It's a beautiful late summer day. Let's do something different. Kirk and Trevor take a stroll around their hometown of Dauphin, Manitoba. They talk cannabis, Kirk's European travel plans and greet people on the street. Our co-hosts duck into a local cannabis shop, Payson's Joint. They record stories from staff and customers. Unrehearsed, person-on-the-street stories are the best! They always go in directions you didn't expect. We hear about sex and glass pipes and if "big cannabis" is mixing different strains into one bottle. Come for a stroll.

Picture Miami. What do you see in your mind's eye? Beautiful photos of beautiful people? Instagram worthy food pics? A culture more Caribbean than American? Now imagine you meet a Chef from Miami. What does he teach you to cook? The perfect Cuban Sandwich? What is his secret ingredient? What if it is cannabis? Meet Tarik Sparks. Photographer. Chef. Cook Book writer. Listen to how he weaves serious culinary chops and precise cannabis dosing to create meals to elevate mind, body and soul.

"Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face." - Mike Tyson 

Imagine getting engaged, and within 6 months your finance gets diagnosed with cancer. Mickey from and High Society Hemp Co. doesn't have to imagine. Mickey is from Texas where cannabis is still illegal. Her husband was going through chemotherapy, surgeries and even had some ribs removed. He was in pain. The opioid pain killers sedated him too much for him to participate in his life and the lives of their children. Mickey started cooking with hemp derived cannabinoids. Her creations helped her husband's pain. Then she turned her knowledge into a business, High Society Hemp Co. The business helped with the medical bills and other expenses. Mickey continues to battle labyrinthian cannabis regulations and banal day to day challenges with love and passion. Listen to how Mickey bobs and weaves and throws punches in bunches at every obstacle that comes her way.

We first met Janna Champagne as a cannabis nurse. Since we last spoke, she has transitioned to being a Board-Certified Master Herbalist, a Professor of Integrative Medicine, a prolific academic author, and founder of an autism non-profit.  As the discussion develops, Kirk and Trevor learn the height of Janna's expertise and the depth of her passion for educating healthcare providers about the therapeutic potential of medical cannabis. Professor Champagne’s influence with the clinical application of Cannabis, within academic environments, is extremely rare as less than 2% of American universities are teaching the Endocannabinoid System.  In this episode our guest tells her cannabis story; a personal journey which is growing to be an international saga of a life being lived.

In Canada, older adults represent a fast-growing demographic of cannabis users. As part of her graduate program, PhD student Madison Maynard did a national enquiry within the USA, on how cannabis modulates the chronic pain, mental health symptoms, and sleep concerns of people between the ages of 55 and 74 years old. Although the evidence leaves questions of efficacy unanswered, the goals of the study were to examine the hypothesis that medical cannabis use will, at the daily level, predict lower pain, depression, anxiety, and improved sleep. In this episode, Kirk and Trevor discuss how her findings apply to Canada. 

Once again, VanHoot is traveling northern prairie highways and Kirk is stopping to make cold calls to recreational stores along the way. In this episode, he revisits some of the shops he visited in past trips to ask specific questions about how people are using Rec Shops to obtain their medicine.  Have a listen as he also discovers what budtenders are selling in the 2025.

Ontario entrepreneurs are solving a problem that Trevor confronts on a weekly basis. People going to recreational cannabis stores with health questions like, "Are these gummies okay with my seizure meds?" We know that a large percentage of customers at recreational cannabis stores are using their cannabis for health and wellness purposes. Yet, budtenders are limited in the health information that they can provide. In this episode, Kirk and Trevor learn how two businesses owners are filling in the gaps left by governments’ lack of attention within the Medical Cannabis program. Lisa Bigioni is the Co-Founder and CEO at Stok'd, a retail cannabis store. Anushya Vijayaraghevan is a pharmacist and Co-Founder of Apothecare. Their niche filling collaboration is that Stok'd, an experiential cannabis retail shop, gives customers access to Apothecare, a pharmacist-led virtual consultation service. Together, these businesses provide a pathway for those searching to learn how to use cannabis for their health and wellness. This is another example of how the Cannabis Industry is meeting the needs of those looking to learn the health benefits of using cannabis.

Newton Zheng is a good Canadian guy. (That seems important to mention, lately). Listen to his rise in athletics (we're calling him the Rocky of Badminton now), to Newton taking a different career path than Elon Musk, to Newton becoming a digital marketing entrepreneur. Newton and his team at ePropel Digital has found a niche helping cannabis dispensaries and other cannabis businesses. Cannabis businesses have many, many rules and regulations about how or if they can advertise. And if you can't let potential customers know that your business exists, how are they going to buy from you? ePropel Digital helps cannabis businesses increase their sales using an organic digital marketing system. It doesn't break any restrictions. ePropel helps businesses to be found at the top of Google when their potential customers search for their products or services. After you listen to the episode, Newton has one more surprise for you. Click the referral link below to get a deal on marketing your business from Newton and the folks at ePropel!