Meet the Duo Main Georgia’s Battle for Medical Hashish Entry

Yolanda “The Herbal Trucker” Bennett and Angela Weston, M.S., M.B.A. are maybe probably the most certified duo to be main the cost for dignified entry to medical hashish. And fortunate for us, they’ve taken the mission head-on and established the Georgia Medical Hashish Society.

The Georgia Medical Hashish Society is a non-profit group on a mission to advertise medical hashish as a holistic, efficient different to conventional medical follow. They envision a future the place medical hashish use exists with out stigma and the method to get this medication is simple, clear, and dignified.

In response to federal authorized constraints surrounding hashish, the GMCS has refocused its mission on offering monetary help to sufferers in want relatively than instantly supplying hashish merchandise. Guided by the precept of “Patients Over Profits,” the group can also be dedicated to educating the general public on the highly effective advantages of hashish. The GMCS stays devoted to making sure that underserved communities — whether or not low-income people, veterans, folks with disabilities, or these previously incarcerated — have equitable entry to reasonably priced medical hashish and medical hashish playing cards, all in full compliance with state legal guidelines.

Bennett and Weston appeared on The Inexperienced Normal: A Podcast By Veriheal to debate the origins behind the Georgia Medical Hashish Society and the present state of medical hashish in Georgia. Whereas doing so, they break down their private expertise with medical hashish — each as sufferers and leaders in hashish advocacy.

In Bennett’s case, she opens up about how hashish has acted as a life-changing different to conventional prescribed drugs — notably because it pertains to a incapacity that dramatically altered her life and compelled her out of her profession as a truck driver, a job that she had dreamed of since childhood. She speaks frankly about how hashish allowed her to take again her high quality of life, a top quality that was considerably hindered by debilitating signs.

“[Dr. Rasean Hodge] was my first cannabis doctor. When I went to his doctor’s office, I could barely make it in. I was in a wheelchair,” Bennett shares within the episode. “And the only thing that got me out of that wheelchair was cannabis. The only thing that got me off of opioids was cannabis.”

Alternatively, Weston explores how her expertise as a healthcare skilled shapes her perspective as a hashish educator and advocate as we speak. Weston has her Grasp of Science diploma in Medical Hashish Science and Therapeutics from The College of Maryland Faculty of Pharmacy. Whereas this schooling, in addition to years of advocacy within the hashish area and a further Grasp’s in Enterprise Administration, solidify her as an professional within the subject, Weston’s ardour comes from listening to numerous tales all through her time within the subject of others who’ve benefitted from hashish use.

And it’s this expertise sharing that each Weston and Bennett agree will make an irreversible influence on the stigma towards hashish use.

“It could be anybody — pastors, lawyers, doctors — that are out there, but they’re so afraid because of their profession that they’ll be looked down upon. And once we can get past that, I think we’ll be in a better place,” Weston shares within the episode. “Those testimonies, those stories, are really what we need: to continue to hear people talk about how it actually helped them. That would be something that would truly help. That’s what helped me.”

All through the episode, Weston and Bennett present actionable recommendation for disrupting the stigma, together with persevering with clear communication and holding native legislators accountable.

Tune in for a robust, partaking episode. Subscribe to assist set the usual, elevate lived experiences within the hashish area, and create pathways for simpler entry to medical marijuana throughout the globe.