S
ince starting my journey in the cannabis community, I have had the opportunity to meet and connect with a lot of amazing people. The biggest contributor to these introductions has been being employed by The Lettuce Bar as a Cannician in Choctaw, OK. We had teamed up with the group from The Cowboy Cup, a cannabis competition and festival out of Stillwater, as the place to drop off entries and pick up judge’s packs. Through this connection, I was able to meet this amazing human, Christian Stark (@cannaguardian on TikTok). When Christian came into the shop that day to pick up her judge’s pack, we got to talking about her current role in the cannabis community, how it’s played such a huge part in the quality of life not only for herself, but also for her daughter. Christian’s oldest daughter, Olivia, is adopted. They came into each other’s lives when Olivia was 5 years old.
SUR VIVOR. by Sloane Simon
THRIVING THROUGH CANNABIS
When Olivia, or Livi as Christian lovingly refers to her, was only a year old, she was left alone with her 2-year-old brother in the bathtub. Unfortunately, while Livi’s birth mom was out of the room, her head went under water. Livi suffered an anoxic brain injury from drowning which has led to the diagnosis of cerebral palsy, spastic quadriplegia, epilepsy, and scoliosis from being wheelchair bound. When Livi came to live with Christian and her family she was on fifteen different prescriptions. Twelve of those prescriptions were for seizures. Over the next few years, they were able to wean her down to 5 or 6. And in 2020, they began to wean her off all of her meds. The initial weaning was possible in part to CBD, Charlotte’s web specifically. A CBD regimen has been part of Livi’s daily routine for many years.
When Christian came across Every Seed Canna Co. and their edibles, she found a company that was producing high quality medicine that would actually blend up well enough that she could administer a dosage to Livi through her feeding tube. Finding this company, as well as Mittie’s Medicinals, completely changed both Christian and Livi’s lives. For the first time since bringing her home with them, Livi slept until 6am the next morning. So, Christian found the nearest dispensary to her house, a fortyfive-minute drive, and bought all of their Every Seed Canna Co. products, which was a couple of hundred dollars’ worth of items. When the people of Every Seed Canna Co, found out about Christian and Livi, a job opportunity arose. Christian believes in their quality of products so much so that she is now a sales rep for them. Weaning Livi off of all of her medications definitely was not an easy task. During the initial weaning off all of the meds, Livi spent a solid four weeks crying. She is not able to verbally communicate her needs or pains, so it was a very trying time for everyone. Livi’s doctor felt that she may be dealing with some anxiety from all of it, and that was what was prompting her to cry uncontrollably. So, they agreed that Livi would remain on the Trazodone to help with anxiety and depression, as well as Dantrolene for her spasticity. Livi also utilizes a vagal stimulator to help control her seizures. While trying to provide the highest quality of care to her daughter, the difficulty in weaning with the crying started to take a toll on Christian. This was also in the middle of Covid taking over our world.
thechronicmagazine.com
JANUARY 2022
46
