Kim Howard, Green Bee Botanicals

Ellen Scanlon (00:00):

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

(00:08):

Welcome to How to Do the Pot, a podcast helping you feel confident about cannabis for health, wellbeing, and for fun. I’m Ellen Scanlon.

(00:19):

One of the biggest misconceptions about shopping for legal weed is thinking that you need to know a lot about cannabis before you go. Aside from knowing that you need to bring cash and your government-issued ID, visiting a dispensary has become a lot like a regular shopping experience now that more states have legalized it. This series is dedicated to providing you with a support system of women all across the country who have been in your shoes. While these women offer a lot of helpful tips and thoughtful observations, they are not without a few mishaps and laughs along the way too. I hope these stories make you feel supported, less alone, and a little lighthearted when you decide to make your first cannabis-shopping trip. I really want you to have fun.

(01:09):

Kim Howard is the San Francisco-based co-founder and chief marketing officer of Green Bee Botanicals, which makes clean skincare and pain-relieving cannabis topicals. The first time she bought legal weed was a family affair. One sister was visiting from the Netherlands and several family members were all visiting Sebastopol, California, which is in Sonoma County, to celebrate her stepsister’s son’s first birthday.

Kim Howard (01:36):

The first time I bought legal weed was in April 2019, and I remember that because my dad had just started chemo for what we would later learn was pancreatic cancer. We were at the birthday party, and there were a lot of young parents and young kids, and it was super festive and loud and cute. It was really cute. And I could just tell from the look on my dad’s face that he was doing his very best to act like everything was fine, even though it wasn’t. I went over to him and I said, “Hey, do you want to get out of here for a little bit,” and he said, “Yes.” So I got my sister and my aunt, the four of us went out and took a little walk. I don’t know how I had first heard of Solful, the dispensary in Sebastopol, but I knew about it and I had heard really good things about it, so I said, “Hey, do you want to go to a dispensary?” And all four of us had never been to a dispensary.

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So, we all got in my car and I drove us to Solful in Sebastopol. We were playing hooky because we were supposed to be at the birthday party. And the first thing we noticed when we opened the door was… we were just so stunned by how it looked. It was beautiful, light-filled. The area that you first walk into was like a little café. At the front desk, they took our IDs and put us into their system. And I remember this was the first time I’d ever heard of a wisdom discount. And my dad was just delighted, and so was my aunt. They loved it. It was so cute. They were both in their 70s. And what a clever way to call it, a discount for older people.

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So, we all signed in and then they let us into the dispensary. Just stunned. It was so beautiful. There were real plants everywhere, and the way that all the products were displayed was gorgeous. And they introduced us to Health and Happiness Consultants. We told them that we were looking for something to help with my dad’s pain and nausea. The thing is, my dad had been sober for 25 years. He used to smoke a lot of weed. He was an average drinker, I would say. But 25 years prior, he made a decision, some years after my mom died, that he wanted to be there, present, fully present for his four kids. When he did something, he did it a hundred percent. So he was actually a little hesitant about using cannabis even for his pain. We asked them if they had anything that would help with his pain and nausea, but not get him high. They let us to… LEVEL makes the tabs that you put under your tongue. But the one we got, I think, was called Soothe or Recover. So we treated my dad to that. I think I got Garden Society gummies. We wanted to support Garden Society in general, but also I knew they made really good products.

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We made our purchases and then we walked back into the café-like area. We sat down at those café tables and my dad took one of the tabs from LEVEL. And we just decided to wait there, sit and talk. We took some selfies together that I will remember fondly for the rest of my life. And my dad said, after about 15 minutes, that he was feeling better. And I cannot tell you how relieved we were just to see him smile, genuinely smile because he was feeling better. Yeah, he’s very missed. But that will be an experience I’ll never forget.

(06:05):

And what did I say about Solful? They really care about people and the products that they sell to people. And I am forever thankful for that because they brought my dad relief at a time when he really needed it and when the doctors were giving him opioids that were making him loopy and slurring his speech. And actually, the opioids didn’t even take away the pain the way that the LEVEL tabs did, which was shocking to me at the time. It’s not shocking to me anymore because I’ve heard so many stories. And actually, myself included, I had back pain and was given heavy-duty painkillers for it.

(06:48):

And actually, the reason I went into business with Bridget at Green Bee Botanicals was because she gave me her massage oil. And to my complete surprise, it actually worked. At the time, I just really had no idea that cannabis could be that pain-relieving without making you high. I mean, if you want to get high, great, but if you don’t, there’s also products that will relieve your pain, relieve your nausea, relieve your anxiety without giving you a psychoactive effect. And we learned that first at Solful. So, thank you, Solful, and I appreciate all you do.

Ellen Scanlon (07:31):

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.

(07:43):

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

(07:58):

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.