Why Trump’s Marijuana Move Is a Big Deal for Veterans
In this episode of The Richard Leonard Show, we break down the push to reclassify marijuana and the political theater surrounding its use in medicine, especially within the VA. While officials debate schedules and statutes, veterans and patients are left navigating pain, mental health, and treatment options on their own. We look at who controls the narrative, who profits from keeping cannabis restricted, and why the truth about its benefits is far less convenient than the headlines.Show more Brought to you by Cortez Wealth Management! Proudly supporting America First values 🇺🇸! Looking for retirement and asset growth strategies from someone who shares your values? Check out Cortez Wealth Management, led by a proud Christian husband, father, and patriot. 👉 http://cortezwm.com/
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I believe that Donald Trump bamboozled the legacy media, the mainstream media, whatever you want to call it, bamboozled them to put his face, his speech from the other night, all over network television.
If you saw any of the buildup to his address to the nation the other day, you will remember that a lot of these newscasters and these network stations were all talking about, well, don't miss the president's address to the nation.
There's going to be great information or damning information about wars and drug boats and this and that.
And he's going to announce some dumb bullshit about going to war somewhere else.
It was almost like it was these blind promises of war.
And then he gets on TV and he's talking himself up, talking up his administration, all of the things, all the successes that he's had over his first year of his second term.
Now, I don't know if all of it were great successes.
I will say that I believe he has done some pretty miraculous things for this country in his first year.
There's also some things that probably could have been left on the back burner for a later date because there's probably some other important things that should have came first.
But nobody can make the right decision all of the time.
He also, last Thursday, signed an executive order to reschedule marijuana to a class one drug, which puts it in the same echelon as things like testosterone, right?
And ketamine and steroids and stuff like that.
And so anyway, today's conversation, we're going to talk about a little bit of that.
I really want to touch on this declassification or this downgrading of the seriousness of marijuana because I believe that it is a monumental thing for veterans in this country.
And I will explain why.
So let's get to it.
Stick with us.
Don't go away.
restart now.
Hey everybody, welcome here to another installment of the Richard Leonard Show.
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And it's really good to see the participation.
So if you're new here, I encourage you, if you agree, if you disagree, you want to call me an idiot, that's okay.
Do so down in the comments and we'll square it all away at a later date.
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Carlos has been an amazing partner for me, for the Richard Leonard Show, but more importantly for the Stew Peters Network ever since it started.
Carlos Cortez was talking with us and became a partner of ours when Stew Peters and I were doing Patriotically Correct Radio some years ago.
And so check him out, man.
Okay, Carlos, you got a little extra time there, buddy.
Anyway, the first thing I want to talk about before we get to the declassification and the executive order to drop the seriousness of marijuana, I do want to talk real quickly about the president's announcement the other night to give all of our service members from 06 and below $1,776 before the end of the year.
Now, he claims that this is extra money from tariffs.
And because of the Big Beautiful Bill, it allows them to pay these dividend checks out to the American people.
This time around, and maybe even next time around, the President has chosen to give each one of our soldiers the men and women who have risen their hand and agreed to sacrifice everything up into the price of their lives for this country.
And whether we agree with it or not, they're there.
They're there standing a post.
And if anybody, and there are a lot of people in this country that probably deserve a little dividend check, but if anybody deserves it the most, in my opinion, it is our service members.
Who else should we give a little extra bonus to than the men and women who have decided that no matter what, they're going to answer that call to defend this nation.
And whether we agree with the things that our soldiers go and do or not is irrelevant.
The fact is that they're there.
And when and if this country is in trouble, and I'll say, we are in trouble in many different corners of this country, there's a lot of trouble.
But when there is trouble that requires military action, those are the people that are there to stand up and stand a post.
And so if there's any money going to the American people as a little bonus and a thank you and basically the president saying, I see you, I see I got your back.
It's our service members.
And so for that, I would like to express my gratitude to the president.
I think it's a great thing.
Our recruitment numbers are at, I don't want to say all-time highs, but they're growing.
They're sustaining growth, and our military forces are becoming full again.
They're becoming more lethal again.
And even though a lot of people they don't like what's going on, they don't like Pete Hegseth and like the way he leads, or he's not a good leader, or this or that, or whatever the narrative is.
There is no question that if you really, really take a look, that as a country, we have become more lethal.
As it pertains to the military, we are a stronger force, we are a stronger country.
And this whole idea that Pete Hegseth talked about when he took the job, that we were going to foster a posture and visuals of leadership through strength.
And I don't know that there's really any other way in today's world to be the alpha and the Omega or whatever you want to call it, the top dog when it comes to military lethality.
I don't know there's any other way to do it.
There's no other way, in my opinion, to put forward a fighting force that is arguably the most lethal in the world, at least on paper.
Now, should we enter a war or enter some kind of scenario that needs military action, we'll see what our leaders do as far as rules of engagement and troop numbers and all those things.
But on paper, if we use the full strength of all of our equipment and all of our people and all of our weapon systems and all of our aircraft and all of our armored vehicles, all of that stuff, if we allow the men and women that operate these contraptions the ability to use them to their potential, I believe there isn't many forces out there that can really put up a good fight.
Now, some may disagree, and I could be wrong, but I believe that we are an amazing fighting force when and if we are allowed to do the job the way that doctrine says it should be done and the way that the enemy dictates, right?
Just like in law enforcement scenarios, a lot of times, it's my belief, a lot of times the suspect or the individual being pulled over or the individual being stopped by the police and questioned or whatever that person dictates how that interaction goes.
Do you have a conversation?
If you're wrong and you got caught, do you take your slap on the wrist, grab your ticket and go home, take your slap on the wrist, go sit down in jail overnight, figure it out, clean it up and do better next time?
Or is it going to get violent?
Is there going to be tussling?
Is there going to be screaming and yelling?
And is your case going to now be a whole lot more complicated than it needed to be?
Now, all that goes with the idea that there are bad cops out there, and nobody hates a bad police officer more than the good ones.
But they have to show their strength through their power and their authority.
Otherwise, you get a lot of the shit like you saw the last few years, five, six years, maybe even, since George Floyd killed himself overdosed on fentanyl in the street.
So, anyway, that's enough about that.
I just wanted to say thank you to the president.
I think it's a big deal that he decided to give dividend checks to the military.
They deserve it.
They need it.
And it's a great thing.
Okay, so now let's move on.
Let's move on to medical marijuana, right?
This is a topic around our country.
I don't think that it's a sensitive topic, but I think it's a pretty important one because as time goes by, the use of cannabis is growing and it's growing rapidly.
And full disclosure, I am a user sometimes of cannabis to help with pain, to help with sleep.
Sometimes if I'm having a tough mental health day, it's pretty good.
It's a pretty good tool for me to just kind of relax, process what I need to process, and move on with it.
And so I think that this is a really good thing.
Let's give it, I found an article.
I was on the Military Times, of course.
But they say some good things in here about why downgrading the legal, whatever you want to call it, of marijuana classification, illegal classification of marijuana.
A Schedule 3 substance is pretty aggressive, in my opinion.
But let's get into this and then we'll make our commentary as we go.
It says here, an executive order signed Thursday by President Trump would reclassify marijuana as a controlled substance with potential medical use, a designation that will make it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct research on cannabis effects for pain management, mental health conditions, and other syndromes.
Now, it's been put out for many, many years that marijuana can be an extremely useful tool if used as prescribed and responsibly to help with all of these things.
And I can tell you firsthand, pain management and mental health, for me, cannabis is a great tool.
When it's controlled properly, I think that when it starts to be abused and overused is when we run into problems.
However, the opinion about this amongst professionals and scientists and doctors and all this seems to be split down the middle.
Some will tell you that the use of cannabis is extremely hazardous to your health.
Other doctors will say, I don't see really any problem with marijuana if you're using it responsibly and on an as-needed basis, other than smoking.
If you're a person that smokes it, your doctors will tell you and scientists and everybody else will tell you, well, you know, but you're smoking.
Smoking's bad.
Okay, yeah, well, we've established that.
But there are so many other uses.
There's so many other ways to deliver the treatment other than smoking.
Smoking just seems to be the easiest, most direct way to get the effects that you're looking for.
Now, of course, we all know there's gummies, there's syrups or liquid forms you can put in drinks, there's butter, there's all kinds of different ways, suckers, candy, all that stuff.
So there's different ways to use it and get the effects that you need.
The question that is raised from consumers or patients is how long does it take to kick in?
You know, for some people, they'll use marijuana when they're having acute back pain, for example.
And a lot of people don't want to wait an hour and a half for them to eat a gummy and wait for it to kick in.
They want the relief that they're looking for, and they want it faster than that.
And so, there are different ways to get different effects.
But it's extremely important, I think, especially for pain management and mental health.
Let's see, it goes on here to say, however, reclassifying cannabis from a Schedule I drug on par with heroin and ecstasy to a Schedule III substance in the same category with, as we said earlier, ketamine, steroids, testosterone.
This will not change the VA's policy that prohibits its doctors from prescribing medical cannabis.
So, what this is saying is that with the reclassification, it gives the VA the ability to do a whole lot more research, to do a whole lot more clinical studies, a lot more trials, and then to gather the data about how it's really helping people.
The problem with this whole thing, in my opinion, is that forever it's been a Schedule III substance, which means you're going to jail if you have too much of it.
I think that we could all agree that marijuana and heroin are on two completely different ends of the spectrum.
There is not any good reason why that I can think of that we would treat it the same way, other than somebody is not going to be able to make the money or control it the way that they believe they should make the money or control it.
And so, there's been pushback, but there also has been a whole lot of research and a whole lot of studies and a whole lot of trials because there's a lot of people using marijuana.
The court of public opinion will tell you that it is useful, it's not as dangerous if used responsibly, it's not as dangerous as anybody would have you believe.
In fact, if we did a research study and got good, solid, concrete numbers about the amount of people that have caused accidents, committed acts of violence, perpetrated somebody, accosted other people, made extremely stupid financial decisions, or whatever.
The same effects and the same results that people get from too much alcohol, too much booze in a night.
I think that we would find that there's a whole lot less trouble with marijuana.
The federal government found out what would happen if we were going to take booze away from the American people.
We found that out during prohibition.
And I think that we could all also agree that a lot more lives, I would say, hands down, a lot more lives have been negatively affected by the use of alcohol, by the use of heroin, by the use of ecstasy, all these other fentanyl meth.
A lot of lives have been destroyed and ended because of those specific substances.
And alcohol being in there with them.
I think if we stop to look, The numbers in the same categories for people using marijuana would be a whole lot lower.
In fact, many times when I use cannabis for pain or from having a tough mental health day, the worst thing that happens to me is maybe I nap too long or I eat my weight in bullshit, whatever that is for the day.
And so rescheduling this, not just for the sake of the VA and veterans, but for America as a whole, I think is something that is a great conversation to have.
Does it need to be regulated?
I believe it probably does need to be regulated, or it will get out of hand.
Does it need to be super, super expensive?
I don't think it needs to be super expensive, but it probably will be.
When and if it ever gets completely decriminalized and the federal government lights up on it, lightens up on it.
And all over this country, there's dispensaries popping up and people are using marijuana for whatever they need to use it for.
I believe that it will be expensive, right?
Just like tobacco, just like cigarettes.
Cigarettes are insanely expensive from what I understand.
I quit smoking.
Well, I quit buying cigarettes about two years ago.
Every now and then I'll bum one from a co-worker or buddy or something, but not often.
But I believe that marijuana will be just as, if not more expensive, than tobacco.
And why?
Because it's popular, because it works.
And people are finding massive success with treatment.
Not only with marijuana, mind you, but all kinds of other MDMA.
We did a show, I don't know, was two, three months ago, about these MDMA clinics out in Colorado.
And I believe there's some out in Oregon as well.
And people are having massively good, positive results from these type of drugs.
But keep in mind that they are administered by a medical professional.
You're monitored the whole time.
You're under the influence of said substance.
And they monitor you.
And it's part of a treatment plan.
And there's, to the best of my knowledge, there's activities, you know, treatment activities to do, conversations to have, or, or whatever it is.
It's regulated.
It's a treatment plan.
It's not a place where, it's not like an old school opium den where folks go in there and they just get all fucked up.
And when they decide to go home, they go home.
That's not what this is.
Now, will it be regulated the same way?
Will marijuana be regulated the same way?
That, I guess, remains yet to be seen.
But I think that there are many places in this country, Colorado, Montana, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, California.
There's so many states that have legalized recreational and medical marijuana.
Not only are those states making money hand over fist, but they're also giving the people what it is that they want, which is a large part of why we elect people to get into government offices and government positions, right?
Because we all have things we would like to see granted to us, the taxpayer.
I don't see a problem with reclassifying marijuana.
I think it's a good conversation to have.
And so it says here, however, reclassifying cannabis from Schedule I drug on par with heroin, blah, blah, blah, went over that, will not change the VA's policy that prohibits its doctors from prescribing medical cannabis.
That change would require to be done on the federal level.
A federal statute needs to be changed or rewritten or a new one or whatever.
If that happens, they say then the VA will have to change its policy and doctors will be able to prescribe veterans medical marijuana.
President Trump's executive order seeks to accelerate the process for the Justice Department to reschedule marijuana.
In the order, Trump noted that DOJ issued a proposed rule last year to change marijuana status.
And the Department of Health and Human Services has determined that it has accepted medical use for some conditions.
Okay, so now the Department of Health and Human Services is also saying medical marijuana can be a great tool for treatment plans.
The National Institute, National Institute on Drug Abuse, as well as the FDA, have also agreed that the drug should be rescheduled.
It is the policy of my administration to increase medical marijuana and CBD research to better inform patients and doctors.
Trump wrote, it is critical to close the gap between current medical marijuana and CBD use and medical knowledge of risks and benefits, including the specific populations and conditions.
According to the VA, the department currently has six studies underway on medical marijuana and has completed 10 of them since 2010.
Past studies have addressed the prevalence of use among veterans, use among veterans prescribed opioid medications and cannabis use in relation to stress.
Current studies are looking at its potential as a treatment for PTSD and chronic pain, as well as other things.
How can, how can, in my question, how can this be a horrible thing?
Right?
I the other day was, I almost said accosted.
I wasn't accosted, but I was shamed by somebody.
I was talking about all these old prescriptions, all these old VA prescriptions I had, and they were sitting in a drawer.
I'm not taking them anymore.
They've been there a while.
And I flushed them down the toilet.
I wasn't aware that you're not supposed to be flushing medications.
You're supposed to put it in a bag and go turn it in somewhere or destroy it some other way.
But flushing it in the toilet is not acceptable any longer.
Well, okay, slap on the hand.
Now I know I won't do it anymore.
But what it made me realize is that the powers that be will tell you you're not allowed to flush medications.
You shouldn't do it.
It's bad for the environment.
It's bad for the fish.
It's bad for our sewage system.
It's bad for whatever.
Don't flush it.
And then I thought about it.
All these pills that the VA had been giving me for so many years, I can't flush them down the toilet because it's hazardous to the environment.
But yet these people are telling me to put it in my body.
It's supposed to help me feel better.
It's supposed to help any ailment or condition that I may have.
It's supposed to help relieve that pain.
Supposed to help make that condition better so it's not a problem anymore.
All this stuff, but we can't flush it.
If it makes its way into the groundwater, it's going to contaminate our water.
It's horrible for the environment, they say.
But you should put it in your body.
And so, when these types of conversations come up, I'm all for this.
I'm all for this.
How can marijuana, which is usually an herbal supplement, they say, that grows out of the ground?
And of course, you can fertilize it and, you know, put pesticides and shit so the bugs don't eat it, whatever.
That's probably not great for you.
But at its core, marijuana is a plant.
Just like we eat lettuce, we eat carrots, we eat all this shit that grows out of the earth.
And so, how can it be horrible for you?
Why, why has it been something that's that people are serving years in prison for?
Why is it something that people are getting citations for, hundreds of dollars worth of tickets for, being arrested for?
It has to be hidden.
All these things.
But yet, you give us pills that will contaminate the groundwater.
And we're putting that in our bodies.
Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
Anyway, let's continue.
The VA press secretary, his name is, I'm going to butcher the hell out of this.
His name is Pete Kasperwitz.
We'll call him Pete K.
He said this last Thursday that the executive order will not change the law.
The law that the federal law that prohibits VA from prescribing and or recommending marijuana as a treatment option for patients, you can't do that, right?
And I think that doctors are probably having conversations with their patients anyway.
Not prescribing it, not telling them, yep, you should be using marijuana for this.
It's best way to do it.
But I believe that if you're a medical professional and you believe in the oath that you took, having a conversation with your patients about their marijuana use should not be illegal.
Can you prescribe it?
No.
Okay.
That's okay.
But this is what I'm doing because all the pills you gave me don't seem to be helping.
And in many cases, made me feel worse.
Made my anxiety worse, made my adjustment order worse, made my depression worse, made my PTSD go fucking ape shit.
Or I was a zombie all day and I wasn't myself.
But then people will say, well, if I have a little bit of a onenie or I have a gummy or put a little bit in my tea, I feel great.
I can get through the day.
I'm not a bumbling idiot, not a zombie.
I can be social.
I can help my customers that I may have if I do customer service work.
It just, nobody, nobody ever has, to the best of my knowledge, maybe there are some people out there.
I mean, I suppose I've met people before that have said, you know, I really wish I could try it, but it just really F's me up.
I just can't do it.
Okay, fair enough.
But I think that majority of the people that have tried and/or use marijuana can tell you about the benefits as long as they're doing it within moderation.
I don't see a problem with this.
But we have to take a break and we'll be right back because I want to touch on one of the most important reasons why I think that this is a good thing.
So don't go away.
We'll be back.
What these researchers found was that vaccinated children had 4.29 times the rate of asthma,
3.03 times the rate of atopic disease, 5.96 times the rate of autoimmune disease, and 5.53 times the rate of neurodevelopmental disorders.
A number of different diagnoses, including diabetes and ADHD, and a number of them, in the unvaccinated group, they were zero.
In other words, all these chronic diseases that we're accepting, the reality is maybe 99% of them don't have to exist in children.
That's not the way God made us.
They looked at over 47,000 Medicaid claims between 1999 and 2011.
Those who are vaccinated versus unvaccinated, I say an odds ratio would be like 2.81.
2.81 to 1.
So that would be 181% increase.
Epilepsy seizures, 252%.
Learning disorders, 581%.
If you look at all these different diagnoses, they're all higher.
For example, I'll just give you one example.
Learning disorders in the full term is 581%.
In the preterm, the ones who are vaccinated, 884% increase.
Every single vaccine has an excipient that is human toxin.
Human toxin.
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Hey folks, welcome back here Let's keep going down the road here with the article and our thoughts on the reclassifying of marijuana.
It says here: this is a quote from Pete Kay, who is the press secretary for the VA.
Federal law prohibits VA from prescribing and/or recommending marijuana as a treatment option for patients.
We went over that already.
He went on to say: We are grateful for President Trump's executive order, which will make it easier for the department to conduct future medical studies involving marijuana.
The House and Senate both approved legislation earlier this year that would have allowed VA doctors to recommend medical marijuana for their patients, although those provisions were stripped out of the law.
And it was in the legislation that they agreed upon to end the government shutdown.
So things like this got trashed out of it because somebody didn't agree and it was a negotiation point.
Several lawmakers, including Florida Republicans and veterans rep Brian Mast, who and Representative Gregory Stuby, I believe is how you pronounce his name, have introduced legislation that would ensure that veterans retain their benefits and full access to health care if they use medical marijuana marijuana, if they use medical marijuana under a state-sanctioned program.
So what this means is if I go into the VA and I tell my doctor, you know, I've been having like this intense pain and the only thing that I could find that helps knock it out just a little bit or even completely is if I use a little bit of marijuana before bed or when I get home from work or,
you know, if you work nights when I wake up in the morning, whatever it is, this legislation that has been introduced will prohibit, it'll prohibit any medical professional to decline any kind of care to any patient that admits that they're using it as a pain management tool, for example.
I don't know previously that it was a thing that you couldn't talk to your doctors about.
I have certainly, every time I go to a doctor, especially when I had all that brain stuff going on earlier this year and I had those stents installed in my brain and all that other shit, I was very clear with them that, yeah, I do at times use marijuana to quell some of the issues that I have going on.
And even the brain guy, the brain surgeon at Mayo Clinic, had no, he didn't necessarily approve, but he had zero negative things to say about it.
In fact, most of the time, doctors will tell you, yeah, well, you know, I got a few patients that are using it and have tried it, and we haven't seen any negative effects.
So as long as you're doing it in moderation, the doctors also always say, I would prefer that you don't smoke it.
If you can do edibles, it'd be a whole lot better for you.
And that is the response I get almost every time.
And so I didn't know that it was a thing that doctors could opt not to treat you if you are under the influence of marijuana.
Moving on, the VA's policies prohibit employees from denying vets their benefits because of marijuana use, and doctors can discuss it, discuss its use with patients as part of a comprehensive care plan.
The lawmakers say their legislation is needed to ensure that veterans don't lose access to other medications if they use marijuana.
And so, like, this is exactly what I'm saying.
Before the break, I think that doctors are certainly not just in the VA, but all over, are certainly having conversations with their patients that do tell them that they are partaking in marijuana to help manage their issues.
I don't see why you wouldn't.
There are, in my opinion, more than enough studies that have been done over the years independently from the government that can prove and show that there are some pretty significant benefits to the use of this stuff.
Now, the sticking point for everyone always is, well, yeah, but you can't go to the store if you're stoned all the time.
Well, I don't know that you can't.
And I would say if you're stoned all the time, that's a whole different conversation.
If I come home from work and I'm in some pain or I'm having a day and I choose to have a gummy and then go, oh shit, we're having spaghetti tonight and I need butter for the toast, for the garlic bread.
I'm going to go to the store and I'm going to get garlic bread.
And hopefully you get to the store and get back within that hour, hour and a half that these things take to kick in because we also don't want to be getting DUIs.
But also, four hours later, when it's all wore off or six hours, I guess depending on how much you take, am I still considered under the influence?
I think so.
I think that the powers that be would say, well, you're still under the influence, even if you don't feel high anymore.
And so, like, maybe those things need to be figured out.
And of course, the assumed issue is going to be that if you're under the influence, you're not able legally to operate a motor vehicle.
Okay, well, same thing with drinking beer.
If I have too many beers, I shouldn't be driving either.
So, in that instance, in my opinion, a whole lot of things don't really change.
Although the executive order does not change the law, the nation's largest veteran service organization, the American Legion, praised the order.
And a gentleman by the name of Dan Wiley, who is the national commander for the American Legion, said this.
This is really an important executive order.
Cannabis being classified Schedule 1 blocks large-scale randomized clinical trials examining cannabis impacts on PTSD, TBI, sleep disruption, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.
Conditions strongly, conditions that are strongly associated with veteran suicide.
And in my opinion, this is like the, this should be the main part of the conversation.
As we know, and as we have discussed time and time and time again, veteran suicide is an issue in this country for our culture, for the warrior culture, the veteran culture all across this land.
And things like PTSD, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, depression, and of course, as we've discussed, chronic pain.
These are all things that in the rare cases that veterans attempt to kill themselves and fail, thank God, they talk about the pain is just too much.
I just can't get those thoughts out of my mind.
I'm so sick of dealing with all of this bullshit.
And they decide to take themselves deep.
And so, if there is a treatment such as cannabis, that when our when our when our veterans, the men and women who sacrificed everything for this country, when they get to those places, those dark spots, they have something to take them out of it, or at least not take them out of it.
Like, it's not going to solve problems.
It's not going to solve the problem of TBI.
It's not going to solve sleep disruption.
Although that might be like the best thing, it might be the best thing amongst these short list of things that are affecting our veterans in a large way.
Sleep disruption is probably one of the most impacted things.
Because if you get the, from my understanding, if you get the right strain of marijuana, you'll sleep fantastic.
And in fact, most people that I know that partake in the use of marijuana, whether they're veterans or not, most people articulate that, man, I've never slept better.
And so, again, when these folks are at their wits' end and they see no better option than to stick a gun in their mouth or take a bunch of pills or jump off a bridge or drive their motorcycles into a tree or whatever it is, these are the people, not just veterans, but anybody that struggles with this stuff.
Because as we know, these types of conditions aren't just exclusive to veterans.
This is a way to break yourself of those thoughts.
It doesn't make the problem go away.
It doesn't solve it by any means.
But maybe it just gives you a little extra time.
A little extra time to think, hopefully think the right thing and think yourself out of this hole that you're in.
Or maybe even just forget about it.
Change your focus.
Distract you from what's really causing you the pain.
And I'll say this: there are many stories you hear of suicide and things of that nature.
And a lot of times it's easy to just go ahead and wrap all that up with a bow that says weak, that weak people are the ones that are killing themselves.
And to a certain extent, I agree with that narrative.
But as a person who has been there, who has attempted suicide and failed, I can say that at that time in my life, at that juncture in my story, a joint would have done me fucking wonders.
It would have solved me, it would have not solved a lot of problems, but it would have quelled it enough for me to rethink.
It would have delayed my actions enough.
I didn't have to go through all of that bullshit.
All the shit that came with attempting to just kill myself.
And for those reasons, I think that this is a really important thing to keep in mind when we're talking about medical marijuana, especially for our culture, especially for military people.
And it's easy, it's easy for outsiders to have this opinion that, well, wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
You people, you people are supposed to be the strong.
Many people will say, but you guys are the heroes.
Well, let me tell you this.
Whether you think military people are heroes or scum doesn't really matter.
The point is, is that the human mind, no matter where you come from, no matter what you do, no matter where you've been, no matter what your opinions and your thoughts are, the human mind was only designed through the grace of God to be able to handle so much.
And there's many times for many people they've got more than they can handle.
And if you're a person of faith, people of faith will say, well, yeah, but God doesn't give us anything that we can't handle.
And let me tell you, out of all of the people, military friends that I know that have taken their own lives, they weren't all atheists.
They were believers.
And so this narrative that, well, God's not going to give me anything I can't handle is bullshit.
Because, and to be honest, I'm no theologian.
I'm not a super religious person.
But I do know enough to know that even if you are a believer, even if you're a devout Christian or Catholic or Jew or whatever, no matter what your religion and your stance is on God and the Bible and all of that stuff, the devil still works.
He's out there working hard to get you.
And so this idea that God won't give me anything I can't handle, I believe is bullshit because it's a constant battle.
And for people that have things like PTSD and TBI and sleep issues and anxiety and depression and this and that and all these other things, all the things that come along with war and combat in the military, sometimes your faith just isn't enough.
Sometimes believers sin, right?
I mean, we're all creatures of sin, whether you're a believer or not.
We all do shit and have thoughts that are unpure, they're violent, they're whatever you want to call it.
This is a way, in my opinion, that potentially 22 veterans a day could have a reprieve.
I'm not, again, I'm not saying it's going to solve the problem.
But at this point, as far as we've come with this whole veteran suicide prevention and training and all of these narratives around veteran suicide, no one's ever really thought about this.
At least not that I've heard, nothing publicly.
I'm sure that these conversations happen in circles all the time, a veteran or not.
But at the end of the day, if you are a believer, the good Lord gave us free will.
And I believe that if you're a believer of this God gave us free will and we're sinners, that we are going to find ways to treat ourselves, whether we're right or wrong.
Especially after a time when our government and the world was pushing the jab.
They're pushing this confinement of yourself.
Stay six feet away.
Take this medication.
You need this shot.
You need to do this.
You got to do that.
But you can't do this.
And when an overwhelming amount of people can say, hey, man, I use a little bit here, a little bit there, it really helps me get through the day or helps me get through that rough patch I'm having at any particular time.
Who are we to tell them they can't do it?
Just like an alcoholic would say, well, who are you to tell me I can't have a drink?
And they're right.
As long as you're not hurting anybody, you're not breaking the law while you're getting sauced, no one could tell you shit.
But if somebody who's struggling with anxiety, depression, or PTSD wants to smoke a joint or have a gummy or put some marijuana honey in their tea, they got to fear being arrested and publicly shamed for something that, in my opinion, the amount of people that use marijuana, whether recreationally,
medically, overuse, use as needed, whatever you want to call it, the amount of people that partake in the use of cannabis is probably astronomically larger than you would imagine.
Because there are ways to be discreet about it.
And what happens inside the four walls of your home is no one's fucking business.
And when we're talking about saving the lives of the men and women who serve this country, and we could potentially do that at scale, maybe with things like this, why would anybody say no?
All the millions and millions and let's just say billions of dollars that have been spent to combat veteran suicide.
And this is a sticky point for people.
We've gone as far as putting our heroes in fucking mental institutions because they're having a tough time.
And at times knowing that it causes people more stress, more strife, more anxiety.
They get more depressed.
Their mental health goes haywire.
But we lock them up.
Not in jail, but in the funny farm for evaluation for 72 hours.
And then people will say, well, you know, if you go in there, as long as you're honest, as long as you're honest about the issues you're having and your thoughts and your dreams, and your this and your that that are causing you problems, there's an answer.
How about we tell that to Vietnam veterans who are still struggling with their combat experiences?
How about we tell that to the the very few Korean War veterans that are still struggling with their experiences?
How about we tell that to the even less World War II veterans that are still struggling with with their experiences?
Keep in mind that all of these people, for the most part, have went on to have careers, they had families, they own property, they're contributing members of society.
And many of them have been suffering in silence, combating the evil that sneaks into their minds, combating the the the nagging, constant pain that takes over their bodies during the day.
They've been doing it in silence or in secret and medicating with things like drugs alcohol, other whatever else addictions we can come up with, and now it seems that there's a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
Now again, I want to be clear that i'm not trying to say that this will solve all the problems.
I'm not trying to say that this is the best treatment plan for people in these situations, but what i'm saying is that there are more than enough people that are that are able to intelligently articulate that this helps.
And it seems like at times and maybe this is, maybe this is a whole nother conversation, but it seems like at times that the one real hang-up is that the government is trying to figure out how much money they're going to make off the backs of people that partake in using cannabis, whether it's for recreational purposes or for medical purposes.
I just, I just don't I, I can't, I can't in my mind put two and two together as to why there'd be any other reason, no matter what what this doctor says, or that doctor says, or this scientist says, or that scientist says, I can't, I can't wrap my mind around it, because there are so many other things in our world, in our community, that are that are open and free to partake and use,
that that cause more damage, destroy more families and more lives than marijuana does, and so again, i'm all for this And I hope that it doesn't get blocked.
I hope it doesn't, all these things, for the sheer purpose that we might as well give it a shot.
What do we have to lose?
And as it pertains to the veteran community, we're losing 17 to 22 veterans a day.
Still, after all these years.
When is enough enough?
When are we going to just let the men and women that have chosen to serve this country and because of that service, because of that commitment and that sacrifice, have the rest of their lives to deal with some bullshit?
When are we going to allow them to make a decision about what helps them get through the day?
Within reason, of course.
Like, I'm not saying we should have a bunch of vets out here smoking weed 24 hours a day, moving around the community.
But when are they going to be able to have the option for their own treatment?
When are they going to stop being villainized?
When are people in general going to stop being villainized for a substance or an activity or whatever you want to call it that historically, in my opinion, has had a whole lot less grip and a whole lot less damage done to the lives of the American people than many other substances that are okay?
If you want my opinion, alcohol should probably be a whole lot more regulated than marijuana.
Should it be illegal?
I don't think it should be illegal, but I think it should be a whole lot more regulated.
The amount of lives that are destroyed because of alcohol use or overindulgence is astronomically higher.
I would say, I don't know for sure, but I would be willing to bet that that number is a whole lot higher than the lives that have been ruined because of marijuana use.
Anyway, that's all the time that we have for today.
Before we go, I want to take a second and wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
I hope that your holiday season has been amazing and it will continue to be all the way through to the new year.
We are going to have a couple of reruns for the next couple weeks.
Our whole staff is getting some time off.
Well deserved.
They worked very hard.
And so we will see you again after the first of the year.
Thank you for joining us.
We'll see you next time.
good night.
As Christians in a Christian country, we have a right to be at minimum agnostic about the leadership being all Jewishly occupied.
We literally should be at war with fucking Israel a hundred times over and instead we're just sending them money and it's fucking craziness.
Look at the side of Israel.
Look at the side of Tel Aviv and look at the side of Philadelphia.
You tell me where this money's going.
You tell me who's benefiting from this.
I am prepared to die in the battle fighting this monstrosity that would wish to enslave me and my family and steal away any rights to my property.
And you take away my God, go fuck yourself.
Will I submit to that?
And if you've got a foreign study, you've got dual citizens in your government, who do you think they're supporting?
God, right now, would you protect the nation of Israel and protect those of us, not just our church, but every church in the world and in this nation that's willing to put their neck on the line and say we stand with them?
You go to Trump's cabinet.
You go to Biden's cabinet.
Spore juice.
I have a black friend in school.
I.
I have nothing against blacks.
She has nothing against me.
She understands where I'm coming from.
Excuse me, I'm a Jew, and I just like to say that, you know, in our Bible, it says that you're like animals.
The Jews crucified our God.
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