#16 - Tanya Bailey

Tanya Bailey, President and CEO of Buds for Vets, shares her story about how medical marijuana completely turned her life around and got her off of so many of the over 30 medications she was taking. Her story brings hope and her drive to help other vets in need is truly inspiring. If you or a loved one are a vet in need of this type of treatment, contact Buds for Vets. 

 Buds for Vets a Florida-based direct support organization that assists veterans who are seeking to use plant based medicine, while under a doctor's care as risk reduction therapy and a natural alternative to opioids. They provide free first Medical Marijuana doctors' visits to Veterans 70% or more disabled. They focus on health and wellness by having events where Veterans can spend time with other Veterans and promote holistic living and healthy relationships.  

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Transcript

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This is Angela Grayson from the Living Life Fitness Podcast. To help others on their fitness journey. It’s all possible! It's time to wake up. Here we go. Hello, everybody. This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. Today we have on the show Tanya Bailey. Hi, Tanya. Are you? I'm great, Thank you. How are you? Very good. Today we're going to be talking about Buds for Vets. The program that Tanya is involved with to help veterans live a better life. Tanya, can you go ahead and tell us about your program? Let's start there. What Buds for Vets all about? Buds for Vets is a nonprofit that helps veterans get safe access to a medical marijuana card. We believe in a more holistic approach to being healthy. A lot of times, veterans get out of the military, and one of the first things that happens is, is we become a lot more susceptible to becoming over prescribed medication. With injuries and service comes a lot of medications and becoming prescribed, we want an alternative. We like alternative medications. And cannabis is something that we can use. And through that we help veterans that are 70% disabled or more to get a pre-doctor appointment. Our providers, our doctors give that doctor appointment at no charge. They still have to pay a $75 state fee. And then we also veterans to get together to socialize. We hold events and we get together because bonding is really important and along with a lot of other things. Tanya can we talk about your story as a veteran? Maybe you'd like to go back even before that and talk about your life in the military and your journey through the military and then afterwards coming out. That's kind of what led me to Buds for Vets. I was a veteran in Virginia looking for an alternative. I was over prescribed medications. I found myself and a very precarious position. I was on over 30 medications, put myself into a wheelchair. I was unable to take care of my basic needs. My husband, who is also a veteran, was happened to take care of me. One day I heard my children talking about me. They were embarrassed because they were pushing me through Busch Gardens one day and they said how difficult it was to have a mom that they had to push around in a chair. This hurt me greatly. And I said, Well, what can I do to change this? I decided that day that I was going to do whatever it took to get out of that wheelchair and to quit being pushed anymore. I decided to look at holistic medicine in Virginia. It was illegal to use cannabis at that time. On their program is much better than ours now. And looked at Florida. Florida was a safe haven for me. So I became a medical refugee and I moved to Florida for their medical program. When I came to Florida, their program here was just in its infancy. At that time, all they had was the concentrated syringes. Nobody knew how to use those medications. I saw people who were elderly who were taking those concentrated syringes and they were whooping it out. And it was very dangerous. People calling me in the middle of the night because I was on Facebook and they would say, I've had too much cannabis. I don't know what to do. My heart's racing. They were having cannabis pepper diseases. I can't say it right, but they were having too much cannabis and what do I do? And I'd have to tell them, Use CBD to bring yourself down. Some food, agriculture, power, things that they could do to help themselves when they had too much cannabis. It was a little terrifying. That's before they had smokable and nobody knew what to do. There was no training. There was not much education at the time. I saw fit to try to do what I could do to help people. But for vets, I only been around for a little while at that time. I became a moderator on the page. My friend Heather had founded the organization. I wanted to do whatever I could do to help her free. I started teaching people online how to do everything from just how to make edibles, how to make gummy bears, how to mix it and make an oil or a tincture or something. It was not affordable for medical patients to buy the tinctures that they had in the dispensaries. It was just so expensive. I wanted to make it more affordable for people who were or and couldn't afford to buy those things. This wasn't recreational. This is for people who were sick and people were had just begun to charge for those services and they charged a great deal of money. I didn't think that was so, but that that gave me an avenue to start that. Then one day I was sitting at the house and I was doing all these things and I heard they were talking about a THC percentage cap where they were going to use veterans as a way to kind of extort this cap. They were going to say, well, we will give veterans a free card if we have this cap. And then part of it, too, was it was going to hurt children and their access to it. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't think so. So I said, no. And I got my car and I drove straight to Tallahassee. And that's when I started living in Tallahassee during session and fighting for veterans safe access to cannabis. Because I said, Anderson, this isn't right. You know, now they're starting to use veterans as an excuse to do bad policy. None of my that we're not going to use veterans to do bad policy. I became an advocate in Tallahassee. Here I am. Disabled. Not able to do things. I was walking at that time using a walker. It was so funny. I had braces on my knees. I had braces on my arms. I was barely walking. This is when I first came to Tallahassee. Then I mean, lepers in Florida. And I just got not wheelchair good. And I was walking around with my walker and all these braces look like. Right, Tiny. It was so funny. A guy called me Rabbit on you, and then I was get around that lassie that way, and with my walker and all. And I would just throw all of my paperwork on top of the walker and just get around and slowly work my way into walking while advocate net capital in using cannabis and get better and better every day and on. And I think that the fight and the cannabis and just wanting to help people and all that helped to get me to get better and knowing that other people needed me made me get better. And then meeting other people who are in this same type of fight of wanting to alternative medicine helped me to get better and I'm really appreciative of meeting all of these people. I am very happy where I am today. Cannabis medicine is really incredibly important. It's something that people look at with a bad eye. When I went to the capital, I was a little bit ostracized in the beginning. People expected something different when they met me, they saw something a lot different than they expected. There was a kind of a perception that I was going to be maybe uneducated Ed and other things, and whenever they got to know me, they said, Oh, well, you were not what we thought we were going to have up here. And I lived up there and kind of broke that stereotype. I have a lot of friends at the Capitol now, people there in my Facebook, and I love them. They're the most wonderful people. And I'm very grateful for their friendships. And I think that I've broken that stereotype. So let's go back to where you said you have to be getting disability in order to apply for your program. I know that a lot of veterans have a long journey getting approved for disability, especially up to the percentages that are required. Well, technically, yes and no. What it is, is our doctors want you to have a 70% disability rating or higher, and that is just the doctor's criteria. We are trying really hard to get to where our doctors will accept you with a lower rating. We do know doctors who will take you no matter what your disability rating as, but that is just some of our criteria. Now, in order to be with us at Bud's your vets, you don't have to have a disability rating to participate in the rest of our programs just to get that free first doctor's appointment. You do have that 70% disability rating, and that's just their criteria. Now to be a guide to our events. To be one of us, you don't have to have any disability right? You're just a veteran at every first dot appointment you do for those doctors, we do providers who are willing to give it, but it's difficult. We do wish that more people would be more accommodating. We have applied for a51 C3 three. We're halfway through the process and once we get that five one C3, we're going to be able to do a whole lot more with money. There's so much more we can do. Unfortunately, it's just really hard without the finances. We haven't ever asked for money. We have been a in a nonprofit since 2016 and at this point everything has been paid out of Heather's and my paycheck. So we have never asked for money. Just recently, I just paid for the hotel here out of my own paycheck, and that's generally how we do things. I just decided that we wanted to go more official and to get the 501. It was easier to do things that way in the past, being that we were a cannabis nonprofit, even trying to get a bank account when you have butts in your name can be a little challenging. I let me tell you, I have an online bank account and then just like with the VA, we deal with people like the VA. The VA can be a challenge. You know, when you have anything to do with cannabis, any government agency can be difficult. I even tried to get my square when I tried to get the square at I can't got challenged with the square. I had to explain to them that we are a nonprofit that does not have any dealings with cannabis. And when I had to tell them that I had to fight with them about it's the nature of the beast. Do you know of any shortcuts for people who are trying to get their disability? I know somebody who's been waiting for three years dealing with an attorney for that long period of time and going through a lot of suffering in the meantime. It is a nightmare. Now, one thing that I do know is risk the war related illness. If you have gone through them, they are amazing. I just went through the process myself and has made such a difference. Who was that? The War related Illness Study Center. I just went through them and they went through all of my medical records from the time that I entered basic training all the way through to the very end. And they found things in my medical record that I didn't even know existed. When I went through there, they had a whole study team and it was like seven days of studies and made such a difference in my reports and everything that I have now. So I think that that will make a huge difference to anyone if you're trying to go through any type of writings or anything, if you're trying to get like if you have PTSD and you're trying to get it improved. Like, I had sleep apnea, I wasn't able to find my report for my sleep apnea and I was active duty. And they went back and found my report from when I was active duty that I wasn't able to find. If I hadn't had that, I may not be able to get my sleep apnea rate. But luckily they were able to find that at risk. Okay, Good information there. Can you tell me how the program works exactly? The steps of transition to go from being dependent on drugs for chronic pain, PTSD, sleep disorders to using cannabis? Well, I'll give you an example. One thing that happened and is evident on my life is I had a best friend that I served with. She was my ball bunny and she became a prescription drug addict as what happens with a lot of veterans. She got out of service. She had a surgery and began with while she was active duty, she started years. Now it's gone. When she got out, she was addicted to Doc Saigon. They wouldn't give it to her anymore. That led to Lyrica. As a veteran, the doctors quit giving her Lyrica. They switched to gabapentin. She the gabapentin. They quit given her gabapentin. Then she started using crack cocaine. Crack cocaine led her to other not good behavior. And then that led to her not be able to care for her family anymore. And Alex of hardness she drinks and uses and has had a very hard life. Cannabis has taken people like that and has changed them from that to use alcohol and drugs. And now they can use cannabis instead. Now I know that some people require medication, and I've had this fight with people who use Suboxone and methadone and other things. I've talked to people in those clinics and they say, well, they need Suboxone and they need method. I had the same argument with the risk people. They told me they wanted me to get off of cannabis, something that is working. I have no problems with. And they wanted me to use Suboxone or methadone, something I've never used. I've never been addicted to OxyContin. Now, I did use it, don't get me wrong. I did use it. I used it for years. I used on OxyContin and I used Percocet and I used other prescriptions like that. But they actually suggested that I'll stop using cannabis, something that does work, and I start using methadone that does. They said that my community of dysfunction would be improved by using Suboxone or meth addict. So they want me to use a drug that my friend should be using who is an actual addict and me that is not should be using instead. Now you tell me why is that a great idea? Because if I start using that drug, then I will become an addict and start using heroin or go grab some pills. Now, this makes zero sense. I said, How have you lost your mind? I've been using cannabis now for the last six years successfully. I don't use opioids. I don't use benzo pains. But instead you would rather have me start is the method that you want me to start using. You won't meet what I was like. Are you kidding me? This is your great idea. You think that this is going to help my cognitive function? This is good for me with a brain injury to make me an addict. I don't think so. I don't understand. This sounds like you want me dependable pharmaceuticals. That's what it sounds like to me. It sounds like to me you want to keep me in the pill mill. Because, honestly, that's what I think they want. Well, listen to them for a long time. For ten years, I listened to them. I listened to them until I was over£200. And I was in a wheelchair and I was compliant and I couldn't move. And I sit in white, man, but I'm not doing it again. I'm not letting them make me like that. I was almost suicidal. And I'm a Christian. I couldn't live again. And I'm not letting them do that. I know. Then them put me back there again, and that's what they do to us. They want to know why 22 veterans a day kill themselves. Let them put you on all those pills and tell you that's what they're trying to do to us. They're trying to put us in a coffin with a bunch of. When they do that to us, they're putting us in a coffin. Now, you ask any of my friends, I got one sit your right now. And she is on as many pills as I was. Just as many and almost the same exact ones. If I ask her right now what medication she's on at, promise you she's on at least 12 of the ones that I was on or. And this is the problem. Why is she on the same exact drugs that I was on? Is she going through the program with. But straight out now, she's not. She just is. My best friend lives in the same place I do. But if I talk to three other female veterans, then they're going to be on the same medications that I was to. If I talk to three guys, they're going to be in the same thing that I was. If you keep talking to veterans, they are on same medications. Not everybody's this willing, as I am to tracking this. And that's okay. Not everybody and not everybody wants it. And that's fine. I'm not going to push my medicine on everybody. It's for them to decide what they want to do. I don't I don't do that. And cannabis is not for everybody. I tell people I encourage them to try it if they want to. At the end of the day, I know what's happening at the VA. I know that they are over prescribing us medications, but it's not what you think. It's not just the opioids. It's not just the benzos. It's not just the sleeping pills. It's all the psychiatric medications that they have a s all of the stomach medications that they have this. It's everything else people are understanding. It's all the other medications that they have assigned. My stomach is so up from all the stomach medications that they have. It's everything. They just literally have us on so many pills that by the time you're done, you're looking at 16 different medications that you're and you should not be on that many medications no matter what. It's not okay. I found that I was able to use cannabis and I was able to use alternative medications and I was able to take two medications. How long was the transition for you? I moved here. I was ten years in Virginia, and then within eight months I was off of all my medications except for two. And I didn't have to. When I was able to quit, I quit taking those medications. I said, I don't want it anymore. And you know what happened when I quit taking them? They kicked me out. The caregiver program. They got mad at me. I got punished for being non-compliant because I wouldn't take the pills. I'm still required just as much care. I still required for PTSD because I still have PTSD. I still had the same problems. The reason why I was in it was for my PTSD. Nothing changed there. But do you know why they kicked me out? Because I wouldn't take the pills. Okay. So anybody who does go through the program with words for vets, does the VA need to know what's going on with you? They should. And the thing is, is we are protected. And that is where it comes in that people do not know about. And you must advocate for yourself. There is a VA code for us that we have to know about that people do not know about. And it's important that you do know about this. It is a VA directive 1315. It protects you if you're a medical cannabis patient and a medical cannabis date, and they have to list it as an over-the-counter medication, as a herbal supplement. If you have a problem with this, then you have to go to your patient advocate. They're not allowed to list this as an illegal drug on your medical record. You tell your doctor just in case you were to have a problem with it. For example, if you're being put under anesthesia, then you need to let them know because sometimes you require more anesthesia if you're having certain surgery. And it can cause you to have blood thinning properties, then you need to let your doctor know. There are some reasons why your doctor needs to know if you are using cannabis. And for that reason you need to tell your doctor. But if they are trying to use it against you, then you need to advocate for yourself. There are going to be people that are going to be discriminatory about cannabis. You're always going to run into that, but you need to advocate for yourselves, advocates for vets on our website and on the Facebook page. I have listed the two policies that have referenced. You need to take those two policies and you need to send them to your patient advocate, because most people don't know this information. They you don't have training for this. And if you do have a problem with your doctor, you need to send that to your patient advocate. VHA Directive 1315 the original one was was from December eight, 2016. The most recent came out in 2023. But when you click on the one from 2023, then it takes you to December eight, 2017, from the training because there is no formal training, but whenever you click on it, then it takes you over to what the actual directive is. And then whenever you scroll down, it tells you that every veteran reports marijuana use and participation is state approved marijuana program to a member that the blacklist staff. The information is entered into non-verbal over the counter urgency medication section of the veterans electronic medical record following established procedures for recording non VA medication use. It should be a director 2011 dash zero one to medication reconciliation or subsequent policy. Doc VHA Directive 11 08.08 VHA Formulary medication process. If a bay provider discusses marijuana with the veteran, relevant information must be documented in the progress notes and considered in the development of modification of the treatment plan. So in other words, they do have to make sure that they're aware of it in case there are any problems with it. But they cannot let you as a drug addict. So with the policy, how come they were allowed to drop you in their PTSD program? Because I didn't know to fight. I didn't know better. If you don't know better, then you have problem. I see. And a lot of us don't know better back then I didn't know better. Yeah. And if you file them too, then they will abuse you. You have to know You're right. That's why it for vets. I think that's so important that we continue to fight. That's what I do in Tallahassee whenever I go up there an advocate. It's why we have other people from other organizations, veteran organizations that fight. There are a lot of veteran organizations that are up in DC there in Tallahassee that do stuff like I did. I can't do it as much now as the work that I'm doing now keeps me at Bud's for vets here, but I used to do a lot more of that. Work is incredibly important to me. Keep that kind of work up. Yeah, nonstop. It is a lot of my work now seems to be even with our veterans here and trying to keep us active and healthy. But that work incredibly important. Okay, so we need energy without pain to be functional and productive. Everybody everyday life. Does CBD relieve chronic pain? Oh yes, it does. It has an anti-inflammatory process that is amazing. Oh, I love CBD so much and it is so overlooked. So many people care so much about THC that they forget all about CBD. It is magic, magic, magic. And one of my favorite properties gives you energy. It does does CBD does give you a little bit of energy. A lot of people don't understand that cannabis has so many bright towns to it and they're learning new things about it every day. CBD is just one tiny part of the cannabis plant. But yes, it does give you some energy and it depends too on the plant what type of plant that you're using and how it affects. But it does like what variety of plant that is the outlet CBD. It affects everybody differently. Yes, it does affect everybody totally differently. It really does CBD has been proven to reduce inflammation. Neuropathic pain is useful in helping people from drug and alcohol addiction, stress reducing cravings, anxiety, impulse control, obsessive compulsive disorder, gastrointestinal issues, Crohn's preventing seizure is like Charlotte's Web was created for on to help with the seizures. That's a really well known strain. I love Charlotte's Web. That is amazing. Amazing, amazing. And I'll let the guy, the CBD, help me with my job. A lot of really bad GI issues. CBD actually helped me when I was trying to quit smoking aspects since I was 12 and I grew up around tobacco farms. I used to say it out and add the cigaret my mouth, but I contribute that for helping me to quit smoking. So there's a lot to be said about what cannabis has done to help people. And there's been a couple of studies about how cannabis have been a gateway. Also the law on drugs and also there's a lot of drinking and off of smoking. And I think that's actually kind of what's angering a lot of these people in the studies, is that they're saying that people are trading one thing for another, and I don't really see where that's bad, but they're saying that is hard for them to say whether the studies are good or not, because they're saying that people are trading one for another. They're saying that people are getting off of like opiates and using cannabis instead or getting off of alcohol and using cannabis instead. And so they're saying that you're trading one for another, but I don't see where that's necessarily bad. So they're saying, how can you say that cannabis is working? And these people are people get use cannabis before they say we need more studies where people have never used cannabis ever. Instead of having people who use cannabis in the past and they're saying that they like cannabis, so they're more likely to be pot pro cannabis. But I think that the people who are doing the studies are con cannabis and therefore their opinions are jaded. So it kind of makes me think that they're leaning towards that. Well, I don't like cannabis, but if the people are being successful and it's helping them with their PTSD is helping them with their pain and it's helping them to get off of these drugs, when they said for so long that cannabis is a gateway drug to other drugs, when it's doing the opposite and it's getting them off and they've proven in these studies that it's getting off of these things, then I don't get it. I mean, it seems like we're doing the opposite of what they said. If it's helping you to live a better life, if you're being more productive and you can get back your life to where again, onto it and act like I've lost weight, I'm physically active again. I mean, I could be wrong. I still have disabilities, so I can't do those things that I could. But I mean, I was in a wheelchair and I was pushing around my walker 24 seven. I mean, I still use sometimes, but I mean, I was unable to do so many things. And the people that I know are more physically active and they they do things or I mean, they become athletic, they're happier and healthier and they live a better lifestyle. They eat better. That's one of the things that happens. You do more, you become more conscious about the food you put in your body. I mean, I don't know what it is. It all comes together. You become you start thinking about everything you think about. I want to put healthy things in me. I want to get out more. I want to live better or I don't. I started doing yoga. I don't do yoga. It's like Tanya's not a yogi. Like, what is this? You know, next thing I know, I got my legs up in the air and I'm doing my arms all funny. I'm like, What's wrong with you? Yeah. And I'm like, I'm eating like vegetarian type suit because I don't want to put this yucky stuff in my body. And I'm like, What's wrong with you? You know, these are not this is not Tanya stuff. Then I was it was a different lifestyle change for me. Everything changed. Then I got healthier and healthier and better and better and my skin looked fairer. And yeah, it was a lifestyle change. So that's why I say that, you know, it puts for vets that we're not just in of this. We're it's a, it's a whole lifestyle because it it's not just that and we do more we we're friends were buddies We look out for each other. We became a family. We do things together. We become active. We, you know, mentor each other. We go do stuff like camping and do physical things because we became a lifestyle group, too. And that's the way cannabis is with us. We're very loyal, you know, because that's kind of how it is. We become very family ish. Yeah, that's beautiful. So the active part of your life is so important. The more we work out and take care of our bodies, it helps us to get stronger physically, mentally. And the fact that you were able to get to that point in your life where you wanted to do all those things and you continue to do all those things so that you can get stronger. Physically, mentally, spiritually, Yeah, spiritually. Beautiful. That's a beautiful thing. And let me tell you, everybody, Tanya looks great. She looks nothing like the person that she was describing earlier that was on all those drugs that the service provided to her. It really bothers me that when you go into the service, any branch of service, they put you through the training, the boot camp and get you ready to serve our country for whatever might happen in the future. They get you into top notch physical shape to get you ready for anything that happens. And then when you get ready to leave and become a civilian again, you're on your own. They just release you. Why can't there be a program on the way out, just like there's a program on the way in to see where the veterans are at. At that point in time, their bodies, drugs that they may have been put on because of something that's happened to them, either mentally or physically. Why can't there be a program to transform them so that they can go back to life on the outside of being in the branch of service they're in so that they can be a functioning human being and be able to live their life and maybe not be on disability if they need it, they need it. That's one thing. But if they don't, why not have a program like that? We live in this in-between world where we don't quite fit in, where we see our being one and we listen to them and we sit on the outside and we watch and we wish we could participate, but we can't. So we live. And I wish that we could be in the active world, but we can't. So we find people who are like us and we want to engage with them because it's hard to have other people who can understand us. And that's why I do what I do, because I'm looking for more people like me who can understand and engage with me until I can find a time where I can engage again with other people. It's really hard. They do not teach us how to be civilians again, and I don't know if that is ever possible because I don't think that you can go and learn and do the things that we do and come back and be the same. But I do know that by doing the things that I'm doing that every day, I get a little. And by meaning amazing people like you and my friends at home, in fact, learn that I have become happier and more comfortable and felt more supported. And that makes me grateful. And I feel such kinship and sisterhood. But it is really, really hard. It's a very alienating feeling. Right now. I'm at a women veterans event, and this is a place where we're given our voice. They're celebrating in our service, and I'm very happy to be here. I'm here with another Flagler County service member, female service member from the community, and I'm so happy to be around other female service members. Right now we get to talk and bond and spend time together and tell our stories. And I'll go home and I'll go back to my family and give back to my community and try to be a civilian again. But at the end of the day, it's kind of like you say, you know, they don't train us to come home. We see things they and as females, we go through things that are a little different. Not everybody does, but a lot of us do our anxieties or stress or sully our existence, our bodies that are affected by pain and medical conditions are affected. And I'll be honest, for me, cannabis helps. And if I could get this medication through the gang and not have to pay so much money to use it, it would be great. But I don't. So right now I pay out my teeth for it and it's hard. If I could get the VA to accept my use, it would be a lot easier having to fight the VA because of me using cannabis and deal with the stigma and deal with the discrimination. And having to deal with jerk doctors is annoying half and then deal with that. Not so easy. I'm saddened by my veteran brothers and sisters who acted with the stigma from doctors. I've been lucky because of my platform. I don't deal with it as bad as other veterans did. I had veterans who are not given their psychiatric medications because they use cannabis, and I don't accept that that makes me so angry because of my platform. They don't mess with me as bad as they have other veterans. I've had veterans. They've been refused pain medication when they've had surgery, which is unacceptable. It makes me sick. I understand. But this is this is absolute discriminatory process and it shouldn't happen. And that VA rag that I read to eat says that they're not supposed to discriminate and that will not cause a reaction. There's no reason why they can't get them. They're pain medicine when they have a surgery and they're not an addict. There's no reason why they can't get treatment to have surgery. You need pain medicine. We need. Sir, I know a lot of people say, well, you know, cannabis can cure everything. And I'm not a believer that it cures everything. It will greatly reduce your need for medication. I do believe it, but using it must be scary to those who need their other medications too, and risks the chance of their medications being taken away. It's definitely gotten better than it was when I began this journey back in 2017. Okay, it's definitely gotten better, but in the beginning it was Roth, it was Roth, and it began in. But it's definitely gotten a lot better than it was. But yeah, it's a fear. It is a fear for us. I mean, now, like I was going through the foster care program and when I was going through the foster care program, that was a fear that I had, that if I was a medical cannabis patient, could also be a foster parent. You can be you can be you can be a medical marijuana patient and a foster parent. But those type of discriminatory processes is what we have to do with as medical marijuana patients. It's always a fear, but you can be as an ex mom, you can be a drunk mom, but you can't you can't use cannabis as medicine. Now, I could see if you're in it recreationally, but when you're using cannabis as medicine, that's always a problem. And it's just this idea they have in their head of Cheech and Chong or husband hit. You're getting out the van. All the smoke, you know, is home. And I love those guys. Don't get me wrong, the right here is in a way, but I grew up with them. I like going on now. That's not the case. Now we're you're using cannabis as medicine. You know I use microdosing. I don't use that much cannabis whenever I'm using it as medicine. Now, at night I might use more, but no, not when I'm using microdosing. Like right now I'm not using that much. I use two milligrams cannabis earlier. Does it help you sleep? It does definitely does help me sleep. If I didn't use cannabis at night, there's no way with my restless legs. Oh, they just go all night long. I kick a mile a minute and alps me with that. Let's talk about statistics about success for individuals with different issues and how successful your program is with chronic pain, PTSD, and sleep disorders. The statistics are kind of varied. And the problem is, is that you have different people that are doing those statistics. There is a 30% reduction of pain, and this goes by the National Library of Medicine. They've actually said that there is a 30% reduction in pain with people who use cannabis. I like that because I think that is actually a very good reduction and I agree with that one. But there is a lot of jaded information out there. These statistics that they're using are usually not incredibly accurate. They're coming from people. When you read these studies, they're not done for studies because it's federally illegal. So the information that they're getting are from other places. They're not coming from here. And you can't do studies when they're federally illegal. So until we can get studies that are federally legal, there's not a lie. Even the VA studies are coming from other people and they're saying, what's a VA study that how can it be a DEA study when the DEA hasn't been able to do studies? So they're using other people's studies from other places like Israel and stuff like that. So I haven't been really excited about their studies so far. This is one that I like the one for PTSD. The VFW had actually put out an article and I really liked it. They said for on veterans that were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, they had a double blind study. It was from March 17 and that was the PLO, S-1, peer reviewed journal. They showed a nine or 9% THC concentration. This was for PTSD. They were showing a marked improvement for people that had PTSD, which kind of they weren't happy about, but that was the one that I was telling you that they were saying that the people who were in this study had used THC prior. So they were trying to say that the study was jaded, but as the people had previously used, THC changed. And I said, Well, but they're saying that it worked. That is effective. And they're saying, Well, yeah, but of the people in the study had used THC prior, so they wanted to do a study where they hadn't used THC prior. And I'm like, Yeah, but they said that it worked. So that one really bothered me. And that was the MAP study. Oh, and then now we're actually scheduling cannabis potentially that's coming out that just recently happened and it wasn't scheduled. It's going to be a schedule one to a schedule three that's happening right now. If that happens, then that means that it has medical use potential for medical use so that we're taking it off from light heroin and changing it to a medical use. And the same thing as like steroid is very good. Yeah. So that means we're saying that it has no potential for use to it does have potential use. The difference would be for me is is they need to not reschedule. They need to be sketchy. That would be a much better option if we did schedule, then that means that it has no potential for abuse, which what I think because I've never really heard of anybody being truly addicted to cannabis. I know people who like cannabis, but I've never heard of anybody going to the DTS because they needed cannabis. I've never seen anybody go to the shakes. I've never seen anybody start squeaking because they need a pot. I have seen people need medication and stuff to come off of other drugs, but never cannabis. I've seen them want to have more cannabis, but I've never seen you start having withdrawals from cannabis. True withdrawals. But to say that that is a true need, I've never seen it like that. Now, that's that's the part that bothers me more. That whole schedule. Reschedule what we need is is de Speciale of cannabis and I am glad that they're starting to see the potential for medical use. And then with that means that we will actually get more study. And with the study it means that maybe they'll get some more information that'll be useful. But these studies that they've already done, I mean, the only thing they're doing is they get one person who says it's good, one person says this, one person says it's good, one person says it's bad. I'm sorry, but this has been at round since the time of the battle. So, I mean, how much more are we going to have to look at this plant and say, this is natural, it's here, it's been there and it works. It works from everything from you can put it on skin cancer to it helps with your stomach, it helps with sleep. It's been around forever and this stuff works. This thing that they are finding one reason after another, why they cannot do it. And I think it's main mainly the main reason why they're doing it is because the taxation, because it's really hard when something makes the need for you to be able to tax it so that if they were to reschedule, then they can make it pharmaceutical and then they can take care of it that way. If they make it pharmaceutical. And then the DEA can take care of it and then it becomes a pharmaceutical problem and they take it out at dispensaries. Is that good or bad? I mean, then maybe it would be covered under insurance, but then pharmaceutical companies, that's what those of us in the cannabis industry are scared of regulation. Then whether or not we could regulate it when it is better, we could grow it in our own yard and then we know what it is. I mean, it's much safer that way. I personally would rather home grow and know what is going into my body. I think as much safer that way. I, for one, would like to grow it in my own backyard, know what I'm consuming, especially when you have like I have an autoimmune disorder, I have lupus. So the last thing I need is to be put in anything that has chemicals in my body. I need to be extremely careful with my disorder. I'm incredibly scared of anything right now. We're going to be fighting this cannabis fight for a long time. There's a larger issue at play, too, is the fact that this is a treaty issue outside of the state issue. In the federal issue, you have to deal with the fact that this is a UN issue. When we first started war on drugs, we had a U.N. issue, we made a treaty, and we'd have to pull out of three treaties in order for us to be able to legalize cannabis at the federal level and then re enter the treaties over again. They would actually have to pull out and then pull back in again. And their only reason why we are actually kind of like being bad right now because we are allowing the states to do this, because the states are allowed to do what they want to do and we have allowed the states to get away with it. We're kind of already doing the wrong thing. But the state that they're are able to do it, they want to individually in the United States. But yeah, we would have to pull out of the U.N. in order for us to make a federal role that cannabis could be legalized. So when people say it for you to flower it, they don't understand that you would actually have to pull out of a treaty in order to build what, three treaties to do that. So when people are saying that I kind of want to smile and say, Yeah, and be nice, but we can't. Mm hmm. Gotcha. So all we can do is statewide each state. But Tania, what would you say to vets who need to get help? Okay, Whether they're at the beginning of their use with drugs or where if they're at their wit's end and, they cannot function in life and need to do something. What kind of advice would you give to people out there? Don't lose hope. We're here. Other veterans. You're here. Look for your brothers and sisters. We're out there. We love you. We support you. Just don't give up. We got your six, but your vet is here. There's other service organizations that are here. Don't ever give up. You're not alone. We got your back. I mean, there's just too much out there to be giving up hope. And if this isn't for you, then there's something else. But no matter what, even if cannabis isn't for you, we're still here for you will still be your battle buddy, you know? And that's the other part of Buds for vets where you're your buddies. So come hang out with us. We'll be your friends. It's going to trip together. Yeah. My next thing I was going to say to you is leave the audience with a goal to help them live their best life. Yes. Just move forward. Always put one foot in front of the other. Never stop moving. Always forward. Thank you so much, Tanya. This was a great conversation and I hope there's somebody out there that will reach out to you and try to get help through your organization. Or maybe one of our listeners knows of somebody that they can refer to Buds for Vets and get help in so many different kinds of ways. Well, look us up on BudsForVets.org or find us on Facebook@BudsForVets and if you're a veteran or a family member we have a Facebook group called@BudsForVetsFlorida where you can join and we talk and learn and educate. Join us. Thank you, Tanya. Thank you. I appreciate you. You're welcome. This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It’s All Possible! It’s time to wake up. Here we go.