Joan Parrott-Fonseca joins Diana to talk about the unexpected lessons that come out of chronic illness and older age. Joan also talks about how the cannabis community as a whole can be more accessible to elderly folks.
Joan Parrott-Fonseca joins Diana to talk about the unexpected lessons that come out of chronic illness and older age. Joan also talks about how the cannabis community as a whole can be more accessible to elderly folks.
In this episode, you will learn:
1. The difficulties faced by seniors when trying to access and use cannabis, include stigma and lack of understanding from both the general public and the medical community.
2. The potential for cannabis to help seniors with various issues, including sleep, mental health, and pain management.
3. More education and understanding of cannabis use among seniors, both from a medical and legislative standpoint.
"What I'm trying to do is not only educate seniors but educate their families that this is not some off deal thing."
Joan Parrot Fonseca is a political and public service veteran, with a long history of working to ensure that seniors are represented. She is currently using her skills and experience to help bridge the gap between the cannabis industry and the mainstream, in order to make it more accessible for seniors.
This is Joan's story...
Joan Parrot has worked in politics and public service for many years and has recently started working in the cannabis industry. She has seen the many holes in the accessibility of cannabis for seniors, especially the lack of research due to the Schedule I classification of cannabis. Joan is working to bridge the gap between the industry and the government to change the laws and make cannabis more accessible for seniors.
Speaker 1 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:49
Welcome to
Speaker 1 0:49
Your Highness podcast. I'm your host, Diana crash. And today I am joined by Joan parrot Fonseca. How are you doing today? Joan?
Unknown Speaker 1:01
You got it fun Sega
Unknown Speaker 1:03
fans Seca. How are you today?
Speaker 2 1:07
Well, thank you so much, Diana, because you put up with a lot from me to get on this podcast. And I'm so excited about it. I think I'm over excited about it. So thank you so much for inviting me. And I'm hyped up to talk about SR high.
Speaker 1 1:24
And I'm excited to hear about it. I'm excited we finally got here. All right. So we're going to start this episode as we do every episode with our recurring segment fav pot and Fave not pot, where each of us discusses our current cannabis and non cannabis related I know, movement, movie books, whatever you want. So I'm going to start with my favorite pot. And it's something that was recently sent to me by a company called Love you three. And it's people can't see this, but I'm showing June. They're called Happy Hour gummies gummies. But they're called Happy Hour, and their Delta eight CBG CBD. And they're collagen infused, and they're really great to take in the evening. So I'm a big fan. And I like that they have seed to sale tracking on their ingredients that they source, so their hemp is tracked from seed to sale. So I'm a big fan. What is your favorite pot right now, Joan?
Speaker 2 2:37
Well, right now, since the pandemic, I have had such trouble sleeping. So I am, I've been smoking and vaping naturally, I started to vape and I'm an old bird. And you know, I was kind of afraid of it. I didn't really understand what it was. And I'm doing very, very indicus for nighttime. And then during the day I'm doing something cool. That's a half and half, Royal medic, it's half and half half THC have CBD. And then I have been experimenting with with cannabis oil, both CBD and THC and literally making my own tincture. So that's been the latest thing and it's economically especially for for seniors, you know, this stuff is really expensive. So learning how to make as much as you can, is very, very helpful. So I'm an indica girl, I'm a sativa woman. So I don't need anything that's going to spark me and keep my brain going. So I'd like to quiet the quiet side of it. And you know, I, I don't like gummies I haven't like gummies because, you know, one person can give, especially if you're in a group. And they're, you know, I have a senior story of a friend of mine was given a 16 Sweet 16 party for her or her. Her granddaughter and the older one comes in and says Graham, you need to take some of these gummies and her and her girlfriends took Well, one person took one or two and they didn't feel things at the same time. So she's like, Hey, I'm just gonna take three or four. Well, they couldn't wake her. She didn't wake up until the next morning when the party was over that she paid for. She just started speaking to everybody again. So for me gummies is is it's really have to be careful, especially with seniors because for some reason they think it's not. It's not cannabis, and it's fun and it makes you lift and but the issue with it as medicine you There's no dosage, you have to figure out your own dosage. So you can end up pretty flat pretty out there. So, but I've been doing something called lemon, ginger drops, they're like cough drops, and they're half CBD, half THC. And it's more it's, well, a lot of seniors will say, Well, I get high. And it's a lift versus a high. And because a lot of us go back to the 60s, so we built the, you know, the industry has not catered to seniors, for example, you know, they use words, you know, like, sour LSD, which is a CBD thing. But when a senior hears anybody hears LSD, they're not excited about taking it. So we really, so senior high for me is also the products, all the glass that looks like the 60s doesn't work for seniors, we can't even scroll off bottles. I know you can't imagine not being able to scroll off the top. And I never thought I would be there. But I have arthritis in my thumb. And a lot of seniors can't screw the bottle. So not just a getting seniors to to really embrace cannabis as a medicine, but also to get the industry to understand that seniors of the fastest growing folks are coming in to dispensaries.
Speaker 1 6:29
Absolutely. I totally agree. And I can't wait to talk more about that in a minute. But before we do, which, I'm going to start with my fav not pot, which is a show on Apple, Apple TV. It's called Bad sisters. And the synopsis is it follows the Garvey sisters who were bound together by the death of their parents and a promise to always protect each other. And that's not a really great synopsis because it's a murder mystery. And it's really cleverly done. It's a limited series. It's only one season. And it's it's like a British type of you know, but it's really good. And I mean, I love British TV. So, I mean, actually, technically, I guess this is in the UK. I mean, I don't know where it is in the UK, but I think this actually might be Ireland. But anyway, the point is, it's a really good show. It's called Bad sisters. It has a great soundtrack. It's just really well written and I highly recommend it. So what's your favorite part right now, Joan?
Speaker 2 7:37
You know, it's so funny. You had me screaming because I thought I was the only one watching gentleman Jack. And I loved it. And the hotel Lotus Have you seen that? It's
Unknown Speaker 7:51
a white lotus on HBO.
Speaker 2 7:55
Yes, the White Lotus Oh my god. Talk about dysfunction. It's like me and my friends. Oh my goodness. I'm liking that. And I saw something with two great actresses. And I watched it. And it kind of was disturbing to me. It was about two best friends that were best friends from childhood and they both had sons and the sons were grown. And they both they kind of switch sons and they bolster each other son.
Speaker 1 8:26
I don't know why. I couldn't watch that. Yeah, I couldn't get heard about it.
Speaker 2 8:30
I had a hard time with it. And it was such good actresses icon
Unknown Speaker 8:34
Naomi Watts, I think was that man. I
Speaker 2 8:37
was like yes, I couldn't I couldn't do it. I can't even imagine it. So yeah, that was disturbing. And evidently, I had to look it up but and it turned out it was came out in 2003 but they didn't release it. And it's it's very disturbing. So yeah,
Speaker 1 9:06
so that's not your fav not it's just something you don't recommend.
Speaker 2 9:11
Oh, my fav not hot. What would be my favorite pot. I'm sad to say this but I'm beginning to lose my fervor over just playing but I think I started talking at 14 So I think 60 Something yours I'm tired of rolling. I'm tired of so I've been exploring ways to infuse it in my diet. And then my regimen, my health regimen without smoking. And that's a new one for me. So yeah, I've kind of really pull back a lot and I think a lot of it is habit. And my my I have arthritis so I can't roll out You know, I'm just finding new ways to infuse my my, oh, I miss my favorite thing is putting a last inch of CBD in, in tea at night. And that's been very healthy. That's
Speaker 1 10:13
a really good idea. So you have an extremely impressive background in politics and public service. How has your political work influenced your work in cannabis?
Speaker 2 10:27
You know, it's, it's so different. When you are in, let's say, a government position, and you have the ability to help people through government resources, you get to travel, you get to really get into the industry, and blah, blah, blah. What's been really hard for me is the fact that there's so much federal and now that's being changed, but we can't bank and these are legitimate, licensed medical cannabis. You can't if you mentioned, just but anything, the banks drop you so not being able to access regular streams of help is, so it allows for a lot of random. It's like the wild wild west, and this idea that women are, DC has a very good role so far for women, but how long will they be able to last because this is a cash only industry. So hopefully, what I'm hoping to do is to use my background, and the fact that I have been to look, I was a talented team for the mayor, when I was 14. So I come from a real political family. So what I'm hoping to do is to bridge that gap between the industry. And we're making sure that these laws are changed the banking laws, we got to get on the scale out of schedule one. I mean, that was a complete, I was there, when Nixon did it, he did it to pay us back for stop the war, and the protests, and to put on schedule one. And the ironic thing is, as part of that you're not allowed to research. So everything in terms of cannabis is the opposite of what I was working on. But thus the same. So hopefully, I'll be a person that can gap the laws and be able to say to Congress to say to the I look, I've been, you know, all my life, I went to Howard Harvard, Georgetown, George Washington, I mean, all these schools, and, and I'm really trained on being a manager, and how do I take those skills, and formulate a sort of a path between being illegal, so to speak, and coming into the mainstream? And that's going to be very, very difficult, because I think Big Pharma is just waiting, okay. And there's so much cash. It's a cash only business, which is very, very dangerous. And it's not good for, for women, actually, because it's harder for us to raise money. And it's always been that way, even with government contracts. You you had to you had specialties in terms of focusing on women. So I see myself as hopefully living a long time, and being able to be one of those folks that can bridge the gap. And say, look, I worked as an agent in the marijuana business, but I also worked as a director of the I think I told you, I was the first woman to ever be appointed as the Minority Business Development Agency head under Ron Brown and and doing that I got to go around the world and taking small businesses, to, to the International to the Caribbean, smaller trade missions with smaller businesses. And so there's the same thing there and changing the paradigm. People will, I believe, listen to me, because I've done the work inside, you know, in terms of being a city state, but county government, I
Speaker 1 14:40
write and you haven't just said you've done it all. So you've been working a long time to ensure that senior citizens get representation and not just cannabis, but everywhere else. So what are some of the biggest holes in the cannabis accessibility for seniors that you see?
Speaker 2 14:59
Well, While the it's it's so funny, it's one that it's hard to describe is called stigma. And you I had originally thought that the folks that the seniors that came in, you know, when I started I've been at the dispensary six years. And I came in as a very, very sick person. I had rheumatoid arthritis a rare form, I was keeping my disease a secret. Because I was climbing up that ladder, I had to get up at four o'clock in the morning just to get to work to be able to function throughout the day. So I'm so there's so much stigma and laws against marijuana, for example, I didn't drink, I had to learn to drink. Okay, now that's crazy. I had to learn to drink in order to travel the bottle, because I could not I had drug test. So during the period that I was serving, I was really becoming more susceptible to disease. I stopped doing cannabis after starting at 14 going through college, going through law school, gone through all of this, but then when you have to do, you know get investigated and oh, and random drug test? The Clinton administration had more drug tests than anybody in the history of drug tests. And so it it was pressure to, to, to go to alcohol as if that's the answer for anything. So I think that's one of the biggest the stigma. But what I'm finding now, that's interesting, is now the organization's like the Cancer Society, because with no research, doctors did not learn this in med school. So when we first started the program here, they made it so stringent, it was so expensive. Doctors, only a handful of doctors were given recommendation recommendations. And so I thought it was going to be the former users. No, it's actually people who have serious diseases were coming in cancer patients, a lot of cancer patients. Unfortunately, they came in later stages. Although we were able to help people get through that now we have much set protocols for folks that have cancer that are in treatment, and they're doing so well. Ms. We're having a lot of success with Ms. But after the pandemic, well mental illness, and just the the ability not to sleep. That's one of the things that seniors have to deal with. I wake up three or four times and night. And I'm trying to think when did I start this while I'm getting older. The other backlash that I find interesting is that because of the crack epidemic, and all of that a lot of my friends, really, who smoked or might have smoked in early really did the anti drug thing with their children. So now that their kids are in their 50s, and they're in their 70s and 80s. The kids don't want them to do Canada, they're hiding from their own children to to get cannabis. So what I'm trying to do is not only educate seniors, but educate their families, that this is not, you know, some off deal thing because they come in and they'll say, I'll give you a great example. In my church, I went to the pastor and I said, Listen, this is what I do. And so he started to refer people to me. Unfortunately, folks that really don't understand that don't have he was really good at sending me patients that were were very, very sick die in a in some cases. Uh, but it's still. I remember a couple came in, she was very, very sick. And so the husband had talked to the pastor and they came in, and she says, in this little voice, will I get high, and I didn't know that my mouth was running. I said, Girl, you need to be high. It actually came out of my mouth. She the three of us laughed so hard. And he wrote me a note and said, it was the last time she had a belly. Laugh. We laughed so hard. I said, she says, I don't want to get high and I'm like, Baby, you need to get out of my mouth. And so every day, there's a setback, but then there's five steps forward, you know When people come in and said, I haven't had an epileptic attack in six months, for the first time in my life, I'm sleeping, my anxiety. Now, since the pandemic, everything has changed young people, and thank you for your podcast, because I'll look, I'm getting a lot of my mental illness and trauma. You know, of folks my age, for example, my mother told me my mother was an educated woman told me that whatever I did never go to a psychiatrist. She said, Baby, all they're gonna do is write a book about you. That stuck with me. And I'm, I'm finding that a lot of seniors have that saying, you don't go and talk about your business. You don't complain about your sorrow, you don't even talk about the stress that you're going to. And then I look back on the 50s and 60s, how much alcohol was involved in their lives? Because, you know, you can't talk to anybody. And do you know that it's recent, although I've had so much trauma in my life, my mother died in accident, my boss died 20 years later, blonde, brown and the plane crash with 36 people I worked with every day. And what, what I found was, I was using a substitute that was go to school, wherever a job isn't that crazy. And just get another degree. That's, that's the same thing as is going to the psychiatry it is that, okay, so I have great degrees. So when you look at them, and when I look at them, now I look at them through the eyes of trauma. And so cannabis, I think is it allows for natural for, rather than drinking a bottle of vodka at night, to to some people, the overheads what I call them, overheads, they, they loves rolling, they love smoking, they love everything about it. But then there's so many new things that one can try, you know. And so I'm really optimistic. I'm about the future of the acceptance of cannabis, I just want to be part of changing the rules and the law. Because until we do that, it's still going to be hard. One thing that DC just did, which is a step toward recreation, I look, I can't wait for you, you and your hubby to come is we take cards from every state in the union. But now folks can come in and have a temporary card. And they can it takes five minutes you scan the bar, put in your ID not a whole lot of information. And you know, they want it. So to carry all this stuff that's not necessary. And we're seeing a lot of people come in, just to try it. You know, just to say, oh, okay, this is not bad. And I just met Jerry actually, is in an office building. And people said, Why do we have to go through the office building and blah, blah, blah? Well, it's a message that we're the only one in office for them with lawyers and, and doctors and all kinds of lobbyists. And because it says we're not hiding, you can come through, it's very safe. It's an office building. And it's strange. And we have people that probably have never gone in office building to content. You know, folks come in and they look around, it's like, Oh, wow. So there's so many aspects of cannabis that I mean, I've learned something each day with as growers began to be more and more creative and, and to stop to stop using the stigma names. That just if we mess that naming cannabis with the weird is crazy names from the from the 60s would be a help. So and shows like yours, because listen, so you got me. Go ahead. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 24:24
Oh, no, it's okay. I'm enjoying listen to you. I'm enjoying listening to you is what I meant to say. So I just wanted to touch on something because you're talking about the accessibility for seniors and you touched on it a little bit earlier. But can you talk a little bit more about how the packaging is a big accessibility block for people with arthritis and other disabilities? I mean, it's not specific to any age group because I have issues with childproof packaging as well. Yes. But how do you Find the conversation going with your elderly clients who can use childproof containers,
Speaker 2 25:04
they have their very luck. It's so funny because they're very creative. And I've actually visited a couple of patients at home and they have those old pipes, those old big pipes, you know, corn, they almost look like, you know, my dad's pipe collection, and they'll stick with, they'll go fine, oh, big ol pipe, because they can hold it, you know, when you have these little teeny pipes, and they're glass, and they're afraid they're going to break the the thing, but it's everything so little. And so they have these little, so they like things that they can grasp. For example, one of the things that I'm looking forward to is, is getting out here and shows like yours to talk about it, because I think that I'm really looking for someone or I started talking to a couple of people about producing these kinds of things, for example, the coffee grinder, you know, you hit the button. So the grinder for those who and there are a lot of people that still want to smoke. So they will hit the button, and they use their coffee grinders, but it's not sharp, it needs to be a different blade. So there are, there are actually appliances out here that would be that can be easily. You know, shaped in a form in which a senior, it's easier. Everything is as hard for us, for example, the law requires that when you package and you even in a medical, you have all these tape, all this stuff that you have to tear open, even that is a struggle. But on the safe side of that we have not had one child to be able to get into the package, and you almost have to get a truck. So I see the balance of of of having it to be safe. But to offer options for people that don't have children in the in the home. Or grinders are different. Even the names. The names are so important when you see the strain and the strain is so good. But it's named after LSD. It's hard to say hey, this has three forced CBD, a little bit of THC. So I think, for me what I'm on I thank you so much, Diana. I'm no longer virgin on the podcast list. I mean, I'm listening, that you've taught me a lot. And I love this platform to be able to share how much improvement that that seniors that stick with it that have support do so much better. They do. You come in and especially young, we've seen a lot of cancer patients that are in their 40s and 50s. And so I had to adjust my head to that of seeing young people. They're coming through it very well. We've had great success with helping with just even folks that are in treatment and what they need for that, but also, the more and more research that the Cancer Association and AARP, those organizations are helping because you know some folks they read it and they say Oh shucks AARP says it's okay the Kansas side. So we need more organizations. And Ms. We have a relationship with Ms. Society and not really well we realized that one of our patients in which she's been with us five years working. When she when she was stricken, she was only like 33 and her her mother and grandmother I'll never forget. There were there her caregivers. And that Thanksgiving, they made Thanksgiving dinner with cannabis and every part of the day that was so big, because it's the grandmother mother, they don't even smoke. But they infused her. And she had a doctor that was was very, very keen on it and had studied it. So there's so many ailments. And the one that I think is the hardest is the young people during the pandemic. I can't tell you have many. The older people can't sleep. The younger people can't sleep for the anxiety of what am I going to do about my job? Oh, where's this going? Blah, blah, blah, the loneliness, I found myself on this schedule where I was going to bed too early, and getting up and watching a movie from four to seven. I mean, that's crazy, then I'm tired at seven when it's time to get up. So I think that everything that other people or other age groups experience, it just when you're, when you're a singer, things are just hard. And people think it's amazing. Some of the things that folks will say to you, as a singer, like you're, it's like, well, you don't know what you're talking about, or whatever. And I'm like, I got shoes older, they knew, what are you talking about. So one of the other aspects that I think should change we used to, and I know in New York in I think it was in the 70s, they made it almost any law, attacking the senior, um, you're going to jail. And I'm not a big proponent of jail, but knocking down the seniors come in my first 10. And when I was younger, my father was doing what I hadn't thought of this, but he was a Senior Advocate. He went back to grad school to get another degree so that he can hang out with young girls, I think, but also, he became a Senior Advocate. And so it's, it's been in my string. The another problem that we have here in DC, well, it's not a problem, because you want to know smoking and SR built build buildings. And so educating seniors that you don't have to smoke to get the benefit. So being always an educational letting people know, getting feedback on how's it doing is so important. But I love the work. And I can't wait for the next chapter. You know, in my early career, I went around the world I did speeches, blah, blah, blah, and then not just fate when I got sick for 10 years, I faded away. So it's time for me to come back blasting as a senior to educate people that it's okay. It's a natural plant. It's it's, if you if you just keep at it, because folks a lot and like the first thing and then there's I don't I don't want that. To just keep encouraging them and making folks feel comfortable their children encoded Mom, Dad, you want? Are you? Are you open to cannabis rather than you can't do that. I mean, a lot of I, I've had patients whose children are with them, and they're like, I don't agree with this. I don't, you know, whatever. So it's not only educating the seniors is educating the families who support those seniors.
Speaker 1 32:49
And how can the cannabis industry support you? And where can they find you?
Speaker 2 32:55
Well, the the the first part is on my half, I've come out of my cave, on social media. And just folks like you, and getting back on the speed the circuit. And though I think the more attention that I bring to it, writing articles, being accessible, and talking to people will be is what I've started and going to continue. And I I have meetings in the future, to talk to companies to that one, two, that are interested in what I'm talking about. So I have to do the work and I've started to do that work. And I thank you for bringing me out of the podcast closet. And, and I I've learned so much.
Speaker 1 33:59
It's been such a pleasure talking to you today. Thank you for joining me. And until next time, stay high and beautiful. Bye.
Speaker 3 34:09
Thanks for listening. You can find us on Instagram at Your Highness podcast, or on Twitter at Highness podcast. Be sure to rate us on iTunes and subscribe
Transcribed by https://otter.ai