7 - Healing Ourselves and the Planet with Hemp - Karen Burge

In this episode of Canna Curious, Kyla sits down with hemp educator and community leader Karen Burge, founder of The Hemporium and co-founder of the iconic Canna Nannas movement. 

Karen shares her personal journey with plant medicine, how she overcame autoimmune illness, and her tireless advocacy for hemp as a solution for health, sustainability, and social justice.

From her early days publishing a grassroots magazine and meditating on the beach to standing firm in the Bentley Blockade and running for political office, Karen’s story is one of courage, conviction, and deep care for future generations.

Topics we cover:

• Karen’s health journey and how hemp turned things around.
• The difference between hemp and cannabis (and why that matters).
• What the endocannabinoid system is — and why we’re not being taught about it.
• How hemp can revolutionise housing, clothing, and food systems.
• The origins and mission of the Canna Nannas
• Her vision for a future where every backyard grows medicine

Links & Mentions:

- Visit The Hemporium: thehemporium.com.au
- Follow Karen on Facebook: facebook.com/thehemporium
- Learn about the endocannabinoid system: projectcbd.org
- Mentioned: Dr. Ethan Russo, Dr. William Courtney, Dr. Andrew Katelaris

Connect with Kyla de Clifford
Instagram: @cannacuriousaus
TikTok: @cannacuriousau
YouTube: @cannacurious

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, share, and leave a review - it helps the podcast reach more curious minds just like you.

Disclaimer:
We are not doctors, and this is not medical advice. Everything shared here is based on our personal lived experiences and the stories of others. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health or wellness routine.

Transcript

So, hi, Karen. Hello, Kyla. So I thought before we get into the incredible work that you've been doing, I'd really like to know what did life look like before the plant?
Before the plant, I was a spiritual teacher, actually. I was teaching meditation, doing energy healing and publishing a little magazine around Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, The Hunter and Port Stephens. There was a directory for What's On Where, so it was a free magazine that was, you know, yeah, distributed out into the community every two months and full colour, 32 pages.
And it was bi-monthly, so it was different events in the region and then weekly classes. Wow. Yeah, and it was just, it was more a love job. I wasn't making any money. Yeah, I was going to say, you've been writing, like community has been your thing since. Yes. That's pretty cool. That's really cool, actually. Yeah. Yeah, it was good. So, yeah, I was just lying on the beach one day and I had to.
You know, I'm thinking, what am I going to do? I can't keep doing this. I was lifting up the sand and letting it run through my hands and, yeah, and I just said, what would I do? And spirit said, just do what you love. Yeah. Yeah, because it was time to make the transition, yeah. So what was the turning point then? When did the plant come along?
It was when I was attending hemp party meetings and at that time I was out doing the coal seam gas activism. I discovered that there was over 4,000 mining licences in the northern rivers and there was this property that the coal seam gas companies were going to go and just go onto the property and the farmer said, I don't want you to. And they said, well, too bad. And so they had no say in it. So this was up at Bentley and I was part of the Bentley blockade and there was like 700,
riot squad police organised to arrange to go and, you know, break up this peaceful camp of these people that were protecting the land and we just did this. We just shared it on Facebook and told everyone to ring the government in, yeah, the parliament and their phones were ringing off the hook. They took their phones off the line and we ended up the next morning we woke up to the sound of cheering as the riot squad was turned, you know, was pulled off the case.
and the farmer's land was protected so and that is awesome i love it it's so nice to hear like there is some justice out there isn't there especially doing something that's fantastic yeah it was so good to be part of it but i looked at these mining licenses and this you know knowing that coal seam gas is so damaging to the environment and at the same time I discovered the hemp plant and thought okay well with this plant we can grow our own food, medicine, housing, plastic, paper, fabric, fibre, fodder, you know everything that we need to not only survive but thrive could be grown with this plant and I'm living it in the Newcastle Harbour, East End of Newcastle, the biggest coal export and I thought well let's grow hemp all through the Hunter Valley and we could be the biggest hemp export.
Makes sense. It makes absolute sense. Yeah, so that was the hemp plant. And then my housemate at the time started making oil and I was seeing, you know, people get better quality of life with pain and anxiety and insomnia and epilepsy. So he just said, let's form a church. So I was going, yeah, all right, I'll be in that. Let's do that. Because, you know, the first page of the Bible, it says, I give you all seed-bearing plants that are yours for food.
So I still, you know, it's my understanding that this plant, the cannabis hemp plant, is food first and foremost. I love Dr. William Courtney's, you know, he says that it's the most important vegetable and I believe that. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I started consuming hemp seeds. I was working alongside Dr. Andrew Catalaris and supporting him and he was teaching me about the importance of having hemp in my diet. And I had a...
I was living with an autoimmune disease then and I just started adding hemp to my diet and became a huge advocate for the plant. And I remember before hemp seeds were illegal to consume in Australia and New Zealand, I made a video and it said hemp seeds are believed to be the best bowel cleanse on the planet so get some hemp seeds in your diet, clean that shit out. And I got barred from PayPal for life for that video. Oh, yeah.
Because it was prior to you. We've all been barred from paper for saying the word hemp, right? I know. Isn't it that right? Crazy. So tell us a little bit more about hemp. I know that it's a conversation that maybe a lot of people out in the audience might not have had. And for me, you know, even going back for me, for my journey, it was hemp. I got bitten by the hemp bug literally and I could not believe what I was hearing and seeing, like really couldn't.
believe it so tell us a little bit about hemp um for the listeners yeah so hemp um yeah i believe everything we need to not only survive but thrive could be made from hemp will give us the opportunity to be self-sustainable it's biodegradable um like i said anything plastic could be made from hemp if our And if our sheets in hospitals were made from hemp, they wouldn't be staffed because it's antibacterial, antimicrobial. Our clothing, I wear a lot of hemp clothing, can be made from hemp. Our building, there's lots of houses that have been built in our region. In particular, there's a community that's got about 12 hemp houses. They're cool in summer, warm in winter. But there's just something about them when you walk into them because I've helped build some hemp houses too. And when you walk in, there's something even with hemp.
the acoustics it's just so calming and beautiful and it doesn't burn no imagine being in a in an area where that there's um you know you have fires every year knowing that your house is safe if it's built from hemp yeah absolutely yep we're working with some um guys in melbourne that have got a
processing factory that are building um they've got surfboards they've got pallets they've got wall panels prefab wall panels and the they had a blowtorch on this um on the prefab wall panel for four hours and it made just a tiny little pinhole yeah and until you see it i've seen it i've done it too like and put them in the fire and you just it really is something that we should be taught in school shouldn't we absolutely absolutely
My grandkids love it. Like they're just gone because I've got my, you know, the hemporium now. So I've got the hemporium on the car and, you know, my grandson's saying we're in the weed van and they just love talking about it. I love teaching children about how to add, you know, I say do you want to learn how to make milk out of a plant and they say yes or milk out of seeds and they're like sitting there in their little demonstrations with their eyes open and you just blend your hemp seeds and water and that's it and they go wow. Wow. It's magic. It is. It is magic.
Yeah, and then all your oils are released. So firstly for food, you know, when I was harvesting on the hemp farm, I was having a little bit of chucking little bits in my smoothie and it was just a game changer. I just felt so alive and so vibrantly healthy. I felt like it turned on my wellbeing switch. And that's why, you know, I wanted to set up the infrastructure to process hemp in the Hunter Valley. You know, even the, you know.
The tall ships, Captain Cook, you know, Australia wouldn't have even been discovered when it was if it wasn't for hemp. No. All the canvas was made from hemp. All the ropes were made from hemp. They ate hemp. We were supposed to be a hemp colony in the Hunter Valley, in the river, Hunter River, which I can, is just across over the road. There was so much hemp there, wasn't there? They were destroying it for years. So it was definitely supposed to be a hemp colony here. Yeah. And we've just, we've.
So, you know, I think that it's about for our own wellbeing and our children's wellbeing and all future generations. That's why I get so passionate about speaking up about it because we need to take responsibility for our children's future and protect and preserve our precious natural resources. So it's just so many avenues for our own wellbeing and for the wellbeing of our environment.
hemp is a solution and you know taking your health back into your own hands is as easy as adding hemp seeds to your diet or hemp oil and and you know turning on your well-being switch which is our endocannabinoid system yeah absolutely and with um because and also with hemp seed oil i mean you're getting a really good omega-3 to omega
Six, is it? Six, yes, omega-3 and 6. And Dr. Andrew Catalaris says in an ideal world that would be sufficient if we weren't so sick. But he always encourages me to add flax or chia seeds to the smoothies to increase the omega-6. Yeah, okay. Yeah, so, yeah, and, you know, you can sprinkle your hemp seeds over any meal.
Even just adding hemp seed oil to your diet pulls down inflammation in your bowel, colon and intestines. I see so many people out there now have got irritable bowel or Crohn's. There's so many, so many conditions. Yeah, there is a lot, so many. And, you know, unfortunately our food system, once you take a deep dive into that, it will shock you. But, you know, we don't have the nutrients like we did, I guess, even with our...
Parents and grandparents used to do some farming. They grow their own food. I mean, my great-grandparents, they grew everything. So it's a big change in one generation and it's so good hearing you say as well about the young ones. It's like teaching them, my kids too, you know, they sit and listen and it's amazing what they can spout and what they tell their friends. And this is how we make change, like these conversations and teaching. I mean, you're amazing. You do so much. So you've spoken openly about your health journey. So you were saying before that you had an immune...
um immune disease yes what role did food and plant medicine play in that so my immune mine is or a graves disease so it's a thyroid so i find that um yeah i by reducing the toxins i'm putting in and on my body i was able to bring my um thyroid condition
into balance so um yeah hemp seeds every day hemp seed smoothies every day and like i said you know i don't think people realize that um the toxins that are the chemicals that are in our personal care products and things you know We really, if we want to stop and reverse the effects of disease and ageing, I think, we need to reduce it. I'm in for that. I'm in for that. Yeah, we need to reduce those toxins that we're putting in and on our body is the first step. And our health is really our biggest asset. And it's so important and, you know, you don't know until it's gone. It's like with the health system in Australia. I say this all the time. You don't know it's broken until you have to use it.
Yes. And when you have to use it, it's pretty much too late by that point, right? Yeah, absolutely. So keep your health. It's so important. Do you want to explain to the listeners what the difference is between hemp and cannabis? Okay. The plant we're working down here, the industrial hemp plant, is low THC. And when you're using consuming CBD, it doesn't have the psychoactive effect, but it can help with anxiety, depression, and even insomnia in high doses. So I work a lot with people that are legal medicinal cannabis users.
Yeah, that's what we find. And then the THC has, it all has, I think there's, from my understanding, there's over 550 constituents in the cannabis hemp plant, CBD, THC, terpenes. Like, I love listening to your. Lavinoids, CBN, CBG. I love them all. I love them all. Because it's just a plant. And when I look back and think, I used to go buy a $20 baggie of cannabis, not hemp, back then. Yes. You know, that's all you knew.
And now, like when you realise the absolute power and what is in that little plant that we should all have access to really at the end of the day. Affordable, immediate access, I believe. Affordable, immediate access to hemp. Absolutely. And if it's safe to grow in Canberra, then it's safe to grow anywhere. What's that about? You know what I mean? So that's another topic, another interesting question.
Oh, isn't it? I know we could talk for days on that stuff. So how did that personal experience with you using hemp and using it to help yourself, how did that lead you to becoming a voice for others? Because you have been such a big voice over many, many years. Yeah, well, I just, you know, I saw the benefits for myself and I was witnessing it for people in our community and I just wanted everyone to have affordable access to a plant that...
it was gifted to us from creation. It wasn't given to the government. It wasn't given to Big Pharma. It was given to the people from the Creator. I think that everything that we need to not only survive but thrive was given to us, like, you know, water and plants and, yeah, and I just wanted, I just, yeah, I just.
I felt like the more I ate it, I felt like the more I was consuming it as food, the more I just felt like it was working through me and just giving me this strength and this voice to speak up because, like I said, I wanted everyone to have affordable access and I believe that affordable access is growing in our backyard, you know, unrestricted. There's so many different benefits of that, you know, even with the other.
options you know for recreational therapy for example it's safer recreational therapy than alcohol and street drugs oh isn't it i mean honestly the way that we have to argue that point at times and it's just phenomenal that 5 000 people every year in australia die from alcohol that's just who die that's not the injuries and yet here's this beautiful plant no one's ever died from it
ever because you cannot physically consume enough to die and yet we're begging and pleading with our government to have it non-toxic to the organs it's impossible when it's in its natural form no recorded deaths ever in history it's been consumed as food and medicine for thousands of years yet alcohol cigarettes refined sugar processed food big pharma drugs main cause of disease and death and people are you know it's legal
available in multiple outlets in every single town. So, yeah, I just get a bit like people need to know this stuff and it's our right to have affordable access. So that's why I'm campaigning and I've been an advocate now for about 11 years and, yeah, I just keep, yeah.
So tell me a little bit because I was telling you before I went and did a little bit of research because I chat to you but not in this kind of depth. So tell me about the Canonanas. I knew you were going to mention the Canonanas. I know. I love it. The video picked up. There's a video going around and I do have it. I'll send it to you, lovely. So we got invited to be on A Current Affair within the first six months. Did you? No way. See? Oh, my gosh. You are so amazing. The Ken and Annas. I love it. Ken and Annas. So as a Nenna, you know, I was feeling pretty good. I was like, I don't know, about 47 at the time.
A couple of years ago. Very young, Nana. Very young. Yeah, I think it was about seven years ago. And I just wanted affordable access to the seniors, you know. Yeah. And they've worked so hard their whole life and they come to the end of the life and the only option that they've got is stuff that's causing more.
Side effects. Side effects. So you have that, but you've got to have that to counteract the side effects of that. So the Kennanenners was birthed from that. I had Gail Hester and another couple of ladies travelling to Melbourne called in to see us in Newcastle and they said, we're going to Melbourne. I said, and I'd been stewing on this idea with the Kennanenners. I said, well, I'm coming. Let's start the Kennanenners. And we said that was it. So we did a little tour and we went to Melbourne and then we went to, you know, we were called up to be on a current affair.
And we did a workshop up in Queensland and the police turned up and that was all on account. Did they? Oh, my goodness me. Someone dubbed us in and they said, look, you know, I just wanted seniors to have affordable access to this plant. And, yeah, just, again, it was a catchy name. And I think I've got some ideas to bring it back. I think we should bring it back.
Yeah, we'll talk more about this. I want to be a nana. I was like, I want to be a nana. I'm ready. I'm ready. Let's do it. Yes, absolutely. And, you know, yeah, my grandsons just love it. They just learn so much and they're so – I can see them, you know. I didn't realise how much of an impact I've got, but my grandson's little footy coach said, oh, my God, Ryan talks about you all the time. I've gone, oh.
It's nice and tells me everything that you're doing and it's so good. And, you know, I was in the car with the kids and someone said, well, why can't we have this plant, Karen? What's that about? And Jason, my little 10-year-old, stepped in and he informed them all, he educated them all on how, you know, we've been able to use it for thousands of years but now it's being withheld from us. It's all about.
government holding it back from our people and all all lies and um it was really good to yeah good to listen to him isn't it it's a proud moment when they do that and that's that's from them just being around you which is super cool yes yeah so the canon and this is about educating all ages particularly our children you know one of our children and teenagers to learn the truth so they could stand up and be an advocate because it's their future we're standing for in and the canon and is um it's it's about the future of our of our own well-being and our future generations and the earth like i said before yeah our precious natural resources
Yeah. Yeah, and I mean it just makes so much sense. So you spent years talking to older Australians, many of them who were raised with some really deep fears around cannabis. Yes. What's it like watching people unlearn that? It's so good. It's a double-edged sword, Kyla, because I get so sad when you're talking to people and they're so fearful about it.
trying it because of the propaganda and you just know it's going to give them better quality of life but they've got this fear around it but the majority of the people that have come to us over the years and i think we've helped probably about 20 000 people um are seniors and they just they work out their dosage you always start they love it don't they they know they love it like for me one of the most switched on group with it they're just like radio how do i do this yeah let's go
And I was speaking to a 72-year-old grandmother once and she lived in Canberra and her teenage grandson said to her, you need to try this then. And so she rings me and when she runs out she gives us a call. But normally she gets so excited. She says, well, we're allowed to grow two plants. She says, I've got one for me and one for my husband. And, you know, I encourage them to, you know, start taking their leaves off every day and put them and they use it in their teas and they put it in their food. And it's so exciting to hear that. But I think that the frustration I feel from...
us being restricted you know that was a beautiful story and I was so happy for her and her husband but like we're all yeah I've got my parents in Queensland and they're getting old elderly and I want them to have affordable access to it my dad was in pain he was my big inspiration he was hurt his back at the age of 32 so I wanted him to have access to this plant so he was a big um
reason for me when I realized that it was good for pain relief I wanted my dad to grow it in his backyard and I want everyone to grow it just like Canberra we all deserve that right to grow this plant in our own backyard Yeah, I have dreams of flying planes over Australia full of seeds and just letting them go. Yeah, I know. How good would that be? I wish I had so much money that I could do that. Here we go. Oh, well, it's taken over now. Sorry. Too late. Bad luck. Can't chop it all down. Yeah, well, we had Williamtown was over at Williamtown near the raft base was all contaminated. So I thought a couple of times I was talking to a local couple of farmers, you know, said, can't we just get a helicopter?
and just fly over there. But, yeah, we've established two hemp farms in the Hunter region in our Port Stephens area now, which is really good. So, yeah, I'd like to – and I'm also working with other farmers in this region that are setting up the infrastructure to start processing stuff.
Yeah. And what it does for the soil. I know. And this is the other thing. If you've got a farmer and you're rotating crops and using hemp as a rotational crop, you're giving back. You're pulling out the crap out of the earth. It pulls the crap out and it gives back. It's just, again, it makes so much sense. Yes. Well, hemp seeds like the hemp plant.
pull toxins from the earth like they do. The hemp seeds pull toxins from our body like they do from the earth. So that's why it works so well. You know, it's good for sugar cravings. They're delicious. They're creamy and nutty. And oh, I love them. I really love them. And hemp seed oil. Although with hemp seed oil, you are better using it raw than cooking with it. We use it as a cold oil, don't we? Yes, it can go rancid.
Yeah, I have had that too. If I leave it in the cupboard for too long sometimes, some of my bottles when I leave a little bit left, I've always got so many bottles of hemp seed oil from everywhere. It's nice to have all the different regions. It's beautiful, yeah. And trying to, you know, if you're looking at adding hemp to your diet, really try and support the local Australian.
farmers. Yes, please. From a health food shop or from the hemp orchard. Even the markets, from the hemp orchard, of course, which I'll put those details in the show notes. But your local markets, there's so many people that do have the hemp plant available. So it is worth keeping an eye and ear out. Yes. Why do you think, here we go, I'm going to go political for a second, why do you think it's taken so long for Australia?
to embrace something so ancient, so healthy and so useful? Oh, wow. Well, if we, the people, were getting it sorted, I think it would have been done by now. I've actually ran in three elections to try and change the law and it's just there's people high up pulling the strings and it's just, yeah, it's really sad because if we were set, it would.
In my eyes, it'd be so simple just starting to set up the infrastructure to process this plant. And even with medicinal cannabis, like, you know, well, the cannabis, for example, then, you know, every person that tries it and gets good results is actually a lost customer of big pharma, of the pharmaceuticals. So that's a big threat to them. So cannabis is a big threat to them.
And you can't patent a plant. And you can't patent a plant. If you can't patent a plant, then they don't want the plant because they can't patent it and use it for themselves. But they are trying to patent certain parts of it as we speak. But, again, it's a plant given to us by, created by God, and they can't just take it and do that. So, therefore, it's not number one on the list of things to make legal, is it?
No, no, no. And I think even over the years I've just thought, you know what, the politicians are really not really caring about their own family because withholding this plant from our people is withholding it from their loved ones. So they're also allowing their loved ones just to suffer needlessly because they're caught up in the lies and continuing to withhold this plant from our people.
Yes, and I think for me the plant was a big teacher in all of that. I really, I knew, I always knew, I didn't realise how deep this all ran until the plant showed me, really. I mean, that's what she does. She shows you. Yes, yep, absolutely. Takes you where you need to go and you just, yeah. Do you think in our lifetimes we're going to see legalisation? That's the question.
That's a question. Or decriminalisation. I hope so. Let's just get the Kenna nannas back onto it. Oh, my God. I can't wait for this. I just want to be a Kenna nanna even though I'm not a nanna. I'll be like, you know, I still want to do it. Yeah, no, it's for all our children and all our grandchildren and all future generations. And their children, all of their children. Yeah, like it's so sad when the option, especially when the options, you know, I think children need to wait until they're the right age to start.
you know, consuming cannabis, of course, but still it's safe for recreational therapy. I have a friend, he made the switch from alcohol and he said, you know, I'm a better father, I'm a better friend, I'm a better husband, I'm a better dad. I come home, I have my cookie, I play with the kids. It helps you connect. They're happy. It helps you connect. Yeah, that's my point. I spend time with my wife and, you know, I'm watching even my family in the last.
five years you know my son-in-law lost his job in COVID and then he got on you know heavier stuff and then he ended up in jail and just you know I just feel if if he was growing cannabis in his backyard our lives would have been so much different so much different and I think that's for a lot of families in australia too you know i even think back to like you know when i was younger and how they this all this crap about um cannabis being a gateway drug alcohol is the gateway drug i don't think i've ever smoked a joint and thought okay now i'm gonna go and look for some i don't know cocaine or methamphetamine however i watch drunk people do it
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, that was a big eye-opener for me. I think I only really realised that a few years ago going, hang on a minute, it's not cannabis that's the gateway. No. It's impossible to gateway on cannabis. That's another one of the bullshit stories. Propaganda. Big propaganda. Yeah, propaganda. Like one of the original ones back in the 1930s. What was it? It's so funny now. Yeah.
We get wild sexually. Marijuana will want to make white women, your wife have sex with a black man. Sex with a black man. And I was like, wow. I know. That was some very big advertising. Thanks, Henry Anslinger or Harry or whatever he's saying. Harry, thanks, Harry. Yeah. So, yeah, it was such a threat to oil and nylon and everything, you know, even asbestos. Like, you know, if we had started, I sometimes wonder if we had kept going with the hemp, setting up the hemp.
in our country, then, you know, we would have probably not turned to asbestos if we had hemp for building. But anyway, that's another subject too. So there's just, it's a safer option and I think that, yeah, I'd like to, I look forward to the time when the laws are restricted a little bit and we're more supported to set up the infrastructure or funded to set up the infrastructure to process this plant for its multiple uses, even paper, clothing and housing.
Everything in everything, especially clothing, like the difference for me in clothing and hemp sheets, like I sleep in hemp sheets. I don't think you'll ever have a better night's sleep than sleeping in hemp sheets. It's just beautiful. And, again, you sound crazy until people try it. Yeah, I know. Yeah. No, absolutely. I can relate. I love my hemp sheets.
And I found when you get up, I got up and went to the toilet and I came back. And where I was lying, the patch is still warm. Still warm. It keeps the heat. It is thermal. It's cooling when it needs to be. I mean, really, it's basically a miracle plant at the end of the day. It is a miracle plant and it's the people's plant, yeah. Yeah, it definitely is. So talk us through a little bit in the last few years. So you have now.
Got the hemp forum in Newcastle. Yes. How did you get there? Tell us how you got there. So I was running Ubuntu Wellness Clinic in Newcastle for nine years and the vice president of the Church of Ubuntu and co-founder there. And it was just time for me to move out of Newcastle. We're in the east end. It's hard to find parking.
And it was beautiful. I loved it. I could have been there forever, but there was definitely a push for me to move out. And I had a friend that also had to move out of her business, and she had a healthy cocktail juice bar. So I said, let's combine. And so we moved to Carrington, which is just over the bridge from, they call it the island. So you've just got to, as you're going out of Newcastle,
first roundabout you go right you go over this little bridge apparently it was made from the rubble from newcastle when they were building newcastle but it's a gorgeous little island called carrington and we've got this beautiful 200 year old building and um at the front we've got a little cafe which has a lot um basically millie was already doing um hemp milk hemp not coffee hemp um
And, yeah, a lot of hemp milk products. So she already had a passion for hemp. And then I've come along and said, you know, let's do more. And then so I moved the wellness clinic, the Ubuntu wellness clinic, came with me to the Hemporium. And we have an integrative doctor. We have a beautiful – back in Newcastle I had a biologist friend that was helping me run the clinic in Newcastle.
she left for a while she's just come back and she's amazing just working out new products and that with our industrial hemp and we're also working with the local compound chemist so they heard what we're doing and they came so we want to work with you guys and they're just so beautiful so we've got these amazing products with them and then at least her biology mind she just is creating all these new packages we're helping people that
They call it the motherfucker gene, MTR, whatever gene. The motherfucker gene. Yes. That's this gene that a lot of people are affected by and, you know, women's hormones and just, you know, anxiety, sleep, pain. We've got this ultimate care pack with a product that's from the compound chemist.
And she's working on cellular repair. I had a friend come in last week and she said I had a car accident when I was 18 and I've had sciatica all my life and she's 48 now. So for 30 years. And she said, I don't have sciatica anymore. She said, keep doing what you're doing because it's just. And another 65-year-old man, he said he...
He was like he has a warehouse and he said he couldn't stand for any more than five minutes because his sciatica needs legged collapse. And he said now, he said when I rang him last, he said, I've just been sweeping the floor for 15 minutes. Oh, my gosh. And his family had invited him to Tasmania but he said, I can't go because I can't, you know, I won't be.
any fun and now he's going and that's beautiful yeah it's so gorgeous and we're helping a lot of beautiful women with that mesh so a lot of women were damaged quite severely with mesh their bladders yeah it's horrific what happens with women's health unfortunately yes lots of medical mishaps there so yeah great results with our massage oil and things like that yeah that's amazing um so
Talking through protecting the land and the water and our grandchildren, do you see that this plant is a part of like the ecological healing and the human healing? The second part to this, what legacy do you hope to leave for this next generation? That was a big one. Yeah, that was a big one, yep. Yes and yes was the first one. Yeah. Yeah, so the legacy I just feel.
Yeah, that with this, you know, taking your health back into your hands is as easy as adding hemp to your diet. It's food. The cannabis hemp plant is food first and foremost. And with this plant, we can be self-sustainable. We can, you know, be healthier. It's about a better quality of life and better health for ourselves.
our loved ones and our environment and you don't have to get high and if you eat hemp seeds and have hemp seed oil you're not going to get high but i do remember even just even when i first came on board which was only 2018 people were freaking out about having like having hemp seed oil that they might get high i mean you couldn't get it you couldn't get in the supermarket there's no way it's this whole underground thing where you had to get hemp seeds and hemp seed oil and and it does there's no intoxicating effects
At all. So it's good to see it at least out in the shops, even in the major supermarkets, which I loathe going to, but it's nice to see that there's hemp seed oil in there. Yeah, they do, yeah. Yeah, and I still have people, like I had an event at the weekend and I still have people turn up their nose to me when, and it's sad because this woman's like.
oh, my God, how can you be giving that out? And I looked at her and it made me sad because she was really unwell. And I thought, wow, you just don't realise that this could actually give you better quality of life and reduce the inflammation that you obviously got because you're struggling to walk. Yeah, one of the, you know, pulling down inflammation, that's one of the.
first things it helps with i remember you know you never know like you said you like you we just keep doing what we do and we don't know who's watching and that but i had a lady come up to me and say i've been having hemp seeds for three months and i can vacuum again and she was so excited the best it's like these hearing people say this is just i mean it's why i do what i do it's why i get up every day because you hear stories
every single day like this every single day that's so beautiful and it does yeah and it never gets tired it never gets tiring like it's about better quality of life yeah yeah absolutely and especially for our oldies yeah and the young ones like there are so many young ones with um epilepsy with you know mood disorders and
you know taking a plant that's so natural that's not intoxicating and being able to give that to them without any other side effects it's just wonderful to see it's wonderful to see it is so good so yeah it's yeah it's wonderful to be an advocate and i know that you feel the same but it's also on the other side it's just um frustrating to watch being withheld from us. But we're turning, like you, we're turning that frustration into fuel. Fuel and education. All we can do is talk to people, can't we? That's it. It all starts with your story. And I think that, you know, and the amazing women like you that I have been able to meet through this process because the plant, she seems to bring everyone together too, which, you know, it doesn't matter where you come from.
what your background is, it continually blows my mind, you know, the people out there like yourself that have been helping thousands and thousands of people and nobody knows. Nobody knows about it. It's all very quiet but it's generational change. It's, you know, for women particularly, like, again, what this plant does for us is phenomenal and to be able to, you know,
to talk about it, to be able to advocate. I mean, you've done everything really, politics, politics. I know. I love it. I was asked a few times to run in this last election and I just had so much to do with, you know, just. My energy is needed at the Hemporium right now because we've been building that for the last nine months. And my daughter was going through a situation where she couldn't find a house because of the housing shortages of my grandsons. And it was just I couldn't put any energy into it. I didn't feel like I had anything left. But then, like, up to the week before election, I'm thinking, damn, what's really like? Because it gives you a pedestal. You're just like, come on. You can talk. People are actually listening.
Yeah, the Hunter Valley did good. And, you know, last election I ran alongside Jeremy Buckingham and he got in. Did you? Yeah. Good old Jeremy Buckingham, hey? Yeah. So, yeah, we did good there. And Andrew in the Hunter Valley wanted me to run with him and Derek, my beautiful friend down Wollongong. But, yeah, they still did good. They've done all right, I must say, especially like watching the Senate count now. Yeah. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Yes.
So, yeah, I think, yeah, just being the voice for the plant and, yeah, hoping that I'm looking forward to the day. I'm not going to hope because I'd like that may never end, but I reckon I will look forward to the day when we do, yeah, the rule, when we change the law like Canberra. Like I said, if it's safe to grow in Canberra, then it's safe to grow in the rest of Australia. Anywhere in our country. Anywhere in our country. Yeah, I never understood. I mean, I guess that's where all the politicians are.
Yeah, and their children, they don't want to get. And all their children are there so they won't make sure it's legal there. Yes. But not for the rest of us. So how, all right, if every Australian was listening to this podcast right now, which is a dream for the two of us, what's the one truth you would want them to understand about the plant? Cannabis is food first and foremost and we all deserve immediate affordable access.
the best way to do that would be to grow our own in our backyard and, yeah, learn about the endocannabinoid system. It's the mothership of our well-being. It governs our immune system, our endocrine system, our cardiovascular system, our metabolism, our main cell, you know, it's our main body's operating system, like the mothership of our well-being. So learn about that.
Switching that on hemp seeds and hemp oil is one of the first things you can do. Dr. Ethan Russo, he believes that we're all deficient, that all of us have an endocannabinoid deficiency due to the fact that the plant was taken away from all of us everywhere for generations. So it's actually fascinating to learn about and it's also...
interesting to understand that in in the whole of the world at the moment there are only three universities that are teaching the endocannabinoid system to their medical students wow so fascinating isn't it just fascinating there are only three even though it's a system that was discovered in the 1990s we're still not teaching it in even though it's the overriding system and it's very well known that that is the fact yeah
Master regulatory system. It's fascinating that we're not learning about it. And you can, there's so much information out there, even for the lay person, about the endocannabinoid system. Yeah. So how can people support your work, Karen, or even just start to educate themselves and their families?
We do a lot of – basically you can check out our website, hemporium.com.au. If you're in Newcastle, you can call in and see us at 87 Yonge Street, Carrington. And you can follow us on Facebook too and Instagram because I do share a lot of stuff on the Facebook and Instagram page about hemp too. I'll put it in the show notes for those listening because it's amazing. Kaz is an influencer.
Yes, I've got 10,000 followers. She's an influencer. 10,000 followers on Facebook. Apparently that makes me an influencer. It does. You are an influencer. You influence many of us with the stuff that you share. It's so good.