INTERVIEW
MARYLAND LEAF BUDTENDER OF THE MONTH
CHRISTIAN HENSLER WHAT IS ONE OF THE FIRST QUESTIONS YOU WILL ASK A NOVICE PATIENT? Right off the bat, I ask them what their experience with Cannabis is. Have they smoked? Have they consumed edibles? What are their expectations? Once I get their experience level, I ask them how they want to feel. Whether they’re looking to deal with anxiety issues or whatever it is, I can recommend a starting product. WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING A CAREGIVER AND A BUDTENDER? I always had my caregiver license even before working at this dispensary, in case a patient needed it and couldn’t come into the store. For example, I had a patient who recently had surgery and needed someone to bring them their medicine. During the pandemic it really took off, when some of our older patients didn’t want to come in for safety reasons. “I ALWAYS HAD
MY CAREGIVER
WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC DO LICENSE YOU LISTEN TO? I listen to EVEN BEFORE a lot of bluegrass and jam WORKING AT THIS band stuff, a lot of String DISPENSARY, IN Cheese Incident, the Del CASE A PATIENT Mccourys and the Travelin NEEDED IT AND Mccourys. I have met a lot of COULDN’T COME people on that journey and traveled across the country INTO THE STORE.” meeting interesting people. It is interesting to see how less stigmatized Cannabis is at shows. People used to get pulled over and have their weekend ruined because of Cannabis.
14
leafmagazines.com
DO CANNABIS AND DANK FOOD GO HAND IN HAND? Everything tastes better when you are under the influence of Cannabis, and it definitely helps to boost creativity when in the kitchen. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SPORT AND TEAM? Baseball and the Phillies! Unfortunately, the baseball world is a little sad right now. But you have seen with a lot of sports – it’s pretty cool that they’re taking out the criminalization of Cannabis and not punishing people and risking their careers for it. The MLB doesn’t test for Cannabis anymore. WHY DO YOU GO ABOVE AND BEYOND FOR PATIENTS? With my individual path with Cannabis, I always felt a stigma around it. Cannabis could have helped with the side effects of ADHD medication, which I still take. To calm my brain down and fall asleep at night, I use Cannabis. Now I am able to use that knowledge and experience to help guide my patients in the right direction, and it doesn’t feel stigmatized anymore.
W
ITH A CLOSE EYE to the patient experience, Christian Hensler weaves the budtending and caregiving aspects of his work into meaningful interactions with everyone he comes in contact with. So if you’re looking for top shelf Cannabis and compassion, look no further than the wonderful work being done at Pure Life Wellness in Baltimore – this Budtender of the Month most definitely has your back.
MAY 2022
PURE LIFE WELLNESS
35 E CROSS ST, BALTIMORE, MD @PURELIFE_WELLNESS_BMORE PURELIFEBALTIMORE.COM OPEN 11AM-7PM TUES-FRI 11AM-5PM SAT | 11AM-4PM SUN CLOSED MONDAY
INTERVIEW & PHOTO by WYATT EARLY @ERRLYWYATT/MARYLAND LEAF SEND NOMINATIONS FOR BUDTENDER OF THE MONTH TO WYATT@LEAFMAGAZINES.COM
