Exploring Medical Marijuana: Insights from Christine Brave, RN

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Exploring Lakeridge Winery: History, Harvest, and Innovations | Open Forum in The Villages, Florida

In this episode of the Open Forum in The Villages, Florida podcast, host Mike Roth talks with Christian Slupe of Lakeridge Winery and Vineyards. Christian shares the rich history of Lakeridge Winery, which spans three generations of family operation, significant milestones, and future plans. The discussion covers the winery's foundational years, their move to Claremont, Florida, and their subsequent growth into one of the largest wineries in the state. Christian details the wine-making process, the types of grapes grown, and the seasonal activities at the winery, including complimentary tours and tastings. Listeners also get a preview of exciting upcoming events, such as a drone show and harvest festivals featuring grape stomping. The episode provides an engaging insight into the daily operations, innovative practices, and community involvement of Lakeridge Winery and Vineyards.

00:00 Welcome to the Open Forum Podcast

00:57 Supporting the Podcast: How You Can Help

02:04 Meet Christian Slupe: A Family Legacy in Winemaking

02:48 The Growth and Evolution of Lakeridge Winery

06:35 A Day at the Winery: Tours, Tastings, and Harvesting

12:10 Winery Operations: From Harvest to Bottle

13:17 Expanding the Winery's Reach: Distribution and Shipping

15:28

16:12 Upcoming Events and Innovations at the Winery

26:43 Conservation Efforts and Sustainable Practices

28:05 Closing Remarks and Future Episodes

New FAN MAIL features TXT & Voice Mial

Transcript

Christine Brave

[00:00:10] Emily: Welcome to the Open Forum in The Villages, Florida podcast. In this show, we talk to leaders in the community, leaders of clubs, and interesting folks who live here in The Villages to get perspectives of what is happening here in The Villages, Florida. 

[00:00:24] We are a listener supported podcast. 

[00:00:27] Mike Roth (2): How can you support our podcast?

[00:00:30] This is Mike Roth and listeners. I'm thrilled to share with you this podcast, which is my passion project for you. This podcast brings me joy, brings you knowledge, inspiration, and a lot of things that people need to know about The Villages and the people that are living here and what's actually going on.

[00:00:49] Creating this podcast is a labor of love, even though it demands more time than I can easily spare. But Hey, time isn't something we can buy back right now. 

[00:00:59] Here's where you come in. The unsung heroes and heroines. You can help us keep the podcast alive and thriving. How? By becoming a supporter. 

[00:01:07] There are two simple ways that you can support us.

[00:01:10] The first is a small monthly donation. Visit our podcast website, openforuminthevillagesflorida. com and click on the black supporter box. Even a small three to 10 a month donation makes a difference. And guess what? You can cancel any time, no strings attached. The second way that you can contribute to the podcast is by making a purchase of an Amazon product at Amazon standard prices.

[00:01:37] And we are paid a small commission on each purchase as an Amazon affiliate. That way there's no extra money out of your pocket, but you are supporting the podcast. Check every week because we're going to be adding new Amazon products that you can buy and support the podcast with. 

[00:01:56] Thank you. And your support means the world to us.

[00:01:58] Stay curious, stay inspired, and keep those headphones on.

[00:02:03] This is Mike Roth on Open Forum in The Villages, Florida. I'm here today with Christine Brave, RN, to talk about medical marijuana in the state of Florida. Thanks for joining me, Christine. 

[00:02:15] Christine Brave: Thank you, Mike, for having me. 

[00:02:17] Mike Roth (2): Christine, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about your background as a registered nurse.

[00:02:23] Christine Brave: I was a registered nurse in St. Louis, Missouri.

[00:02:27] I worked in open heart surgery for many years and the ICUs. Then my background It got bad, so I went to work in pediatrics. So I finished the last 25 years out as a pediatric ER nurse. 

[00:02:41] I understand you had A battle with cancer. 

[00:02:44] Christine Brave: Yes, I was out in Colorado skiing and I would hit bumps and my stomach was hurting.

[00:02:51] It was increasing in size and I was really short of breath. I took it as the altitude and all and wasn't sure what was going on with my tummy. Went, drove back to St. Louis and was told the next day that my right lung was full of fluid and that it was all fluid. and tumors in my abdomen being a nurse.

[00:03:10] I knew people at the hospital, so they came and tapped my lung right away. My friend said, if it's yellow milky, it's cancer. I am a skier. I eat organic. I really try to live healthy. I do yoga. And this was a complete shock for me. 

[00:03:25] 

[00:03:25] Mike Roth (2): It was cancer. 

[00:03:27] Christine Brave: It was follicular lymphoma. And I did chemotherapy for it.

[00:03:32] They put a port in to access my chemotherapy. And when they did that, My surgeon said, I need to give you pain pills. And I said no, I'm not taking pain pills. I will try marijuana gummies. Which I did, and they took care of the pain. Being a nurse, I watched so many people abuse their bodies and all, and I don't like pain pills.

[00:03:52] You can become addicted within seven days of being on them. They, all they do to me is knock me out, put me to sleep, I wake up, I'm in pain, and I'm constipated. I was like, no way, I'm not doing pain pills. Then after my cancer was diagnosed, I had several friends call me. One wanted me to try the Gershwin therapy, another recommended Rick Simpson oil, which we'll get into during the podcast 

[00:04:19] Mike Roth (2): And so after your diagnosis and they put this port in it and they were going to give you. pain pills, you decided to use marijuana instead, which was legal in Colorado. 

[00:04:31] Christine Brave: I'm from Missouri, and it is medically legal in Missouri. And when I called the doctors and said I had follicular lymphoma, it was just an automatic, I was given a medical marijuana card.

[00:04:42] So that's when I used the gummies for my pain. 

[00:04:45] Mike Roth (2): You didn't use any of the smokeables? 

[00:04:47] Christine Brave: No. 

[00:04:48] Mike Roth (2): Okay. For our listeners who aren't familiar with gummies, why don't you tell them what that is? 

[00:04:53] Christine Brave: There's different ways to ingest marijuana. You can smoke it, vape it. Smoking it is the old fashioned buds and all. There's oil waxes. And then there's edibles, where you can eat the edibles. There's also tinctures and lotions that you can put on a specific area. And Rick Simpson Oil. 

[00:05:13] Mike Roth (2): Rick Simpson oil? 

[00:05:14] Christine Brave: Yes. They've been using this for years with children with epilepsy.

[00:05:19] And it started in Colorado. There was a group of men that developed Charlotte's Web for this little girl that had seizures. We would get kids into the hospital. They have seizures. And what do we do? We give them Valium rectally. Then, they're all they can't focus, they can't walk straight, and all those little side effects.

[00:05:42] I would recommend to some of the parents that came in that were frustrated to try the Rick Simpson oil from Colorado. 

[00:05:49] Mike Roth (2): That came in a gummy. 

[00:05:50] Christine Brave: No, it comes in a tarry solution that you put under your tongue and it's absorbed through the mucus membranes. 

[00:06:00] Mike Roth (2): Ok, and did you actually try that one too? 

[00:06:03] Christine Brave: Yes, I used Rick Simpson oil, like I said, when people found out I had cancer, they were like you've gotta.

[00:06:10] do something. And Rick Simpson Oil was suggested to me. Rick Simpson was a Canadian engineer, and he was also a cannabis activist. And he had a bad injury at work. He felt he felt like marijuana lessened his dizziness and other symptoms. Then he had a basal cell. skin cancer and he placed this tarry oil on the skin cancer and boom it fell off and the doctors told him he was cancer free and they were amazed.

[00:06:40] So I thought what the heck I would try it. Rick Simpson oil I put it into a little capsule because I didn't like the tarry feeling on my teeth. And I would take that. Now, it makes you sleep. You get very sleepy, but when you've got cancer, that's what you need to do is rest and sleep. I never had any nausea and vomiting.

[00:07:01] Never used any of my medicines that they prescribed for me for that nausea and vomiting. 

[00:07:06] Mike Roth (2): Why don't you tell us a little bit about the cannabis plant itself? 

[00:07:10] Christine Brave: The cannabis plant is a really interesting plant. It's the hemp plant and the marijuana plant. They're both in the same species.

[00:07:18] There's two vital components with the cannabis plant. CBD. And that is used for inflammation, such as, it, it's equivalent to ibuprofen. And then you have THC for pain, and that's like equivalent to Tylenol. 

[00:07:41] Mike Roth (2): And, my experience with CBD Potions that are on the marketplace from various sources, all legal. Are that they essentially don't work for me. 

[00:07:50] Christine Brave: You got to be careful. Some of that on the market, my dad bought some because he heard it helped with aches and pains.

[00:07:56] And I looked at it and I was like, dad, these are sugar pills. They're ripping you off. So I recommend that you go to a dispensary or a place that is handles this professionally to buy them. The person that's over our club, Mandy Hanlon recommends that everybody take a hundred milligrams of CBD every day, just for your basic aches and pains.

[00:08:21] Mike Roth (2): A hundred milligrams, 

[00:08:23] Christine Brave: but you don't get any hallucinogenic effects. It just helps with more of the inflammation in your body. There are three types of marijuana that you get from the plant, THC. There's sativa, that's the upper, it makes you more energized. Then in the middle now they have hybrid, which is usually a combo of sativa or indica.

[00:08:44] Indica is more, I always say indica, indi couch. It's more of a relaxing, sleepy type of marijuana. They're, it's very scientific and what they do is they usually combined the hybrid with the sativa or the indica and they'll say it's sativa dominant. So that'll be a more uplifting, energizing marijuana.

[00:09:07] And then CBD, it helps with the inflammation, but CBD, CBN helps with nighttime. Helping you to sleep, CBG can actually lower your cholesterol protect the brain and nerves and reduce swelling. 

[00:09:22] Mike Roth (2): Let me ask you a question about that. Can reduce your cholesterol? That's what 

[00:09:27] Christine Brave: they say. Is 

[00:09:27] Mike Roth (2): that an alternative to these statin drugs?

[00:09:31] The doctors are crazily supportive. Prescribing to everybody? 

[00:09:35] Christine Brave: I think this takes time, but I'm not a big statin person. I try to stay away from as many drugs as possible. Being a nurse, I saw what they did to people. And I don't know, a lot of people are unaware that you shouldn't drink alcohol if you're on a statin.

[00:09:49] It just really can destroy your liver. 

[00:09:52] Mike Roth (2): Wow. Didn't know that. 

[00:09:54] Christine Brave: Yeah. 

[00:09:55] Mike Roth (2): Now, I don't know. Here in Florida, we have legal medical marijuana for a couple of years. And the current ballot initiative is to make recreational marijuana legal. Generally available. Is that true? 

[00:10:10] Christine Brave: Yes on November 5th on the ballot will be amendment number three And early voting starts October 21st, and I would recommend people to vote.

[00:10:20] Yes It'll give floridians more of an access To try regulated safe marijuana, in the old days, people buy it on the street from their local dealer. These are scientific these days, the way they process it, grow it, the whole entire process is a science. 

[00:10:39] Mike Roth (2): So it's going to be sold through a dispensary.

[00:10:43] Christine Brave: A dispensary, yes. 

[00:10:44] Mike Roth (2): That is going to be selling only registered marijuana so people can know that there'll be no fentanyl in that marijuana. 

[00:10:52] Christine Brave: Oh yes, it's very safe. In Florida here, they're very regulated. In Missouri, we have growers from out of state that bring their product in.

[00:11:02] There are a lot of regulations on it all. But what I understand here in Florida is that the company takes it from the beginning. From the plant, to processing it, to selling it. That's it. So it's very regulated, it's safe, and you know exactly what you're getting. And I just think that they need, people need to think about making it recreational.

[00:11:27] Because then you have a chance to try the different options. 

[00:11:32] Mike Roth (2): Good. Before we talk about recreational use of marijuana, let's hear a Alzheimer's tip from Dr. Craig Curtis. 

[00:11:39] Speaker 2: This is Mike Roth and Dr. Craig Curtis. We're talking about Alzheimer's disease. Let's talk about the omega 3 and omega 6. How should people get that from their diet? 

[00:11:50] Speaker 3: Well, primarily, you should get that through beans and nuts and legumes and fish. You can take a supplement of omega 3, omega 6s. However, don't eat them.

[00:12:01] Overdue the supplementation of omega 3 specifically. There was a large study published by the American College of Cardiology a few years back that seemed to show that people that took too much omega 3 might have an increased risk of a heart arrhythmia. So my recommendation is if you buy 

[00:12:20] Warren: omega 3 supplements, take it as written.

[00:12:23] With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, Dr. Curtis's goal is to educate The Villages community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, Visit his website, CraigCurtisMD. com or call 352 500 5252 to attend a free seminar. 

[00:12:39] Mike Roth (2): Thank you, Dr. Curtis. So I'm back with Christine Brave, RN, and we're talking about marijuana. Let's talk about people who might get a medical marijuana or a recreational marijuana for the first time. What would you recommend? 

[00:12:56] Christine Brave: Okay, people use it for all different types of disease.

[00:13:02] My, my big advice is less is more. Start with a small amount. You can always add more, but you can't take it away. I tell people to cut the gummy into fours. Take one piece. I recommend it on an empty stomach, because it'll absorb better. But Take a fourth of it. You can always add more. Like I said, you can't take it away.

[00:13:24] People sometimes feel like anxiety, rapid heartbeat, hallucinations. They take this whole piece of gummy, Oh, I can handle this. And then they're flipping around in bed. And the elderly tend to go to the hospital. When they're feeling like this, I would recommend you just chill and you try to sleep because all they're going to do for you in the hospital is put an IV in and put you in a room and tell you to rest and wear it off.

[00:13:52] So I just think that there's not enough education down here regarding how much to use and what to use. My neighbor called me and said that his neurologist asked him to get a medical marijuana card. This is a 80 year old man. He walked into the dispensary and had no clue what to buy. So they, Oh, this is good.

[00:14:12] This is good. But it's like, what is your main purpose for it?

[00:14:16] Mike Roth (2): It sounds like he was upsold. 

[00:14:18] Christine Brave: Yeah. His neurologist said, you've got, he was on gabapentin. He's got neurological issues and things in his feet. And they asked him to try. Marijuana. So I took him to the store and said let's get indica gummies.

[00:14:34] I cut them into four pieces for him. By the time he left The Villages he was off his gavapentin and was down to a very small amount of the marijuana. 

[00:14:44] Mike Roth (2): Are there different types of gummies? 

[00:14:47] Christine Brave: Yes. Like I said, the sativa is an upper gummy, it keeps you awake. Then you have hybrid, which is usually a combination of a lesser and sativa dominant or indica dominant.

[00:15:00] And indica gummies are recommended for night, for sleep. 

[00:15:03] Mike Roth (2): For sleep? 

[00:15:03] Okay. And how much before someone. Once they go to sleep, should they take a gummy? 

[00:15:09] Christine Brave: 30 to 60 minutes. 

[00:15:10] Mike Roth (2): On an empty stomach? 

[00:15:11] Christine Brave: That's usually the average time it affects most people. There's always some that don't affect, they don't feel anything, they take more.

[00:15:19] Then they go, I still don't feel anything, take more. And then they're like, ooh, I took too much. So I recommend you start low. 

[00:15:27] Mike Roth (2): Start low. And if you need more, add more.

[00:15:29] Christine Brave: You can always add more. Yes.

[00:15:31] Mike Roth (2): Now, you said that the patient was on some other medication. Gabapentin. 

[00:15:37] Christine Brave: It is a horrible medicine for nerve pain.

[00:15:40] It's got very bad side effects. It has memory loss and older people don't need to be on this medicine. And they give it out like candy around here.

[00:15:50] 

[00:15:50] Mike Roth (2): Why do you think they do that? 

[00:15:51] Christine Brave: They don't know what else to do. They give them the Gabapentin. 

[00:15:55] Mike Roth (2): And does that work to take away the pain?

[00:15:57] Christine Brave: Apparently not. I've never taken gabapentin, but this man kept telling me he had to keep going up on his dose. So I don't like medicines like that. 

[00:16:09] Mike Roth (2): I can understand that. Now as someone who's used marijuana to get through cancer, What are your thoughts about legalizing marijuana here in Florida?

[00:16:18] Christine Brave: I think it's very beneficial to people. I think it would be a really good idea. It gives people more of a chance to try different options. You hurt your knee? You can go into a dispensary and get a cream and put that directly on your knee, and usually that helps, or your back or something that's hurting.

[00:16:37] Can't sleep at night? A lot of people use it for rest and relaxation. That's where you want your energy. Indica gummy, and it just, it calms people. It calms anxiety. It helps with relaxation. It helps with different diseases like Parkinson's and MS. A friend of mine, her husband went to the neurologist and he said, get your medical marijuana card down here.

[00:17:01] Try CBD. from a dispensary. I told her, wait, we'll hold off. I helped her. We found the CBD and it was amazing. He stopped shaking right in front of her and she was just like blown away. But he liked the CBD gummies so well, he like ate the whole bag in a couple days because they tasted so good. I was not happy about that, but.

[00:17:26] Mike Roth (2): Do they have sugar in them? 

[00:17:27] Christine Brave: Yeah, some of them do and they taste pretty good. So that's why it's keep away from children, keep them in a place so when your grandkids come over, they're up and out of sight. 

[00:17:38] Mike Roth (2): Because they look like candy. 

[00:17:39] Christine Brave: They look like candy, yes. 

[00:17:41] Mike Roth (2): Okay. 

[00:17:42] Christine Brave: I think that . Laws in Florida, you have to go to a qualified medical marijuana doctor. Your primary care doctor will not give you a recommendation for a medical card.

[00:17:53] So you have to go to these doctors, they charge a hundred to a hundred and fifty dollars average. And you have to go every seven months. You have to apply for the state medical card after you see the doctor. So we're talking three hundred dollars. A year, which I think is very high because I am with the state of Missouri.

[00:18:13] My medical card is good up there and it is for five years. So every seven months to me, they're gouging people. That's why I think it's really important to pass the recreational because if you just want to go in and buy a bottle of gummies to see to help you sleep, you don't have to get a card and spend 300 in a year.

[00:18:36] To just try something. It may not work for you. 

[00:18:39] Mike Roth (2): Is there any tracking of How much marijuana people buy who have a card? 

[00:18:44] Christine Brave: Oh, I do not know those statistics 

[00:18:47] Mike Roth (2): And under the proposed state amendment Will People be able to buy to buy as much marijuana as they wanted. 

[00:18:55] Christine Brave: No, there's always limits like in the state of Colorado You can buy one ounce in a day in the state of Missouri.

[00:19:04] I believe it's one ounce I don't know what the regulations are here in Florida, but you can't go from dispensary to dispensary They track you, 

[00:19:12] Mike Roth (2): oh they do track 

[00:19:13] Christine Brave: Oh, yes The state's all track and take your ID and want to see your regular ID with your medical marijuana card 

[00:19:20] Mike Roth (2): And about how many people in Florida have medical marijuana cards?

[00:19:24] Christine Brave: Quite a few. I did not look up the statistics on that because I'm from Missouri. But during the parade, we were in the holiday parade, the medical marijuana club and one of the men in the club had a device in his pocket that he could find it on his phone. He didn't have it in his pocket.

[00:19:43] He had an app on his phone that when he lost it, he could find it. It's like what we should have for remote controls, for TVs, so you can find your remote or something. And he said during the parade, his phone kept dinging. So there were several people in the audience that had that same device as he did.

[00:20:05] There's a lot more people using it than they let on. 

[00:20:09] Mike Roth (2): So how many people are there in the Medical Marijuana Club here in The Villages? 

[00:20:13] Christine Brave: We used to have, I think, about 75 members, but I was featured in the May Villages magazine, and this last meeting, I 60 people showed up. We got 50 or 60 new members, plus our additional members, we're just trying to teach people how to use it and use it properly. 

[00:20:35] That's our goal.

[00:20:35] 

[00:20:35] Mike Roth (2): When did the Medical Marijuana Club start here in The Villages? 

[00:20:38] Christine Brave: A couple years ago. I want to say about three years ago. I actually saw it when I was living with my dad. Hey! It's not obvious to find, it's in the back of the magazine under Others, and you'll find Medical Cannabis Club.

[00:20:53] And I had seen it one time and told my dad I wanted to go to it and teach people how to use marijuana properly. And I never saw it again, and then it came out that I found it, 

[00:21:05] yeah, they stuck us in the back. They didn't want to put us in the Christmas parade, and then they put us back behind when we were the last ones with Santa, and then they said, oh gosh, we can't have the medical marijuana club with Santa, and so they moved us up in the middle.

[00:21:21] I was in the parade, I wore a shirt that said, Cannabis Saved My Life, because I really do believe my recovery was so quick and just so good with the chemotherapy and the Rick Simpson oil. 

[00:21:33] Mike Roth (2): How many years ago was that? 

[00:21:35] Christine Brave: It was in 2021 and I took chemo for six months and I started the Rick Simpson oil like a month or two into my chemo and I just, it was amazing.

[00:21:47] Like I said, you sleep a lot. You need to sleep when you have cancer, but I was still able, I wasn't able to do yoga and all. I was weak, but I would walk every day and I was still able to keep up with a lot of my activities. 

[00:21:59] Mike Roth (2): Would it be your recommendation that most patients in chemotherapy for cancer use marijuana to alleviate the pain as opposed to other drugs?

[00:22:09] Christine Brave: Yes, definitely. The narcotics that are out there that the physicians prescribe are not healthy. They affect different organs and the medical marijuana has been proven to help. It has helped with cancer. It's been proven in many cases. So I thought I'd give it a try. Good, but the Rick Simpson oil is a tar.

[00:22:34] It is, the plant is cooked down. It's the most complete part of the plant. And you have to watch temperatures and all that. My first dose I bought from a lady in Cali, in California that, that does this for people with cancer. And she actually told me her husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer during the pandemic and that he couldn't get into a doctor.

[00:22:56] So she started him on the Rick Simpson oil. And when he finally got into the doctor, they were like, we don't, we can't find the cancer. We found some of it, but not as much as you had prior. 

[00:23:09] Mike Roth (2): Where is Rick Simpson oil sold? 

[00:23:12] Christine Brave: It is sold at dispensaries. It's they sell like a milliliter of Rick Simpson oil.

[00:23:19] Which is not much, but you only need a grain of rice, the size of a grain of rice to put under your tongue and have it absorb. 

[00:23:26] Mike Roth (2): And is it legal to travel with that? 

[00:23:28] Christine Brave: I don't believe it is. If you have a medical card and there are several states that I can go to, Illinois and different states around me, with my medical card and it is legal, but I don't know the rules down here in Florida.

[00:23:44] Mike Roth (2): You haven't tried to buy marijuana in Florida? 

[00:23:47] Christine Brave: No, I don't have a medical card down here and I don't have any need at this point. 

[00:23:51] Mike Roth (2): Okay. Good. And if someone wants to get in touch with you or the Medical Marijuana Club, why don't you tell our listeners how they would do that? 

[00:24:00] Christine Brave: We meet on Tuesdays at Lake Minona

[00:24:03] the second Tuesday of the month, we have a meeting from 11 to 12:30. So you know, please come by. Try to get there on time because we usually do some kind of an intro or teaching segment on what it is, how to use it, that type of a thing. 

[00:24:21] Mike Roth (2): Great. And is there an email address or a website? 

[00:24:24] Christine Brave: No. Mandy Hamlin handles our club.

[00:24:28] Mike Roth (2): So they should go to the club listing on the Recreation Department website and 

[00:24:34] Christine Brave: look up the 

[00:24:35] Medical Cannabis Club. Marijuana gets a bad rap, but cannabis The other name for it is more accepted. 

[00:24:45] Mike Roth (2): But they're both the same thing. They're 

[00:24:47] the same exact thing, yes.

[00:24:49] Christine Brave: We meet the second Tuesday of every month at 11 to 12:30 at Lake Miona 

[00:24:55] Mike Roth (2): Good Christine. Thanks for joining us today on Open Forum in The Villages.

[00:24:59] Christine Brave: Thank you Mike for having me

[00:25:01] Emily: Remember, our next episode will be released next Friday at 9 AM. Should you want to become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mikeatrothvoice. com. This is a shout out for supporters Tweet Coleman, Ed Williams, Paul Sorgen, and major supporter Dr. Craig Curtis at K2 in The Villages.

[00:25:20] We will be hearing more from Dr. Curtis with short Alzheimer's tips each week. If you know someone who should be on the show, contact us at mike at rothvoice. com. We thank everyone for listening to the show. The content of the show is copyrighted by Rothvoice 2024. All rights reserved.