Diana is joined by Marissa Fratoni, cannabis nurse and freelance health content creator, to talk about all the changes that have occurred since her last episode in 2019. She also talks about the future of cannabis nursing and how healthcare activism is changing.
Diana is joined by Marissa Fratoni, cannabis nurse and freelance health content creator, to talk about all the changes that have occurred since her last episode in 2019. She also talks about the future of cannabis nursing and how healthcare activism is changing.
During the Fave Pot/Not Pot segment, Diana shares her current favorite cannabis-related product, Magick Oil by Mota Magick, highlighting its blend of luxurious ingredients and sensory benefits. Marissa discusses her long-standing favorite, The Healing Rose's CBD body oils and lip balms, emphasizing their effectiveness and versatility (use code HIGHNESS for 15% off)
0:16- Welcome to Your Highness Podcast
1:06 - Fave Pot
5:01 - Fave Not Pot
10:29 - Main Segment
00:16 - Diana (Host)
Welcome to your Highness Podcast. I'm your host, diana, and today I am joined by Marissa Frattoni. How are you doing today, marissa? I'm good, lovely. How are you doing today, marissa? I'm good, lovely. How are you Good, I'm so good, I'm so good. Now is what I'm trying to say I'm good, I'm just really excited to have you back on, and we are going to start this episode as we do every episode, because I was about to go off on a whole tangent and I was like wait a minute, wait a minute, we have an icebreaker segment, we do. We don't necessarily need that between the two of us, but we're going to do it anyway, because that's what we do every episode. Now.
00:54 - Marissa (Guest)
So let's, do it.
00:55 - Diana (Host)
We have a segment called Fave Pot Fave, not Pot, for those who have never listened and it's where we talk about our favorite cannabis related item at the moment and our favorite non-cannabis related item. So I will start with my fave pot. And it is actually an oil for the face and body. It's called Magic Oil, spelled with a K, and the company is Mota Magic and the founder, diana, was just on our other podcast getting personal plant medicine and that's a really cool episode, so check that out. But anyway, this is a really lovely product because it combines a lot of different things like jojoba oil, mct, meadow foam, seed oil, rosemary extract, sunflower oil, calendula it smells lovely, oh, and it has marshmallow extract, which I love, and sandalwood and vanilla and it just smells just heavenly and it feels so nice to put it on your face at night and just kind of like give yourself a moment on your face at night and just kind of like give yourself a moment. You know that the sensory aspect really helps like connect.
02:09
I feel, connect me to the mind, body, experience. So what's your fave pot right now?
02:18 - Marissa (Guest)
my fave pot right now has been uh, it's a tried and true for me. Um, never left. Uh, the healing roads line of products, also a beautiful topical line. I love them. I've always loved them. I was an early adopter and I honestly I do so much pre marketing for them because I just love their, their line so much and they're. I use their topical CBD body oils. I use it all over, I use it on my face, I use it on my joints, I use their sobs, I use their lip balms. I give their lip balms away for Christmas presents and stockings. So I love them. I have continued to love them. I'm really I have had to put a budget on myself so that I'm not giving them all of my money, but I just I adore them.
03:09
And this summer already well, it's not quite summer yet, but this season already I've been outside in the sun and my skin has been kind of upset with me. And so, you know, you get into your 40s and your skin starts to do really weird things. You know you get into your 40s and your skin starts to do really weird things. Yeah, that's for sure. Yeah, so I was mixing it with a little bit of you know real like from the aloe vera plant and a few drops of my CBD body oil. I used the unscented one and I got to tell you the I was having. I had a little bit of a sunburn over the middle of my face which was pretty ouchy, and it really cleared it up within a day and it was just. There's so many uses for it. That's my fave pot right now.
03:55 - Diana (Host)
Well, I love that because we are huge fans of the Healing Rose on this show and on getting personal, and Laura is a big supporter and, as a matter of fact, I have a code if you use highness, you get 15 off your next order. Um, and thanks for reminding me about the lip balms, because my husband's like I am all out and this is the only lip balm that really works for him and and me.
04:19
I love their lip balms love, love, love yeah love Laura, love the healing rose um, that's so cool that you brought that up.
04:28 - Marissa (Guest)
I'm like I forget that you're in. Massachusetts sometimes oh, I'm, yeah, I'm a full-on mass hole. Can we say mass hole? Oh yeah, well, hey, I'm a, I'm a maniac, so you know um, we already okay yeah, and lots of family mass yes. Yeah, yeah. So I just got to say about the lip balm too. One of the things is like it lasts so long because it actually works, yeah, yeah.
04:52 - Diana (Host)
I put it on once a day like maybe twice if I have a cold or my allergies are really bad.
04:57 - Marissa (Guest)
Love it.
04:58 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, love, love, love. Okay, so my fave, not pot, and we're just talking all about skincare today. Before I use the oil that I just mentioned, which I don't even think I said has hemp in it. I said all the other ingredients, but it has.
05:15 - Marissa (Guest)
Anyway.
05:16 - Diana (Host)
I was sent a sample from this company called Revevka. I hope I'm saying that right. I don't think I am.
05:25 - Marissa (Guest)
Revevka.
05:26 - Diana (Host)
Well, it is in our Mother's Day gift guide on our sub stack. No, I lied, it's not on the Mother's Day sub stack. It will be on the Father's Day sub stack and since this is in the time machine, you might have to go back in time and look at our sub stack and find it, because this is coming out after Father's Day. The point being, they sent us these magnesium soaps.
05:52
Okay, I didn't put it in the Mother's Day one yet because I hadn't tried it, but my husband had and he was like what is this? Right? I mean it completely changed his skincare routine and you can use it for your whole body. I use it now in the shower and it has magnesium in it, tea tree and peppermint and shea butter, and you can use it as a shaving cream bar, which I've also done, and it just really clears your skin. It's not drying, it's supposed to help you sleep better and things like that. I mean I can't really attest to that just yet.
06:24
Yeah, I know magnesium helps a lot and I have been adding that into my routine. But I really like this soap and it's not like too strong or overpowering. I have very sensitive skin so I'm a big fan of that Anyway. So what's your fave? Not pot right now.
06:42 - Marissa (Guest)
My fave, not pot right now is a book I'm going to pick the book I just finished, kristen Hanna's the Women, which follows a Army Corps nurse in Vietnam. It is not a feel good story. It's almost 500 pages. I devoured it in three different settings. I read pretty fast and I read a lot, but I literally could not put this down. Is that the one?
07:18 - Diana (Host)
they did the movie about recently.
07:25 - Marissa (Guest)
I don't know if they're gonna. I know they're gonna do a movie. I did look it up because I was really needing it again. I'm like, oh god, I don't know what I'm gonna be able to do, like I mean, I was 100 pages out from finishing it, like what am I gonna do when I'm done with this? Um? But it is such a um.
07:36
It is really uh, an eye-opening um story about, you know. I mean, vietnam was, know, horrible mess to begin with, to say the very least of it. But you know, a lot, of, a lot of people don't even realize that there were women there and many of them were nurses and the things that they saw and the things that they did. And so this story did a really great job of sort of shining a light on these women, who they really did, they they took care of these young men in you know who are in combat and and then all the and all the impacts on them afterwards, the it really shined a light again. You know, I think we're kind of generations away from it, but we really got to look at, you know, our veterans and sort of what they go through when they come back here.
08:24 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, it's still affecting our generations. You know, I mean epigenetically, Absolutely.
08:30 - Marissa (Guest)
There's a lot of trauma and there's a lot of a lot of I mean, there's just so much pain downloaded into our, you know, into humanity from all these conflicts. But Vietnam is one of the, I would say one of the worst, and I highly recommend it.
08:53
It's not. It's not a light summer read, but if you're looking for something to really, I just devoured it and it still gives me pause it grateful, even though you know we're we have such chaos in our country right now. It's just there's so many people who gave everything, continue to give everything so that we have what we have today.
09:13 - Diana (Host)
Absolutely, and those people are almost always nurses, right, as you know, because you're a nurse and for those who don't know, you were on our podcast in the earliest days. You were one of our earliest guests and so appreciate that, and that's why I thought it was very fitting that you come on to our final season. Ever feel like life stress gets to be too much? Welcome to Meet your Gaia, your natural wellness partner. We are the number one rated provider of Kratom, a 100% natural plant-based solution used in Asia for centuries to help increase focus, energy and relaxation. Want to know more? Use the code YHPOD to get 10% off your first order today. That's meetyourgaiacom and code YHPOD for 10% off and code YHPOD for 10% off.
10:29
So, believe it or not, the last time you were on the show was in 2019, and it feels like it was only a couple of years ago.
10:39 - Marissa (Guest)
But now, I'm like, wow, that was solidly like five years ago. That was five years ago, yeah.
10:42 - Diana (Host)
So a lot has changed in that time in the cannabis industry. But, from your point of view, what has changed?
10:50 - Marissa (Guest)
Oh goodness, pre-covid era we had from the perspective of a cannabis nurse, we've made a lot of progress. Of a cannabis nurse, we've made a lot of progress. I got to say, you know, we cannabis nurses have really been laying the track to where we are today, and that was that movement had been underway in 2019. We were just about to. I was the contributing author to the first cannabis nursing textbook, which was Dr Kerry Clark's now Dr Kerry Cadu's Cannabis a Handbook for Nurses. So that was published. I think it hit. It was out in 2021.
11:37
So at that time I believe a lot of us were still writing that book. And then, with that book and the work of the American Cannabis Nurses Association and then also the participation of the Cannabis Nurses Network, today we are proud to say that, as of September 27, 2023, big date for us cannabis nursing was recognized by the American Nurses Association as a specialty nursing practice. It's a big deal. So this will allow us to move into full credentialing so that cannabis nurses, cannabis care nurses, will be eventually recognized Similarly to say, like an operating room nurse or a renal nurse, a nephrology nurse, nurse that works for kidneys, for those that don't know. So you know, these are. These are it's a it's a big deal for us. So in that regard, it's just been full progress since 2019. Absolutely.
12:37 - Diana (Host)
I think that one of the biggest things. Sorry to cut you off, but I was just thinking like cannabis nurses have been doing so much work to change things that people aren't even paying attention to, like being tested for cannabis use at work. I mean um, my friend Shonda. She went through a whole ordeal um losing her license over it and so having it recognized. I feel that changes things on so many levels, right. I mean, I'm sure that that part of it hasn't changed, because it doesn't change overnight and it takes a long time.
13:13
But I mean, the nurses are the ones talking about the unfair practices, the unfair employment practices, the unfair medical certification practices. Right, I see it every time. Someone's really rallying for the patient, for the patient rights. It's always the nurses. I shouldn't say it's always the nurses, but most of the time it's the nurses who are doing the hard work.
13:41 - Marissa (Guest)
Yeah, and really fighting for access.
13:44 - Diana (Host)
Is what I meant to say? I don't know, yeah.
13:48 - Marissa (Guest)
Nurses are. You know the patient is the only person we're charged to serve Really that's. That's what we're we're out here for is the patient. So that's nurses are, you know? I mean there's a lot of different incredible patient advocates, you know in the community, well positioned to advocate strongly and to affect change at the policy level and to help our communities really understand. You know why it is we do what we were doing. So I think you know cannabis care nurses in general, we're educators. We're taking all of this high level science research that is coming out in large volumes and then we have the skills necessary to break it down so that you know people at all levels can understand what's going on, and that's abundantly. I think that's what cannabis care nurses have done and continue to do, and so I think, in that regard, you know, the cannabis industry has had so much stuff. Yeah, it's like a what is it? A de-evolution? Is that the word? Yes, yes, that's a perfect word.
15:07
I know.
15:07 - Diana (Host)
I mean seven plus years later. I was hoping that this season we'd be talking about all the things that changed since the first season in the best way possible. And I was. You know, bright eyed, bushy, tailed, rose colored glasses, the whole lot. And now I'm like, yeah okay.
15:26 - Marissa (Guest)
I think that's common. We all were. You know we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. I don't, I certainly didn't know where it was going and you know it's, it's certainly it's not going anywhere. I will say that, say that I think the industry has a lot of maturing to do and I don't, I don't foresee myself participating in it in the ways that I have previously. Under those, those under with this current temperature, I would say I understand that.
15:59 - Diana (Host)
So you're you mentioned you're in Massachusetts. I know one thing that has changed is the local attitude, at least where you are, it seems. So what has that been like for you? You know, being more public about what you do and things like that.
16:15 - Marissa (Guest)
So I've always been an advocate for moms and I've always I've been fortunate because I come from a family background that has always been very supportive. You know they've never bought into necessarily the stigma. So I've always sort of been out of that so-called cannabis closet and because I advocate for moms, I kind of have to stay. I stand proudly outside of the closet so that I can help people understand, um, you know why people might use cannabis and um, in general, I have not. I have not been affected by stigma but, that being said, I've worked with a lot of people that have absolutely been affected.
16:59
The interesting thing, I think, in Massachusetts is how many people are becoming more interested. Nurse, I see a lot of more older adults now coming out of the woodwork and interested in using cannabis, either as a complementary medicine or possibly trying to get off of, you know, some of their prescribed pharmaceutical medications. I would say that's the biggest change I've seen in the last, especially since COVID, I would say in the last few years since COVID, people are really starting to see this as an alternative and that has definitely helped to reduce the stigma as well. You know, when you've got people who were previously very much against regulating cannabis like alcohol, which I found to be a lot of the older generation, they've now started to come over, I guess, to the green side.
17:56 - Diana (Host)
Do you find it, though, easier as a nurse, or harder to or more difficult, I should say to keep up the excitement about something when it's people are now just discovering it and you're like, yeah, I mean, you, you know, how do you keep from getting jaded? Basically, is what my, my question is, because I I have that problem sometimes when I do in-person events. You know locally, and people will say things like you know, like what, what is an entourage effect?
18:26 - Marissa (Guest)
and I'm just like yeah you, they won't even say that they don't even know.
18:32 - Diana (Host)
But, you're like where do I start? And also, how do I stay excited about this, Because you've been talking about it so much for so long?
18:41 - Marissa (Guest)
Yeah, I'm still passionate about. I'm still passionate about the medicine. I'm still passionate about what the therapeutic potential of this medicine I am. I'm still passionate about what the therapeutic potential of this medicine I am. I'm still passionate about the endocannabinoid system. And you know, for me, yeah, I definitely you go through periods like I've gone through periods where I have tried to walk away, honestly, absolutely tried to walk away, and there's been times where it just seems to pull me back in. So there is something that draws me here and I really do. It is the science and the research I really do.
19:16
We are at a critical point where we literally, as Americans, we cannot afford our, we can't afford a health care. You know, every most Americans are one medical visit away from financial ruin. So I am just you know, I keep on coming back to this is all hands on deck. We need as much help as we can. I do see that we have a there's a psychedelic renaissance upon us. So that's what drives me back here is like, okay, yeah, I'm having a hard time, um, having conversations about, like, when people ask me what strain they need to go get at the dispensary, I definitely grit my teeth a little bit, um, because, uh, you know um, strain is a misnomer in general. Yeah, it's driven me nuts for years. It's like strain is a term that we use to define viruses and bacteria.
20:20 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, yeah I know. But then I also get people being like but I don't like calling it flower, that sounds so snobby and it's like but that's like, that's what we're calling because that's you know what, what, what, what do you want me to call it?
20:33
you know we're trying to get more technical here and say the correct words, and then people make fun of you for that, and then you're like well, and so then it gets kind of even more frustrating, I feel, because you're like well, I want to be excited about this, I want to relay my enthusiasm, but I'm also just over it.
20:53 - Marissa (Guest)
I'm over these conversations sometimes yeah.
20:58
I have. I have moved on from the whole, like I can't have the conversation about how high somebody can possibly get. You know, I am probably a Debbie Downer in some circles where I'm like you know what THC, especially using it every day, and you know using it very high amounts, without you know a full spectrum of cannabinoids on board. You know these high concentrates, a lot of these, a lot of these really highly potent products, I'm like they do have an effect and they're going to have a long-term effect and it's not going to be all positive, it's not going to be butterflies and rainbows and it's going to be costly to take care of people who are going to be having these negative impacts from this. You know what is I really believe is misuse. You know what is I really believe is misuse.
22:05
And so you know these are the conversations that I have now with all of my, with all of my years proper regulation, the proper oversight from, say like, oh, the FDA or the DEA. You know we've had this industry nascent industry, you know kind of run amok and it just continues. It's not the industry's fault but a lot of people are put at risk. It's not only the industry's fault but a lot of people are put, are put at risk, and you know it's, it's a shame, it's really, it's really a shame. This, this plant, has incredible therapeutic potential and I really do think that the way that we've gone about it putting the cart before the horse it's just bastardized the entire movement Absolutely.
22:47 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
23:04 - Marissa (Guest)
So do you have any hope for the future of the industry? Do you think there is? In the first place was I truly have always believed that medical professionals need to be at the forefront of helping people, especially where we started off with medical programs. It's like okay, if we have patients enrolled in medical programs across the country, then a medical profession should be facing them to help them with their oh their health care issues. Yes, exactly, so in that sense I just yeah. I feel like the Budtender, you know profile took off and it's still it's. I don't see that changing the way that it needs to change. I don't know really where that's heading to.
23:52 - Diana (Host)
Yeah, under capitalism I don't see it changing into a more patient focused or medical focused scenario unless we have some billionaire who is out there and wants to create one in every state where it's just you know. Take your time, go in and speak to a nurse. Sit down. Yeah you know, I don't, that would be lovely, but yeah.
24:21 - Marissa (Guest)
I also, you know, I also think like we're just, we've just gotten so far away from, you know, the sort of we've gotten so much, so far away from where I think we believed we could go, which was to really help people, uh, feel better. Now this is, it's become such an, it's such a it's such, it's become such a culture.
24:40
It's like now it's very on on in line with a lot of the alcohol culture yeah it's sort of very it's very, uh, it's very party, it's very it's kind of like the new rate yeah yeah, yeah, and it's just um, yeah, I've, I've had to step out of it.
24:57
I've played in the industry and a lot in a few different capacities. My last, my last run, was really hard. Um, I tried to step in and you know, work from the role of um, not, you know, I I was in. I was in the compliance aspect of the industry. Um, and it wasn't even like I didn't want to be. I didn't want to be someone who threw the rule book at people. I really did want to come in and help uh bud tenders understand the health effects of cannabis and how to best help the person in front of them. Um with with some really challenging questions and, um, unfortunately, that wasn't a thing either. You know, it just didn't get. It didn't get off, it didn't get off the ground in the way that we needed it to, the industry didn't want it.
25:40
So and frankly, the industry has an issue with paying its bills and and. I know, you know how that goes.
25:49 - Diana (Host)
Yes, oh, sorry. I was just going to say like, just from your point of view you were talking about it very eloquently earlier about how you know everything is so expensive. The health care system is beyond broken and someone coming from your experience, thinking that you want to help people heal, you want to help the patients and you're coming from like a truly medical focus, and then you want these plant alternatives to be accessible, not just for somebody to actually buy, but for it to be financially feasible, because that's part of it right, Not the part of it, that's all of it.
26:27
Like we all go to cannabis not we all, I should say a lot of chronically ill people churn to plant medicine as a last resort, because they're tired of constantly being in the doctor's office and having all of these tests done and this and that, but the reality is you still have to marry those two things and make it accessible for the patient and for the provider, and there hasn't been any of that, at least that I've seen, over the last several years, even though you and a lot of other amazing cannabis nurses have been doing tireless work trying to change that. Um. So yeah, that's. It has to be extra heartbreaking, I feel, and it has to be really hard to find hope, and the only way that I can find it is by, you know, channeling into people like you who are are, you know, still doing this work regardless.
27:23 - Marissa (Guest)
That's such an amazing thing. Honestly, I stay out of the industry, I quit, I quit trying to go to industry events and trying to network and align with people. I have kind of I I don't not going to say give up completely, but my earbud came out, but I I have really I mean the last, the last convention, the one of the majors here it was fruitless, it was really fruitless. I literally had and you know I don't like to give so much light to the Canabros, but I literally had a Canabro who was like oh, you're a woman and a nurse, oh, that would be good for us.
28:08 - Diana (Host)
Oh, my God.
28:10 - Marissa (Guest)
Wait, I was like, did you just think that and say that? And then, I don't know, I was just like, wow, that's where we're at. It's sort of like, how can you be a pawn in my game? And that's that's. That's the heart, that's the heartbreaking part. Um, so yeah, the industry I'm gonna, you know, have at it. I can continue the work that I'm doing. I'm proud of the work that I continue to do. I do. I collaborate with some amazing people. I work with some people who were were working on improving policy for parents, specifically pregnant people.
28:51
I love you know in in the hospital system. Yeah, that was the part I left out.
28:55 - Diana (Host)
I'm sorry not to cut you off, but that's a huge part of it and we've talked about it on the show many times before. But that's a big part of it, that people are just kind of like not talking about as much anymore. I'm seeing yeah.
29:09 - Marissa (Guest)
Yeah, I think it's starting to change. We're starting to see shifts. We're starting to. I think that you know the right people are starting to pay attention. It's again. But you know, these systems slow or slow to change. They really are. They're really slow to change, they're.
29:26
I can't remember the, I don't have the citation, but I did. I remember reading. It's like takes an average of 17 years for something to change in a in the medical system. Wow. So, like you know, if they find that a if, if they find that something isn't working, you know it can take. It can take a long time for that to shift. So, and one of the areas that we see that abundantly clear is in birth. It's in the birthing space. So there's still practices that you know. We recognized a decade ago that, hey, it's probably not a good idea any longer, but it still happens. So you know there's and there's evidence to support that hey, it's probably not a good idea, but it's still going to take time to change. So, anyways, long and short of it is, I'm still proud of the work that I'm doing.
30:20
I'm still continuing to work with mamas and still continuing to work with parents. I work with families. I help a lot of different people in different stages of their life to navigate what we currently have in the cannabis system. I do that, you know, very lightly. These days I'm spending a lot more time in research. I'm spending a lot more time, you know, take writing and helping. You know I'm back with the American Cannabis Nurse Association. So we're now going through our next stage, where we just had our the Cannabis Nursing Scope and Standards has been published. That book is available now for purchase through the American Nurses Association. So we're like next leveling, the ACNA is next leveling and it's time for nurses now to really. Our next goal is to get into. Well, we have many goals, but uh, you know, get into, get into nursing schools.
31:17 - Diana (Host)
That's what I was just going to ask you yeah, it was that has to be the next thing, because how, how can someone become a cannabis nurse?
31:24 - Marissa (Guest)
I'm sure, you'll get a lot of that in the next 17 years, yeah. But yeah, that's, that's. I mean, like I said I, there's a lot of work that I can do and I don't, I don't even need to be, I don't need to be in the industry.
31:43 - Diana (Host)
I know it's, it's a weird thing, but I don't, I don't know. We could go on and on about that. We're not going to. We'll save everyone's ears.
31:58 - Marissa (Guest)
But anyway, before we end, where can people find you and how can they support you? You can find me on the gram or the book Holistic Nurse Mama. I have a website right now, holisticnursemamacom that content. I'm going to be shutting that website down.
32:12 - Diana (Host)
My content will be moving over to.
32:14 - Marissa (Guest)
Medium. Okay so, but you can find me, holistic Nurse Mama, on the gram or Facebook, and you can also find me on LinkedIn, marissa Frattoni. So it's Frattoni, not Frantoni.
32:29 - Diana (Host)
All right, well, thank you so much for joining me again. I appreciate it. Thank you, Diana. I appreciate you. Thank you for listening. Until next time, stay high and beautiful. This episode was produced by your Highness Media Audio editing by JR Crash. Intro music by your Mom Likes my Music. Subscribe to our sub. Stack your Highness Newsletter for the latest announcements and event updates.