Welcome to Cannabis School. I'm your host, Jesse Angelus. And I'm Brandon Elder, and we're here to talk to you about everything pertaining to cannabis from vape, flower, edibles, strains and everything in between. All right everybody, welcome back to Tuesday and we got a special guest with us. We have Carmine. From New York now I'm going to get a little bit of a tear sheet
over there. His company is ID Botanicals and he's going to be one of the first, is that right, one of the first medical dispensaries in New York. Fantastic. I mean, very recreational. So that's that's awesome. So that's going to be fantastic, especially for those people who are looking to get into it. Not necessarily sold on the medical card because they just like, you know, maybe I don't have those types of conditions,
but. Being able to use this wonderful plant and being able to heal us both mentally and physically, man, it almost does that full culmination, right. Get back to that spiritual side to just helps everything smooth out. Absolutely, absolutely. So brother you you've got a lot. I mean beside being an awesome pioneer out there in in New York by being able to take that risk as so many others do and being able to start up a cannabis company. You've got a pretty extensive
background. Former former military, Former FDNY. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Tesla. Yeah, sure. Thanks, Jess. First of all, thanks so much for having me on the show. Listen to you guys. You guys are awesome. And yeah, I served eight years with the US Army. I spent six years with the New York Army National Guard and then I spent. 11 years with the New York City Fire Department as an EMT.
So total I have about 18-19 years of just serving my country state or city and I loved every second of it you know and currently I'm a disabled army veteran. I hope like you said I open. I'm plan on opening up a recreational dispensary this coming 2023 you know here in New York and it's just been. You know, like the main, you know, like the the main reason I want to open up a dispensary is because what cannabis has done for me, you know, and and it's it's saved my life. You know, I'm in.
I'm in recovery from opiate addiction and you know, I grew up. Let me start from the beginning. You know, there's so much, you know, to say, you know, I grew up with a, you know, in a really negative type of household, you know, you know, it was abusive and everything and whatnot, so. You know, I ran, you know, like a lot of young kids do.
I ran into the military. You know, when I, you know, when I, I hurt myself while I was in the military and when I came out, You know, the doctors, you know, they push you, push painkillers on you. You know, it was this was 2007, eight and nine, you know, so this is like the Wild West of the opiate days, you know, so doctors are just writing scripts of 120 of whatever I wanted every month, you know, and I would go to 2-3 doctors a week and they would each write in the
same prescription and. I was unfortunately one of those statistics that got caught up in the opiate epidemic. You know I used opiates as a coping mechanism for emotional support you know for physical for spiritual. I used it opiate as my everything you know and and I, you know I'm, I'm a survivor of the opiate pandemic, you know and that's exactly what it is you know because and I and I
didn't survive you know. I survived by the skin of my teeth, I should say, you know, because I've have over 13 overdoses and I've been in over 30 treatment centers and I'm lucky to be alive, you know, And you know, when people always complain that, hey, life isn't fair, I am blessed. And I am thankful that life isn't fair. You know, if life was fair, I wouldn't be here today.
So, you know, and I was back in 2000. 18 I had a surgery on my elbow and after that surgery the doctors gave me painkillers and I knew I couldn't take it And my friend, you know he sat me down. He's like, dude why don't you just smoke a joint with me. I was like, bro, I'm I just had a surgery. You know like my marriage is is struggling right now. My relationship with my parents isn't good. Smoke in a joint isn't going to solve my problems man.
You know and but you know excuse me he was my best friend. I grew up with him. So I sat down and we smoked together and. Things seemed better, you know, and things became better slowly but surely, you know, and I I didn't, you know, I didn't even think about using opiates ever again after cannabis. You know, I'm not saying that opiates, you know, wasn't, you know, wasn't there.
No, because opiates was there. I just came back from a doctor's, you know, a couple days ago and he know he wanted to prescribe me painkillers for my back. And I said no, I'm good. I'm good man. Thank you. You know, because I don't, because cannabis opened up my eyes into what life has really to offer me and what I have to offer life. You know, and you know, like Brandon, you know, you mentioned, you know, on the spiritual part, you know, you know, you mentioned some of spirituality.
And that's what cannabis has done for me in a way. You know, it opened my heart and my mind to, you know, what the world has for me and what I could do for the world because it is a symbiotic relationship. You know, and I I am a strong proponent of that, that, you know, life is a symbiotic relationship where I could perform what I could give to life and what life could give to me, you know? So yeah, but I feel like I'm. I'm going on and on right now.
No, no, we appreciate it. Like your story is huge because so many people everywhere struggle with that opioid crisis. It is an epidemic that has been going on. We've had billboards all over about. Like overdose deaths, like, it is huge. It's rampant everywhere. So, you know, props to you for fighting the fight and sticking around and you know, to everyone fighting that struggle. Maybe cannabis is your option. So yeah, yeah.
And it's not like I haven't tried, you know, Like I said, I tried over 30 treatment centers and after treatment centers, you know, I did the A, A and the NA thing and, you know, and what NA and A A does. You know, it gives the person a purpose and your purpose and those meanings is to stay sober and help somebody else stay sober. So in essence, they're giving you a purpose of trying to give back. And that's what cannabis did to me. It gave me.
It realized that that I'm able to give back to others in a different way, you know, and I'm advocating for cannabis use among first responders, among veterans here in New York and. It's such an amazing thing to be able to give back to certain to these communities and help them and to watch these communities flourish like after I, you know, you know, while we're doing it together, you know. Oh, yeah, yeah. You were recently on the City Council for Long Beach talking
about cannabis. Yeah, I was there at the Long Beach Town Board meeting. Right now, Long Island and all of New York State actually is holding meetings. To decide if these towns should allow recreational sales of cannabis. So you know, I go up there as an advocate for cannabis, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, as an recovered oh. Speed addict. As a resident, you know, I go in there full force and I advocate that having retail sites available to the public would
actually save people's lives. Because there was a whole article about in Connecticut how there was cannabis laced with fentanyl. And the people were going, you know, going into the hospitals, you know, and I and I told them if these people had access to safe cannabis, you know, they wouldn't be in the house, they wouldn't be in that situation. You know, if me, if I had access to cannabis, as a first responder veteran, you know, five years before, maybe I
wouldn't have had 13 overdoses. Maybe my son didn't have to see his father blew. And what would his eyes hold back on the floor, a sight that he'll never forget? You know, maybe those things would not have had had happened, You know, if I had that option for me, if the doctors even said, hey, this is an option for you, but no one ever brought that up to me, you know? Yeah, it's huge because across the United States so many people don't know that are or not being
given or told these options. And that's a lot of why we're having these discussions is because so many people that I know that Jesse know we've had these discussions and it's constant. It's people going what is cannabis. Yeah. What is that? What does that do? Yeah. And and and definitely by being able to get past the stereotypes that are pretty persistent throughout that especially on the outside because cannabis is a culture once you what once you are able to be and and I would
say guided into that. I mean if you're, if you're just going to be stupid and these stupid things. Hey you could do that. You could do that with Diet Coke like you can drink yourself stupid, right. So I mean. It it, it doesn't matter. It it what it what's being used. It matters on the intent. And when you experience that for the first time of just being able to relax, to be able to let go, to not hold on to anger and hate. And that's where a lot of this
pain comes from, right? It's not necessarily just the physical, the physical gas there, but it's it's done being in pain. It's done feeling so down and. Cannabis is this great bridge to be able to help out with pain management, but also by being able to give you time to reflect and just being you just just letting yourself observe yourself from the third perspective and it it's absolutely just mind opening, mind changing and and life
changing. You know Jess, I love that you said that, you know, taking a step back and looking at yourself and that's what cannabis has given me the opportunity to do. You know, it made me look at my at my life as a whole, you know, in the third person, it's like, you know, like I literally had a conversation with myself years ago. I remember this conversation
vividly. I'm like, I'm like your kids are going to find you dead one day if you don't stop this shit, you know, and and and that was, you know, while I was smoking a joint, I had these, you know, you know, like what if, you know, what would your kids do? Be the father that you needed.
You know, these type of conversations I was having in my head, you know, and it. It gave me, it gave me that motivation to be a better person, a better father, you know, because, you know, I wasn't like knocking on Heaven's Door. I was breaking and entering, You know, like that's 13 overdoses, you know, so and and then, you know, like recently I've been thinking like recently as I smoke, you know, like today I was thinking I'm, I'm living on
borrowed time because, you know, if you ever had, you know, one of those stages of grief is bargaining. You know, when you say, God, please just give me my dad back and I'll do anything, you know, maybe. I had thirteen chances. And you know, I'm here today, so
I'm living on borrowed time. So just by me constantly saying that to myself gives me a different perspective on life, you know, about how to be. And it's makes me a better father, a better husband, you know, Doesn't let me get angry of the small stuff anymore. Yeah, I think, yeah, definitely. Cannabis has brought in a lot more patience, a lot more
introspection into my life. My kids can tell when not only am I more irritable because I'm in pain, but they know because I'll go. I just need to go puff for a second and then I'll be back. And then I come in and I'm like, I'm sorry. I just, you know, and I come back and I can have a normal conversation to look at, whether it's their issues, my issues, whatever it is from a much better perspective than I would have approached initially.
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, like I've been, you know, on an anger tear lately and you know, I just just, you know, random person of anger then coming out of me, you know, and I've been thinking I'm like why what what's going on, you know? And I would go and smoke on it and I would come back completely different, a completely different person, you know, able to communicate like a human, like an adult to my wife, you know, and it's and.
And to be able to communicate as an adult is huge for me. For a lot of us, yeah, to look at things and go, what the hell did I just say? Yeah, some of the deepest shit that comes out of my mouth is usually because I've had, you know, at least three or four poles. Off of my little pen because it just, it gets me into the state where I start thinking about things a little bit differently and and not necessarily thinking of it in the egotistical state.
Right. It's more of a you know what can I do to contribute and it slows you down. Like I was telling Brandon about it and I was like you know people complain about memory problems with with cannabis. I would actually have to say that it has expanded my memory very much because I'm I'm slower.
And I can actually observe and take it in and it imprints on me and then I can remember and with what I do professionally as well that that matters, that matters so much and being able to take those small little moments and it's just it's just awesome, man. I I mean, I can't.
I I know it sounds like the the funniest thing is if you were to talk to me about this five years ago saying hey Jess, try cannabis is going to help you out and like no, I'll be a stupid idiot if I do that all the time. And now when somebody asks, like, when, how much do you have? How often do you have cannabis? I'm like, what time is it? Does anything from there, right? Exactly, man. You know, I'm literally talking
to my wife tonight. I'm like, you know, I'm like, I think I found a good regimen for my, for my usage. And she's like, what's that? I'm like, you know, I'm like just three times a day. And she's like, what do you mean three times a day? I'm like every time the hour lands on a three, you know, I gotta smoke 253. I gotta smoke, you know, and it's just and you know, and it's just, you know, like a joke me and her have but, you know, like, but she is serious about like.
Me using cannabis as not only a mental health aide, but as an aid for a relationship. And she doesn't smoke at all. She doesn't consume at all, you know, And she's fine with her glass of wine. And I'm fine with my joint or my blonde or my ball and my bong, you know, and we have and and and it's and it's such a great it's just brought so much more joy and laughter into our relationship, you know? Oh yeah. Well, when you're on cannabis versus opiates, you're a lot more yourself.
Opiates, you are some hazy, distant, not even there. So yeah, it's almost like, you know, I I'm not a huge I I don't use alcohol at all anymore and it's just and it's my own personal choice. But I just find that I don't. I don't feel like me when people go, oh, I was drunk and I did something stupid. It means that no, you're just acting out because you're at your simplest mind at that time. But if you smoke a joint or you take a hit off a pipe or.
Or any You stop and you think about what you're about to do. The argument is not coming out like it. That's the thing that I have to do if I if I ever get in the heated argument with my wife, which is rare. But if it does happen, I'm like I I got to go for just a SEC. Give me a SEC. I'll come back. I'll say something reasonable. I'll say something where you're not going to put me on the couch. All right. So give me a few. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know. And you know.
Me and my wife, we have that understanding now. And she'll even tell me she's like, you need to go go to the garage. I'm like, what? She's like you need to step out and go into the garage. I'm like, you know what, that's a good idea. You know, you can't argue when somebody says, hey, you need to smoke. You're not going to argue with that person. No, because a lot of the time you look at it and you go, yeah, I'm kind of being a little
bitch. It's like it's, I don't need a Snickers. I need to go smoke. Like it's really not what it is. You know, Snickers platform needs to change. It's you don't need a Snickers, You need to smoke and then you'll eat all of the Snickers anyway. So yeah, absolutely. You know, and it's it's and you know, like, you know it's just that change of perspective that it does for me and it's.
And it made me realize that, you know, there's no representation in New York for first responders and cannabis. You know, like, you know, we everyone knows that veterans and veterans suicide, cannabis can help with veterans repeating And see that's no big secret, you know, But, you know, I started looking for a first responder groups, first responder veterans, you know, that you know, advocate for cannabis and
there's none out here, you know. And so, you know, I was like, you know, the New York cannabis market is coming.
It's opening up in 2023. You know, and they need someone in the veteran community to advocate for the veterans and for the first responders, you know, otherwise otherwise the veterans and 1st responders will have no say in in what the New York cannabis market is going to look like, you know, and that's not fair for us. So I decided to stand up and take that that role on to myself, you know, and. And I want it and I and it just gave me such a purpose in life
honestly. Like I get up every morning, I look at which towns are having these board meetings and I go there and I advocate for cannabis use. And you know, and I go to American Legions and I go to Vfw's and I talk to the veterans there and I see how they're doing. And these are 7086 year old men sometimes and I'm talking to them about cannabis and you know, their knee jerk reaction sometimes is, you know, oh I, you know, I haven't smoked that since the 60s or whatever, you
know. And you know, my initial stereotype of these, you know, elderly veterans were they were going to be against it. But that wasn't the case. You know, I found like these veterans should be a lot open minded about it. You know, because they spent years suffering with pain and PTSD that when something herbal and all natural comes along that is supposed to help them, they're a lot more responsive than what I originally thought. And it's helping so many of their friends like.
Me personally, I have not served in the military, but I have a lot of friends who do and who have, and I know a lot of them personally suffer from PTSD, severe PTSD, and I know that cannabis has helped them in that. And so for everyone out there who has a first responder or someone in the military, that's basically all of us know someone who is doing that. And they are severely like their
mental health. All of that is huge because they are seeing and dealing with stuff every single day that the average person doesn't and it affects them on a whole nother level. And so having this access to cannabis or even having people advocate to give them that voice or that platform even have the ability to know hey this plant might be for me is is huge. Absolutely. You know, it's such a great feeling too.
We know when you go to these Vfw's and you know, you speak to one guy and you spoke to him like 3 weeks ago, then you see him again and he's like, hey, you know, I got my medical card because New York, it's not recreational yet. And I'm like oh good. And he's like, you know what man he's like. He's like, I like it. You know, you tell tell me about his experience. He's like, I like him and you know, he told me he's, you know he's at half CBD and half THC and you know he found that
that's his good Nexus point. And I was so happy that he figured out what works for him. You know, and and and he just looked like a completely different person. You know like he was smiling and not just like that cheesy little smile like he was smiling from the inside, you know, like and it was such a good feeling. I remember that seeing him like that, it was it was great, you know. Yeah. I mean it being I'm a I'm a former service member and I didn't serve during the war
time. It was before that. I was at the end of Clinton's. No thank you. And and my brother, he's former Army too. He was the big red one out in Germany. So he's with tankers but you know when you brought up. PTSD and you had stated, and we we had a conversation before, the PTSD that you experienced in the military was pretty difficult, but you had stated something that maybe a lot of people don't know. And that's the PTSD for the first responders going to that little bit.
Well, yeah, well, the I've seen more trauma as a first responder than I ever did as an Army medic. You know, and and these are through, you know with with New York City, you know most EMT. So I I run on an ambulance, you
know, as my job. And now I I was there through Hurricane Sandy to you know, to all the Hurricanes that hit New York, the East Coast. You know, those, you know, I was in the low lying flood zones at that time when I was stationed and I remember my first like 10 months on the street. You know, I've, you know, it was a culture shock. You know, I've never seen so many people.
Here in my country, in America, dying left and right and you know, things that I wasn't able to do that I thought I could do. You know, you know, as a medic, as an EMT, you know, you have a belief system that I'm out here helping people. But when you have those, what we call those bad weeks or those bad months and where you're just getting bad calls after call after call after call, and you're not seeing that light or that good that you're doing, it starts hit, you know?
Getting on your mind and and affecting you, especially day in and day out. And you know, after a year you know you start getting burnt out. After two years you start getting irritable. After three years you start looking for some type of coping mechanism. And by the 4th or 5th year you know, you're either you know, drinking yourself you're on you know, on opiates or you're just an angry irritable you know, fuck, you know, excuse my language you know, and it's
that's. That's at least that was my experience and I know by my 4th year on the job I was I I redeveloped A opiate addiction. I was and I was spiraling out of control. And I remembered, you know, people at work, they they recommended me to the counseling services and I called them and you know, they sent me away for to my first treatment center. And then after that, as soon as I came back from my treatment center, right back on the ambulance, go out and don't go do it again.
You know, and I didn't even have a transition time from my treatment center to hitting the streets, you know, and I think that was a big thing for me too, not never having a transition, you know, for me asking for help, getting to help and going back to work, it was always an immediate thing. No, Yeah, we don't think about that what what you would see as a first responder especially in those areas and. And seeing all the things you see, seeing bodies like that.
My brother talked about that where where he was in Iraq, which he doesn't share with anybody. But the stories that he told me there, he said those were imprinted, but it's the ones where you weren't able to save somebody as the hardest. That's what he had said it. You know, he lose friends out there. I could only imagine where you're over there. It's not a combatant that you're seeing on the ground.
It's it's somebody who's he don't wants that desperation to live and and when you can't help them. That's got to be so hard. So with cannabis, is that help to kind of reflect on it and accept that there's just things out of your control? Absolutely.
Because before cannabis, I would remember I would have these flashbacks and I wouldn't call them flashbacks, you know, because I don't like using that word because it has a stigma attached to it. You know, everyone always thinks about Jacob's Ladder and all that. You know, like I'm not doing it, you know.
So, you know, when I would have these thoughts, you know, like, oh man, if I if I only got there 10 seconds quicker, if I only would pressed a little harder or did, you know, instead of having those thoughts that I used to have, I'm thinking about. That woman that I delivered her baby on the subway or that woman that had to pull over in the middle you know in the middle of snowstorm. And I and I, she had two twins and I, you know, delivered them for her.
I or that's eight-year old boy that fell out of the tree and broke his arm and I bandage it up and I let him hit the sirens on the way to the hospital. You know, those are that's what cannabis did to me, made me look at all the good I did out there. Because that was one thing I like I said, I grew up in a really negative household, so I always pinpoint the things that I messed up on. You know, I would come home with an 85 and my dad would smack me and say you didn't get a 95 like
you assisted, you know? But now Canvas changed my perception. It's like, Nah, man, I did a lot of good. I did. I helped a lot of people. There's people alive today that wouldn't be if it wasn't for me. And that's what it really did. So gave me that confidence to really step up and say, you know what, I want all the first responders to have this experience. I want other veterans to have this experience and have that self-confidence and know that we helped people despite of all that bad.
There's a lot of good and I want to focus on a good today because I've done a lot of focusing on the bad in my life and I'm done with that. Yeah, cannabis definitely helps. See things in a better better light and better perspective that sometimes it's hard to let ourselves see before.
And this is I'm so excited that what you're doing not only for yourself and and there needs to be a a praise to that is not necessarily that you got clean but you found something else to be able to help fill that in. As is we're all compulsive creatures as humans we're always. We're addicted to one thing or another, right?
Whether it's scratch tickets, Diet Coke or or popping pills like we've got something, but you know where something is natural as as as cannabis is. And you know, I don't want to sound like a a fullblown hippie, but give me a tie dyed shirt and I'll grow up my dreads because you know, why not? They had it, right? You know, it's life is better. There's less conflict like any of these areas that were having
riots. Instead of shooting tear gas grenades in there, just shoot THC grenades out there and just smoke them out. And then after a while the smoke clears, they'll be picking up shit and putting it away. Going man, I'm sorry I was so mad and I said all that mean shit to you. I think I'm just trying to be killed there. Oh man, I I believe it, man. I agree. You know, I always say cannabis.
I at every board meeting, I say cannabis is the people's drug, you know, and it's the people's plan, I always say. But yeah, and I agree. I agree man. Cannabis has changed my life and it's such a better person for today, you know, you know this Thanksgiving, you know my company, Ivy Botanical that we were able to feed three families
and 15 people. You know, because I was, you know, I just went out and I asked on on social media if anyone would allow me to feed their family for for Thanksgiving. I said you don't have to be in crisis. You don't have to be in need. Just allow me to feed your family because some people don't want to reach out because they go, I'm not in crisis, I'm not need, but you know, about things are tight. Those are the people I want to feed.
I want to feed the people that don't really ask for help but need to help, you know? So I tried making it like as easy as it could be. I said just DM me, just message me. You don't have to make it public or, you know, and I was able to help three families and 15 people and it was such an amazing feeling. It really was, you know, it was. It was amazing. It was just amazing, you know, And that just gave me that jolt of I know that God put me on this earth to help people and
cannabis is the part of that. And you know, let's go. And I'm not a religious guy. I'm more spiritual in that matter. But yeah, I just use the word God because it's less synonyms than deity and whatnot. Yeah, whatever. Whatever energy or essence or flavor of the month you believe in. Yeah, whatever's whatever's your bonfire. Go to that. Exactly. I just use the word God because it's easy.
It's only three letters. Well, Carm, I thank you so much for joining us and in sharing your story of how cannabis says. Has not only helped you, but you saw that there was an opportunity for you to be able to share that same goodness with others and thank you for your service. And more importantly, I mean, you know, as as a, you know, one military guy to another man, thank you for doing what you
did. But more importantly, think what you did on the streets for all those people, thank you for sharing those stories about delivering babies. Like that's that's awesome. Not anybody being able to say that they did that, but when you look back, that's that's badass, bro. That's awesome. Thank you so much, Betsy. Appreciate it, man. I really thank you guys so much for having me, Brandon. Thank you. Of course. Just a couple more questions. What is your favorite strain?
Yeah. Yeah, my favorite strain. As of right now in New York, we have this fruity Pebble strain. It's an indica strain from pharma can and it is a really nice tasty terpene profile and I really like it. It does have such delicious terpenes. Yeah. Fruity Pebbles is fantastic. It's awesome. It's seriously one of my favorites as well. My other one, mine right now like if I could go to an indica, it's it's ice cream. Ice cream was oh man, but I'm a sativa guy. So. But Brandon, what's your
favorite indica right now? That's really tough. I'm really liking lava cake, but right now I just, I blasted through that ice cream. It was fantastic. Zero complaints. Yeah, it's it's yeah. And if you had one thing that you would leave for people looking into cannabis or considering cannabis, what would you what would you leave for them? I would. I would leave for them.
Give cannabis a try. In a with a responsible in a responsible way because a lot of people have alternate experiences with cannabis because their THECBD levels are too strong for the novice user. So I would say use cannabis in a responsible way with someone that you trust and love because that's what cannabis is for. It's all about love and that's what I believe it is. You know, cannabis is love, so just spread love. We hear that so much.
We hear that so much. Well, thanks for sharing your lab, brother and joining us on this. And yeah, thank you guys so much. Guys. This has been amazing. Thank you guys so much. Yeah, keep in touch with us. And man, again, mad love for you, brother. Thank you so much for what you're doing out there. Thank you guys so much. Jesse and Brandon, Thank you, guys. I love your show. Thanks. Catch you guys later. Take it easy.