Big Sky-High Stakes-How a Montana Mom is Courageously Speaking Out and Fighting Back!

A teen tries THC at 14. Many years later, his mom is sitting in court watching her once bright, funny kid , full of promise, cycle through paranoia, delusions, lost jobs, and a system that's failed him because it can’t agree on what’s causing it. That’s the reality Patrice H. from Montana brings to Fortitude, and it’s a hard listen in the best way: honest, specific, and focused on what parents wish they’d known before high-THC cannabis entered the picture.

We talk about cannabis-induced psychosis, why today’s marijuana products aren’t the low-potency weed many adults remember, and how early marijuana use can intersect with the developing adolescent brain. Patrice walks us through the scramble to get help, the isolation of being dismissed by professionals, and the moment a psychiatrist minimized cannabis even while prescribing mood stabilizers. We also get into the ripple effects families rarely say out loud: siblings living in fear, relationships breaking, and the constant shame that keeps parents silent.

Then the story turns to advocacy and solutions. Patrice shares how finding Parent Action Network and Smart Approaches to Marijuana gave her language, community, and the confidence to speak up. We unpack what Parent Action Network’s Capitol Hill Day asks lawmakers to do, including implementing the Farm Bill loophole, tracking the costs of legalization, and pushing for stronger regulations that reflect real-world harms.

If you’re a parent, educator, clinician, or policymaker trying to understand high-THC cannabis and mental health, this conversation offers both warning signs and a path forward. Be sure to share this with anyone you think needs a wake-up call! If you have had a similar experience and are interested in learning more about PAN's Hill Days, how you can raise your voice against todays harmful market, and being a guest on the Fortitude podcast, email us at PAN@learnaboutsam.org

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Fortitude

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hi everyone, this is Chrissy Groenwegen, director of the Parent Action Network, back for another episode of the Fortitude Podcast. And as so many of you know by now, I gave this podcast the title Fortitude because I could think of no better word to describe each and every one of the parents that have bravely come on this podcast to tell their stories. As many of you know, we just came off our federal Hill Day in early February. So I'm going to be interviewing the parents that have not recorded the podcast yet who had joined us on the Hill. Starting today with Patrice Halverson from Montana. And she's here to tell us about her journey, and we'll talk a little bit about what that Hill Day experience was like. I'd like to just welcome you, Patrice. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. I always like to begin by talking a little bit about what life was like before marijuana became a factor affecting your loved one. So can you tell us a little bit about what your life was like?

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Sure. So it all started about 15 or 16 years ago. My son started using THC at the age of 14. Our life, well not perfect, felt pretty stable and manageable. I was it was always kind of a balancing act between work and school and finances. But there was a sense of rhythm and normalcy, I guess, in our house. I knew my kids, their personalities, their struggles, and their strengths, and I felt pretty connected to them. My son was like many teenagers. He was curious, social, just figuring himself out. There weren't signs that something serious was on the horizon. We had the usual ups and downs, but nothing prepared me for what was coming out. Wow. So when the cannabis-induced psychosis happened, um, it completely turned our lives upside down. It wasn't just a parenting challenge, it was like a crisis that changed how I understood my role as a parent. Overnight, I went from managing everyday life to trying to navigate something really frightening and confusing and far beyond what I felt I was equipped for.

Legalization Assumptions Meet New Cannabis

SPEAKER_01 2:47

So you said this started at 14, and your son is a young man now in his age. He's 30 now. Right. Right. And and so what were your feelings one way or the other about marijuana and legalization? Because again, like as parents, obviously, we all have teenagers. They they go through rites of passage, they they they drink, they experiment. We as parents deal with that and expect it when sometimes you know, I think where marijuana was concerned, so many of us were like, alcohol is is the problem substance for our teenagers. And especially depending on where we are across the country, like, you know, Colorado parents were a little more accepting of marijuana as possibly something their kids might have dabbled in, you know? And so what were your feelings about drugs in general with where your kids were concerned and marijuana particularly?

SPEAKER_03 3:45

I guess I was against drugs, but I was also very naive. I had never had any my own drug experience. Um I guess I was cautiously supportive of the marijuana legislation um as a parent and a taxpayer because I didn't think it would affect me personally. And I thought, well, it kind of made sense on the surface if we took it out of the hands of the drug dealers and put it like into this regulated system that maybe it might be safer and it might generate revenue for the state. And that felt like a win. But again, I didn't think it would affect us personally. But emotionally, I realized now that I had this sense of distance from it because I didn't see it as something that would affect my family. I thought of it more of an adult issue, something that people might choose to use responsibly. But what I didn't really understand was how different today's cannabis is, especially the high THC products, and how vulnerable the developing brains are. Research now shows that there's a clear association between early cannabis use and increased risk of psychosis in adolescents, especially. And for some kids, like my son, that risk isn't theoretical, it's real and it's life-altering. Right. So it really opened my eyes.

Fighting For Help In A System

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Right. Um yeah. And thank you for sharing that science with us. Very recently, a very important study came out that proves further the harms caused by today's marijuana. And it is quite mind-boggling and such a landmark study because they followed thousands and thousands of teenagers for years, and the evidence is indisputable. And so you're no different than so many parents out there that were really naive to the harms of today's products because they're just not the same as what, especially people from the, you know, who grew up in the 70s, 80s, and were in our 20s and the 80s and 90s. We we just had a very different perception of the low risk from marijuana. And now it's such a high risk to our kids and our future generations. So it's just unimaginable what so many families are going through. And so I'd like to talk a little bit more about once this did become an issue, and and of course, you have other children too. So, how this was affecting you as a whole? And what did you do to find help? How did you even begin to start to be aware that this was because of marijuana? And was there any professional that told you so? Um, did you have to figure this out for yourself? When did you find help that started to maybe work a little bit or did it not?

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Great question because once I realized that marijuana was likely the cause of what was happening to my son, I immediately started seeking help, like everywhere. I reached out to doctors, psychiatrists, emergency services, I researched on the internet, anywhere. I thought I was pretty educated. I have a master's degree, and I thought, why did I not know anything about this? You know, and so I was gonna reach out to these other professionals. But what I ran into over and over again was like a complete lack of understanding. Many of the professionals I spoke with didn't recognize or even acknowledge cannabis-induced psychosis, especially in teenagers. Yeah, some minimized it, and many were not even familiar with it, so I wondered why do I know more than them just from reading the internet. And one incident that really stands out to me is I took my son to a psychiatrist, and he actually told my son that continuing to smoke marijuana while he was on mood stabilizing medication should not be an issue. Oh I about lost it right there. Yeah, I just stood up and we finished the visit, and I told myself we're not coming back here. Wow. Because I was in complete shock that had contrived sorry, had contradicted like everything that I had read on the internet. And I felt really isolated because I was watching my son go through something severe and frightening, and at the same time I felt like I was having to advocate constantly just to be taken seriously. Yeah. So I just kept pushing forward and it was eye-opening, but it was also a really scary time. How old was he at this point? Yeah, so I think the first time he had an episode was about 18 or 19. Wow. Of course I had told him I didn't want him smoking it at all. And he would do it and sneak it at school on the lunchtime or so yeah, it's not for lack of trying, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

Do you know where he was getting it from? Yeah, yeah, that's the funny part. I thought, okay, I'm gonna be a detective. Where is he getting this stuff? So I went through his phone when he went as to sleep one night. I had taken his phone away from him, and I just started going through all his text messages. And I found some people who he had bought pot from. And I texted them and I said, You better not sell it to him again, or I'm gonna report you. And apparently that caused him some issues, and at this point he was also very paranoid, and so me doing that, I was trying to protect him. But he had also gotten some of the symptoms of the psychosis, and so he's very paranoid and keeping the drapes down, and people were after him, and so I was just shocked by his behavior as well. Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

It was a psychiatrist or a psychologist? It was an actual psychiatrist. So you have one psychiatrist telling you that, oh, should be fine with the mood stabilizers, and then you you stop seeing that one. So then what happens?

SPEAKER_03 11:00

So we went to a second psychiatrist who also put him on new mood stabilizers, but he was also dismissive of the cannabis-induced psychosis. He said, It's probably just bipolar schizophrenia.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Their favorite scapegoat.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Yeah, and I said, Well, he never acted anything like this before. And so I was just I didn't know what to do. So we just took the medication and went to therapy.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

You went to therapy as a family or just him?

Desperate Fixes And Real Danger

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Um first it was just him. There have been so many things over the years, you know. It's hard to recount. But he went for a while, I went for a while, I reached out in desperation to so many people. There was this one guy in town that was going to do um an intervention. And so I paid him a lot of money, I think. Wow, you know, it just seemed like a lot of the time, like two or three thousand dollars minimum, maybe it was four, I don't know. But he was going to guarantee that he would get my son to go to this program in California where he would get off pot and reintegrate into society, learn good behaviors and everything. And he promised that's what he would do through some kind of mind-altering therapy. Cognitive behavioral, probably. And I went to like eight sessions with him, and the ninth session was the session he was supposed to have with my son. So I think they briefly had a session over the phone, and then he was supposed to convince him to go on the airplane to this place in California, and he never did that, and he just never followed through. And I was just sad. I had spent all this money and tried all these desperate things to get out. I tried calling oh, this is another instance. I tried calling the fire department to do a social welfare check on him, and I said, please make sure I'm home at the time, because I want you to be thorough so that you understand he is not well. And so apparently they did it when I wasn't home. They showed up, my son answered the door, they asked him his first and last name, his birth date, and his social security number. He passed, and so they left. But they didn't notice like the holes punched in the doors, his sisters having to lock their rooms because they were afraid. I was afraid. But um he was so erratic, the things he would do, and he never had a temper like that before. And we were just scared. He was when he was psychotic, he was acting as if he was a biblical figure from the Bible. He lost jobs, people were frightened of him. And this is the pattern when they have these episodes. They act erratic, and it's hard to hold down a job.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Right. So he's now 18, 19. So did he go to college at all or attempt to? He did.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

He attempted to go. He would have periods where he was doing pretty well. So he enrolled in college around 19 or 20. He went for a semester, and then he missed, I believe, a week or two when he had another psychotic episode. And college isn't like high school, that you can just jump right back in. And so he was struggling and didn't get good grades, and at the time I didn't think to speak up and advocate for him at the college, saying that it was because of his mental health.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:01

And so he got put on um leave, right. Yeah. Where he would have to prove himself to come back to college. And so he got discouraged, of course. And every time he would have any kind of episode, he gets so discouraged because he's like, I see myself doing these things, and this is after the episode. He said, I see myself doing these things, and I know it's me. But then when I snap out of it, I look back and I said, Oh gosh, look at all I have to clean up.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

So it's almost like a separate person. Yeah. And he can rationalize it when the episode is over. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

It's almost like looking at yourself from the outside in. We hear that a lot. Sometimes we hear that, but sometimes we don't. Like there's so many kids that just don't recognize this, and then there's those that actually recognize it and want to change it, but are still so addicted that they can't, you know. I mean, there's just so much going on here. And then again, I you you mentioned his sisters. How many children do you have total?

SPEAKER_03 16:07

I have three, and he's the oldest, and then he has two younger sisters that were pretty scarred by this, I guess. I'm sure. Yeah, and we're still working through those those scars. Um he had a great relationship with his youngest sister. And this recent episode that he had probably about seven or eight months ago really hurt that relationship because he kind of lashed out at her. Not physically, but he scarred her emotionally. And so she had to uh have a restraining order against him because she felt afraid. And and it's really hard as a parent because your other children feel like you are choosing the one child over them because they need the most help. And then they felt neglected, and so it's kind of a no-win situation.

unknown 17:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

You don't know what to do because you can't spread yourself across three children, and his father, I'm divorced, his father has never really stepped up and helped out with the situation. So I'm happy I have a supportive boyfriend now that is helping me and saw some of this, but at the time I didn't, and it was really, really hard to do this on your own.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Wow, wow. And when he was younger, um, and even through probably the early college years, was he in the home with you?

College Disruption And Siblings’ Trauma

SPEAKER_03 17:45

He was. Yeah. And when he was younger, he was I mean, he was in the home with me actually until age probably like twenty-seven. Okay. Because I was always the protector. And once we got to a point where he looked stable, we got him his own apartment, and that was a big deal. And he moved in and he did great for a year and a half. Wow. And would you say he was uh marijuana-free? He was. He was marijuana-free, and I think that was the difference, obviously. And I thought, okay, I guess he's better. And so he lived there for a year and a half, and then his thinking started being erratic again. And I didn't know that he had started smoking pot. I found out this later. Uh, but I could tell something was not right with him, and I was looking into resources to help him. But before I could, um, he had an incident at the uh apartment and uh again uh he was delusional, like is often the case. He thought he was someone there to protect the world. He went out in the parking lot, he said something like, If you don't want to challenge me, don't come out in the parking lot. And he had like a hatchet in his hand. Oh boy. And he didn't hurt anyone, but because someone approached him while he had that, he was sentenced with a a felony assault. Wow. And the police picked him up and I found out about it when my other daughter, who lived at the same apartment, called me screaming and crying. Mom, mom, he's been arrested. He punctured two car tires in the parking lot, and one of them was mine, she said. And I was so sad, and he was upset with her because she wouldn't loan him some money, I was told. And it was something small like that, and it just turned into something big, and so he went in jail and sat in jail for three or four months waiting upon a psychiatric evaluation, which is so common. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yes, wow, so difficult. And obviously, he had a job, he lost that job by sitting in jail, right?

SPEAKER_03 20:20

He had an online job, which was perfect for him because he could do it from his apartments, and yeah, he lost a lot of things that day. And he looks back at it with regret now that he's better again and realizes all that he lost and that he has to start over again. And that's often the case. They have to start back at ground zero after they work themselves back up after these incidents, and he had been good for like six six years. Wow. And so when this happened, I was just devastated. Oh my gosh. And when I was sitting there in the courtroom for one of his many mini appearances, it was so sad to watch him. He was like in a straitjacket, and the county attorney came and sat next to me, and she said to me, I'm sorry, you're in for a long, long battle. Uh and I know she was trying to console me, but it was just so sad. And I felt like I'd been going through this already for I don't know, ten years. And here we win again. And the judge understood uh that it was a psychiatric thing, but it doesn't help that they're in jail anyway. Uh and now he has something on his record. But the good news is if he's uh good for eighteen months and uh continues to take his medication and not use anything, then the charges will be dropped.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Wow. So that's good. Hopefully that's an incentive.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

And he's 30 years old now. He's 30. And he's is he living with you or back in that apartment?

Stability Without Marijuana Then Relapse

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Well, he lived with me for the past uh six months and he did great. Uh he lived with me and my boyfriend. We live out in the country. He loves it out there. He was able to get outside for walks and and I love having him. And just recently he was able to qualify again for an apartment. He's on disability. Excellent. Which is another thing the states don't think about is any revenue they get from the sale of this marijuana goes back and they end up paying disability to all the these people who can't function anymore in society. And that's a huge cost. And it's a huge loss that he's not really contributing much to society right now. And he was a really bright kid. Right. Could have done anything. But yeah, I want him close to me again because I can watch over him. So I think all the moms out there will relate and the dads that you think about him every minute of every day and just pray that they're safe and you're not gonna get that phone call. Mm-hmm. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Yeah. Well, I'm glad he's doing better right now, and we'll of course keep praying for him that he stays on the right path. So let's talk a little bit about how you found Parent Action Network and any of the other agencies that have been helpful to you and how they helped you.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

So when I wasn't finding the support I needed locally, I started searching on the internet. And again, this was like 16 years ago when it first started. So that's when I came across some groups like Smart Approaches to Marijuana. And along with a few other advocates. But uh I connected with these people, and for the first time I found people who understood what I was describing, and it felt so good to have people with similar situations that could validate to me this was real, that I wasn't crazy, this was a real condition. And that connection made a huge difference in my life. And so this support has been so critical to me, even when I thought I would kind of go in and out of the group because I thought, okay, we're better now. You know, I don't need as much help. But then again, when this happened recently, about uh seven months ago, I jumped back in and I got more active again because having people like this who listen without judgment helps you feel less alone. And again, this experience can make you feel so isolated. Yeah. And you don't want to talk about it because there's so much shame, I guess, that accompanies it. And so you often keep it to yourself.

Felony Charges And The Jail Pipeline

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Right. Which brings me to our Hill Day, because um we started the Parent Action Network conference in Hill Day three years ago. We started by bringing nine parents, and then the following year we brought 27, and this year we brought together 40 parents. And besides advocating on the issues at hand, which are the closing of the Farm Bill loophole and executing the implementation in a timely fashion, which is technically scheduled for 2026. And of course, um, there are certain members, unfortunately, of our legislation that are looking to stall that. So we're fighting to get support to implement that. Um, also, we're concerned about the rescheduling of marijuana and the no deductions for the marijuana business act. But while we bring our parents together to fight these issues on Capitol Hill and lobby for support, what I like best about our Hill Day, something that you mentioned, is the connection and the acknowledgement that you are not alone in this fight or in your journey. So while our journeys are all slightly different and experience different things, the one common thread is, of course, marijuana being the issue and meeting parents in person and being able to become friends and hug each other and support each other is so incredibly meaningful. And again, this year we brought 40 parents together. So that was extremely powerful and just really important in the work we're doing. So I began by mentioning that we were going to be interviewing all our parents that came to Capitol Hill. So there will be a whole series of this. And Patrice and her significant other joined us. And I I won't use his name unless you want to. And it was just a wonderful experience to again all meet in person and to have that opportunity for powerful advocacy on Capitol Hill. Could you share with us how how the experience empowered you?

SPEAKER_03 27:46

I will. So, first of all, I remember getting the email about it, and I went back and forth. Should I go? Should I not go? And finally, I got a little nudge. And because I'm always hesitant about things like, oh, do I have the time? And I think it was you that gave me the nudge and said, just do it. And so I did it and I said yes. And then I went home and I told my partner, Jody, I said, we're going to Washington, DC. And he's like, Yay, we've never been. So he was also a little um nervous about it, but we both went and we took in some sightseeing the first couple days. It had been a cold blizzard there, so there was no one out. So it was ideal at the museums. But then we went to our first meeting, and I was really uh so blown away. I was so impressed. Um, the stories I heard, the people I met, we just thought this is amazing. And he was surprised how all the stories had this common thread. And he's like, this is not coincidental that this many people could come together and tell the exact same stories, you know, with a little difference here and there, of course. But yeah, this is a real thing. This isn't something in our heads or made up, it's it's real. And that was very validating. And just to share your story and connect with these people on this level that you can connect with like no other because they've suffered the same way that you and your family have suffered, and they can relate to that, yeah, and they're passionate about it and about doing something to save the next generation because this uh is destroying our youth, and it really is. We have to do something, you know? And I go online with uh comments that people make on different websites, like Smart Approaches to Marijuana has a website, and I'll often comment. And the hate that you get when you advocate for this is unreal. And I just say, you know what? Be thankful this hasn't happened to your kid. Be thankful you weren't one of us.

unknown 30:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:09

Because it happened to all of us, and none of us wanted this. We're not out against marijuana just for the sake of being against marijuana. We have issues because it has ruined our families and destroyed their future. And if we don't speak up, who's going to?

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:29

And if you're of legal age and want to use it, I don't have a problem. But I think you should know the risks and what happened to our youth. Right. And and not even just youth. I'm hearing stories of people who are full adult age and having these same abs symptoms.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

And I mean, technically, your son falls right into that category that of where this psychosis can permanently become schizophrenia. You know, there was that major study about this, and at 30 years old, your son is right in the middle of that. Yeah, you know, so so yeah, it's it's it's a real thing. And it's right, it's really devastating. And and again, we consider our families so brave for continuing to speak up and face the hate on social media, which you're definitely protected from on Capitol Hill, which is a wonderful thing. Definitely. It was wonderful speaking.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

I felt so empowered just to speak to those representatives and their staffers. And just to let them tell our story or let us tell them our story was so empowering and so amazing. I will never forget that day. It's probably on the top 10 of things I've done in my lifetime.

Finding Parent Action Network Support

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Wow. Well, thank you. That's that's a great compliment. We pride ourselves and worked very hard to make it organized and impactful. And it is, and and I mean, I really have to give kudos to our government affairs director, Jordan Davidson, a young man in recovery himself, very young, I mean, under 25, who is just incredible and is responsible for arranging all those appointments. And we had over 50 appointments with congressmen and senators and breakfasts with some of our biggest uh champions for our cause, and just a really powerful day. And I also want to mention that it's very cute to us as well that when we bring our parents in for the conference day before Hill Day, everybody is a little nervous about speaking up and telling their story. And it's interesting because it's your story and you know it. So there's really nothing to be nervous about, and it just feels that way. But once you do the first one, most people say the same thing that they're like, oh, once I did that first one, I was like, okay, where's the next office? You know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:02

It's true. It's true. Once you talk and start talking, yeah, it's it breaks down all those barriers. And yeah, I have people calling me locally now because I'm the local expert, apparently, and like counseling others and sending others this way because we need this community. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Yeah, and one of the things that Hill Day does for our parents and what we continue to do is while we are advocating that particular day at the federal level, everything that you learn at Parent Action Network, we hope that you bring back to your state and can use at the state level with our support, of course. And so we are trying to rally up. There are some states that we consider a key state if marijuana legalization is pressing or you know, something like that. But we are stepping up state advocacy in every state and hoping to utilize our key parents, like who are rare in a go and have become the experts in their state and in their circle to help push the narrative in their states when keep us informed if there's a here, and and when we find out if there's a hearing coming up or a bill, maybe something as simple as like an ordinance against being close to schools or whatever it might be, that we can advocate in our state successfully using our stories and just knowing how to pare that down for the proper opportunities. So thank you, Patrice, for first of all, the kind words and the faith in us and just for being brave enough to tell your story and step up and advocate with us. We're so happy you're part of Pan.

Capitol Hill Day And Policy Priorities

SPEAKER_03 34:50

Well, I'm happy to be a part of it. And just one small plug again for your program. I brought my boyfriend with me, who's like an old cowboy at heart, and so he brought his cowboy boots to Washington, D.C., you know, because he's like this tough guy, he he would say. But um he never really fully understood it himself, the whole situation, until he heard all these stories. And our story was he thought, oh, we can just be tough and we can pull my son up by the bootstraps, you know, and yeah, get him going, because that's how we do it here in Montana. And he just needs a firm hand. And he had the chance to do that, and he realized, okay, this is more than what I thought. This is actually, you know, an actual mental illness caused by this disorder or from smoking. And um, I guess it was really eye-opening, and that's the thing that I shared with my senators and representatives that this is not a lack of parenting, it's not these kids need a firm hand, is far beyond that. So if you're under that illusion that these kids just need to get out and get a job, well, we've been there, we've done that, we've tried that, and that's not it.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Right. Right. Before we close, is there some words you'd like to leave for our listeners? Yeah, I'll try to condense it here.

A Warning To Parents And Closing

SPEAKER_03 36:22

There's so much I would like to share, but um if there's one thing I want other parents to know, it's this. Don't assume this can't happen to you and your child. Because I've made that assumption and I was dead wrong. I thought I was paying attention to what was going on in my kids' lives, but this just snuck in through the back door. Right. And I don't know when or how it happened, but it did, and it's altered our lives forever. And so I just want them to be prepared, be an advocate for your child, don't look into it, don't listen to the ads on TV or the people around you because this is real and it can happen to your child. So take my story to heart. Don't assume, don't ignore it, and most of all, don't stay silent. And that would be it.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Thank you so much for that, Patrice. I think those are wonderful words of wisdom. And thank you again for being here with us. I really appreciate it. Um, again, I hope that each and every one of these episodes leaves our listeners with a profound understanding of the urgent need for awareness, for better regulations, and the power of community support in addressing the challenges posed by today's marijuana products. Again, Patrice, thank you so much for being with us. And I look forward to advocating with you more.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

All right, Amanda, bless you for what you do. Thank you.