Latest / The Mark Simone Show / Ken interviews Dr. Christopher Taylor, a mental health expert.

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Ken interviews Dr. Christopher Taylor, a mental health expert. · The Mark Simone Show

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  Speaker 1: Now 9 till noon weekdays on 710WOR. Guest hosting for
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  Speaker 1: Mark today. Here's Ken Rosato. So nice to be with
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  Speaker 1: you on the Thursday of Labor Day weekend. 800-321-0710 the
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  Speaker 1: number to call. But I don't know if you heard
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  Speaker 1: about this. A study by NYU Langone surveyed hundreds of
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  Speaker 1: older adults in New York City showing that roughly 60%
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  Speaker 1: of people age 65 and older admitted they get stoned
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  Speaker 1: just for fun outnumbering those who partake in the use
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  Speaker 1: of marijuana for chronic pain or to relieve tension or
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  Speaker 1: help sleep. Now, stoner seniors have stunned cannabis shop workers
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  Speaker 1: because they often go in and they say, I need
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  Speaker 1: the strongest stuff you got.
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  Speaker 2: Dr.
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  Speaker 1: Christopher Taylor is a mental health expert who heads up
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  Speaker 1: the Taylor Counseling Group. It's based in Texas, and he's
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  Speaker 1: here to talk about stoner seniors and more. Good morning, Dr. Taylor.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, guys. Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's great to have you on. This is Ken Rosato.
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  Speaker 1: And just for the record, for Mark Simone, he would
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  Speaker 1: normally be here, but I know he would have wanted
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  Speaker 1: to talk to you about this, too. So for years,
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  Speaker 1: people have claimed that marijuana was innocuous, that it wasn't harmful,
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't addictive. But we're learning that especially with the
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  Speaker 1: new strong stuff today, that's not the case, is it?
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's true. Yeah, it can be addictive if you're
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  Speaker 3: doing it regularly.
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  Speaker 2: Daily use, which we now see 17.7 million Americans are
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  Speaker 2: saying they're using marijuana daily or near daily.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but it can be, I mean, it can be
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  Speaker 1: used properly for medicinal purposes, correct?
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  Speaker 3: That's correct, yes.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so what's going on in New York? Is it
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  Speaker 1: just the older folks in New York have decided they
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  Speaker 1: were just going to go hog wild with it, or
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  Speaker 1: what's happening?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, I think it's legal now.
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  Speaker 2: And so if you're older, you're an adult, you kind
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  Speaker 2: of have your life together and you're just like, or
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  Speaker 2: you're retired and you just want to get high every day.
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  Speaker 3: I guess that's probably what's going on.
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  Speaker 1: But when it gets to that point, when you're getting
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  Speaker 1: high every day, I mean, it's kind of like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: 20 years ago would have been the two martinis every
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  Speaker 1: day kind of a deal. When it gets to be
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  Speaker 1: a daily thing, that's when it becomes a problem, isn't it?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true. So what we want to watch out
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  Speaker 3: for is.
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  Speaker 2: Can you stop for four weeks without having urges or
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  Speaker 2: cravings or something like that?
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  Speaker 3: Then you're fine.
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  Speaker 2: But if you get to a point where you're using
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  Speaker 2: it every day, addiction is very possible.
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  Speaker 1: And now, just so that everybody knows, you're a doctor
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  Speaker 1: of counseling, correct? A PhD of counseling?
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  Speaker 3: That's right.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm sure you see a lot of people who
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  Speaker 1: have challenges and addictions like this in your practice. So
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  Speaker 1: when you see, say, or read a study like this
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  Speaker 1: from NYU Langone that 60% of people age 65 and
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  Speaker 1: older are doing this on a regular basis and saying
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  Speaker 1: it is strictly for fun, what is the draw? Is
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  Speaker 1: it because the cannabis shops are everywhere in New York
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  Speaker 1: now or they just decided, hey, what the heck, I
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  Speaker 1: got disposable income?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe both, I think.
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  Speaker 2: If it's legal where you are, then the price has
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  Speaker 2: gone down a lot and it's very accessible. When it
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  Speaker 2: was illegal, it was less accessible. You could still get
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  Speaker 2: it wherever you wanted to, but your choices were much
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  Speaker 2: smaller and there was a little taboo to it. You're
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  Speaker 2: doing something illegal, right? But now it's legal in a
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  Speaker 2: lot of states, most states, right? So you can just
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  Speaker 2: walk across the street. buy a bag for like 20
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  Speaker 2: bucks and come back to your home and you know
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  Speaker 2: get stoned the thing is together with some friends and
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  Speaker 2: get stoned yeah.
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  Speaker 1: In new york city unfortunately they're not coming home they're
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  Speaker 1: doing it right out in public and you smell it
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  Speaker 1: everywhere doc it's it's not the most pleasant smell and
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  Speaker 1: it's so funny because i'm so naive to this i've
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  Speaker 1: never held a joint in my life and i mean
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  Speaker 1: that i'm not condemning anyone who does or who has
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  Speaker 1: right i just never have And so the first time,
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  Speaker 1: and I went to high school and college in Manhattan,
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  Speaker 1: but I was born and raised in suburbia. First time
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  Speaker 1: I smelled it, I was like, what is that? Is
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  Speaker 1: somebody burning a stank? I had no idea. But now
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  Speaker 1: it's everywhere. You can't escape it. You walk out of
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  Speaker 1: our building here in Midtown and you smell the stench
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  Speaker 1: everywhere you go to the point that I was in
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  Speaker 1: a ride share. It was a group ride share where
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  Speaker 1: you take a ride with somebody else. And the other
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  Speaker 1: guy who was in it, when I got in, was
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  Speaker 1: reeking of it to the point that I think I
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  Speaker 1: had a contact sent. Like, you know, there was that
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  Speaker 1: Seinfeld episode where they thought the funk transferred from the
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  Speaker 1: cabin to them. Everywhere I went, I thought people were
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  Speaker 1: looking at me like I was smoking pot, and I've
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  Speaker 1: never smoked it in my life. But now the other.
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  Speaker 3: Go ahead.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Doc.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that is a concern.
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  Speaker 2: So if you are going to use marijuana recreationally, please
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  Speaker 2: do not drive. Do not operate machinery. Treat it just
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  Speaker 2: like alcohol. Treat it as if you were drunk because...
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  Speaker 2: That is a DUI waiting to happen.
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  Speaker 1: I have friends who smoke pot. I don't have a
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  Speaker 1: problem with it, doing it at home, you're doing it
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  Speaker 1: at night. I do not have a moral issue. I'm
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  Speaker 1: very libertarian when it comes to that stuff. As long
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  Speaker 1: as you're not doing it in front of your kids
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  Speaker 1: and you're not putting off your responsibilities, or as you said,
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  Speaker 1: you're not driving or you're not at work, those are
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  Speaker 1: the keys. As long as you're not doing something essential
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  Speaker 1: and important at that point, then have at it. It's
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  Speaker 1: hard to justify... being able to go home and have
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  Speaker 1: a cocktail, but not being able to go home and
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  Speaker 1: have a joint. I can't make a valid argument for
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  Speaker 1: one versus the other.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I would say the one argument would be that
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  Speaker 2: one drink is not going to get you trashed, right?
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  Speaker 2: But taking an edible, you might not know how much
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  Speaker 2: is in it. And that can really hit you hard
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  Speaker 2: and it can sneak up on you and it can
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  Speaker 2: last for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's good to know. When the day comes, I
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  Speaker 1: will know that. I will make a note of that.
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  Speaker 1: Be careful having the bag of edibles. That's probably not
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  Speaker 1: a good idea.
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  Speaker 2: Look at that.
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  Speaker 1: I just had four.
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  Speaker 3: Let me have four more.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing has happened yet. Then I'll be sleeping until Thursday.
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  Speaker 3: That does happen, yes.
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  Speaker 1: My goodness.
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  Speaker 3: That does happen. Well, people wake up in the ER.
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  Speaker 1: Yikes.
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  Speaker 3: That's not good.
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  Speaker 1: And of course, I know we've had incidents of kids
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  Speaker 1: getting their hands on some of the gummies that look
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  Speaker 1: like real candy, correct?
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  Speaker 3: Correct.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that is a real concern as well, especially for
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  Speaker 2: our seniors who might be grandfathers or grandmommies. Think about
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  Speaker 2: your grandkids. If they are coming over and you got
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  Speaker 2: some recreational marijuana in your house, you want to lock
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  Speaker 2: that up, put that away because they will find it
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  Speaker 2: and they will think it is candy and they will
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  Speaker 2: eat it.
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  Speaker 3: And we see that's a growing problem right now in
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  Speaker 3: the U.S. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Now, as a doctor of counseling, do you have patients
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  Speaker 1: who come in whom you could recommend edibles and marijuana to,
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  Speaker 1: to help them stabilize and be calm? Or is it
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  Speaker 1: something you try to get them away from? Is it
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  Speaker 1: more of an issue of addiction than anything else?
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  Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately for me, I'm in Texas, so there is
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  Speaker 2: no access to marijuana for us of any kind. We'd
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  Speaker 2: have to leave the state. So no, I would not
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  Speaker 2: advise any of my patients to break the law. If
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  Speaker 2: they are on some kind of prescribed You know, THC
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  Speaker 2: for sleep or something like that by a medical doctor,
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  Speaker 2: I'll just refer to the medical doctor for their recommendation.
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  Speaker 2: But we do, I mean, if they are struggling from addiction,
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  Speaker 2: I do want my patients to be 100% sober from everything. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 2: they're just masking the issue a different way.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's interesting you say that. We just
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  Speaker 1: had this story about Brad Pitt. who had been struggling
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  Speaker 1: with alcohol disorder, alcohol use disorder. We used to call
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  Speaker 1: it alcoholism, right? Today, it's maybe a more user-friendly term.
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  Speaker 1: And he suddenly, after years of sobriety, says, oh, I
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  Speaker 1: can go back to drinking a little bit. Can people
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  Speaker 1: really go back to drinking a little bit if they've
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  Speaker 1: been addicted?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we find that there's typically two types of dependence
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  Speaker 2: for individuals. One is going to be yeah, I can,
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  Speaker 2: I'm using this substance to mask an emotion, to deal
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  Speaker 2: with a problem, however deep that might be. Once that's resolved,
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  Speaker 2: then yeah, I can develop some sobriety. Maybe I can
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  Speaker 2: go back to normal, regular use, right? And then there's
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  Speaker 2: just the kind of individual, that's actually my best friend.
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  Speaker 2: He's been sober for 11 years now. And I asked
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  Speaker 2: him once, I said, you know, do you ever see
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  Speaker 2: yourself drinking again?
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  Speaker 3: And he said, no, not really. And I said, well, why?
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  Speaker 2: And his response was, because I don't want to wake
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  Speaker 2: up on the floor in Vegas, you know? So he's
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  Speaker 2: just like, there is no middle ground for him, right?
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  Speaker 2: It's zero or we're gone.
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  Speaker 1: I have several friends who are exactly that. And one
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  Speaker 1: of them who's been, I guess, 10 years plus sober said,
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  Speaker 1: the minute I have that first drink, I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: go back to drinking 40 ounces of vodka. And that
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  Speaker 1: stunned me when I heard that. I'm thinking, you've been
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  Speaker 1: sober 10 years and that's how much you would do?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, the fact that anyone could drink 40 ounces
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  Speaker 1: of vodka got me. But the fact that he would
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  Speaker 1: say that really got me. And would that be the case, like,
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  Speaker 1: with your friend?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. That's the case with my friend. But then
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  Speaker 3: there's other people.
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  Speaker 2: I've had patients before that, you know, say they had
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  Speaker 2: a death in their family and they used alcohol to
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  Speaker 2: deal with that or marijuana to deal with that instead
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  Speaker 2: of grieving. Uh, years go by, they end up going
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  Speaker 2: into some kind of treatment facility, uh, to deal with
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  Speaker 2: the addiction. Uh, they work through it, they conquer it,
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  Speaker 2: they come out the other side, they've dealt with the grief,
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  Speaker 2: they've dealt with the loss, and then they're able to
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  Speaker 2: go back to the normal lifestyle.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's something you should really, if you've been sober
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  Speaker 1: for a while, definitely talk to your doctor and your
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  Speaker 1: family before you decide to dabble again.
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  Speaker 3: That's very important.
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  Speaker 1: You don't want to have to fall off the wagon
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  Speaker 1: after all those years of hard work. So, doctor, if
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  Speaker 1: somebody wants to reach out, find more about you, you
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  Speaker 1: have a website?
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  Speaker 2: I do, taylorkounselinggroup.com, and you can find my book as well, youareherethebook.com.
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  Speaker 3: I love it.
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  Speaker 1: Dr. Taylor, thank you so much for being on with
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  Speaker 1: us this morning. Taylor Counseling Group based in Texas. Have
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  Speaker 1: a wonderful Labor Day weekend.
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  Speaker 3: It was my pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: You as well. Thanks. Thank you, sir. 800-321-0710, 800-321-0710, the
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  Speaker 1: number to call. We'll take your calls coming up next.
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  Speaker 1: This is Ken Rosato in for Mark on WOR.