7 minute read
Cannabis Survivor
BY SLOANE SIMON
Surviving the Stigma
She blew in like a happy cloud of smoke, “Sloane, I thought that might be you!” Kalea Green, like Princess Leia with a “K” in front, grabbed a seat and started right in with ease.
Kalea (Instagram @kalea.smokes.green) has been a proud card-carrying member of the medical marijuana scene in Oklahoma since its legalization in November 2018. Ever since, she has been an outspoken member of the community to decrease the stigma behind cannabis usage and what those consumers look like, as well as the importance of patients over profit
“I shouldn’t be here,” she started her story. At 14, Kalea and her aunt were in a horrible car crash. At a four-way stop in Wilson, Oklahoma, a drunk driver blew through the stop sign, smashing into the passenger side of the car where Kalea sat.
A fractured shoulder, three broken ribs, shattered pelvis, femur, and foot were the resulting injuries, with a side of post-traumatic stress disorder. Oh, and let’s not forget the opiate addiction that came from the pain after having seven extensive surgeries to repair the multitude of injuries. Due to the trauma of the car wreck, Kalea opted to postpone driver’s education until she was seventeen. Who remembers the delightful video Red Asphalt?
Well, to refresh the memories, it’s an Imagine being three years removed from a drunk driving car wreck that nearly took your life and walking into driver ’ s ed to this video discussing the very thing you had just lived through. It was very triggering for Kalea, enough so that she decided not to start driving until she was twenty-six. Even now, almost twenty years post-accident, getting behind the wheel can bring up overwhelming feelings at times.
@kalea.smokes.green
Oxycontin was the pain reliever prescribed to fourteen-year-old Kalea, keeping her under it’ s trances for the next 16 years. As a teenager, she was seeing a pain management doctor monthly, being made to feel like a criminal every time she entered the doors. In order to function on a daily basis, pain pills were required. Over time, the Oxy became the way to take the edge off and disassociate from the world around her. Yes, it helped to ease the physical pain from the car wreck, but she soon realized it would take away the pain from the emotions and the outside world.
I questioned if she was ever on any other medications, like antidepressants or anti-anxiety, to help with the triggers and the trauma felt from the wreck. Oddly enough, she recalls that her mother was not comfortable with her being on these mental health medications but was totally fine with her being on a very strong, very deadly opiate.
Thinking back on it, though, it makes sense. When we consider the way mental health has been treated, the stigma that would be carried for taking this type of medication, pain pills would seem more acceptable.
Kalea stated that her mother was concerned over the possibility of her becoming addicted to the antianxiety/depression meds, so she never really took them. Ironically, the oxy became an addiction.
That’ s until Oklahoma became a medical state, and the option became available to explore other forms of pain relief and medication that can actually help with posttraumatic stress disorder. In November of 2018, Kalea became a med card holder and started her journey with medicinal cannabis.
At the time of legalization, Kalea was working in the medical field as a Medical Assistant. While working as a MA, Kalea mentioned having a conflict of interest when it came to medicating with cannabis and being employed in the traditional western medical field. Oddly enough, abusing her oxycontin while working with patients and being around other medical professionals did not weigh on her.
Again, it makes sense. Her oxycontin was prescribed to her by a doctor to treat a condition that that medication was produced to target specifically, side effects be damned. It was big pharma and western medicine walking hand in hand.
Sure, oxycontin was an addiction, but the doctor and society had given it a green light by labeling it a pharmaceutical, whereas cannabis has been portrayed as a “drug, ” bringing stigma and shame.
So, Kalea left the medical field to pursue work in the cannabis industry. It was not a blind decision to leave her place of employment, it was done with thought behind it. Kalea believes that her time in nursing school, working as a medical assistant, and spending time in the medical field could be very beneficial working in the cannabis industry. Kalea takes the knowledge she has gained over the last several years and applies it to cannabis for the patients she helps in her current position as a budtender.
One of my favorite questions to ask these survivors I’ ve had the pleasure to meet is whether or not it’ s the terpene profile or the THC percentage that treats the patient? We have all come to the agreement, it is the terps. It’ s always the terps.
However, many patients seek the higher percentage of THC, thinking that means better results. When you find the correct terpene profile, you can better treat the ailment. Kalea wants to help educate the cannabis consumer on these terpenes and their benefits
So how does Kalea prefer to medicate? Since becoming a proud, card-carrying member of the Oklahoma Cannabis Society, she stopped using oxycontin to treat her pain and began smoking flowers and using edibles. Her favorite edible is 50mg by Nature ’ s Key.
Kalea prefers a hybrid edible and uses them mostly to treat chronic pain. Kalea ’ s favorite flower is Donkey Butter; an Indica heavy sedating strain that helps with stress and anxiety with pain relieving and anti-inflammatory benefits.
The terpenes present in Donkey Butter are caryophyllene (antiinflammatory properties), limonene (anxiety and stress relief), and myrcene (muscle relaxant and sedative). When she needs a little pick me up, she reaches for a crowd favorite, Blue Dream.
Blue Dream is a sativa dominant strain with terpenes of myrcene and caryophyllene that provide the antiinflammatory and muscle relaxant aspect that Kalea is looking for, as well as pinene which provides an energy boost to the consumer.
Another common thread I’ve found with these survivor stories is the desire to decrease the stigma that comes with cannabis usage. As mentioned earlier, Kalea struggled with working her job as a medical assistant while smoking weed.
Even though she was legally using medical cannabis, she still felt the stigma. It’ s that stigma, that stereotype we, ’ ve been fed of what a consumer looks like: the stoner, pothead, lazy and often unreliable. Unfortunately, even in our own industry, there are some business types that buy into these outdated thoughts.
There are higher-ups in the cannabis industry that think people that consume cannabis are not capable of running a company. Kalea, and many others, hope to break this stereotype.
Kalea is a mother, she is gainfully employed, and she is an advocate for cannabis. She wants to decrease the stigma that many of us have carried as legal and non-legal consumers, and she hopes to do this through educating the people.
Not only would the cannabis consumer and patient benefit from learning more about the way our bodies react to cannabis, but the nonconsumer could have the opportunity to better understand it’ s benefits as well.
The best way to take care of the patient is to educate them. Kalea sees the need to teach the patient about the plant. If a person is experiencing high anxiety, maybe don’t recommend a Sativa dominant, high THC strain.
Look for a hybrid that’ s high in limonene to help decrease that anxiety. As a true patient, knowing your body and what you need is the first step. For example, Kalea knows that her body needs certain terpenes for the chronic pain she experiences from her car wreck.
Thus, when deciding what to partake in, she looks for strains that are high in the myrcene and caryophyllene terps for their anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant properties.
The key to truly using cannabis medicinally is to understand the way everything interacts. Education is important.
As the legal cannabis industry continues to grow and expand, Kalea hopes to see more women in higher positions, making more decisions, and having their own companies.
And her intention is to be involved in that growth, making connections, educating, and de-stigmatizing along the way.
The Cannamoms are just that, a group of like-minded moms that love their cannabis and their kids. It’ s about smashing the stigma that comes with smoking as a parent and showing that there is not a single thing wrong with it.
Kalea is grateful for medicinal cannabis. Had the appropriate laws not been passed, she would still be in that cycle of seeing her pain management doctor on a monthly basis to re-up the prescription opiate that had had a hold on her for sixteen years.
Kalea is a happy, healthy cannabis connoisseur, no longer relying on man-made pain pills to make it through her day.
