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

Kia Baker: Life is full of stress, right? Being a mom, working a job, being a wife, all of these things can be stressful at times and then it brings on an episode where the pain is intensified to where sometimes I can not get out of bed, I can’t walk.

April Pride: 2020 has been a year of many unexpected challenges, and I think everyone can agree that stress has been top of mind for us. All welcome back to How To Do The Pot, I’m April Pride and I do the pot. This is the audio newsletter from How to Do the Pot. If you’d rather read it, visit dothepot.com and subscribe to our email newsletter. If you like How To Do The Pot, please share it with someone and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, it helps more people find our show.

April Pride: You just heard from Kia Baker, a military veteran who is diagnosed with fibromyalgia, talking about how stress causes more painful flare ups of her autoimmune disease. And autoimmune diseases disproportionately affect women. So whether you’re dealing with a chronic condition or just 2020, stress affects everything. For me, it can cause me to lose my focus or creativity and trying to manage the increased aches and pains that probably are because my exercise and sleep routine have been upended by the pandemic.

A silver lining to all of this year has been the more open conversation we’re having around mental health.

We’re grateful to the women who share their stories of how this plant helps them with day to day stress management.

Verena von Pfetten, Gossamer: I’m Verena von Pfetten, and I’m the co-founder of Gossamer. I live in Brooklyn, in New York, in a neighborhood called Red Hook. That is a little bit in the middle of nowhere, and doesn’t have a subway, which is kind of insane in New York City. It’s about a 25 to 30 minute walk to the nearest subway station, or I have to take like a bus. Long story short, my favorite thing to do as like a totally functional insanely Type A human is to smoke like one hit of a vape pen or a joint in the morning before my commute, because it’s like an hour and a half long. So I have a really nice commute, I do my emails or I read or listen to a podcast, and by the time I get to work, I’m totally clear-headed and I have none of that sort of anxiety or stress that comes with trying to get somewhere.

April Pride: You may remember Raeven Duckett from episode five of How To Do The Pot on social justice.

Raeven Duckett, Community Gardens: I’m very anxious. So kind of smoking before I do stuff helps me feel a little better about it. And I think the outcomes are usually a lot better too. I do believe now after working in the industry for almost three years, that all cannabis use is medicinal to some extent. And so I think to do the pot means to just do whatever makes you feel good when you’re using the pot. And it’s a lot of ways you can feel, it helps a lot with sleep, with anxiety, with having a good time. And so I do it all kinds of ways.

April Pride: So why does cannabis help with stress? Harvard trained physician, Dr. Jessica Knox of the American Cannabinoid Clinics, is here to guide us on the science.

Dr. Jessica Knox, American Cannabinoid Clinics: So most people know about the cardiovascular system, our heart, they know about the neurological system, the respiratory system, these are the systems we all learned about in health class, in high school, right? The endocannabinoid system, really important system that sort of balancing and modulating all of these other systems in our body to maintain what we call homeostasis or balance in our body. But the endocannabinoid system, as powerful as it is, can be worn down by various inputs. The most common inputs that are wearing down the system are our food or our poor quality food, for most of us Americans. Pollution or chemicals. Pharmaceutical drugs are a big one that can wear down the endocannabinoid system. Stress, right, just like the daily anxiety and stress of are very fast paced lives and social media. Aging, genetics, all of these things can work against the health of our endocannabinoid system.

April Pride: Why do we recommend cannabis as an option instead of heavier pharmaceuticals like Xanax for stress? Fewer side effects and Dr. Jess explains more.

Dr. Jessica Knox, American Cannabinoid Clinics: Another thing about cannabis is that it’s sort of gentler, it tries to mimic our own endocannabinoid system. So our own endocannabinoid system, the endocannabinoids will sort of go and do what they need to do on the receptors, and then they leave. They don’t hang around, they don’t just linger, they’re very specific and quick acting. Pharmaceuticals, they get in there, they hang out forever, they’re very general, they’re not targeting anything for the most part, so they’re just creating havoc until our system works them out.

April Pride: We asked Dr. Jess one last question. What’s the best way to consume cannabis for stress?

Dr. Jessica Knox, American Cannabinoid Clinics: I can’t say there’s best way to consume cannabis because the best way is very individualized based on what you’re trying to accomplish, what you want to prevent or mitigate in using cannabis, what you’re treating. So somebody who is trying to manage their stress or anxiety, and they want a quick acting medication inhaling or using a tincture might be the best method for them, and ideally a CBD dominant medication.

April Pride: For today’s high five, how to do the pot to lower stress?

Number one, we’ve said it before, and it’s really true, cannabis requires experimentation.

Be willing to try things and know that if it doesn’t work, you’re one step closer to narrowing down what will bring you closer to well-being with weed? Number two, choose edibles, tinctures, smoking flour, or vaping oil with CBD and THC to avoid pop panic. Number three, since 2018, hemp derived CBD is available for purchase in all 50 states. Women reach for CBD oil tinctures and gel capsules to manage stress. The starter dose is eight to 10 milligrams of CBD taken one to two times per day. Number four, patients show notable decreases in anxiety and sleep concerns after using CBD for a month. For all CBD products, we recommend a consistent daily routine. Consume it for a minimum of two weeks to help establish your baseline dose for stress management.

April Pride: Number five, get familiar with terms like California sober and microdosing. Episodes 9 and 20 of How To Do The Pot are here to help. Today’s strain recs for stress. As legalization has increased in the US, we’re up to 15 states with fully legal weed for adults over 21, more and more cultivators and dispensaries are realizing that products with CBD are of great interest to many women. ACDC. We like to say the strain is perfect for every woman. ACDC is a high CBD non intoxicating strain that promotes feelings of contentment, improves your mood, reduces pain and brings about a relaxed outlook. It works well for women that struggle with anxiety, with weed or not. Harlequin, a mildly intoxicating strain.

April Pride: Harlequin will keep your head clear while helping you relax. We often recommend as the starter strain for those new to consuming cannabis. And it’s also beloved because it calms anxiety reduces stress and acts a natural sleep remedy. Cannatonic. One of the first strains I recommended to Ellen and she passed along my recommendation with great success to lots of other women. It’s not intoxicating or mildly intoxicating strain for some, depending on the cultivar. With equal parts CBD to THC, cannatonic produces a quiet high that soothes the mind and body. It also helps reduce inflammation and provides pain, relieving benefits.

April Pride: And three podcasts that we love. I like Land of the Giants, season two, the Netflix effect, brought to you by Vox and hosted by Recode’s Peter Kafka and Rani Molla. This season examines how Netflix got where it is today and whether or not it can maintain its streaming supremacy. Ellen likes My New Life, hosted by Jessica Roth. This podcast breaks down child development, science into usable nuggets of knowledge that you can put to the test in your own home on living with a toddler during a pandemic, episode six peaceful parenting, dealing with tantrums. And to do the pot, we recommend Make Your Passion Pay You, hosted by Lindsay Nadler episode 111, How Cannabis is Shaking Up Health Care with Dr. Jessica Knox.

April Pride: Thank you for listening to this audio newsletter. Let us know what you think. Find us on Instagram, @dothepot, and you can follow me @aprilpride. And for lots more information about cannabis and women, visit dothepot.com. My co-founder Ellen Scanlon, Madi Fair, our marketing manager and our producer, Nick Patri. I’m April Pride, and we’ll be back here soon with more of How To Do The Pot.