Sara Payan, Planted With Sara Payan

Ellen Scanlon (00:00):

This podcast discusses cannabis and is intended for audiences 21 and over.

Ellen Scanlon (00:07):

Welcome to How To Do The Pot, a podcast, demystifying cannabis for women. I’m Ellen Scanlon.

Ellen Scanlon (00:14):

One of the biggest misconceptions about shopping for legal weed is that you need to know a lot about cannabis before you go. While you can’t forget your government issued ID and it will make it easier if you bring cash, as more states legalize, visiting a dispensary is a lot like a regular shopping experience. This series is dedicated to providing you with a support system of other women who have been in your shoes.

Ellen Scanlon (00:40):

If you scroll through our podcast feed and look for first time legal weed stories, you’ll hear from some really inspiring women from all across the country about their first time buying legal cannabis. These women offer a lot of helpful tips and some really thoughtful observations, but they’re not without a few mishaps and a lot of laughs along the way, too. We hope these stories make you feel supported, less alone, and a little lighthearted when you decide to make your first cannabis shopping trip. We really want you to have fun and we would love to hear your story. Send us a voice memo with your three to five minute story to hi@dothepot.com. That’s hi@dothepot.com.

Ellen Scanlon (01:26):

Sara Payan is the host of the podcast, Planted with Sara Payan. She’s a Public Education Officer at the Apothecarium, a policy advocate, and a lecturer.

Sara Payan (01:38):

So my first time purchasing legal cannabis was during the 215 days. I was in my late 30s. I had just been diagnosed with stage three colon cancer and even though I was going through a medical emergency, I was also a little excited to have access to weed that I didn’t have to go through my guy to get. But, I was also nervous because I wasn’t sure what to do. I went through all the hoops of the state program and when I went to the dispensary, I wasn’t sure how many questions I could ask or how to behave, because I don’t know if you ever went to a head shop before legalization, but back in those days, when you went in there and you were looking at bongs, you couldn’t talk about cannabis or they’d kick you out and I wasn’t sure if the same thing would happen in the dispensary. I ended up buying some flowers, a couple of chocolates, some honey, some tea, and I was fascinated by everything that was in there. I had so many questions and it was kind of like an adult candy store in some ways. It kind of felt like when you’re 21 and you’re old enough to go into the bar. It was a very strange, strange thing.

Sara Payan (03:07):

One of the setbacks, a minor one, but it did kind of throw me off because I didn’t know a lot about cannabis other than smoking it, was that I didn’t get a chance to really ask a lot of the questions that I needed to, to get the help that I needed. And it wasn’t that the people behind the bar weren’t friendly. It was that because of the legal situation with cannabis, even though we could have medicinal cannabis, we were still getting raided by the feds back then and there was a lot of stigma around giving information because people were afraid that they’d be giving medical advice or just not sure what would be medical advice and what would be more product information. As a cannabis educator, myself, it’s one of the things that I’ve really strived to make sure doesn’t happen anymore, that people are able to get the answers that they need. We’ve had some more clear delineation on what’s education and what’s practicing medicine. So it’s not as much of an issue anymore.

Sara Payan (04:13):

Even though I wasn’t feeling good, I sure did have fun with some of the things that I picked out. When we get into the legalization of cannabis, the formal legalization, when we’re looking at recreational, or I like to call adult use cannabis, I was actually co-chair of the legalization task force in San Francisco so I was immersed in this even before 64 passed and once it did and the first day that we were able to do legal adult use sales, I was at my shop and I actually did the very first legal sale. So I wasn’t purchasing that day, but I was selling and it was a lot of fun to see everybody excited and wanting to try things and I could tell they’re feeling a little bit like I did that first day that I went into a dispensary and that’s a really special thing to share.

Sara Payan (05:09):

The products are so much better now than they were that first time I went into dispensary. As exciting as it was, I did have some pretty gross experiences with some of the edibles and we have much more interesting and advanced products now, which makes me super happy. I’ve done both and I have to say that purchasing it was fun, but I almost think it was a little more fun to be able to experience other people’s experiences purchasing for the first time and being able to help them successfully navigate that.

Ellen Scanlon (05:52):

Thanks for listening to this episode of How To Do The Pot. If you’d like to share your story about the first time you bought legal weed, please send a voice memo to hi@dothepot.com or DM us @dothepot.

Ellen Scanlon (06:03):

For lots more information and past episodes, visit dothepot.com and that’s also where you can sign up for How To Do The Pot’s newsletter, which comes out every other Friday.

Ellen Scanlon (06:13):

If you like How To Do The Pot, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people find the show.

Ellen Scanlon (06:20):

Thank you to our producers, Madi Fair and Nick Patri. I’m Ellen Scanlon and stay tuned for more of How To Do The Pot.