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Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana with Lia Post · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Disclaimer.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Medical marijuana.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: A vast majority of Americans recognize the legitimate medical benefits of marijuana as well as a large number of medical organizations.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Here in Nebraska, it is not legal.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Nebraska is one of the few states left that does not have any form of legalization whatsoever.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: A grassroots effort in 2020 made significant progress by gathering names on a petition to get medical marijuana on the ballot that year, only to have it killed by some crafty litigation at the 11th hour.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And now that grassroots effort has re-emerged in 2022, and I'm proud to have Leah Post representing Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana on the show today.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, I am very proud to introduce my friend Leah Post.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: She is representing Nebraskans for medical marijuana, part of a petition drive to get medical marijuana on the ballot in the state of Nebraska.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing today, Leah?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing great.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for this opportunity.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very grateful and humbled.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Excited to have you here.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is a topic that I enjoy discussing.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I love having civil discourse.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Full transparency on all the content I create.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I generally say that I keep my hands and my fingers out of two topics.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, one being politics and two being religion, because they are two of the most divisive things you could possibly ever talk to anybody about, specifically in the state of Nebraska.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, welcome to the topic of medical cannabis.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing is, this is where I counter even myself.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is this really even a political issue anymore?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it a healthcare issue?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: It should be a healthcare issue for sure.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I've been to the Nebraska Medical Association a few times and written them letters and you know, try to get my doctors and medical team to advocate.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like it shouldn't just be patients that are out there telling, you know, our stories.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: The doctors know them.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: We pay them to hear them.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So let's kind of describe the periphery of what we're about to talk about, what we're trying to accomplish in 2022.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: So what we are trying to do as a grassroots movement is to allow medical cannabis on the ballot so the citizens of Nebraska can vote whether or not they want that, especially after 10 years of trying for compassionate care bills in our Nebraska legislature and having zero success.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's put this in perspective.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: There are only 12 states in the entire United States that do not have some form of either medical or recreational marijuana laws in place now.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we're actually in the minority now.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and actually, there's three states that have no laws whatsoever just regarding the plant itself.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: So if it may be like CBD.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we are truly the last three states to recognize cannabis as medicine.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there are critics of this movement.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I remember a few years ago, industrialized hemp got legalized in Nebraska, and you saw CBD pop-ups kind of simultaneously come up because it was almost like signaling that at the bare minimum medical was around the corner.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are critics that throw it out there that say that the industrialized hemp bill that passed a few years ago was a Trojan horse.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's your response to that?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a medical patient.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: I hate politics.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I really don't want anything to do with any of it.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the hemp bill, yeah, I'm glad they at least got something through the door.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, they've made it so hard for any of those hemp farmers to be successful because of all the rules and restrictions and regulations.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I'm not ever gonna complain about anything that helps bring education and awareness to the plant.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, my expertise is certainly in uh that of medical and the role of patientslash, you know, activist.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: 2020 election, it seemed like there was going to that it was going to be on the bill um for uh medical marijuana uh in the state of Nebraska.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: But at the 11th hour, the plug got pulled.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: What happened in 2020?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: So what happened is that we got more than enough valid signatures and we thought we were successful, and then um all of a sudden there was some money that found its way into a person's pocket, and they brought a lawsuit against us and claimed we violated single subject.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I I spoke with somebody when, you know, actually it was at one of the farmers markets here in Lincoln, um, when the petitions were being passed around just recently, and there were some fail-safes put in place this year.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: We actually have two petitions this time and modeled it um like uh they did with the successful gambling petition.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we feel very confident that single subject will not be an issue.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I as somebody that was a long-term resident of the city of Omaha and now a long-term resident of city of Lincoln, it seems like Western Nebraska makes a lot of decisions.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: The more densely populated parts of the state makes a lot of the decisions for the more robust populated portions of the state.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's sad.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: We've been met with so much opposition, and you know, the thing that's different about this group is like we keep standing up to the opposition because you know what we know what we're doing isn't wrong.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're truly just trying.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I started out wanting to help myself, of course, because I'm disabled.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I met all these amazing people just like me and who have children with seizures, and you know, people they love that have died of cancer.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's story is just as worthy as the next.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do you think it is that drives the opposition and what is the opposition?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's just I, you know, and I have to be really clear like I am a volunteer for Nebraskans for medical marijuana, but by no means am I their spokesmodel.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it is a lot of people that are nonpartisan that are trying to do the work.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: If you're asking me as a human being, you know, as a patient, as someone that has been an activist for seven years in this state on the topic of medical cannabis, like let's just name Pete Ricketts for the trouble that he is with this, you know.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I was very ignorant about politics.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just being very honest.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was not involved.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, just to realize that you can go and see how much money that is donated from Pete Ricketts to the people that are elected, you know, and who vote year after year after year against medical cannabis when some of the most amazing advocates have been doing this a decade.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, like I can't buy it.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I mean like money, money and control.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's not about morality.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't something evil.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's why aren't we helping people?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it is insane.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, just from a peripheral point of view, you know, I've known children that could benefit from it, uh, cancer patients that could benefit from it, so they're having to source their um goods illegally and and through um means that probably aren't easy.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and the thing is, is the state of Nebraska is practically landlocked at this point and on their own island.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not that hard.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's you're I don't know.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody, I would never encourage anybody to traffic something illegally, but it's gonna happen if somebody needs this medicine to better their their disposition in life.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let's be honest.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Am I gonna buy from someone off the streets with the fentanyl issue there is right, or am I gonna drive my ass across state lines and go into a regulated system, even though I have to be recreational, can't be treated like a damn patient, but I can go and buy there and then just pray to Jesus I don't get arrested on the way home.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's be real, right?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's honestly you you hit the nail on the head.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's do I risk getting in trouble with the law or do I risk dying?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because because you're right.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I as a resident of Lincoln, there have been so many deaths in the past two years because of goods that have been laced with fentanyl, with a a drug that is actually approved by the FDA, yep, and leaked from the state patrol evidence people like let's be real about it, right?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we've kind of covered the ground of why it's important that this get on the ballot this November, but let's talk about it from a personal point of view.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of difference has this made in your life?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: So in 2015, I I got complex regional pain syndrome.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it is basically the malfunction of your central nervous system.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: And one way I explained it is like you put your hand over a candle, you usually get a signal to your brain to remove your hand, and then it cools down.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, mine never stops signaling.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: So um, chronic pain disorder.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And with it, I also have anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: So in uh 2015, I thought I was going batshit crazy because I hurt so bad in my arm and it wouldn't stop.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it was almost a year before I got my actual diagnosis and started, you know, treating it for what it was.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's a journey I would never send anyone on because for me, I was on 15 prescription drugs at one time.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And those included opioids, benzos, sedatives, you know, hell, I was even on ketamine, and that's a flippant horse tranquilizer.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm on uh prescribed rabinol, syndrome, marinol, all synthetic THC.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I know you guys can't see me, but uh this granny is not anorexic, and that's what it's for.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's just a suitcase drug because everybody knows the THC in the plant helps pain, you know.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we're already profiting all off of all of it.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: And the polypharmaceutical approach to pain is man, just swept our nation, and no one seems to give a shit.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Turn on the learning channel or discovery channel or whatever on a Sunday morning and watch an episode of intervention to see somebody addicted to opiates, and it always starts the same way.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's some some invasive surgery where they start taking a um painkiller, and then that painkiller becomes more painkillers, and then and then it builds up into a craving.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and we have an opioid crisis, and this would be a way to bypass that in a lot of ways, shape, and form.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I have a letter that I take to every doctor I go to that says I will not take opioids.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: If I have to be on opioids for you know surgery, it will be short term, right?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and then I tell them because I use medical cannabis illegally.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've had so many surgeries with my illness, and like I don't use any of that stuff, like opioid-free, man.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: No benzo that it is, but I do use cannabis every day, and I'm a criminal for it.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm a drink.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: What great, you know, put me in jail.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what am I supposed to do?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I can't afford Syndrome, it's four thousand dollars a month, right?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, and it's you think back of the course of the past two and a half years, you think of this post-pandemic, uh post-election strife.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um the nation at large is experiencing a crisis of anxiety, yeah, for sure.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and a crisis, uh, you know, I I I believe that our next big pandemic is actually one of mental health.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's already yeah, it is.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: You are absolutely correct.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's already here.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Our our our our next big pandemic is one of mental health, and instead of prescribing your Zoloft, your Paxels, your um yeah, what what were the old ones, uh, you know, the lithium and everything along those lines, couldn't a person tame that same sense of anxiety or extra depression with medical grade cannabis?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I have a disabled daughter, and we've been going to Boys Town since they were 15 years old, and they're now almost 23.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And the psychiatrist calls it smokable Prozac.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and would rather have my daughter at this age for sure use cannabis over alcohol.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: So here's to the educated doctors.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh, absolutely.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody I've talked to, it's it's the same thing, you know.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you talk about another crisis, the alcoholism that is like on the increase post-pandemic as well, because of people medicating their depression with alcohol.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, and that's you know, I need to reiterate to my listeners, we are specifically speaking about medical uh cannabis usage, but there is there is some validity to the red recreational side of it as well.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm sorry, but I would rather deal with a couple of guys that have shared a join as opposed to a couple of guys that have you know killed tequila for an hour straight.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I've had I and I've had police officers say that exact same thing to me.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, you arrest somebody for alcohol, they want to fight you.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you arrest somebody for cannabis, they're like, oh like you don't, you know, just such misinformation, you know, lack of education, you know, but it's changing.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's changing.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so from where you're standing right now and what you know about, how confident is the community in the fact that this is gonna make it to the ballot and pass?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, look, here's the truth of it.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: We need 50,000 more signatures on each petition, and it's not up to me.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I can do what I do.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: I've been doing this.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: This is a second round of this petition, you know.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I can't give any more than I have given.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, like it's been a really healing process, sure, you know, in the sense that like you can only do what you can do to change the world.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: And let's just be real honest, it's kind of a crappy world right now.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, but God, I mean, I'm gonna keep showing up.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't be here talking to you if I didn't believe it happened.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, I'd be laying under my bed crying and not coming out of my room.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, why why give up the fight till the fight's over?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's just you know, never gonna happen for me.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I honestly have to say it is an honor to have you here talking with me about all of this.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Where can people find more information about this and how can they get involved?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Please, please go to NebraskaMarijuana.org.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: At that website, it will show you all the locations across the state of Nebraska where you can go and sign.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: We have over a hundred businesses that you can go into and sign.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: We have um special events that we cover, there's ways, ways to donate money.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you want to help volunteer, there's a million ways to get involved.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's just, you know, time is short.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And if Nebraskans truly want to have medical cannabis as an option, then they have to sign the petition.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the last poll said what 82, 83 percent support medical cannabis in Nebraska.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's just finding those that top 10% of Nebraskans who are willing to put their name on paper for a petition.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so who are some of the politicians that are assisting with this process?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, sure.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Senator Wishart and Adam Moorefield, they have both been amazing, you know, really um putting boots to the ground and getting out there and doing work because they care about people like me.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: They care about the families, they truly do.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, 10 years, you know, it's a long time to be going up to the unicameral and talking to people and begging them.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we are grateful for you know those that are listening and want to make change happen.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and how how much time do we have left to sign these petitions?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it the turn-in date is July 7th.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: So now is the time.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday's the day you should have been signing it.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: This second.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, go to that go to that website, Nebraska Marijuanas.org, and that will have all of our information.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can also go to our Facebook page, but yeah, we want Nebraskans to get involved.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I live here.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody that I work with is Nebraska-nice.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I've met some of the most amazing people through this volunteer grassroots effort.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's given me faith in where I live, and I want other people to understand that and get involved.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, Leah, where do you see things one year from today from your perspective?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Medical cannabis legalized in the state of Nebraska.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: In in a medical dispensary on every corner.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I know it'll take longer than that.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it'll be done in a year, but at least um this grandma won't be a criminal anymore.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And there'll be um all these patients that will have a plant that their doctors have in their toolbox to hopefully help them.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what this is all about.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Patients' rights, patients care.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I love how you said that a doctor's tool in his toolbox so people have access.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Leah Post, thank you very much for being on the show and advocating for a good cause.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the world's a better place with people like you in it.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: It means so much to me.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, I want to thank Leah Post for doing the show today.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: You can find more information about her cause at Nebraskamarijuana.org.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Check it out.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: See how you can lend your support if it is an issue you feel strongly about.
• 21:28
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• 21:32
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• 21:37
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• 21:47
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• 21:50
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• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Caught on the Mic with Michael Clark.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Michael Clark.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Till next time, thank you.