Margaret 00:00:05 What happens when you take a love of food, a passion for culture, and a deep knowledge of cannabis and you toss them all into one bowl, you get Bite me! The podcast that explores the intersection of food, culture, science and cannabis and helps cooks make great edibles at home. I am your host, Margaret, a Certified Ganjier TCI Certified Cannabis Educator, and I believe your kitchen is the best dispensary you'll ever have. Together, we'll explore the stories, the science, and the sheer joy of making safe, effective, and unforgettable edibles at home. So preheat your oven and get ready for a great episode. Let's dive in. Welcome to Cannabis Confessions, an exclusive series brought to you by Bite Me, the show about edibles and the Bite Me Cannabis Club. This is the place where cannabis lovers like you come together to share their personal journey with this remarkable plant. And in each episode, you'll hear real stories from members of the Bite Me Cannabis Club and listeners of the show exploring their first encounters with cannabis, how it shaped their lives, their favourite ways to enjoy it.

Margaret 00:01:05 And today I welcome Madison, also known as Free Nugs, and we touch on the tolerance break that we just both did together and the impacts of that break. These conversations are honest, inspiring, and uniquely personal, and this series is all about connection and community. So without further ado, please enjoy this conversation with Madison. All right. We are live and we are doing a cannabis confessions today. And I am joined by a certain special someone. But, maybe I'll let you introduce yourself. Let us know what your name is, what you'd like to go by. If you have any pronouns you like to use.

Madison 00:01:49 my name is Madison, aka Free Nugs. If you guys are, you know, have heard me ask a bunch of questions on High on Homegrown and I live in Maine, Vacationland, New England and yeah, that's me.

Margaret 00:02:05 So you have a climate very similar to my own being in Maine. And it's a beautiful sunny day today here and is, is cannabis legal where you live in Maine?

Madison 00:02:15 Yes.

Madison 00:02:16 Cannabis is legal both medicinally and recreationally. it's I think it was 2016 or 2014 when it became recreational around here. It's it's been a while, I'm pretty sure.

Margaret 00:02:36 Is that one of the earlier states then like, I can't remember how long California's been legal for, but you've been legal then before Canada even.

Madison 00:02:43 It's let me let me just look that up because I hate being wrong.

Margaret 00:02:48 We all do, don't we? There's almost no excuse for it anymore. Because when you were. When we were younger, at least for me.

Madison 00:02:54 2017.

Margaret 00:02:56 Okay, that.

Madison 00:02:57 Might be in 17.

Margaret 00:02:58 Years. Canada. Now I'm looking like I don't know what I'm talking about either, but it's been a minute.

Madison 00:03:03 I know it's it's been a while for sure.

Margaret 00:03:05 Yeah, yeah, it's and I'm sure as you know, it's like it's pretty nice to be in a legal jurisdiction. You don't have to look over your shoulder all the time. Yeah, yeah. so to get into it today with our cannabis confessions, can you share the story of your first experience with cannabis and maybe how that's evolved over time?

Madison 00:03:26 Yeah.

Madison 00:03:27 my first experience was in a bedroom with a group of friends in high school. We were just, like, hanging out, and I was in one room hanging out with, like, the dudes in the other room. And then there was a bunch of, you know, female friends in the other room. And I went in there like, we're we're smoking weed. I was like, okay, you know, I was very naive teenager and, you know, so I was just sitting there, we were just hanging out listening to music because I just wanted to chill with them and they're like, do you? Do you want to try it? And I was like, I guess I never tried it before. And you know. Eventually we did and we all had a great time. And I ended up just hanging out with those guys more and more. And we just getting high laugh and listening to music and just having a good time. And that was my first encounter with cannabis.

Margaret 00:04:14 And sort of the rest is history.

Margaret 00:04:15 I mean, that sounds like a pretty classic first experience. You're hanging out with your friends, somebody has weed and you decide to partake.

Madison 00:04:21 Exactly. For sure.

Margaret 00:04:23 No. If I hear if I heard that correctly, was it the women like the the women that you're hanging out with? Were they the ones smoking cannabis?

Madison 00:04:30 Yeah, yeah.

Margaret 00:04:31 Oh, and the guys weren't.

Madison 00:04:33 No, no, they were more interested in playing the video games than doing the computers.

Margaret 00:04:38 Oh, that's really interesting. I don't know why I find that interesting, but.

Madison 00:04:41 They were they were more of a rebellious type. The the females.

Margaret 00:04:45 Yeah. Well, you don't have to tell me. I was smoking cannabis in high school, too.

Madison 00:04:49 But.

Margaret 00:04:50 It just seemed like a lot of the guys were smoking weed, and maybe I just fell into that group. And I mean, there was obviously other like girlfriends that I had that were smoking weed too. But yeah, just kind of interesting because I don't know why I find that interesting, I just do.

Madison 00:05:05 I was also a very sheltered kid, so like, I, I would have believed that nobody smoked unless they, like were like, hey, you know, smoking it right in front of me. And I'm also very gullible. So if you tell me one thing, I'm probably going to believe it.

Margaret 00:05:19 Right. Well, you know, I was pretty sheltered, too, because I grew up in a very religious household. So, you know, cannabis was definitely the devil's lettuce as far as my.

Madison 00:05:27 Parents.

Margaret 00:05:28 Were concerned. I mean, they never referred to it as such, but they wouldn't have had that kind of lingo. But still, it was it was definitely frowned upon. And I smoked a lot of hash in high school every time I came home. Like it still is to this day. One of my favorite snacks is a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and I don't eat those very often anymore, but I prefer honey over jam or jelly. But every time I would come home from being out with my friends and I was having that snack.

Margaret 00:05:57 my mom always assumed I was high because I was eating something sweet, and she had joined some support group for parents of kids who smoked weed. Oh, geez. And I mean, she was right 50% of the time. Probably, but.

Madison 00:06:10 Right. But it also makes you feel like crap because you're like, mom, I'm not high, but, you know, my peanut butter and honey sandwich?

Margaret 00:06:18 Yeah. Because I also grew up in a household where we had, like, nothing sugary or sweet because they were all like it was. We were like an ingredient household. And, so that was like, literally my only option. We never had any sweet snacks. They waited until after my sister and I moved out of the house before they started buying real treats. So, you know, peanut butter and honey was like the only sweet thing. And I do have a sweet tooth. So yeah.

Madison 00:06:41 I do too.

Margaret 00:06:42 Yeah. So now, I mean, obviously you must have enjoyed cannabis when you first experienced it back in the day.

Margaret 00:06:50 How has your relationship with cannabis evolved since then?

Madison 00:06:54 Well, through my life, cannabis was at first a social thing, hanging out with my friends and whatnot. But for me and my mental health is why I chose to consume more. Because I struggle really bad with manic depression. And when most people attribute depression, they think of just like a feeling sad all the time or for no reason. And unless you actually know somebody with depression, you never really understand it. And it's not just a feeling of sad, it's feeling numb. It's feeling like you can't enjoy your everyday life because everything is just dull. And to me, everything's just grey every day. And it affects my thoughts and my motivation and it can impact my energy levels on some days and throughout. The tolerance break is when I first started to recognize all of these things. And so my Relationship with cannabis has been evolving the most in the past, probably three months, because in December I was, you know, so I was just I've been using it for over 15 years.

Madison 00:08:03 I've been using it heavily for that long. So it's just starting to evolve in a better point now because I'm starting to use it and recognize it for a lot for more reasons than what I was before. If that makes sense.

Margaret 00:08:22 Yeah, I think so. Then maybe you can like, expand on that a little bit. And I do understand what you're saying to when it comes to depression, that if you haven't known somebody or you haven't experienced it yourself, it's really tough to understand, understand it. And I did have a partner in the past who had undiagnosed depression for a long time, and it was really hard because I it's not something that I typically deal with, and it was really hard to understand sort of what he was going through. It took me a long time to really understand that, how it was affecting him, but it did affect him a lot. And I used to take it kind of personally because I, you know, I just didn't really get it. But eventually I did learn that it can be really debilitating.

Margaret 00:09:07 And so if I'm hearing you correctly, you're kind of exploring more about using cannabis, like intentionally and more, maybe medically. Is that.

Madison 00:09:19 Right? So even though I do not have a medical card and there's reasons behind that that I, I won't go into, I use it quite recreationally, but to me it's more of a medical thing that I have been using throughout my life. it's and I'm not saying that it's a coping skill or a coping mechanism as much as we all like to, to use it as a coping mechanism. It's not like a functional one. But I've been microdosing since the tolerance break, and I've noticed a tremendous difference in my overall mental health. Just microdosing. Because another thing that we all have to break the stigma on is just because we ingest or consume cannabis doesn't mean that we're always high or or we're always stoned, right? And I hate that so much that just because you smell like weed, people think that you're just, like, numbed out of it and can't function.

Madison 00:10:29 And that's not what it is at all, you know? So, just being able to use it freely and to I've just. Yeah, I've been experimenting with having it in my system, but not having to be stoned all the time.

Margaret 00:10:50 Right. Yeah, that totally makes sense to me. And also when you mentioned that you're using it probably more medically, even though you're not accessing a medical system per se. I mean, a lot of people would think that all cannabis use is medical to some degree because, yeah, you know, I mean, yeah, maybe you're thinking you're using it recreationally, but if I'm using it in the evening to unwind in lieu of a glass of wine. Yeah. And construed as medical because I'm just working I'm looking to reduce my cortisol levels, which is.

Madison 00:11:23 Yeah, you're just, you know, everybody has their something and I, I definitely wrote something about that too. But yeah. Yeah for sure.

Margaret 00:11:33 So tell me a bit more about the microdosing because.

Margaret 00:11:35 Well so we so you took part in a community tolerance break with me in January of this year, 2026. Yeah. Can you talk about your experience of what you learned throughout, and that? I would like to touch on the microdosing as well. Because I think that's really interesting.

Madison 00:11:51 Well, my my experience was very eye opening. And in many ways it was a test of will and ambition. But most important, I was able to see what my life was like without cannabis for the first time in over 15 years. I smoked almost every day for over 15 years and I quote, wasn't feeling high anymore, and I wasn't recognizing any of the effects of my medicine that I have become so dependent on. And so after learning about the science behind tolerance breaks, I knew that what I needed, you know, and sooner than later was a tolerance break. And when I listened to your intro about taking a break together, I was like, nope, that's it. We're going in. So. and I don't know if this is a good gateway to keep going on mental health.

Margaret 00:12:41 Yeah, absolutely.

Madison 00:12:42 But one thing to bring up is generational trauma. And during the 70s and 80s, there was a parenting program called Tough Love or something like that, where the parents would literally degenerate their kids in front of others and put them down to make them feel like crap, because the media was force feeding them to do this, because it was the right way to raise your kid, you know, and no one was allowed to. Yes. I just just really like.

Multiple Speakers 00:13:10 So they were literally.

Margaret 00:13:11 Like humiliate or insult their children to make them tougher.

Madison 00:13:17 Supposedly.

Multiple Speakers 00:13:18 Wow.

Madison 00:13:19 You know, and so that shuts you down, you know, that that that makes you feel like like, you know, it makes you feel like crap. So it wasn't about the parents and children sitting down to work together for the parents to show the kids how to deal with these everyday problems because they couldn't handle it themselves back then. And that's why a lot of us are victims of this generational trauma that's kept us all quiet and underway, unaware of what our true emotional well-being is.

Madison 00:13:53 So coming back to my point is, when you start going to a therapist and working with a mental health specialist, you start to realize disorders like depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc. and different chemical imbalances we all have in our brains. And when you work with a psychiatrist, they prescribed your medications to help you balance the chemical imbalance in your brain to help you be a more functioning adult. So I personally don't believe every psychiatrist is evil and trying to get you hooked on a medicine to be a slave to the system. But if you do start to do some research of what your medicines do for you then and what they help you accomplish as a functioning human being, then you can do your due diligence and figure out what kind of herbal medicines you can take. Instead, if you wanted to go down that route, which I'm a big fan of and I have been researching since I quit alcohol alcohol almost a year ago, and I quit cigarettes almost five years ago. So I think I started all of the plant stuff heavily five years ago and I in to get off cigarettes.

Madison 00:15:05 I was smoking more herbal things, not just cannabis. It was. It was, mullein is a big one that they put into a lot of them as like the, the main thing because mullein.

Multiple Speakers 00:15:18 Is that decongestant.

Margaret 00:15:19 Yeah. I was just going to say I hear that recommended a lot for people who are trying to like, get all the icky stuff out of their lungs after.

Multiple Speakers 00:15:26 It's a very light.

Madison 00:15:27 Smooth smoke, but it definitely will help you get it'll help you hack up any of that phlegm that's stuck in your lungs for sure. When anybody who smoked cigarettes says, oh, I got this really bad cough and I can't get anything up, I go. Have you ever tried smoking melon? They're like.

Multiple Speakers 00:15:44 What?

Margaret 00:15:45 So how does. Oh, God. You're okay. You've said a lot of things that I really want to touch on.

Multiple Speakers 00:15:49 Okay. Yeah. Sorry, sorry.

Margaret 00:15:51 As far as mulling goes, like, how do you like. Is that something you can buy already in sort of a cigarette form, or do you buy dried mullein and wrap yourself both?

Madison 00:16:03 yeah.

Madison 00:16:03 If you go right on Amazon, I know that I don't know the name of the company, but if you look at the packaging, if you type in, like, herbal cigarettes, it'll, show you like a bear paw. And that was the stuff that I got. And they come pre rolled. Or you can get it in a tin where it's like a mixture. And then you can roll that up. But you can also take that mixture and brew a tea with it too. So you don't just have to smoke it, you can get it like you can smoke it like that. That's the cool thing. So like when I stopped smoking cigarettes, I found all these different things that you could smoke because back in, you know, ancient druidic times, that's that's what they did, you know, is they got these benefits from smoking the herbs and figuring that out. But.

Margaret 00:16:48 Well, there's also that idea, too, that you're replacing that like oral fixation. Because as someone who used to smoke as well, I think I quit like maybe eight years ago at this point.

Margaret 00:16:57 But I know exactly what you're talking about. Like your lungs just feel like shit. And when you're first trying to quit, it's like you're missing something. If you go cold turkey and something like mullein could sort of be a replacement for that oral fixation.

Multiple Speakers 00:17:12 That is part of it.

Margaret 00:17:14 Yeah, yeah. But I suppose over time, you know, weaning off the the smoke of all mullein and switching to a tea or something might be wise because obviously anytime you put something into your lungs, there's, I don't know, some risk I guess.

Madison 00:17:29 I don't ever encourage people to smoke. To be honest, like that. That's that's my personal choice. And that's just, you know, maybe that's just the old man in me is, you know.

Multiple Speakers 00:17:44 No, we all get older.

Margaret 00:17:46 And we all.

Multiple Speakers 00:17:46 Realize.

Margaret 00:17:47 We're not going to live forever. And, yeah. Because like, interestingly, I, I've talked about this on the podcast already, I think in last week's episode, but my dad was just diagnosed with lung cancer and they caught it really early.

Margaret 00:18:00 So that's a really good thing. But my dad used to smoke, but he quit like 50 years ago. And the type of lung cancer he has is one that's typically associated with smoking. Now obviously they can't like make that direct, you know, correlation or whatever, because I've also heard that once you quit smoking cigarettes after a couple of years, your lungs are supposed to regenerate as if you would never see before.

Multiple Speakers 00:18:24 Right?

Margaret 00:18:25 But I mean, it does make you think, obviously So, yeah, but.

Multiple Speakers 00:18:30 I'm.

Madison 00:18:30 All young and stupid once.

Margaret 00:18:32 Oh, God. Yeah, yeah. For sure. I mean, the number.

Multiple Speakers 00:18:36 One thing.

Margaret 00:18:36 I've done in my own life, but I wanted to touch a little bit too on that emotional regulation, because whether it was through something like that crazy tough love program you were talking about or, I mean, I grew up, like I said, already in a religious household, and I was never really taught things about like around emotional regulation and things like that.

Margaret 00:18:55 And I think that's a really important distinction that you're making. Like if you grow up without those tools and skills, then life can be really difficult for sure.

Multiple Speakers 00:19:07 It's hard for.

Madison 00:19:07 You to show your children how to.

Multiple Speakers 00:19:09 Do those.

Madison 00:19:10 Life skills, you know, how can you show your children to do something that you expect them to do that you're not willing to do yourself?

Multiple Speakers 00:19:19 And that's what.

Madison 00:19:20 It boils down.

Multiple Speakers 00:19:20 To.

Margaret 00:19:21 And if you've had kids, we've all like anyone out there listening who's had kids totally understands the toddler who's having an emotional meltdown because they don't know how to regulate their emotions. But we've also experienced that as adults. It took me a long time to really understand, you know, what emotional regulation was and like recognizing your emotions and talking about them in a way, that helped me understand what I was feeling in the moment. And I feel like that's something that we need to talk about more. And therapy is a great space to explore that. But I do understand, too, that psychiatrists are going to prescribe drugs just the same way that our medical doctors will, because they don't have that understanding of how plant medicines can be a really effective substitute for pharmaceuticals, because they just don't have the language and the education around it.

Margaret 00:20:08 So that does mean oftentimes you kind of have to go out there and find people who are doing that, or do your own research and see how you can use these medicines to your advantage. Yeah, yeah. So talk a little bit about the microdosing that you were mentioning, because you're obviously talking about how you've used cannabis in the past as a way to sort of manage some of your own, I guess, mental health, and is how microdosing has sort of evolved in your, in your cannabis.

Madison 00:20:40 So right now. I don't have any means of like measuring it out per se. So what I'm doing is like if I wake up, I'm not smoking in a whole bowl or anything, I'll just take a hit and I'll hold it for, you know, your 3.5 seconds, I'll exhale and I go, okay, you know, that's the one thing that the tea break has taught me is a little bit of control. You know, you take that, put it down. You don't need the whole thing.

Madison 00:21:10 And right now, where I'm also trying to not spend money on my my main, my cannabis. I'm trying to grow up myself. Right now, I only have one strain because that's what I grew last year. So that also plays a part into how much you have to microdosing, because if you have a different strain that does different effects, you're going to have to micro dose differently. Everybody's body chemistry is different, and all of these different cannabis strains act differently to every different person. So it's really, really difficult unless you kind of have an idea of how you're going to go about experimenting with it. You know we have a mutual friend, Sammy, who does, you know, Fico and makes his own gummies and capsules and things. And he has a much more precise way to microdosing than I would per se.

Margaret 00:22:10 I would also venture his tolerance is, from what I understand, much higher than mine.

Multiple Speakers 00:22:16 So and I also.

Madison 00:22:17 Have a very high tolerance. I mean, that tea break.

Madison 00:22:22 when I went back it, I did end up getting very stoned, but I, I just with the microdosing and I still smoke, you know, I still have that pretty high tolerance. So the, I guess the microdosing goes into just overall throughout the day, kind of like an it's, it's like an all day thing. So I think of it this way, trying to achieve the perfect amount of not medicated because I feel I feel like when you use the word medicated, it people think sedative. so like that one's, that one's just a hard, hard thing to describe.

Margaret 00:23:08 no, I think maybe if I can, if I can sort of unpack what you're trying to say. So I make sure I understand it is that you are sort of using small doses throughout the day to sort of keep yourself at a certain at a certain level which you find.

Multiple Speakers 00:23:24 Is right.

Margaret 00:23:25 Which helps with your mental health.

Multiple Speakers 00:23:27 And your. Yeah.

Madison 00:23:28 Thank you. Exactly.

Multiple Speakers 00:23:29 Okay.

Margaret 00:23:29 So that's how I understand what you're saying.

Margaret 00:23:32 And it sounds like to me that from the tolerance break, you were smoking really heavily before you took the break. And what I remember you telling me is, well, like, you smoked a lot, and then a lot of times you didn't even really feel high from it.

Multiple Speakers 00:23:46 And then.

Margaret 00:23:47 Yeah, found like a minimum effective dose. So you can, like, intersperse those doses throughout the day. And you're using less cannabis each time.

Madison 00:23:56 Right.

Multiple Speakers 00:23:56 And finding that minimum human being.

Madison 00:23:59 And I can do things throughout my day and still be I can still be a human, right?

Margaret 00:24:07 Yeah.

Madison 00:24:08 You know, when do we start looking at people, as, you know, cannabis users as, you know, degenerates instead of as humans?

Margaret 00:24:16 Well, that's part of the stigma that's taking forever to die. And one of the reasons why I like doing this show, because I've interviewed a lot of people over the years, and one thing I've learned is that there is no one cannabis user like they.

Margaret 00:24:31 They're all over the place. They're everywhere there, and they come from all walks of life. So that's stigma of the, you know, lazy, lazy stoner stereotype or whatever is the furthest thing from the truth. But that's just like the hangover from propaganda.

Multiple Speakers 00:24:47 Yeah. The propaganda era of. Yeah.

Madison 00:24:50 Yeah, just just all of the negativity.

Multiple Speakers 00:24:53 Yeah, yeah.

Madison 00:24:54 Can't stand.

Multiple Speakers 00:24:55 It. But I have to say that.

Margaret 00:24:56 Like, I was really impressed with how you managed that tolerance break because you pushed through even when you were finding it really difficult. And so I got to commend you on that because, for your first tolerance break in 15 years is no small feat.

Multiple Speakers 00:25:12 And you showed up every single time.

Margaret 00:25:15 Even when it was like, hard because I know it was hard for you at some moments. And I just want to commend you for that because it's not easy to do, but you're doing something really positive for yourself and for your health and your family. And yeah, I'm really glad to hear that you were able to, like, have some ongoing positive impacts from that as well.

Madison 00:25:37 Yeah for sure.

Multiple Speakers 00:25:39 Yeah. Now would you do.

Margaret 00:25:41 Yeah. Would you do a tolerance break again in October?

Madison 00:25:45 I would definitely do one in October. I'm never doing a dry January again.

Margaret 00:25:51 That's not a good time.

Madison 00:25:52 Oh my gosh. Well the kids are still on school from Christmas vacation. And when you take your, you know, your your one thing that is making everything better and you know they're still right up your butt until the time they go out to school, it's no.

Multiple Speakers 00:26:07 I forgot, I'm.

Madison 00:26:08 All.

Multiple Speakers 00:26:08 Set.

Margaret 00:26:09 I don't have kids in school anymore.

Multiple Speakers 00:26:10 So that's not to do with. But yeah.

Margaret 00:26:13 That's definitely an added layer of complexity because yeah, kids can try. I mean, kids are wonderful, but they definitely try your patience on the best of times, especially when.

Multiple Speakers 00:26:23 They're like.

Margaret 00:26:24 Home all the time.

Multiple Speakers 00:26:25 So and I.

Madison 00:26:26 Have I have my hands full because I have three very special boys. one my youngest is physically disabled, so he can only he has limited maneuverability.

Madison 00:26:38 My middle child is very, very intelligent, and we think he might be autistic in the way that he is too smart for his own good.

Multiple Speakers 00:26:47 Right. Yeah.

Madison 00:26:48 Okay. And then I have my oldest. Who is? He has a learning disability. He's very hyper ADHD, and he's just he just he knows what he wants, and he's just not all there at the same time. So I have my hands very full. And I also help my wife with the restaurant down the road because she's a manager down there. And so, you know, trying to juggle all of these things while taking a tea break was very, trying.

Multiple Speakers 00:27:18 Yeah. And it sounds.

Margaret 00:27:19 Like your hands are very full. Your life sounds very rich. I can see why January might not be the best time. I've had some people in the club also talk about how they might be interested in taking, like, shorter tolerance breaks as well. Like, I know there's a lot of science behind doing, you know, the month long tolerance break.

Margaret 00:27:39 But now that you've done one, maybe you could also consider like a shorter one more frequently.

Madison 00:27:45 I've thought about a two week break or trying even like a week break, or even just being like, okay, you know, not doing it for like a day or two. Yeah, that's definitely in my thought process. It's not something that I would not want to try.

Margaret 00:28:02 Yeah, because I've heard some people say like, you know, maybe they do a couple days a month for a year or something like that, or we want to take a one week break every quarter or whatever. Like, it doesn't always have to be like all or nothing a whole month long, even though.

Multiple Speakers 00:28:15 There's.

Margaret 00:28:15 Obviously.

Madison 00:28:16 Brain repair itself a little bit. Because not saying that cannabis is harming our brains, but the our brains have so many receptors. And when the receptors are like, it's kind of like when it when something sticks to the receptor, it's done. You know, the receptor is not there anymore.

Madison 00:28:35 So when you start running out of those receptors, you know, that's when it's like, okay, I think I need to stop this for a little bit so that you can start getting growing those things back.

Margaret 00:28:46 Yeah. Like you have the receptors and if you're over consuming perhaps or you've been consuming for a while, then your own like internal systems are going to down regulate how much they're producing as well, like endocannabinoids that the body is producing goes down because you're supplying it with so many external ones.

Multiple Speakers 00:29:02 Right, right.

Margaret 00:29:03 And so taking that breaks or resets that system so that when you do consume again you're going to get more benefits from it, which is exactly what happened with you for the month long tolerance break. Now, it sounds like your tolerance is still relatively high, comparatively speaking, to someone like me, per se. Do you find that your tolerance is still lower than it was before you started as you're microdosing?

Madison 00:29:26 I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, because I can I can smoke weed with friends now and feel like.

Madison 00:29:33 And I think that part of it was recognizing.

Multiple Speakers 00:29:36 Right.

Madison 00:29:37 You know, when you don't feel like you're high, you don't recognize that you're high, you know, so maybe you are a avid consumer and you smoke so much and you just don't feel high. Well, maybe that's because it's become so regulated to you that you can't. You're not recognizing when you are feel feeling it.

Multiple Speakers 00:30:02 Yeah.

Madison 00:30:03 You know, so that was a that's been a big thing now that I've come back is being able to, you know, when I am taking some days and I'm, you know, taking more, you know, indulging when I become more indulging, I am making sure that I notice when I'm high and I'm not just smoking to smoke, because that's a lot of it for me is I'm a smoker, and I hate to admit that, but I am. And I just like to smoke.

Multiple Speakers 00:30:36 So yeah.

Madison 00:30:36 For me, I'm not looking to smoke to get high. I think I'm just beyond that point and I'm going to be looking into some more, CBD in other CBD, you know, strains to test those out, because where cannabis is right now, it's all bred to be very high potent THC.

Madison 00:30:58 And the THC is what I feel is numbing us all out.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:03 So I think.

Margaret 00:31:05 you really hit on something there? And I would highly encourage you to check out CBD Dominant strains or CBD. Or like all the other ones that are coming.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:14 I want.

Madison 00:31:14 To try CBD. Honestly, the.

Margaret 00:31:17 I'm not familiar with.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:18 That.

Madison 00:31:19 Well, what's the what's the ADHD one?

Margaret 00:31:24 Are you.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:24 Thinking.

Margaret 00:31:25 THC v? I mean, that was the one I think.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:29 Yeah.

Margaret 00:31:29 There's also an appetite suppressant and maybe that's the one that they're.

Madison 00:31:34 Maybe that's the.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:35 Yeah.

Margaret 00:31:35 The attention in focus as well.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:36 It's the, it's.

Madison 00:31:37 They all got so many acronyms.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:40 I know I was.

Margaret 00:31:41 Interested in trying that one too, but they're definitely because they're minor cannabinoids. They're harder to define. But you are right that throughout history most of the cannabis has been grown because it was illegal. If they're going to do it, they might as well make it as potent as possible, because otherwise.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:58 Potent risks.

Madison 00:31:59 Flowering as possible.

Multiple Speakers 00:32:00 Yeah.

Margaret 00:32:01 No one's going to risk their livelihoods, to grow a plant that's non intoxicating, which is what your CBD cultivars are. But as someone who consumes a lot of CBD, I definitely recommend it and I love mixing it with my THC dominant flower. I mean, I guess you can get ratios now too, but, it's kind of nice to have separate plants sometimes or separate cultivars because then you can mix them. Yeah, we choose to do and I read a book a little while ago. I would love to get her on my show one of these days, but a woman named Miyabi Shields, she's a scientist in the cannabis space, and she's a huge advocate for using, blends of THC, CBG, and I think CBD flower because that's how like, she has a particular blend and she's neurodivergent and, you know, is a big advocate for cannabis around mental health. Yeah, I think exploring.

Multiple Speakers 00:32:53 That with.

Madison 00:32:54 That info.

Multiple Speakers 00:32:56 Yeah.

Madison 00:32:56 Because yeah, I'm definitely interested in that.

Madison 00:32:58 I am full of neurodivergent.

Margaret 00:33:02 Yeah. Yeah. So I think the CBD has a lot of potential to sort of just take your cannabis journey that much farther. And now that you're in a place where it's legal to do that, that's that's kind of cool too, for now.

Madison 00:33:17 Allegedly.

Multiple Speakers 00:33:18 Okay. Yeah.

Madison 00:33:19 We're going to keep it there. Yeah.

Margaret 00:33:20 So if you have a recreational market, can you go in and buy CBD flower like, although I have to admit.

Multiple Speakers 00:33:26 I would.

Madison 00:33:27 Have to find a a shop that only sold CBD specific. So right now I don't I only go to like a few places because once it went so first weed and main became medically legal. And then when you started seeing the dispensaries started popping up, all of the weed kind of went, what? So. So back in the day, when you first got your weed, you had either Mersch or you had Green Bud. Nobody had names for it.

Multiple Speakers 00:34:01 Right? Yeah.

Madison 00:34:02 You know. And so after the medical dispensaries came out, there was green blood everywhere.

Madison 00:34:10 But to me, you had your Mersch green bud, and you had your, your dank or your super fire or whatever you wanted to call it. You know, your good stuff. And so around here, to me, a lot of the places only have mediocre herb. And maybe I'm just a snob, but, you know, so I only go to a few different recreational places because I know what I'm paying for, and I know where they grow it. And I'm really super friendly with all the people, and they're very friendly to me, and they'll chat my ear off about their operation. So like, it's a very, like close to home sort of place.

Multiple Speakers 00:34:47 Like a farm.

Margaret 00:34:48 Gate thing.

Madison 00:34:49 Kind of.

Multiple Speakers 00:34:50 Yeah.

Margaret 00:34:50 Farm gate in Maine.

Madison 00:34:52 I don't, I don't know. I don't even know what farm gate is.

Margaret 00:34:55 I think that's just when, like, cannabis farms can sell, like, at their place of business.

Madison 00:35:03 You must, you must. It must be because I know that the place that I'm talking about, it's called blue Sky Maine at their medical shop.

Multiple Speakers 00:35:11 Yeah.

Madison 00:35:12 Also acts as there. The whole back side of that is their outdoor grow area.

Margaret 00:35:17 Yeah. I wonder if that's under that kind of umbrella.

Multiple Speakers 00:35:19 Because there's a few places you.

Margaret 00:35:21 Can do that. Which I think is really cool because that's kind of like getting it's like going to the farmer's market and meeting the the people that are growing your food, and you're buying the carrots.

Multiple Speakers 00:35:30 Exactly.

Margaret 00:35:31 And them like.

Multiple Speakers 00:35:31 That's exactly.

Margaret 00:35:32 That. And but they, they don't really carry CBD flour that you know of.

Madison 00:35:37 Not that I know of. Right.

Multiple Speakers 00:35:39 Yeah.

Madison 00:35:39 And I when I used to frequent a lot before I started growing my own and that was that's the big thing about growing your own is not spending so much money because it's so damn expensive.

Multiple Speakers 00:35:50 Amen. Yeah.

Madison 00:35:54 they never really had, like, CBD dominant Strains because I feel like they with dispensaries, they've got a certain market they're selling to. They're not trying. It's not a medical dispensary. It's a it's a recreational dispensary that I'm going to I don't have a med card.

Madison 00:36:13 I don't have my I don't have access to medical prices and medical things that would probably have more of those CBD flowers in their shops.

Margaret 00:36:25 Well, I suppose there's probably just generally overall like less demand for CBD flower in the shops. And I used to work at a dispensary in my town, a few years ago, the first legal one where I live, and we sold CBD flower and quite a few people came in to buy it, but it was okay. I wouldn't say it was like, awesome because I would get CBD flower from a grower friend here in Canada and that shit was dank. It was so good. And I had never experienced that in the in the dispensary. but people still always came in and would be like, what's the highest potency flower that you have? And some of those customers would buy that flower regardless of anything. Any other factor, like it could be a $60 eighth and they'd be spending that money just because it was high potency.

Multiple Speakers 00:37:17 Yeah, I think that's sort.

Margaret 00:37:20 Of a limitation of the legal market as well, because we hear a lot more about like cannabis use disorder and hyperemesis, cannabis hyperemesis and all these things.

Margaret 00:37:30 And there's a lot of studies that are talking about this stuff, but there's still skepticism, I think sometimes from the cannabis community around that. But I don't know if they're considering that the legal market has an imperative to bring new products to the market for people who want high potency products. And so they're getting more and more potent, and you're seeing like vapes and brand new categories that didn't exist before.

Madison 00:37:56 Another thing that I have really thought was kind of interesting is when they started getting out of like. They call it sativa or indica. But now that we know that they're just genus names and then it doesn't actually mean that, like, you could still smoke a sativa dominant and it could still put you in the couch like an indica could.

Multiple Speakers 00:38:17 Yeah.

Madison 00:38:17 You know, they're also mixed and inter and between, but they still label them in the dispensaries as a sativa or an indica like or the hybrids that they have now.

Multiple Speakers 00:38:28 Which pretty.

Margaret 00:38:29 Much everything is a hybrid.

Madison 00:38:31 When you think about it. Yeah.

Madison 00:38:32 So one cool thing about the dispensary that I go to and we got talking about that recreational bud that goes out in Maine has to go through specific testing by Mafia, the Maine organization, Maine Organic Farmers Growers Association. Anyway, so but they have to go through so many testings before it can be put on the shelf. Because there was a gro in Maine that was all. It had mold in the weed and they were selling it. So yeah. So they got they got tagged. And so now all of that has to be, it has to be very regulated.

Multiple Speakers 00:39:18 And I don't.

Madison 00:39:18 Remember where I was going from there because my ADHD went off the rails.

Multiple Speakers 00:39:22 But.

Margaret 00:39:22 Well, we were talking about the high potency products that you see. and I suppose also what I'm hearing you say.

Multiple Speakers 00:39:28 Yes, yes. Okay.

Madison 00:39:30 So, I can go into my dispensary and they have on a card what, what different percentages are in the, the bud.

Multiple Speakers 00:39:41 Right.

Madison 00:39:41 So whenever I go in I'm not looking at the THC potency.

Madison 00:39:46 That's the number one label that they throw up there. You know I'm going to go up and I'm going to look at the index card of information that they have on it. And one cool other thing that they have is a binder that has all of their like a genetic lineage of all of their seeds that they've grown, that they sell personally at the store.

Margaret 00:40:07 Well that's cool.

Multiple Speakers 00:40:08 Yeah. Yeah.

Madison 00:40:10 So I love that they that if you're a more conscious consumer because that's what the cannabis community needs, is more conscious consumers, is to go in and actually look at these different compounds that are in the plant or the strain that you're going to ingest and get the feelings out of that. And it's not just the THC. That's that's going to.

Multiple Speakers 00:40:37 Do it.

Madison 00:40:37 For.

Multiple Speakers 00:40:38 You.

Margaret 00:40:38 Percent. And I understand what you're saying too. But like the dispensary is always distinguishing between the different types of flower with like hybrid sativa indica. Because I think that's like what most people understand right now, as far as you know, how to shop for flower.

Margaret 00:40:53 But then when you look at like the terpenes, a lot of the times they say terpenes is what drives effects. And maybe a lot of sativa have specific types of terpenes, which may be why it's generally speaking, more uplifting for.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:08 Those more.

Madison 00:41:09 Limonene.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:10 And.

Madison 00:41:11 Other things like that. Those uplifting.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:13 Yeah, tend to be tend.

Margaret 00:41:14 To be more in sativa, but not necessarily. Which is why you also have to like, like try a bunch of different strains to see what works best for you, because you could try a limiting dominant sativa that puts you to sleep because that's your unique biology.

Madison 00:41:29 Exactly.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:30 And yeah.

Madison 00:41:31 That's another thing is working and recognizing your own body chemistry.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:36 Yeah.

Madison 00:41:36 Yeah, it gets confusing.

Margaret 00:41:38 It turns out we all we are all really special snowflakes after all.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:42 Yes.

Margaret 00:41:44 Yeah. But I love that your your dispensary has, like, the certificate of analysis available for all the flour, and you can look up like lineage and terpenes and compounds and stuff, because all that stuff is really informative and I don't know about you, but in Canada we don't have the ability to like, smell the flour before we buy it or even really see it yet.

Margaret 00:42:04 I think they're bringing in clear packaging soon. But you know, in the.

Multiple Speakers 00:42:08 Absence.

Margaret 00:42:08 Of that, you have to kind of work with the other information that's available.

Multiple Speakers 00:42:13 To you. Yeah.

Margaret 00:42:14 And a lot more companies here are descriptors.

Multiple Speakers 00:42:16 Yeah.

Margaret 00:42:17 And a lot more companies here are listing like terpenes and the terpene percentages on their packaging as well. from what I remember, I don't like you. I don't buy a lot of flour here anymore because I do grow my own, too.

Multiple Speakers 00:42:30 Right, right.

Margaret 00:42:31 But, yeah, it's, that's valuable information that tells people a lot of a lot of stuff.

Madison 00:42:37 Yeah. If you get anything out of me, I would definitely say that. Watch your consuming because it, you know, you you might think that you're going to get the densest weed because it's high THC, but maybe that, you know, that lesser amount that has more of that CBD and will kick your ass heavier than any, any potent THC would?

Margaret 00:42:58 Yeah. And I'm sure we've all smoked flower that was like 27%.

Margaret 00:43:02 And then you're like, yeah, that was okay. And then you.

Multiple Speakers 00:43:04 Said 80%.

Margaret 00:43:06 And you're like practically drooling and you're like, okay, well, obviously THC percentages don't matter as much as the industry would like us to think it matters, because I think it's like really easy for them to slap something on a label that says 27% and then people will buy. But I think as the consumer gets more sophisticated and more educated, then they'll start to demand better, honestly.

Madison 00:43:29 And that just takes time.

Margaret 00:43:31 It really does. Yeah. So what advice would you give to someone who's new to cannabis? And they're curious, but maybe they're not sure where to start.

Madison 00:43:38 So as being a person who is totally done this and has done it the peer pressure way, Make the experience enjoyable. And don't be out doing something with a big crowd of people, or don't be in an uncomfortable environment, you know. Close friends, good music and good vibes and just let them go at their own pace. Like, that's that's the biggest advice I can go, you know, let them go the slow route if they want.

Madison 00:44:03 They want a little more. All right. Let them have it. You know, if it's their first time, make it a good time. Don't like make them smoke as much as you. Who's been smoking forever, right? Smoke that amount with you to the point where they're having a panic attack. They don't know where they are. You know, don't don't make that first experience terrible. Because I've seen a lot of people be turned off by having a bad first time.

Multiple Speakers 00:44:32 Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I.

Margaret 00:44:35 Second that 100%. And people talk about set and setting a lot when it comes to mushrooms, but that applies just as much to cannabis, and you definitely want to be in a place where you feel safe and you're comfortable. And I think a lot of people underestimate if you've never smoked weed before, you can literally take a puff, wait and see how you feel, and then go from there.

Multiple Speakers 00:44:56 But a lot.

Margaret 00:44:57 Of times that's all it takes is like one puff and you might feel like if you're brand new, you might feel something.

Margaret 00:45:03 In fact, sometimes that's all it takes for me.

Multiple Speakers 00:45:05 I'll tell you what.

Madison 00:45:06 After the tea break, I took one puff and I'm like. Like I felt it immediately. I was like, oh, yeah, this is. This is what I remember.

Multiple Speakers 00:45:14 Yeah, yeah.

Margaret 00:45:15 Yeah, it really does. yeah. So the start loan goes slow. Definitely applies to that too. And just the sentence setting, like you want to be in a place that's comfortable if I think as well. Like the my worst nightmare would be like trying weed for the first time at a concert or.

Multiple Speakers 00:45:30 Or something like that, like, especially.

Madison 00:45:32 If you have anxiety to begin with, you know, and then you do that. Because one thing I've noticed tremendously now is that cannabis will do this thing where it makes you second guess yourself. It makes.

Multiple Speakers 00:45:44 You anxious.

Madison 00:45:46 About the stupidest stuff that you wouldn't have even felt anxious about. And then you're like, oh, why is everybody gonna think bad of me? Because I thought that or I said that, you know? And so those are the thoughts that I struggle to deal with some days because I'm like, no, no, stop.

Madison 00:46:01 You know, you're you're overthinking this. This isn't you thinking, you know, so, yeah. Yeah. Just definitely making people as comfortable as possible for your first time is the best thing to do.

Margaret 00:46:16 Yeah, I totally agree. Now, also, is there anything that you would like to know about cannabis but you were afraid to ask?

Madison 00:46:22 and what's funny about that is I just bought a book called weed and everything. You're too stoned to ask.

Multiple Speakers 00:46:29 Okay. That's cool.

Madison 00:46:30 I haven't gotten to chance to read it, but I'm not afraid to ask anything about the plant, because I'm a scholar at heart, and I love to learn. But I'm more curious on growing strains that aren't THC dominant. Like we just touched on. You know, that's the big thing that I want to know more about. Cannabis is working with these other. I don't I'm not because, like, I don't know if you can use the word chemical compound. It's not a chemical, you know, but these compounds in the plant, these different compounds that aren't just CBD and THC, I want to be able to grow these other strains that have all of these different qualities because it's, you know, I was listening to Mackie's interview with the Swan Lady.

Madison 00:47:21 I think that's her name that she does the herbal medicines. When you combine cannabis with other herbs, it brings out other potencies of the other terpenes in cannabis that it wouldn't otherwise be able to put out on its own.

Margaret 00:47:39 Oh, interesting. So is she growing them, like, together somehow?

Madison 00:47:44 Or think of it as a sachet.

Multiple Speakers 00:47:47 Right.

Madison 00:47:47 Okay. when you're taking herbal medicines, you have a certain ways that you can do this. So, like if you're making a topical salve, throwing rosemary and other things like that are going to help bring out the CBD and things like that in that salve. So it all comes down to not just cannabis has terpenes. Every plant has terpenes. You know, everything has terpenes, your fruits, your vegetables. You know, it's so it's it's finding the giant concoction of the certain terpenes that we need and either ingesting it, smoking it, drinking it, or suppositories just any way that you can get it into your bloodstream, you know, that's what medicine is, is it's a combination of all of these different things that you've taken.

Madison 00:48:41 And it's your medicine. It's that's why I love herbal medicine. It's it's so cool. It's so fun. It makes me happy. Yeah. You know, to do this thing on for yourself and to help other people to not you. Like, I just found out today that one of the medicines I take, if I stop taking it all together, I could get this syndrome where my skin can slough off and I'm like, oh, and my psychiatrist goes, yeah, but there's also a lot of medications that we do for people that that could happen. We just don't tell people. I'm like.

Multiple Speakers 00:49:12 Oh yeah, that's great. Yeah. So yeah, that is great.

Madison 00:49:16 So I'm definitely like, I do do those because I, I have the chemical imbalance in my brain. So I need those sort of medicines. But if I had the opportunity and the time and the place and just to experiment and research the more medicinal side. I would go that route, but it's just not available to me right now.

Multiple Speakers 00:49:40 Yeah, you work.

Margaret 00:49:42 As far as, like, growing CBD cannabis, like CBD dominant cannabis, I would assume that it's like the same exact process.

Madison 00:49:50 Yeah I would. so when I was looking at Royal Queen seeds seed Bank, they have CBD and CBD specific strains. and they just say that they're feminized, blah, blah, blah strains. So I would assume that you would grow it just like any other cannabis plant. It's still cannabis.

Multiple Speakers 00:50:13 Yeah.

Margaret 00:50:14 So yeah, exactly. It's just not going to have the same psychoactive effects or, sorry, intoxicating effects. I would like to correct myself because CBD is psychoactive. If it wasn't, we wouldn't be using it. Right? Because like a lot of people find it helps reduce anxiety or it like helps with sleep or all these things. That's because it is psychoactive, but it's not.

Multiple Speakers 00:50:32 In.

Margaret 00:50:32 Reading.

Multiple Speakers 00:50:33 So. Right. Yeah yeah.

Madison 00:50:35 Yeah. And that's that's again you know, we also have to break that stigma. It's I don't think it's so much as a stigma problem as it is an uneducated problem.

Madison 00:50:45 The more we can educate people and and not be uneducated ourselves when trying to explain the this that's going to help us in the long run is trying to understand this ourselves, so we can try to get others to understand. It will help break that stigma on its own.

Multiple Speakers 00:51:04 Right.

Margaret 00:51:05 Yeah. And I think that takes, like you said earlier, that takes time. Just because we've been fed so many lies and there's still stigma that exists. And it takes time for people, especially for like a lot of people who aren't really in this space or like, really involved. I mean, that's why it takes so long, because a lot of people are like, well, I don't really care. It doesn't affect me that much. But over time, people will come to see the cannabis plant, probably just like any other medicine or herb or whatever it may not be in our lifetime, but that would be nice.

Madison 00:51:36 I hope, because and where it's hopefully going to be looked at again in the US about being, you know, reclassified, I'm excited.

Madison 00:51:47 You know, there's the whole divide of people out there that are like, yeah, but yeah, but the plant's going to be able to be researched and get the dedication of research that it's been neglected for so long. Like, why can't we take the positive out of this instead of just looking at it as a negative?

Margaret 00:52:08 Yeah, I, I totally agree, but this stuff, it seems like it always goes at a snail's pace, which is really annoying because.

Multiple Speakers 00:52:14 Yeah. Well, yeah.

Madison 00:52:16 You know, the the tortoise and the hare, you know.

Multiple Speakers 00:52:19 Yeah, yeah for sure.

Madison 00:52:20 That's just the way it has to be.

Margaret 00:52:22 Yeah. Now just a couple more questions for you today. what would surprise people about you, Madison?

Madison 00:52:29 honestly, that even though I appear like a pretty happy go lucky guy and that I'm doing great, I struggle with my own inner demons and self-doubt, feelings of not being able to do enough for my friends and family. And that's why I try to do.

Madison 00:52:44 That's why I try hard at whatever it is I am doing, especially in the communities I put myself in. yeah. And that I just, I, I'm an empath and I feel and I care too much and, I do struggle with that a lot. So if you ever see me and, you know, don't be afraid to say hi, because words mean a lot more than anything else.

Margaret 00:53:08 So, yeah, and I think that's a nice reminder, too, that a lot of the times when we're out and about, people are struggling with shit that we have no idea. And it's always better to give people the benefit of the doubt because you don't know what that person is dealing with. It could be all kinds of things, and I think we need more empathy in this world, not less. Now, finally, So you were part of the Bite Me Cannabis Club. How has how has that experience influenced your cannabis journey?

Madison 00:53:35 You inspired me to take the break. I mean, without your community, I could not have been able to do this.

Madison 00:53:41 They've there. They're such a great supporting community. and sometimes peer supports all you need just to just to make sure you're, you're going, you know, that's what that's what made me keep going is that you're doing great. It's such an uplifting feeling, you know, that you're doing this, you know? And that's why I try to do that for others so much is because those little bit of words are so helpful to everybody in their everyday life. So I'm just thankful for your community because they, you know, you inspired me to take the break. Your community helped me keep going. And you talk about some really amazing food. And so I do I do listen in from time to time when I get the chance. So for.

Multiple Speakers 00:54:27 I appreciate.

Margaret 00:54:28 You two and just the commitment you made to yourself and to the community. I mean, but that was totally optional. But you made a commitment to yourself and you stuck with it. And I think, you know, keeping commitments to yourself is a really valuable skill to hone.

Margaret 00:54:42 So I appreciate you showing up every day, and I appreciate you sharing your, your journey and a little bit more about yourself with me here today.

Madison 00:54:50 Well, thank you for having me. I really appreciate.

Multiple Speakers 00:54:52 It.

Margaret 00:54:53 Friends, I hope you enjoyed that conversation is as much as I enjoyed having it. If you could do one small thing for me right now, pull your phone. Share it with somebody that you think would also enjoy hearing Madison's story. If you're interested, you can be part of the conversation, too. If you're a member of the Cannabis Club, a listener of the show, I'd love to feature your cannabis journey in a future episode. It is a great way to share your own story, inspire others, and deepen your connection to the incredible Bite Me cannabis community without my friends. I'm your host, Margaret. Until next time, stay curious and stay high.