like a gram of hash or whatever. Or you could even take any of the edibles that are on the market, say a chocolate, melt it down. you know, there's all sorts of really cool products that you can work with just to be able to medicate yourself at home.

Margaret 00:54:33 Yeah, yeah, the options are are vast, and it's kind of an exciting time to be in this, in this space.

Margaret 00:54:39 Just because there are so many more options. Though I do know a lot of growers that will forever use their own flour and aren't necessarily testing it, but you can sort of figure it out, but you're always kind of guessing a little bit.

Angelina 00:54:50 Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, it'd be really hard. I think it'd be hard to do that in the, in the legal market, especially because, like, every batch is going to be a little bit different too. Right.

Margaret 00:54:57 So yeah.

Angelina 00:54:58 For sure.

Margaret 00:54:59 Yeah. That's really cool that you're into into hash making because that's something I want to try myself. But it's just.

Angelina 00:55:05 You know, it's really hard, cold, wet, dirty work. Yeah. and extremely heavy and hard on the back because I am literally lifting buckets filled with water. Right. so I felt that, you know, my training as a muay Thai fighter really kind of set me up for this. you know, I have funny back muscles now from lifting buckets as opposed to face punching, but, it's, you know, it's been a really cool experience, and there are so very few women that do it.

Angelina 00:55:34 You know, I know of maybe five in North America, 5 to 10 in North America. You know, there's cherry, cherry blossom and, you know, we've I've got Caitlin out in Kelowna and it's just, you know, there's there's very few of us, you know, meal of the hash maker like super classic amazing women like that. And, I think that hash making has been a real bro world for a long time, and I feel a super deep connection to it. And I'm like, this plant is female. Tell me we're not supposed to be doing this. Right. So I, you know, it's it's been very empowering. And anytime you want to come to the lab, you're more than welcome. And I super encourage it. you know, I can have you have you fill in bags or whatnot, but it's, you know, it's cool. And I like being down there, and I can kind of live my life down there and, play my music and do all the things and smoke weed if I want to.

Angelina 00:56:30 And it's, you know, it's cool. So the next kind of, journey for that is that, I'm going to be setting up a, hopefully setting up a hash lab in Thailand and working with some of the companies out there. which will be interesting, but I think my kind of opinion on hash making is that, you know, especially like the Ontario market, again, ruining things. But, you know, they tried to make it into like a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday sort of thing, where to me, hash making is very seasonal and weather dependent. And, you know, like in like Morocco or Afghanistan, you know, they're not making hash full time. You know, they were doing it when it was time to do it. And I think that's kind of an important thing that we need to think about. like, I will be shutting down for a little bit soon because, you know, it's definitely the end of season. And, you know, we're not expecting more plant material until, you know, September, October again.

Angelina 00:57:24 And it also is really hot. And to you have to have a very, very cold room to do it. You have to keep it at a certain temperature or else you're going to ruin it. So it's, it's, it's cool, like, I, I love it and it's super empowering, especially to make my own input for for my friends, for myself, you know? So it's.

Margaret 00:57:45 Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. And I it's always nice to know where your where your final product is coming from. Like I do like to get flour from friends or things like that. And it's always nice to know because I know exactly how they grew it. I've seen their size and stuff like that. Right. It's, it is really nice to be able to have access to that. Now you'll just mention it briefly, but you said you're going to potentially set up a hash lab in Thailand. Which brings me to my next question, which is if you have any new initiatives or projects with Blessed Edibles coming up.

Margaret 00:58:13 Sounds like that might be a big one.

Angelina 00:58:16 That's going to that's going to be a big one. And then we're working on a couple of, new products for for Thailand as well, just to kind of continue on with the blessed line. my products in Thailand are doing pretty well. So we'd like to, probably launch a new chocolate bar with just some, different input. I don't think that THC and CBD is the end all be all for, wellness and, recovery. I think you need to, you know, start with the food that you're eating and the water that you're consuming and the social media that you're consuming. And, you know, really figuring those things out. Now, I'm not going to suggest that people who haven't smoked hash before just go out and get a hash infused pre-roll and, you know, give it a go. But, you know, smaller amounts of it, or starting with, say, a gummy that had small amounts of hash in it just to give yourself a bit of a, a taste of kind of what's going on is really important.

Angelina 00:59:13 And, being in a safe place, an environment, while you consume is important. I'm not going to suggest that you eat a hash gummy and head to a muay Thai class where you've never been before. You know, I think that could be a little dangerous or or fun, I don't know, but, Yeah, I, you know, I think that, a safe place of consumption is always important and consuming around people that are, knowledgeable about the product as well. Now, I always try to leave my DMs open for anyone that has questions about those sort of things. because I think that sharing that information is, you know, there's no point of gatekeeping that kind of info. Right? So.

Margaret 00:59:49 Yeah, you want to make sure that people have the best experience they can possibly have. So they'll try it again because cameras are wonderful most of the time.

Angelina 00:59:56 You know, if you, you you could go home and have a, vodka soda and feel okay. Right. But if you go home and drink a, you know, Mickey of vodka and whatever, you're probably not going to feel that great.

Angelina 01:00:09 You know, I feel like there's medicinal benefits and everything. Like, I'm not a I'm not a pro alcohol person at all. But I think that, you know, small amounts of things can be really good and beneficial. But I think like CBD with, a magnesium float and, you know, some meditation and, you know, a healthy, good meal with all the right fats in it can really benefit as well.

Margaret 01:00:30 So yeah, that sounds amazing. That's great advice. Now final question. What would surprise people about you?

Angelina 01:00:39 Oh, that's that's a great question. probably that I'm really super soft. I think I'm pretty, pretty soft, kid. But, things that surprise,

Margaret 01:00:52 I mean, that's a great answer right there, because you said earlier that you're pretty tough, which I believe. But then you're suggesting you have the softer side that perhaps doesn't.

Angelina 01:01:00 I think all the toughest fighters are really soft humans, and I think that it's because we've had to, train so hard and be so vicious and all of that, that I think having those kind of skills hopefully will make you a humbler human and, maybe a little bit softer.

Angelina 01:01:18 And I, I think that's really important. you know, I, I haven't been training a whole lot because of financial stresses. And we moved to Hamilton and all of those things. So, getting back into that is, has been a bit of a hard chore, and, and I think that surprises people that I'm not training as much anymore. But, you know, I'm a little bit older, and I think me finding that softness to myself and not feeling it to be a necessity to go train twice a day has been really healthy for my cortisol levels. So even though I probably feel a little bit lazy, lazier than I used to. I think it's important for me to learn. Learn the slow as well. I think that's really important for a lot of people. I think society has really pushed us to go as hard and fast and non-stop, and I'm so busy and like, why are you so busy? You know, like, I, I don't think that's that. Go, go, go is not like it's not healthy.

Angelina 01:02:18 And that's how I pushed myself from 30 to 40. you know, in the gym twice a day, plus baking cookies, plus delivering edibles, plus working at a salon like it was. I was just wound right. My phone going off all the time. Now my phone doesn't go off, you know? So I'm just like, okay, we're gonna go walk the dog, okay? I'm gonna be outside, okay? Yeah, but.

Margaret 01:02:38 Yeah, that hustle culture is pretty, pretty prevalent in North America, for sure. And finding ways to slow down, I think is, is wise because we all needed that a little bit. But I just want to say thank you so much. Oh, did you have one last thing to add?

Angelina 01:02:51 Well, I just wanted to say I think a the kind of cool thing for me is that I've just started teaching an all women's Muay Thai class at a place called Soi Dogs MMA, which is in Hamilton. And, being able to program, all women's class has been really beneficial to me because, the way that I was taught, to go harder, go faster, do burpees, you know, just grind, grind, grind.

Angelina 01:03:16 You know, like being able to kind of, program a class that has to do a lot with, getting your heart rate up and then a lot of mobility. but then teaching women like how to fight is, has been super empowering. And I think, I think that's really cool so that I can, you know, I can bring back, you know, I can still talk to them about, like, wellness and cannabis afterwards after class. But, you know, I've also started doing Thai massage. So being able to, use like hash rods and creams on my like doing infused Thai massages on people for recovery has been, has been a really cool kind of next step in my in my wellness kind of chapters too. So.

Margaret 01:03:55 Right. That sounds amazing. Well, Angelina, thank you so much for being with me today and sharing your story with the listeners about me, and I wish you all the best in all your upcoming adventures.

Angelina 01:04:06 Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate being here.

Margaret 01:04:09 Wow. Angelina is one amazing woman. I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. You can find where to connect with Angelina in the show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with somebody that you think will enjoy it too. And we'll continue the conversation over the Bite Me Cannabis Club, and you can stay up to date with All things Bite Me by signing up for the newsletter over on the website. Until next week, my friends. I am your host, Margaret. Stay. Hi.