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
Grace in Advocacy: A "Lucky" Texas Mom Who Won't Quit the Fight!
What happens when marijuana—a substance many consider harmless—shatters a family's foundation? Christine's story takes us into the heart of this reality when her high-achieving eldest son developed cannabis-induced psychosis after using legally available THC products.
The devastation arrived suddenly in March 2023 when a roommate's concerned message led to the discovery that her son was experiencing bizarre delusions about triangles, God, and the devil. Despite raising three boys with strong values who excelled academically and musically, Christine found herself navigating unfamiliar territory. Her son had been secretly using THC products for over three years, products made legally available due to a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill.
What makes Christine's story particularly valuable is how quickly she identified cannabis-induced psychosis as the culprit, while learning the roommate had recognized troubling changes in her son's thinking two and a half years earlier. Yet even with rapid identification, it took eleven months to secure appropriate treatment through Florida's Marchman Act, which allows court-ordered substance use treatment for adults. After eight and a half months of comprehensive treatment, her son has achieved remarkable recovery without requiring antipsychotic medications—a testament to the power of proper intervention.
Although Christine is overjoyed over her son's recovery, calling him one of the lucky one's she still devotes so much of her own time to powerful advocacy as she feels it is her mission to prevent this from happening to other families. She has taken the time to create educational resources for legislators, speaks at community events, educating community members, pediatricians, and law enforcement, and continues to fight for better regulation of these dangerous THC products. Her powerful message reminds us that cannabis-induced psychosis isn't new—medical documentation dates back to 1845—but today's crisis stems from unprecedented potency, availability, and normalization of these substances.
Whether you're a concerned parent, healthcare professional, or policymaker, this episode offers crucial insights into recognizing, addressing, and preventing the devastating impacts of today's high-potency marijuana products. Listen, learn, and join PAN's growing movement to protect families from unnecessary suffering through education and action.
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Greetings listeners. I'm Chrissy. I'm the director of the Parent Action Network, the grassroots division of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, dedicated to amplifying the voices of families whose lives have been devastated by the harmful effects of marijuana. Been devastated by the harmful effects of marijuana. We're back for another episode of Fortitude, turning Tragedy into Action, a podcast that is dedicated to the families that step up every day by telling their stories and hoping to make a difference. Tonight I have a very special guest, christine from Texas, and she's been out there the past couple of months doing some big work in Texas, and I'm really excited to have her with us tonight and I thank you so much for making time for us. So, christine, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, chrissy.
Speaker 1:So we know that all of the families that come to this podcast and that are in the Parent Action Network share a common thread in that marijuana has somehow devastated their lives. Yet each of their journeys is different, and so we like to start by hearing a little bit about what your life was like before marijuana became a factor in it.
Speaker 2:Okay, Well, just like a lot of other people that have talked on here before, I feel like our life was pretty normal. We had three sons and we went to church every week. We raised them as best we could with really strong values and morals. I always talk to them about not doing drugs or alcohol and at least the alcohol waiting till 21. I thought they were listening. They were all AP classes, all of them very strong musicians, every one of them in the high school marching band. We were very dedicated to that and they were presidents and vice presidents of that organization and we were really surprised when this hit us with one of our sons.
Speaker 1:You said you have three sons, so was it your?
Speaker 2:oldest. It was our oldest son. He had gone away to college. He was very self-sufficient, let me tell you, started reading at age two and a half, early words. He had 100 plus words at a one year old appointment and he was a very smart kid and we didn't know any different because he was our first we thought. Once our second came along, we thought, hey, what's up with him, because he doesn't have but about 10 or 15 words by the age of one. But your first kid is your guinea pig. And my oldest got a job at 17, his second semester of his senior year in high school. He was very self-sufficient, always worked through college, got a part-time job, got an internship and ended up graduating college at the age of 21. You know he wasn't 22 quite when he graduated college. So we just thought everything was fine. We thought everything was going well with him. And then the two younger ones they're all about two and a half years apart.
Speaker 2:We thought we had like the with him and then the two younger ones. They're all about two and a half years apart. We thought we had like the perfect family. We really did, so things were not quite that perfect.
Speaker 1:And so you're in Texas, which is not really that far from Colorado. So what were your feelings about marijuana, legalization, marijuana?
Speaker 2:legalization. Quite honestly, marijuana legalization. I was totally out of the loop. It was not on my radar. I didn't realize it was legal in places. Honestly, no one had ever offered me marijuana. I never used it. I didn't know other people who had used it, so it was really completely not on my radar. I did not have a feeling. If my kids were going to use it I would have said no, because it's a drug, a mind altering drug. But I didn't have preconceived notions about legalization, just wasn't on my radar.
Speaker 1:Right, so can you take us down the road? So what happened that made you aware that something was going on with marijuana Once you were in the throes of it, like what, exactly? What were the next steps? What did you do? How did you? Did you seek help? Did you find it, again without knowing much about marijuana, and then shockingly finding out that this was a factor?
Speaker 2:Take us down that road a little bit. Yeah, it was March 11th 2023. We got a message sent to us by his roommate saying I think there's something wrong with your son. And we did call our son and we thought at the moment that he was being blackmailed because there was no money in his account. We still had access to look at that and we thought, hey, he must be being blackmailed. We're going to fix that, we're going to talk to him. He was really stressed when we talked to him and he had a lot of pending transactions that weren't going to be covered by the zero dollars in his account.
Speaker 2:And the next day my husband drove three hours to go see him figure out what was happening. And that's when my son started talking about his THC and cannabis use and I was shocked. I'm getting this secondhand from my husband later. But he told my husband about some visions that he's had with triangles and God and the devil and a saint like on a triangle, different colors for each one. He talked about seeing the word liar in a light in the kitchen and I was taking notes when my husband talked to me about it and it's you know, I didn't know what in the world could be happening and but we knew cannabis, you know. So there's cannabis involved. And that was the second day.
Speaker 2:By day three we are, um, my husband is locking him out of Facebook messenger, facebook because that's where he was sending all this money to, uh, somebody. And, um, my son called me later on in the day. My son worked through all of this, he had it. You know, he's very work oriented, very strong work ethic. And my son called me and he was talking to me about what was going to be happening, trying to tell me why he needed to get back on Facebook because this certain person was me showing up and going to be on his doorstep and all the all these weird thoughts like and I'm taking notes through all of this and all these weird thoughts, and I'm taking notes through all of this, and it was like a 40-minute call and I got done with it and I wrote down schizophrenia, brain tumor or something with the cannabis. So it was like it's got to be one of those and by the next morning we had gotten him to an ER that has a psychiatric component. My friend is a physician's assistant and she said look for one that has a psychiatric component. And there they did a CAT scan and ruled out a brain tumor. And the psychiatrist there said, well, good news, he doesn't have schizophrenia. So we ruled out brain tumor, we ruled out schizophrenia. And so I said, well, the only thing left is the marijuana. And so I mean that's day four.
Speaker 2:By day five, I had found cannabis induced psychosis. I feel like this whole thing had it's been like a I don't know if I can say this like a God thing pointing a neon sign. For me it's not. I didn't take me five years to wonder and say, oh, it's just weed, it's just this. It was like day one, day two, day three, day five.
Speaker 2:We knew that there was some sort of component of cannabis induced psychosis and so we asked my son to come home for some mental health days, which he agreed to do for three days, and there I printed out these articles on cannabis-induced psychosis and I said, really, read through this with me, because we think this is what's happening with you. But he told me at a lunch conversation during those three days he said this was legalized by the loophole in the 2018 farm bill. And I said what's a farm bill? To myself, I'm like I got to find out about this now and that's when I found out about how these products became legal and how he felt like it's okay to use because it was legal nationally. Like my son is a rule follower. He's not a person that would ever think I'm going to go out and get drugs illegally and use them. It just it's something that was so normal he's.
Speaker 2:He has since said he's real proud of himself for not having used during college because a lot of people in his college and his friends were using and he never did college. And his friends were using and he never did. He waited until he was almost 22 and took a trip through Colorado with some friends, decided all of them on a whim that they were going to buy some products from the dispensary and he bought a chocolate bar that was infused with THC and he ate the whole bar. Oh my gosh. He had no clue about how many milligrams, what's a serving size, nothing. He's never done it before. So that was a shock to his system. We now think it was he's maybe about 80 milligrams that first time. So, anyways, I that's. We found out, you know, and I felt like we're the lucky ones because we didn't have all this waiting and wondering and years going by and thinking it's just marijuana.
Speaker 2:I mean he had been using for years, multiple years probably, like I think maybe by that time it was like three and a half years that we knew nothing about until the roommate called us. The roommate knew, on the other hand, two and a half years earlier, that something was wrong with my son. Within eight months of starting he was using every day, he had become addicted. And a few months after that is when the delusional thinking started and the roommate knew it and recognized it and tried to get him to seek some mental health help, therapy, maybe see a psychiatrist. And now, after treatment, my son says I wish that I had sought help when the roommate recommended it. He just couldn't recognize that he had a problem, because when someone is in a delusion they don't know that they're having a delusion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so did he stay friends with the roommate who encouraged him to?
Speaker 2:get help. We had been having question marks in our family about that friendship. That friend was five years older than him and they met at a time when my son was a freshman in college and they met over a common interest in their work. They enjoy the same type of work, but for the one guy it was his hobby, For my son it was his work, and they developed a really close friendship that was more years than just when they were roommates. They were friends for at least five years before they became roommates.
Speaker 2:But what we now know and what realized in 2019, is that my son was extremely codependent with the roommate and my son learned that once he was in residential treatment that they were probably codependent with each other, and the guy was.
Speaker 2:My son has described him as a controlling narcissist.
Speaker 2:During when all this other stuff was going on prior to him getting treatment, he was kind of lashing out at the roommate because the roommate ended up trying to control his marijuana use and my son didn't like that. He became paranoid about him and I don't think they're still in touch with each other because I think he learned a lot in his treatment about how codependent they were and you know so. No, I don't think that he's still friends with him, although he was a big chunk of his life, a lot of wasted time, I feel, and I really wish the roommate had reached out to us a lot sooner. If that's one thing I could hope for other people, young people who might listen to this, is if you recognize that someone that you're close with, roommates with or friends with, is having an issue no matter if you don't know it's from marijuana I would encourage you to reach out to their parents because it could help. The time, the years lost could have it could have made a difference you know, for other people too.
Speaker 1:And sometimes it actually takes a brave friend to reach out to a parent and and and say something you know, yeah, yeah, and can you clarify again? So you found out in 2023, but you'd think he was using a couple of years before that it was longer than that it was.
Speaker 2:He started in about June of 2019. So 19, you know however many years that is, but he didn't have delusional thinking that we knew about. We didn't know about it until 2023, but the roommate knew about it in about September of 2020. They had become roommates one month before and that friend could tell that there was something not right with his thinking so, but he didn't tell us for two and a half years. So I mean, my son did use for multiple years before we found out, and then it took us 11 months to be able to figure out how to get him into some treatment. It was a long process and it was a lot of time lost for him, a lot of money lost for him because of his delusion and just a lot of. I feel like although we found out and knew right away what we were dealing with, even though we knew it, it still took us 11 months to figure out how to get him into treatment. Right?
Speaker 1:And can you tell us a little bit about how you figured that out?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I guess, first my first. You know, right away we knew something was up. We contacted a friend that he used to work with, an older gentleman and he knew somebody who had studied neuroscience and he was now with this hope and healing center in Houston he's a and he ended up talking to us and saying it sounds like your son is suffering from some sort of psychotic disorder. And so it was a multi-steps and like every week I was reaching out and trying to figure out stuff. Really quickly. I saw and I don't know when they uploaded this, but Sam MN, minnesota, I think there was a webinar with Randy Backus and then Kevin Stavette had joined in and then there's some other men I don't know if there was any women, but that was uploaded and I found that really quickly and I said these people know what they're talking about. And so I started going to a NAMI meeting. But they're not so much about the drugs, they're about mental health, and I felt a little disconnected from the group, although multiple people in there. I did inform them Once I had read a couple books. I asked them if their kids were using marijuana. Well, yes, they are, and they would send me pictures of the products and I said that's all THC. I educated myself really quickly and I tried to help educate others quickly.
Speaker 2:In April we had a meeting with a well-known psychiatrist in Houston, john Stevens, who used to be with the Menninger Clinic and he has his own practice, and we got a one-hour appointment with him, just me and my husband. Midway through that I said do you think it could be cannabis induced psychosis? And he said that would be a best case scenario and what he meant was that would mean he he wouldn't be diagnosed as schizophrenic, bipolar schizoaffective. If it's just cannabis, that's a better case scenario. And so from there I think it was on the same day I wrote this down because I had to go back and see who did I contact first and it was like all the same day. It was really weird.
Speaker 2:I contacted those Sam MN people on May 9th. I contacted Bronwyn on May 9th by email. The Sam MN people kind of got back with me and said well, it already passed, like as legalization already passed in Minnesota. So like we're not really an advocacy, I mean there's was something else not to support more about the legislation. May 9th I emailed Heather back. Is she got back with me May 11th. She told me about Johnny's Ambassadors in an email. She also mentioned the podcast, the High Truths of Drugs and Addiction.
Speaker 2:She mentioned isaacorg. She mentioned everybrainmattersorg. You know several resources. By May 13th, I had joined Johnny's Ambassadors, a parent group for parents who have gone through this, which was fantastic because that gave me a ton of information, support and information like you're not alone type of support. May 15th, bronwyn had sent me an invitation to attend a PAN webinar with Libby Stout.
Speaker 1:You are right, that was May of 2023.
Speaker 2:Yep, may 16th, and then Laura Stack and maybe somebody named Donna Thomas Yep, she's a personal friend of mine.
Speaker 1:Her son died by suicide using recreational marijuana, which was not legal yet here in New York.
Speaker 2:So it was like boom, boom, boom, boom, right In, like March, we find out, I'm finding out information late March go to NAMI. April go to the psychiatrist. May just boom and I sent my husband the video that Heather Backus had put together with her husband using the videos of Randy, his own personal, you know, selfie videos, and that was super impactful for my husband and I said this is the lady I've been talking to and coincidentally she had just appeared, I think on May 16th. He was traveling and he said I'm watching Fox News and there's some lady talking about he said yeah, there's this lady.
Speaker 2:I said, yes, that's the lady I've been talking to, you know, the past week. And anyways, he got it when he saw that video. That's a very powerful video and it's like if you watch it you know like this could be your kid. So we need to try to do something. And I right away read that book called Dopamine Nation by Dr Anna. That was my first book. And then I read I'm Not Sick, I Don't Need Help, by Dr Xavier Amador, and in June I called a place in Texas to try to see if my son might be able to get good treatment there.
Speaker 2:And it was a little bit of a weird feeling at that point. I don't think at that time they were as well-versed in CIP as they are now, because now I know someone else who has gone there two years later and it sounds like they've become well-versed, more well-versed in cannabis-induced psychosis. But it was a long process of trying to learn how to talk to my son. I learned way more about the delusion using the leap method that Dr Amador had suggested. We were considering PACE in September of 23.
Speaker 2:I talked to Amy Wadsworth. She had a ton of information, just you know it was a month's long process, we realized trying to get him in California without insistence of you know some way that would insist that he stayed was not really going to work for him. And finally, in December I called up a place in Florida and we spoke with a lawyer about the Marshman Act and we also talked to a couple interventionists, maybe about three total, and it was just. I recommend, as people are having a problem with their loved one, um, take notes and create a document uh send to whoever it is doctors, a lawyer, the treatment center. It can really help talk about the history of what's been going on, like you don't want to have to recreate it If it's happening to you now, start writing it down either on paper or electronically, both is good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really great advice. We always tell parents when we interview them and bring them into the network to keep all medical documentation for sure, especially blood work that shows it's only THC in the system and all of that kind of stuff. But your advice as far as taking notes, almost like keeping a diary, is absolutely great advice because it is a lot and, just like with you, this goes on for years and you need to remember those dates and we interview so many people that were like, well, wait a minute, what was that date? And not that we need them to remember everything in order. You know it's a very traumatic ordeal to go through, as you know, but that is just great advice for parents to keep track for their own sake and for the sake of their loved one and getting help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I wanted to add, like what you're saying about keeping any kind of records from the hospital, we were able to. You know, with that first ER visit they recommended you could go get some psychological testing done all the weird delusions that had happened, and we were able to get him. He was, he was willing to go get tested, um at a at a place and he, um, I wanted to say the results of that, the, I want to say the pretty much exact words. It's gonna be not word for word, but basically that psychologist there. She listened to me for 30 minutes for one thing, which was good, and she also let me write as much as I wanted to write on some surveys that I had to submit about my son and the finding was that my son's irrational thinking was most likely caused by stress along with his THC use, stress along with his THC use and that if he did not stop using THC, even though it's causing these negative consequences in his life, a diagnosis of a cannabis use disorder should be considered.
Speaker 2:And that paragraph right, there is part of what helped us get him into treatment. There is part of what helped us get him into treatment, you know, just having that medical record professional saying that little paragraph was super important and it helped us. You know it was his. He was willing to go get tested. All he said he forwarded me that you know the diagnosis and then he just wanted to move on with his life. He didn't want to address any of it, but I'm very thankful that he was willing to go and we got that, because it really helped us get him into treatment. You know, the next year we got him into residential treatment in Florida by way of the Marchman act in February of 2024.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it was like pretty much exactly 11 months from when we found out, Right? So a couple of parents have talked about the Marchman Act. But remind us how the Marchman Act like, what it's for and how it works and why you used it why you used it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the Marchman Act is an act in Florida that is, I guess, kind of similar to the Baker Act in Florida.
Speaker 2:The Baker Act is concerned with mental health treatment, insisting on mental health treatments for adults in Florida, and the Marchman Act is insisting on substance use disorder treatment for adults in Florida.
Speaker 2:And you know we knew that my son's case was so hard to describe. He never did anything violent, he never had a police, you know any kind of police record or anything. He was working through this continuously but he was so addicted that we knew it was going to be very difficult to prove anything in Texas. It was going to take, you know, we didn't really have a way and out in Texas to insist on him getting treatment. And that's where we we just like I think one of the moms calls it a power move, maybe a couple of different ones say it's a power move but we said this is the best chance that we have in getting into a good treatment center that knows CIP very, very well and having him forced to stay. The Marchman Act will insist on treatment for someone with a substance use disorder for up to 90 days. They get an evaluation I believe it's within 72 hours from the facility of your choice we had chosen I don't know if I should say what facilities just a really good program in Florida.
Speaker 1:You can mention programs, because it's anything that's helpful for parents.
Speaker 2:Well, we used life skills in Florida. There were several other parents who had used life skills and I felt like they were the most knowledgeable about this in the state of Florida, and there's probably other ones in Florida also. But it went hand in hand with the fact that we could use the Marshman Act in Florida. We were going to get him treatment there, if you can get your individual with your loved one in the state of Florida. And our attorney that we chose was also a Robinson Casey. Richard Richard Casey was his name. In Florida he said there's a couple um uh counties where the judges are very proactive about getting people into substance use disorder treatment, and they were Broward and maybe it was Palm Beach or West Palm Beach County, but we chose Broward County because I believe Life Skills was also in Broward County. So we knew that we were going to have a judge that was going to insist on this if we could prove the cannabis use disorder, which we could because of the documentation.
Speaker 2:I had kept the report from that psychologist from a year prior. We had a lot of information in our favor and I know it was a tricky way to get him there. We told him that we were going to take a little vacation there and we wanted him to come with us and it was a lie. But we did have a couple of nice days of vacation. It's a beautiful state. I mean we were on the beach and we were spending time picking shells and playing mini golf and having a great time together. And he opened up to us about some of his alcohol use too. We thought he might have an alcohol use disorder throughout this whole thing. He was not diagnosed with alcohol use disorder but over a month of sobriety at life skills. We went ahead and got the psychological testing done and they diagnosed him with cannabis induced psychotic disorder testing done and they diagnosed him with cannabis induced psychotic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder mild. The year prior, at the other psychological testing, he was diagnosed with not anxiety but major depressive disorder severe, while he was on THC.
Speaker 2:And I kind of say that because I want people to know that. You know people say well, thc is good for anxiety and depression. Long-term heavy use of these products increases both anxiety and depression. And just the fact that he had been off of it for I think it was like a month and a half and his depression had gone down to mild from severe. I think that's kind of a telling sign how much it does affect depression. But they suggested getting on a mood stabilizer.
Speaker 2:But my son was not so far gone. Like his delusion was like more under the radar and they did not want to force medication and he did not ever take medication. And I want to tell parents there are some that can get through it and it I think it all depends on the person, maybe their age, maybe age of when they started, maybe the fact that he wasn't using the dabs and the super high potency stuff. We don't know exactly why. Um, he did not need an anti-ipsychotic medication, but he was in long-term treatment residential for three months, php, partial hospitalization for 64 days and then IOP for another three months. I mean, it was eight and a half months total.
Speaker 2:And we knew, based on Laura Stack's group, the parent group that if you can get your son or daughter treatment for the long term and long term sobriety not just three months, not just, you know, a month, but longer term treatment is a better chance of success. And once we went and picked him up, I drove down there and we insisted on three more months of sober living here back in Texas, which would give him a year sobriety. He was agreeable to that because we're still his family and he knew that we were helping him. Early on he didn't realize that his thinking was delusional, but he learned a lot in therapy. He learned a lot about codependence. He learned a lot about addiction and at the end of his treatment there his therapist told him you're lucky not to have been diagnosed with a bipolar, schizoaffective or schizophrenia-type diagnosis you're one of the lucky ones, because a large percentage of them end up with those diagnoses.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, I went off. I was supposed to be talking about Marchman. We actually did the three months. You're fine. We did the three months first and then we renewed it for another three months because we just we were able to do that.
Speaker 2:So you can renew it, you know, and they can take the kid the young person can take can go to court. We did go to court the first time. The lawyer talked him out of going to court and contesting for the first 90 days. The second time he appeared in court we all appeared by Zoom, but the sober living coach he had just moved into sober living the day before and that guy I want to speak highly about him from Hartman House he convinced my son that you know, it doesn't usually go well for people in your situation to fight this. So, though my son was about ready to fight it, he appeared and he said I've rethought about it and I agree to stay. So it's been.
Speaker 2:I want to say like, if you want to talk about a cannabis induced psychosis event being like a best case scenario, psychosis event being like a best case scenario, this would be an example of it. You know, you know exactly what it is. You've got a good treatment plan. Your person is ends up agreeing to get help. But he would not have stayed if it were any state other than Florida with the Marshman Act.
Speaker 2:he would have been out of there, so that's why I do recommend it for some people.
Speaker 1:And a lot of parents have talked about it, Amy being one of them, of course, we know it was successful for her as well, and so, yes, again, like part of why we do this is because the resources that any parent can give to another family out there is beyond helpful. So the mention of names and doctors and sharing is part of why we do this and what we do at PAN. So we kind of did discuss how you heard about the other organizations through your own research and PAN as well, through the very first webinar that we did, and I remember talking to you two summers ago. I remember sitting in my yard on a nice June day and having just a very lovely conversation with you about all of this, which was fairly new going on, and so we've gotten to know each other, of course, and I think over these past two years I've watched you evolve and grow. You were definitely a little more private when we first talked, and I want to talk about some of the things you're doing now in Texas.
Speaker 1:And again, I want to talk about it because you have a success story here. Your son is doing well. You were able to get him the proper treatment, do the right things by him and he's following along and doing very well. And this is a very traumatic experience and takes away years of your family life and years of your son's life, and you know, and certain milestones, and so you know there's and this is not to say that you know what's good for one parent is, you know, different for another parent.
Speaker 1:But, like, being that things are going so well, you could be the person to say you know what I need time with my family and we're good now. So and step away, but you've just continuing to help so many families with your openness and your honesty and the extra work that you're doing. Like this isn't a like you call it a job, but this is not a paid position, you know so it's. You're volunteering your life and your time to continue this work. So I really want to talk a little bit about how you've moved forward and and how this has helped you and what you're doing right now in your advocacy work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. You know, 2024, 2023 was a rough year. 2024 was almost equally as rough, although it was better because he was in treatment. And in the fall of 24, I started reaching out to people. Actually, fall of 23, I reached out to our school district to ask them to bring in Laura Stack and explained why. I got no answer that year. But I did it again in September of 24. And I got an answer because I said at the end of my message could one of the main recipients of this email please respond to me and the superintendent? But anyways, the next month I did like a neighborhood we have national night out. I think it's a nationwide program, but in Texas it's later than August. I think it's usually August 1st for some states, but in Texas it's October 1st or it's the first Tuesday in October. And I set up a couple of tables with. I created a document that's probably nine pages it's probably way more now with QR codes. I had actually taken that document with me to.
Speaker 2:Really, the first advocacy I did was May 29th of 24, when Aubrey Adams from you know Everybody Matters and she had put a message out there to Texas parents hey, there's an opportunity to talk in front of the Senate, texas Senate Committee on State Affairs, anybody who can come. We get 48 hours of notice and I thought I will definitely do that. And I met some other moms and Aubrey was glad to meet us in person for the first time and the fact that we were, we got there at 7.30 AM and that we were all willing to stay past 8.30 at night. She was flabbergasted and she felt like the tides were turning, like I guess she has done some advocacy work at the state Capitol before but no other parents had been willing to stay. And because we were all totally willing to stay, because we all had a loved one who went through the same thing, I think she got motivated and she motivated us to be motivated.
Speaker 2:And anyways, in the fall of that year I set up two tables in our park for National Night Out to just educate our neighborhood. And then the next thing was you guys at Parent Action Network had put out a call for anybody interested to come to the Hill Day which is in February, and I think it was your second Hill Day that was going to happen and I said I will definitely do that. I would love to do that and I asked my husband to go and we both went and we got the education on a Monday and then went and did visits with the national representatives of three of them from Texas in our group and then one of them from Massachusetts, and I met a really awesome lady named Ellen Snelling who was there also doing the same thing and she brought all the products and you know, I'd never seen the products before and she just brought them and let us all look at them and take pictures and I thought, wow, she inspired me.
Speaker 2:after Parent Action Network, the Hill Day that Friday I said I'm going to see what's available in my city. That Friday I said I'm going to see what's available in my city Because maybe my city is not having these products.
Speaker 2:Maybe you know maybe that's just elsewhere. And so I went to five smoke shops and three gas stations in my city and I found all the products that I needed Because they're just everywhere. And so that weekend I made up a PowerPoint and then printed off the pictures of the products I bought and said how they're affecting young people and adults too. And I printed off that material plus my documentation that I had made up for National Night Out the fall before, and I took it and talked at city council meeting, um, you know, on February 10th. And then, um, from then on, I was like inspired to just keep on going, and Aubrey had wanted to do something, knowing that senate bill 3 was coming out.
Speaker 1:We got you know, we got word in.
Speaker 2:December that it was a high priority for the lieutenant governor. She knew that we should do some advocacy days in Texas and so she asked me if I could help do that, and she and I worked really closely together to organize parents. She has a lot of connections and she has a lot of resources and people other connections that I have. I actually have time and energy and desire to help make this happen, and so I was ended up making appointments for our group with their legislators. I learned that how to do that through you guys talking about what Jordan did and he made these appointments. I'm like, well, I need to try to figure out how to make appointments. I called the Capitol. Aubrey said I want you to see if you can talk to Dustin Burroughs, the Speaker of the House, and I called his office and the guy there knew nothing.
Speaker 2:I think he was a new like an aide. He didn't seem to know very much. But I called a different person and I got very well informed about the format of their email addresses. And yes, I can contact on behalf of other people. And, yes, you're going to want to contact the scheduler, not necessarily the legislative director. Sorry, what am I?
Speaker 1:I hope you didn't hear mine barking.
Speaker 2:Anyways. So I just got more comfortable reaching out to these people. I learned a lot.
Speaker 1:I think I told you in January.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know that Texas didn't even meet but every other year to do legislation and so I've learned that in January and then I just just trying to help other people. Mainly is to increase education. So we we got a group of I think it was around 20 people here or there, you know, not sure exactly the number, but to go do advocacy efforts on March 18th and 19th with the house members. And then we went back two weeks later and did it on April 1st and 2nd. Not all the same people, but some new people got added that just found out about this. Their son just got into treatment and they'd like to be people kind of come out of the woodwork. Yeah, when you put it out there that you're doing this, that there are a lot of people that we don't know about in Texas and nationwide who are going through the same thing. And in Texas, partially because of Lieutenant Governor's support, we felt empowered. I felt empowered by my experience at the Hill Day and then just keeping on doing it has made me feel more empowered to make a difference. And all of us went up there. April 7th we got to testify for two minutes in front of the House Committee on State Affairs about banning THC. They were considering a less restrictive ban in the House and we were telling our stories about why we need more the ban versus regulation. And then another organization, texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth, with Nicole Holt oh yeah, we've gotten connected with her. She and Aubrey and I and her co-worker Betsy had met early on, maybe in February, and we were telling her that we were going to plan an advocacy day in mid-April and that's before we had done any. And she said I think you guys need to move that up and because of her is why we moved it up to March. And then we did another in April. Then we all spoke April 7th.
Speaker 2:Sometime in May Nicole asked if I would be interested in speaking on another bill that was introduced by Senator Perry, sb 2024, which was to try to eliminate all e-cigarette devices, nicotine and otherwise, also including cannabinoids. So it was just another avenue and I said yes, I will definitely come up. So I went to testify for two minutes on that and then the next week she texted me and asked would I go up there and do some more advocacy going to the senators I sorry, the house of representatives offices again, and that's when I made those be a lifesaver packets that encouraged our legislators to be lifesavers and to learn about the dangers of. You know, johnniesambassadorsorg, everybrainmattersorg, beextraordinarybuorg and learnaboutsamorg with QR codes. I put them all on there just to give them more information. And after that one day, with Nicole and another doctor, matt Rossheim, I stayed there on my own and just continued the next few days to go to over 120 representatives.
Speaker 2:In the March and April we visited or left packets with documentation from Aubrey's groups, citizens for a Safe and Healthy Texas, which me and my son put together. She had the material printed, I picked it up, we packed the folders, put stickers on them, put her business cards in and we got that ready for March. We did another set for April. We in March and April left those packets and or visited with every single of the 150 Texas House of Representatives people and then went back in May 19th through 22nd I visited with at least 120 more of them plus some senators and key people that had helped us that. I just wanted to encourage them to keep getting educated about the dangers of THC because the more education that's out there the better.
Speaker 2:And I wanted to mention in the middle of all this April, about the 15th, I had reached out to a neighbor who has four young boys, the oldest being 16. I'm friends with him because we both like bluebirds and we have bluebird nest boxes and we've connected over that and I just said, hey, I wanted to tell you what's happened with my son. Connected over that. And I just said, hey, I wanted to tell you what happened with my son and he's a pediatrician. And he said would you be interested in coming in to speak with our eight pediatricians about this on a lunch and learn type of seminar, because you know more about this than any of us? And I said definitely. And so I did that on on about I think it was like the 15th or so of April, so it's been a busy spring doing all that.
Speaker 2:And then we also had a press conference um June 2nd, the Aubrey's group. She led us and she just kind of said I think we need to have a press conference to counteract the hemp press conference same day. And we did, and you, it was recorded and we've tried to be sharing that. And then the Friday last Friday, a group of five Houston area parents one of the moms, lisa Flores, got our you know, the five of us able to meet with a reporter at the local Fox station and we got some television time. We talked to him for over an hour but they only had maybe a two or three minute segment on us. But still, it's education and I decided to sign up to speak at the school board meeting because it's time to speak at the school board meeting.
Speaker 2:Just to say the story and encourage them to bring in education, like I've been doing the past two years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's just unbelievable. Unbelievable and again, all on your own time, your own dime, and just to help others. It's really incredible and I'm so proud of you, so that's a lot. I'm tired just listening to you and we all know I have a lot of energy.
Speaker 2:You know what this spring in our neighborhood. I live in a very pretty nice neighborhood and I walk my dogs a lot and over the past couple of months I have found five different packages of THC just on my walks. Like I don't search them out, they're just. That's what I'm trying to say in my press conference part. I say these products are littering our neighborhoods and addicting our Texans, you know, and nationwide too. It's just amazing how many people are using, and a lot of them have a cannabis use disorder.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, and we know those statistics and that's why we have to keep telling these stories every way and any way we can, and keep doing what we're doing, and it's important advocates and parents like you that really help make a difference. You know so I you know. Again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you're doing, and it's an honor to know you and call you friend, and I just am so happy to have had you as a guest here. So, thank you. I think you've given us so much advice, but is there anything else you'd like to leave our families with any message of hope or anything just to help them on their journey?
Speaker 2:I guess you know. One of the things I want to say is do not be afraid to speak up, because some people they just are too embarrassed about it. And I talked to a friend of mine who's been advocating in Texas with us and at the beginning our sons encountered this at the same time and we found out at the same time and she was more embarrassed. She didn't want her family to know and I talked to my mom, you know, like once a week and I told her at the same time and she was more embarrassed, she didn't want her family to know. And I talked to my mom, you know, like once a week and I told her at the next week's call. This is what's going on and that helped educate her. Do not be afraid to tell your family, especially if you have, you know. I know there's some people who don't have somebody who will listen and understand and there's a couple of my family members who one uses. I know one had a son who uses. They don't talk to me that much but having a resource like a parent or a good friend that you can talk to, don't be afraid to talk to some people about it because they might be going through something like it, or they might know somebody who has a son or daughter who's using and may have a similar situation. So don't be afraid to speak up about it and tell others, because education is key.
Speaker 2:I think it's something I never thought I would ever be in touch with. I didn't know anything about marijuana, but now I feel like I've become kind of an expert. I I I find information every day. I want people to also know. This is not just I don't know if I can say this. I hope I can. It's not just this high potency THC I've. I know now. Now I've researched a lot about the history and there are plenty of um and resources.
Speaker 2:1845 book by Dr Jean-Joseph Moreau out of France, a psychiatrist who talked about his book Hashish and Mental Illness, was one of the first books to sound the alarm about the fact that cannabis, hemp, hashish, whatever you want to call it can induce psychosis. Can induce psychosis. There's an 1894 report, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, a 1903 report, the 1930s. This is not anything new, but the reason that it's become so prevalent is because the potency, the availability and the normalization and those are your same acronym, acronym P-A-N potency, availability, normalization oh, I like that Just like yeah, and you guys are helping, you know, with this other version of PAN. You know you guys are doing a tremendous job educating parents, getting us activated, teaching us how to talk to legislators. I didn't know that we didn't really have to even knock on their door, we could just walk in. I had no clue until I did that Hill Day with our group.
Speaker 1:But of course those were prearranged appointments so they were to some degree expecting us. But regardless, I learned myself in Pennsylvania recently because I had to do the same thing as you. I kind of made a whole bunch of appointments for the Pennsylvania parents on my own and, you know, with a little guidance from Jordan, and wrote some emails and got some calls and responses and, yeah, there's a little hall walking involved where guess what? If someone didn't respond, walk into that office and leave some information. We can do that. I also did it here in New York and Albany. Like you, I walked from the ninth floor down, I walked hundreds of offices and left information about the deltas and from smart approaches to marijuana. And that was when New York state was celebrating a billion dollars in retail sales of marijuana. Isn't that something to celebrate? And it was just appalling. So, yeah, new York's a mess as well.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, I thank you so much for being here. Those, those are just fabulous words of wisdom and again, I thank you for everything you're doing. And as a reminder, listeners, I call this fortitude, because these families, like Christine and all the other families out there that you know, are experiencing this and advocating, and even those who aren't advocating but are are, you know, wanting to and building the strength to do that, because everybody is at a place where they're at, and we understand that right. But fortitude means showing courage in the face of grief and adversity, and that's why I called this podcast Fortitude, because these families have suffered such trauma and such heartache on so many different levels, you know, not just emotionally, but financially and relationally. You know, relationships are destroyed and it's just quite a journey. And so I could think of no better name for this, for this podcast.
Speaker 1:And you know, I just I find these families so brave for standing up, despite their pain, to try and fight what we call big marijuana and this false narrative that marijuana is a safe and harmless product, because we know that it's not. The science is out there, but we need the voices of parents and families to bring more awareness to this, the urgent need for awareness, so that we can create better regulations, unfortunately in an industry where this isn't going to go away right, so we need to regulate as best we can where we're not, where it is already legal. We want to, you know, raise awareness of the power of community support in addressing the challenges posed by today's marijuana products. And again I just want to say thank you to Christine and all the parents who step up and just thank you for being here and doing what you do and you keep at it.
Speaker 2:I will Thank you guys, you're welcome.
Speaker 1:And then I'd just like to close by reminding people please keep listening to the Fortitude podcast. If you'd like to be a guest on the Fortitude podcast and you haven't heard from me yet, please reach out to me at chrissy, at learnaboutsamorg, shoot me an email, give me a call or a text. My number is right under my signature in my email. I also want to mention to please keep reading our newsletter. June's newsletter will be going out soon and we'll be doing the usual giving out the shout-outs. We also have a new initiative that we'll be launching that we'll be talking about there, and I'd like to mention that our feature will be by the renowned and respected Dr Bertha Madras, who will be talking about PTSD and veterans and this false narrative that marijuana is good for PTSD.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, in the summer, we realize parents are busy and there's a lot going on and you want to enjoy your time busy and there's a lot going on and you want to enjoy your time. So we, instead of doing a new webinar for June and July, we'll be re-releasing some of our past webinars to give new listeners and new members the chance to see those easily. And again, everybody just keeps spreading the word and doing what you do, and Pan will always be here to help advocate and think about our February Hill Day. That's always a given and you know, if you're interested in joining us for a Hill Day and you're not part of the network already, then please reach out to us again at Chrissy at LearnAboutSamorg, and that's C-R-I-S-S-Y at LearnAboutSamorg. Or you can contact us at Pan at LearnAboutSamorg, and that's C-R-I-S-S-Y at learnaboutsamorg. Or you can contact us at pan at learnaboutsamorg. So thank you everyone. Thank you again, christine, for being here, and I wish everyone a glorious summer.