Fortitude: Turning Tragedy into Action
A podcast by the Parent Action Network (PAN), a division of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), dedicated to amplifying the voices of parents whose lives have been devastated by the harmful effects of marijuana. Each episode features personal interviews with parents sharing their heart-wrenching stories of loss, addiction, and the impact on their families. Through these powerful narratives, PAN aims to educate, inspire, and mobilize listeners to take action against the widespread dangers of marijuana use.
Fortitude: Turning Tragedy into Action
From Loss to Legislation: Darryl Rodgers' Journey for Marijuana Awareness and Change
What if a single choice could change everything? Join us for a heart-wrenching exploration of the impact of marijuana on youth through the story of Darryl Rodgers and his son, Chase. Once a vibrant Eagle Scout and athlete, Chase’s promising future took a drastic turn due to marijuana use, ultimately leading to a devastating car accident. Darryl courageously shares their family’s journey, shedding light on the emotional toll and the fight for awareness in a landscape where marijuana remains illegal in North Carolina.
Listen as we navigate the profound grief and challenges faced by families dealing with addiction. Darryl opens up about the emotional rollercoaster of supporting a loved one through recovery and the immense heartbreak of loss. The episode provides an eye-opening look at the broader issues of marijuana impairment and the critical need for better legislative measures to tackle this concern, especially with the rise of legalization across the country. Discover how Darryl’s advocacy work aims to prevent similar tragedies and bring about meaningful change in drug policy.
In this episode, we spotlight the inspiring efforts of those striving to make a difference in marijuana awareness, including organizations like Parent Action Network. Learn about how you can get involved in the movement for change. We extend our deepest gratitude to Darryl for sharing his powerful story, highlighting the resilience and determination found in advocacy. Join us for a compelling conversation that urges us all to rethink our views on marijuana and its impact on society.
Follow PAN and SAM:
PAN:
https://parentaction.network/
https://x.com/parentactionSAM
https://www.facebook.com/parentactionnetworkSAM
SAM:
https://learnaboutsam.org/
https://x.com/learnaboutsam
https://www.facebook.com/learnaboutsam
Greetings everyone. I'm Chrissy Groenwegen, back for another episode of the Fortitude podcast. As always, before I begin with our interview, I like to talk a little bit about why I gave this podcast the title of Fortitude. Fortitude means showing courage in the face of grief and adversity, and I could not think of a better word to exemplify the brave parents and families that stand up despite their pain, to fight big marijuana and the false narrative that marijuana is a safe and harmless product. I hope that each episode leaves you with a profound understanding of the urgent need for awareness, better regulations and the power of community support in addressing the challenges posed by today's marijuana products.
Speaker 1:Now I'd like to introduce Daryl Rogers from North Carolina. He and his wife share a tragic story and have been doing this for quite some time. So Daryl's son, chase, was a good kid. He was an Eagle Scout, athletic, easygoing, funny, and he and his wife, somewhere along the line in high school, started noticing changes with Chase, and in his junior year they decided to transfer him to a military academy where he seemed to excel. He even got an athletic scholarship for football to college, but it was in college where things took a turn for the worse. So again, here with us today is Daryl Rogers, who has taken his grief and pain and turned it into an opportunity for educating others and advocacy. Daryl has even written a book. Darrell has become a recovery coach and continues to advocate against marijuana legalization. So thank you, darrell, so much for being with me tonight. I'm really just so honored to have you here to share your story.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Chrissy. Thank you for inviting me to be on the podcast.
Speaker 1:So, before you tell us the details of Chase's story, would you begin by letting us know what life was like before marijuana became a factor in your lives?
Speaker 2:a factor in your lives. Yeah, pretty typical American family. I guess you know Chase and Justin. Justin's his younger brother. Chase and Justin were seven years apart. Chase was born in 93. Chase was born in 93. Justin was born in 2000.
Speaker 2:And when Justin was born I came home to be a stay-at-home dad for a little while and we ran an outdoor day camp for boys for several years. During that time, when Justin was growing up, Chase would help me at the camp. He helped me set up, he helped me tear it down and he loved coming out to camp every day and participating in all the things that we did there. We played capture the flag in the woods all day long and just had a really good time. So I'm an outdoorsman and Chase and I we spent time fishing together, hunting together, and I did a lot of the scouting activities with both of my boys and also went to attended all of their sporting activities.
Speaker 2:Chase played a lot of sports. He started out with baseball and soccer and eventually landed on football and track and field and really just. He was small for a football player but he loved football and he wanted to play football and so for many, many years it seemed like our lives outside of church. We were regular church attenders, but outside of church there was a lot of football. We attended a lot of football games and we really loved it.
Speaker 1:Of football, we attended a lot of football games and we really loved it. You know, I don't think I ever knew that there were seven years between Justin and Chase.
Speaker 2:Were they close? Oh yeah, yeah, Very close. Justin really looked up to Chase a lot and you know, Chase, he could do things to get on Justin's nerves a little bit every now and then you know, like most big brothers, there was a little bit of you know things going on between them from time to time, but they really loved each other and they played hard together. And yeah, I would say, Justin really, really looked up to.
Speaker 1:Chase a lot. So, again, I can only imagine how this situation affected Justin as well, and you know I'm, I know you're going to share some of that with us and and I do want to say, of course, that I am so sorry for what you've gone through and I think that it's important for people to realize that. Again, I mentioned that this has been almost a little over 10 years since Chase passed away and, if you think about it, that was at the beginning of legalization in some of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, and in North Carolina neither are still legal or it's medical right. Medical is not even legal in North Carolina. They tried, they tried and they're still trying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was part. You know, corrine LaMarca came here and we went together and helped fight that and it seemed like whatever happened there and Corrine was really, really good, she was on that day and she happened to get in line. She was ahead of me and she got to speak and I didn't. I talked to the press afterwards but her story was really impactful and whatever happened that day was effective at stopping that process, at least for the time being.
Speaker 1:And for our listeners who don't know who Daryl's talking about, there's another mom out there who has a very tragic story involving driving. Chase's story, you know, unfortunately involves marijuana impairment behind the wheel. While it wasn't him, it was his own car. And um Kareem Lamarca's daughter, jennifer, was hit by a marijuana impaired driver. So she again was not using the product, but she was hit by someone who was impaired on medical marijuana from Michigan, and this happened in Ohio, where it wasn't legal. So while it is not legal in North Carolina, these products are still getting in the hands of our youth, no matter what state we're in, no matter whether the product is legal or not. So, daryl, would you share a little bit with us what happened with Chase and how you came to be aware of this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, chase, he did improve his grades while he was at the military academy. He still he had some behavior issues while he was there. He got into a little trouble. It turns out there was a boarding school for girls a mile away from the military school that Chase was at and it was all wealthy girls from wealthy families there and he went on Facebook and met a girl and then they met off campus and you know he got into a lot of trouble over that girl. Oh, my.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he did. He did improve his grades, he did graduate on time. And when he went to college, that's where things really took an ugly turn. He almost immediately began to gravitate to a rough crowd. I want to say he started out with alcohol and cigarettes but very quickly gravitated to marijuana and he began experimenting with molly. I know there were a few other drugs that he experimented with a little bit, but it always came back to the marijuana with him. That was his main drug of choice as he progressed through his addiction. But he dropped out early on in the second semester of his freshman year there at college, moved back home, gravitated to an even rougher crowd at home pretty quickly and would be gone for days at a time with no communication with us.
Speaker 2:And eventually I had an intervention for Chase in our home and we were successful at getting Chase into treatment through that intervention. He went to a 30-day program in Florida and from there he went to a sober living home and moved around to several different sober living homes in Florida and eventually got himself kicked out of the last one that he was in. Some of those homes sober living homes he was in some were poorly managed, other ones he just his behavior was not good and he just had an attitude. But the last one was a good, sober, living home. I had spoken with the manager on several occasions and he was a good guy and he was doing the right things. But Chase, he just he was ready to leave.
Speaker 2:It was over a girl again you know, he had met a girl there and she left and he was ready to leave. So he sort of engineered getting himself kicked out.
Speaker 1:And how old was he at this time? Because he was college age, but that could be quite a range.
Speaker 2:He was about 19 during this phase.
Speaker 1:And when he was in these sober living homes and even the treatment was it recognized that marijuana was a huge factor? Because you know a induced psychosis as actual, you know addictive problems that are being treated specifically.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, when he first went there we thought that he might. We didn't know how much he was using Molly either, and so they were sort of looking at that. But um, you know that was not a barrier for him getting into treatment at that particular time. Um, I will say that nowadays it seems like the biggest barrier there. There has been a big change in the attitude in the treatment industry. It seems like the biggest barrier is with the insurance companies.
Speaker 1:But there is some talk that they're going to be doing things about that. I'm hoping that and it might be by a state-by-state thing, but I know, like in New York, for instance, a state by state thing. But I know, like in New York for instance, they're they're receiving some opioid response funds and now they're talking with the cannabis control board about uh of New York state, about more monies going towards treatment and care, but it's yet to be determined.
Speaker 2:Right, I've heard that too, and I think some good things are beginning to come out of that.
Speaker 1:For sure that we're hearing and the staggering data you know one in one in three chronic marijuana users will become addicted.
Speaker 1:One in 10 are addicted like it's just so pervasive. And, of course, with the underdeveloped brain, we know that our youth and young adults are way more susceptible to becoming addicted to marijuana. And then marijuana in itself presents so many additional. You know people think well, it's not as bad as getting treatment for or coming off heroin and stuff like that. But there is a withdrawal with marijuana that is really serious and you know so. There's all kinds and we're actually going to be doing a webinar on that tomorrow at PAN, because September is National Recovery Month, and so we're talking about recovery and treatment options and we have a Dr Fred Munch speaking with us tomorrow and a couple of parents who have children in recovery, and Dr Munch will be talking about a 30-day break from using marijuana and also discussing with us how withdrawal from marijuana and the treatment is just a little bit more nuanced than other drugs and sometimes even more what are perceived as more illicit drugs than marijuana.
Speaker 1:Yeah than marijuana. Yeah, so, um. So, so take us through what happened to Chase and I know it's very difficult to talk about, but if you could just tell us how this happened and and what led you to take the stand that you took to educate yourself and, in turn, really others.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so yeah, you know, chase went to treatment, like I said, and was there 30 days After. He hit all those sober living homes. Between that and treatment he was in Florida for close to nine months. And you know, I got a call from the manager at that one sober living home and he said Mr Rogers, I'm kicking Chase out, he's going to be on the street tonight and he has nowhere to go. You should come down here and get him. And I didn't realize at the time, I didn't know anything about addiction and that probably was not the best course of action at that particular time. But I did go, I drove, I jumped in my car immediately and drove down to Florida. It's a pretty long drive down there and he was able to spend the night with a friend that he had been in a 30-day program with. It was an older guy who was in recovery, much more mature, and he allowed him to stay there for the night and I picked up Chase the next morning and we came back home. And when he got back home, you know he really wanted his car.
Speaker 2:I had a car that my parents had left a handwritten note that Chase was to get the car. The car had belonged to my dad. He had gotten it in his later years in life. It was a small car, it was a Toyota Corolla, but it was pristine I mean it had been kept in the garage, you know, and very low miles. And Chase, that was his only option for an automobile at that time and he really wanted it and had begged me for it. And I said look, chase, if you will go to IOP intensive outpatient care two nights a week and show me that you're serious about it, if you'll go get a job and show up for work and you'll stay clean, then you can have the car. And he did all of that and so I let him have the car. And you know it was a car that my brother had. My brother had power of attorney when my parents died and so he had signed the title over to me. So I had the title and eventually that car was kind of a wedge in our relationship for a little while but eventually I did sign the title over to Chase.
Speaker 2:But eventually I did sign the title over to Chase. I got concerned because he had moved out, was living with the young lady and I got concerned that he was letting other people drive the car and they were using drugs and at some point there could be a wreck and my name was on the title and I could get sued and so that was one of the motivators. But I did go and sign it over to him and he he had a falling out with that girl that he was staying with and had moved back home for a little while. She called me one day and she said Mr Rogers, you can come get your son now. That's how she said it. She was quite the character. I had a couple of run-ins with her. I did go pick him up, run-ins with her. And I did go pick him up and I'll never forget, you know, when I she was living in an apartment and and it was up at the top of a flight of stairs and I I finally found her apartment and I was going up those stairs and Chase had a trunk from military school with all of his belongings in that trunk and the trunk is at the top, is on the landing at the top of the stairs right outside of her apartment. She had locked him out and he's just sitting on top of his trunk and I helped him load his trunk in the car and he moved back in with us, you know, and you know it seemed like things were going better for a little while.
Speaker 2:And then he came to me one day. He said you know, dad, I'm headed in a bad direction again, hanging around a rough crowd, and I had already sensed it. And I said I know Chase. And he said I just don't know how to separate myself from these people, but I know I need to. So he told me, he said I've taken a job transfer to Florida, back to the area where I was in treatment, and that guy, that the older guy that he'd been in treatment with, that he had spent the night with that one night after he got kicked out of the sober living home. He had agreed to let him live with him as long as he. He could drug test him, and he could. You know, he didn't bring any drugs into his house, and so that was sort of the agreement.
Speaker 2:And I told Kim, my wife and Kim made Chase promise that he would come by and have a meal with us before leaving for Florida. Well, the day came that he was supposed to come by and eat with us and he didn't show up and we weren't really all that surprised, you know, but of course we're wondering where he is, what's going on? And we all moved to the living room, kim and I and our son, justin the youngest, when he was in the eighth grade. At the time, I didn't want to disturb Kim and Justin with my phone conversation, so I went outside. It was May 29, 2014. I'm standing in the front lawn talking to my friend on the phone when a police cruiser pulled up to the curb in front of our house and the officer got out. I hung up the phone call with my friend and I met the officer in our driveway. And that's where he told me Mr Rogers, there's been a bad wreck out on I-40 and your son, chase, died at the scene.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I can't even imagine I'm so so sorry, um, you know, I've told the story literally thousands of times now. I've lost count and, uh, sometimes I get through it just kind of on autopilot, but uh, most of the time I will get choked up somewhere in the process telling the story.
Speaker 2:still, you know 10 years later um, because it is a tough story to tell. You know, there were people who already knew, before we knew, because the word had gotten out on social media and we just happened to not be on social media right then and we did not see that information, and so it was a surprise, it was a shock to all of us. When the officer showed up and he went in with me when I broke the news to Kim and Justin and of course we all cried for a long time and as we settled down eventually we began to ask the officer questions about what had happened or questions about what had happened, and he didn't have a lot of information then. But we did hear a rumor that there had been a going away party for Chase the night before and all kind of drugs and alcohol were consumed at that party and that he and some of his friends woke up late the next morning feeling hungover. So they decided to go to a park near home and smoke marijuana together there in the park. And I did see parts of the police report. I've never seen the entire police report, but early on in the police report it did verify for me that he did go to the park near our home with his friends and they did all smoke marijuana there in the park together that day and they got in Chase's car.
Speaker 2:Chase allowed this girl that he had dated, that he had stayed with for a while, that he had shared an apartment with. He allowed her to get behind the wheel of his car. She was 18. He got in the front passenger seat, another kid got in the back seat. They left the park.
Speaker 2:They made one quick stop to grab a bite, deep headed right out onto I-40 in rush hour traffic and they only made it a couple of miles before she lost control of Chase's car in a curve. They were running about 70 miles per hour. She lost control of Chase's car in a curb. They were running about 70 miles per hour, which was about the speed of traffic there. But I believe she dripped it over on someone. I can't say for sure but based on eyewitness reports, I believe that she dripped it over on another car, which would be typical of someone who's high on marijuana, and they blew the horn at her and she overreacted, I believe, and she oversteered and lost control and that caused her to lose control in the curb there.
Speaker 2:They left the road and struck a tree. They were running about 60 by the time they hit the tree and it actually they impacted on the driver's side rear door but the car rolled up on its side and the tree kind of came diagonally across the seating area and right across where Chase was sitting and of the three occupants he took the biggest impact, you know, from the tree when they hit the tree. So he died at the scene. I believe he was probably knocked unconscious immediately on impact and probably never regained consciousness, probably died soon thereafter. It took the firefighters, other emergency personnel, almost an hour to get the three of them out of the car. They had to cut the roof off, they had to put airbags under the car to lift it up and then cut the roof off and extract them. The kid in the back seat was pinned in, his legs were crushed and they transported the two survivors to the hospital right away with serious injuries and they recovered over the next several weeks to the extent that they could return home to continue their recovery there.
Speaker 1:Wow, you know, I've known you for almost two years and I don't think I ever heard the complete details of the story. Oh, I, I'm just blown away. I can only imagine what these survivors went through and to have to live with what they did. That's a whole other aspect of everything.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you've ever heard the rest of this story or not, but the driver took her own life seven months after the wreck. She, according to the fire chief, they believe that she poured gasoline all over the floor of her apartment and stood in the middle of it and ignited it. Yeah, she died 24 hours later, approximately from her burns in the hospital.
Speaker 1:Wow, I think I do remember you sharing that at the Hill Day last year. But just another tragic consequence and unable to live with the guilt.
Speaker 2:Seems that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't really. You know, and you talked about when the officer came to your house and how other people had known already. But I don't think there is any good way to hear news like this.
Speaker 2:No, it's a pretty common theme with people who are battling addiction that they're involved in wrecks, and I've known some of them who have survived multiple, multiple wrecks have survived multiple multiple wrecks. So it's just one of those things that goes along with people using substances and as long as they have access to a vehicle, they're going to drive, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and again, your story is so important because it brings up certain points, each of each of each of the parents I've interviewed, while you all have a horrifying grief ridden story and some have hope, you know their children are alive and some have lost their children. But they're all while they're similar, they're all a little different and bring up certain points, like one was about medical marijuana, one was about Delta eight, which you know brings up the whole farm bill loophole, but yours brings up a very important thing that you just hit on, which is the aspect of driving under the influence of marijuana. And while there were other drugs involved, if I remember correctly there was only marijuana found in that young lady system.
Speaker 1:That's correct, right. See, and that is a huge problem today with the legalization of whether it be medical or recreational, because THC is mind altering, it impairs you, and for anyone to say that they are not impaired under the influence of marijuana is just absurd, because in all reality we know the reason that people smoke marijuana is to get high, right? So medical marijuana was just this ploy to legalize a substance so everyone can be high. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I know that there is not a day that I don't drive with my window open where I don't smell it on the roads. It's everywhere you go.
Speaker 1:And that is terrifying. Terrifying that that people can be smoking in their vehicles and there's no way to detect this or to prevent it, to know when they were smoking, so like if someone's a weekend smoker and they get in a car on a Tuesday and they have an accident and you find marijuana in their system and they say they weren't smoking. Maybe they weren't for four days. You know like, you just don't know. And that is just such a huge problem that you know is of great concern to so many, and Luke Niferatos, our EVP and CEO here at SAM, are always working on the Hill and with people about the driving aspect to spread education, and speaks with legislators to try and make people open their eyes up about marijuana, impaired drivers and having consequences, you know, and not being able to drive on the roads under the influence of marijuana. But when that is going to end is beyond me. You know, I don't even know how we can begin to address that problem. It's so pervasive.
Speaker 2:It is. It is a big problem and I don't see a good solution on the horizon right now.
Speaker 1:I don't either, and we talked to so many law enforcement officers and traffic safety personnel. I used to work with Stop DWI in New York State, here in my county, new York state, here in my county, in my past role as a community educator, and I just don't know what the solution could be. It's, it's so difficult to pinpoint and I, you know, I have heard about some promising methods of testing for the level of marijuana in some States. I think Michigan has a pilot program, but there's still, and you know. Then of course there's drug recognition experts, but that's a very expensive training. It's, you know, and once you're trained, it's also very hard to uh whether you're an expert or not when it comes to court.
Speaker 1:If there was another drug involved, like alcohol, that's easily detectable. Whether you're an expert or not when it comes to court. If there was another drug involved like alcohol, that's easily detectable. And you know someone's impaired. Well, if they got you on the alcohol, that's all they need to get a conviction, and so the marijuana kind of gets pushed aside and it's just a whole other problem that we're going to be facing the more and more states that legalize, and the more and more that this is just commercialized and normalized.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a big fan of law enforcement and and I've known DREs drug recognition experts over the years. I even spoke to a graduating class of DREs a while back specifically about marijuana, and in our case the DRE was while back specifically about marijuana, and in our case the DRE was there, I mean, a lot of times. There just aren't enough of them, so they can't always be there to assess the driver. But the other problem is, like in our case, the driver was trapped in the car for almost an hour and when they got her out of the car they had to transport her right away. So more than two hours passed before he could assess her and before they could draw her blood.
Speaker 2:And we know what happens after about two hours the active metabolite that proves impairment in a court of law is gone, and so you know she was going to walk away from this.
Speaker 2:She didn't even have a driver's license and there's not really much penalty for driving without a driver's license, and even if you cause a fatal crash. So she was going to walk away from this with little to no consequence under the law, and I certainly did not want to see the kind of outcome that we had. I even thought at one time, man, it would be great if we could go to schools and speak together, you know, once she's out and has recovered. But it's unfortunate that she chose the path that she did. But certainly I think the laws need to change so that drivers who drive impaired and particularly whether it's marijuana or whatever it is, but particularly if they're driving impaired via marijuana there needs to be some changes in the laws so that they can be held accountable for that and if they cause a fatal crash, there really needs to be some accountability there. There's just not right for families to lose a loved one in an impaired driving crash and the driver walks away with no, not even a slap on the wrist. Really, yep.
Speaker 1:Well, that is for sure. So, um, so now I know. Uh, again, this was a while back and there must have been a healing process. So when is it that you decided to? Because, while you ran a camp and everything, that's quite different than what you ended up devoting your life to at this point, you know. So how did you get to that point and how, how, how as well did your wife and did Justin rally through this? And, you know, come to a point of like. Obviously you never, you never move on, but you have to move forward, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, um, I don't know if you know this or not, but I was a pilot too for a while. Yes, that was my initial career. I started out as a pilot. I have an older brother who's a pilot, but I've done a lot of different things in my life and I think experimenting and trying a lot of different things has led me to be I'm self-employed a lot and I'm always I think it kind of played into. You know, some of the things that I do now.
Speaker 2:So the first year, my wife went to a program called Grief Share and that was that was really good for her. She it's a 12 week program, it's it-week program. It's run as a nonprofit. You can find it in different churches, and she attended that two times on her own, without me. You know I have a little guilt over that. Now you know that I did not. She was grieving in her own way and I was grieving in my own way and I was, I was. I basically locked myself in a room for a year and wrote a book, and I'm not I'm not a professional writer. I've never been anything like that, and it was just me putting my thoughts down on paper. As to, you know what this experience was like and at the time I was a grieving father who was for part of that time, going through a lot of anger and did not understand addiction and just really. It's a really raw book, you know, but some people didn't like it, but it seemed like it resonated with a lot of people. Just because I just didn't pull any punches, I just said, you know, this is what it felt like to me. And then I made a short film.
Speaker 2:After that I began doing just a little bit of speaking. I got involved with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. A police officer friend reached out to me and said hey, there's going to be a press conference for North Carolina Vision Zero. Would you come and speak at that? And that was really my first speaking engagement. And then after that I spoke at a church A friend invited me to. He knew my story and he invited me, or he talked to the leaders in the church and they ended up inviting me to speak there. And so those are some of my first speaking engagements and all of the I found the speaking when I was younger.
Speaker 2:Speaking was one of those things that scared me, probably like most people. It was my number one fear, you know. But the more I spoke, the more comfortable I got and I began to really enjoy the speaking. I think the biggest thing about it was the conversations that I would have with people after this, after I spoke. You know people that would come up to me and talk to me and say, oh well, you know, you said this and that's exactly what I'm going through with my family right now. And just hearing all of that from people and just thanking me for speaking out and all of that it was very, very healing.
Speaker 2:And you know, somewhere in that process a lady named Lori Robinson found me right about that same time. Candice Leitner, who is the founder of MAD, reached out to me and Candice had started a new organization called we Save Lives and I spoke some in several different places, including a couple of high schools that Candice got me speaking engagements in. But Laurie Robinson had reached out to me. She's the founder of MomStrong and her son died I believe it was a cannabis-induced psychosis, suicide. And so Laurie pretty quickly introduced me to Julie Schauer, with Parents Opposed to Pot, and Julie introduced me to Catherine Antley, who was a doctor in Vermont, and she invited me to speak, to come to Vermont to speak.
Speaker 2:And while I was there I stayed with a couple really nice couple named Bob and Barb Orlick and their dog Chester. I stayed in there. They had like a little A-frame house on 10 acres and Vermont is so rural. It was beautiful. It was in October when I was there the first time and Bob had I don't know why I didn't hire him to be my manager because he had set me up with nine speaking engagements in seven days and it was a whirlwind. I saw the whole state of Vermont. He drove me everywhere we went and I had all these different types of speaking engagements. I really cut my teeth there, began to, you know, on the speaking. But all of that was very healing for me. I had made a short film right about that time and I began to use that film, especially when I went into schools. It's 23 minutes long. We had interviewed some of Chase's friends and so we used the film a lot and then I would answer questions after the film. Sometimes I do that, sometimes I just give the speech Depends on the crowd, but all of that has been really healing for me.
Speaker 2:And then eventually trying to learn more about addiction and how I could help more. I got into facilitating a PAL meeting Parents of Addicted Loved Ones and a peer support group for parents and really any family member with an addicted loved one, and I've been doing that for seven years and I realized that some parents needed more than what they could get in the group. And I realized that some parents needed more than what they could get in the group and I began doing family recovery coaching about four years ago and a year ago I began doing interventions. So all of it, believe it or not, it all ties together really nicely and I have learned so so much in the past seven years.
Speaker 2:I mean, I was already learning, but a lot of the times when I was giving speeches early on, my whole approach was, you know, the Nancy Reagan approach just say no to drugs, and it's not a bad message. But you know, I've learned so much more about addiction now and, uh, you know a lot of these kids uh have they're suffering from some type of underlying trauma and uh, that's why they. That's part of the reason why, of course, peer pressure is a big issue too, but but that's why they end up addicted a lot of times. And so, anyway, it's been a journey and it has been very healing to be able to do the type of work that I do and to feel like I'm helping people you know that so that they don't have to go through the second part of it that my family and I went through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can very much relate to the helping part because it drives everything that I do and it's very healing and it just gives a real good sense of purpose. You know, and again, a sense of purpose is such an important theme in the recovery process, whether it's recovery from an addiction or recovery from a loss and the trauma. Finding your sense of purpose is so very important and a resounding theme throughout this whole month of National Recovery Month. So you basically answered our question what's helped you move forward? Because certainly the path you've taken is beyond inspiring. And while you mentioned a whole bunch of other organizations, would you just share with our listeners how you came to be aware of Parent Action Network?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the answer really started in my last response a little bit, you know, because I was talking about Julie Schauer with Parents Opposed to Pot and I was actually on the board to Parents Opposed to Pot for a while, she asked me to be a board member and as I was getting more involved there and learning more, when I first came out with my film before I went up to Vermont, I had made a connection with some lady who was a local news anchor or news reporter and I told her I was going to release this film and I promoted it on Facebook and we released it in a local theater that's a renovated old theater, that's renovated the halls about 170 people and it was packed out and and there were people who could not, who got turned away at the door and you know we had. I did a Q and a after the after that and I thought, man, that was, I've never done anything like that before and it went pretty well and I think I want to do that again and by this time I had met Sally Shandell and I'd met some other parents who had stories too and I thought, you know, I think I would like to do this in my town, but maybe plan an outdoor event and invite some other speakers and focus on the marijuana issues. And I was sort of thinking about that but I had a lot of other things going on, so I put it on the back burner for a little while. But I mentioned it to Julie just in passing in a phone conversation one day. She said, daryl, you have to do that, but you need to do that in Washington DC, and let me support you. So we were putting together this event in Washington DC and let me support you.
Speaker 2:So we were putting together this, this event for Washington DC, and that's when COVID happened and we were literally maybe three weeks away from having this event, maybe even a little bit closer.
Speaker 2:We got down to about three weeks and then we finally had to call it bit closer.
Speaker 2:We got down to about three weeks and then we finally had to call it. And I mean we I was on the phone every day with the DC Metro police and the Capitol police and doing all this stuff. And that is when I met Bronwyn Skinner, because Julie hired her about that time to come on and help us with the event and stay on with Parents Opposed to Pot, and Bronwyn and I worked very closely together on that event and she was my go to person on getting hotel space and some of the other logistical things, airline tickets, and she was really good with the logistical end of things and so that you know. And then I moved on to other things with the coaching and all of that, but stayed in touch and Bronwyn reached out to me and let me know about Penn you know, and how some of the changes that took place and how Penn was under the umbrella of Sam, and so that's kind of how I came to know about Penn, yep.
Speaker 1:And for listeners who don't know, bronwyn Skinner is Penn's project coordinator and, as Daryl said, she kind of evolved through the chain of all these agencies that were recognizing marijuana as a big issue in their lives, with parents opposed to pot and Every Brain Matters Network, and she was actually here when Parent Action Network was created, which was in April of 2022. I did not come on board until January of 2023. And so it's almost two years for me and I don't know what I would do without Bronwyn, because she is basically the historical knowledge of the beginnings of Pan, and that can be very important in any organization. You need to have that historical knowledge to be the one to say well, we tried that, let's not do that, and so I have to listen to her sometimes. I think Bronwyn's role is very important, so thank you for mentioning her. Oh yeah, yeah, bronwyn's role is very important, so thank you for mentioning her.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, and so before we we wrap up, is there something you would like to tell any of our parents and families listening to help them in their journey?
Speaker 2:Wow, there's so many things I could say to try to just boil it down to a couple of things. Things I could say to try to just boil it down to a couple of things. Really, you know setting and maintaining healthy boundaries. Once you know your child is addicted or has a marijuana problem, or if it's other drugs or combination, once you know they have an addiction, it's very important to learn how to set and maintain healthy boundaries without going too far into that. It's just the second piece of that is really about becoming a very good communicator, and communicating with someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol is much different than communicating with other people.
Speaker 2:There's a special skill set there that parents can learn, and that's one thing I would really highly encourage them to dive into learning how to communicate better, and there are some good books out there and and so good videos you can watch along those lines and definitely practice self-care. You know, make sure you're you're taking care of yourself in all of this, because you know it kind of goes back to the whole idea of like, if you're on the airliner and they come around to brief you and they tell you, you know, if the oxygen masks fall, put your oxygen mask on first because he can't help anyone else. If you're, if you're passed out, you know, and if you try to take all this on your shoulders and you don't practice the self-care, you're going to get overwhelmed, you're going to get burned out and you'll have a mental breakdown. It's just a risk. It can be an emotional roller coaster.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, thank you for that and for any listeners who are interested in more information about the program that Daryl runs, please feel free to reach out to us at PAN, of course, and we will hook you up with Daryl for sure. Daryl, again, I just thank you so much for taking the time to tell your story and I want to stress again that I am just honored to know you and honored to call you friend, and I really appreciate the time that you've given to Pan, and I look forward to so many more opportunities to advocate together, and I'd love to read your book myself and see those videos, and I know that there is a lot more work we can do together. So thank you again for sharing your story, and the more we bring awareness to this issue, the harder it's going to be for lawmakers and legislators to ignore the facts, and hopefully one day they'll finally put public health and wellness before profits.
Speaker 2:Thank you for inviting me, chrissy, and thank you for what you do. I know it's a tough job, you know. Getting the message out there and trying to be an influence and make a difference, change people's minds on this and get them to see the truth of what's going on. So thank you for that.
Speaker 1:You're welcome and thank you again and again. It's a passion and it's in my blood and it's very sad sometimes to have to say, oh wow, I have a full time job listening to these stories and it can be difficult. I know that at the end of the week I'm ready to decompress on the weekends because I'm not even living the lives you're living. So I can only imagine what that must be like. But I really do internalize it and I am truly passionate about making a difference here and I think the work we're doing at Parent Action Network is finally beginning to make that difference and I really think together we can and we will make a difference. So before we close, I would just like to give a few reminders.
Speaker 1:Smart Approaches to Marijuana's Summit is coming up in February, so please look out for those invitations. Also, please keep listening to the Drug Report podcast hosted by Luke Niferatos and, of course, keep listening to the PAN podcast and coming to our webinars. And if anyone is interested in recording a podcast session with me, please feel free to reach out to Chrissy at LearnAboutSamorg, and that's Chrissy C-R-I-S-S-Y at LearnAboutSamorg. Or you can simply email Pan at LearnAboutSamorg as well. Again, daryl, thank you so much for sharing your story, for your bravery and your vigilance in telling your story, and keep doing what you're doing and together we will make a difference.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Chrissy.