This is our Christmas Day episode.  Although it has nothing to do with trees, reindeer, Kris Kringle, elves or baby Jesus, it is as much fun to open as a present on Christmas morning!  The guys from the High On Home Grown podcast were a delight to talk you.  We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.

Although universal health care is considered a Canadian right, ensuring your unique needs are fully met can be a challenge. Kirk and Trevor meet Susan Hagar, from Nurse on Board, your healthcare navigation partner. Working for you and your family, a Nurse “will take the stress out of dealing with medical challenges and will design a plan tailored to your specific needs.” Acting as your personal health care manager, they work collaboratively with the health professionals involved with your care. Are you interested in Cannabis and your doctor is not? Nurse on Board offers Cannabis Competent Nurses, who will accompany you to your doctor appointments and guide you and your doctor, with better understanding how Cannabis can be used in your care plan. In this episode, we learn how self-employed nurses help our current health care system meet needs of individuals. We also learn how health professionals can learn to be Cannabis competent through online education.

Many family docs spend part of their time looking after patients in long term care homes.  Two of the most common conditions in long term care are chronic pain and dementia.  We don't have great options in the standard pharmaceutical tool box to treat either of these conditions.  What if I told you a family doc in Sarnia, Ontario is having so much success treating both chronic pain and dementia symptoms in long term care that his colleagues are referring patients to him?  Dr. Blake Pearson is treating chronic pain, dementia symptoms, autism symptoms and others with cannabis.  His expertise is in such demand that he teaches other doctors how to use cannabis successfully in their practice.  Come have a listen.

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What were you doing during the start of the pandemic lock down?  Did you build a puzzle for the first time in year?  Did you get reacquainted with how stupid and long and frustrating monopoly is?  How about sour dough bread?  Did you make your first sour dough?  Dr. Igor Kovalchuk and his wife, Dr. Olga Kovalchuk from the University of Lethbridge were locked out of their labs too.  Their lock down side project was a little more ambitious.  They had been researching hundreds of cannabis extracts to see if these extracts reduced inflammation and might help treat conditions like multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis.  During this forced pause in their research, they wondered in CBD rich cannabis extracts might be useful against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.  You want to hear what they found out.

The fact marijuana heightens the musical experience is no secret. We know both listeners and players have enhanced their musical experiences through the use of this plant for over 100 years. This episode links cannabis to music through the stories told by acclaimed musicologist John Einarson. We follow a path of early jazz players influencing Canadian singer-song-writer Ian Tyson, who in turn influenced Bob Dylan, who in turn influenced The Beatles, to produce their iconic cannabis inspired album Rubber Soul. Einarson, author of 14 biographies of various musicians, tells stories with weed-inspired songs weaving through his deep narrative, as we learn how musicians created some of our most iconic songs under the influence of cannabis. Some very important pot smoking entertainers are discussed, such as Barbara Streisand sharing reefer with Peter Sellers and Neil Young testifying for his brother during a marijuana trial. Although cannabis is a very popular mind-altering substance used by musicians, Einarson believes it may actually pale compared to other psychedelic substances used in the industry. But that is another story for another episode. For now, this is a highly-entertaining episode produced, unlike any other from the ReeferMEDness team.