WEBVTT - Fighting Off Pain feat. Riley Cote 0:00:00.000 --> 0:00:01.960 It's always about intention, right. If I'm just trying to 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:03.840 get stone, well you'll just get stoned. But if I'm 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:05.920 trying to heal, or if I'm trying to create or 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.680 use this in a different way, intention is everything. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:12.280 Lava for Good and Stand Together Music present The War 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.720 on Drugs Podcast Season two. This season, we're diving deeper 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:17.239 into the real stories behind the. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:17.959 War on Drugs. 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.000 It's impact, it's failures, and the people offering a better 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.520 path forward. Today on the show, fame Philadelphia Flyers and 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.520 forcer from two thousand and six to twenty ten, with 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.960 over two hundred NHL fights to his name, host of 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.680 the Nasty Knuckles podcast, and plant based health advocate mister 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:41.879 Riley Koto. All Right, welcome to another episode of the 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:44.519 War on Drugs. Yes, yes, maam, I'm Greg Blott, I'm 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:48.920 Clay and we're we're going to the hockey rink. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:50.080 Were going to the hockey rink. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.040 Yeah, I can't skate. 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:56.240 I mean no, I mean I've done it, but I 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:57.480 wouldn't say I can do it. 0:00:57.560 --> 0:00:59.440 No, I don't think I need to do it anymore. 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.040 I'm thirty evan now and I don't need to like 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.880 my limbs to start moving in ways that they're not comfortable. 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:11.080 I'm used to skating with wheels, yeah, not with blades. 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.679 So yeah, that just that just feels dangerous and it 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:19.120 feels like is a lot more cutting could happen. Not 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.400 only could you fall, you could slice something. Yeah, I'm 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.080 not a fan of it. That's why I respect the 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:24.720 hockey players. 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.640 I didn't tell you that they play eighty some odd 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.320 games and then you know, we're going to talk to 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.160 Riley Kota today. Name may sound familiar for a lot 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.720 of the NHL fans during like the mid two thousands. 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.039 He was the he was the guy not only was 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:40.880 on ice skates, he was the dude that when the 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:42.080 fight need to happen. 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:42.959 He was on the punch. 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:44.360 He was jersey. 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:46.880 He was the game. He was the bruising and whacking 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:47.840 you a couple of times. 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:50.600 That was That is my favorite hockey move. The jersey 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:54.240 over the good Yeah is a very dirty tech. 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.080 We all learned that in a D two Mighty Ducks. 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:58.880 Yeah, yeah, that is a great move. 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.160 I think they even had Kenny grabbed the jersey start socking. 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.000 Yeah that was great. Yeah, we watched that today. 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:05.880 Shout out. 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:08.520 But yeah, you know and when you're a like we 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:10.480 just see the fights everything like that, like we're good, 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.880 but like you don't think about all the other stuff 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:14.400 that goes along with that. So we talk about his 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.920 career when he started being like this enforcer character and 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.560 how that impacted him, like during his career and now after. 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:23.760 And for those who don't like watch hockey or don't 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.200 know hockey and these kind of think everyone's fighting all 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.040 the time, is like, oh no, there is people. This 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.480 was his job, like he was a defender and fighting. 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:35.960 In hockey that that person is to go out there 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.320 and their job is to bust some heads. 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:39.360 Yeah, like I look at it. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.400 It set the tone. It's thing if they do something wrong. 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.000 This is how you're getting a picture hitting a batter. 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:45.959 It's that type of thing. 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:50.880 And in hockey is not just hard fouls, it's actual 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:52.880 fist fights. 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.600 Oh, they have stats and everything. There's stats, there's who 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:57.919 you find like, there's you can look at all like yeah, it's. 0:02:57.800 --> 0:02:59.880 Crazy, are you fight? And then you take a break. 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.600 And it's he was talking about hundreds of fights, I mean, 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.960 particularly back then and you're in Philly, Yeah, and I 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:09.960 knows about Philly ud. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:17.600 Outside Yeah, so you know we talk about all that, 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.400 like what that actually does to you and how you know, 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.880 really you know it gets into a physical pain, mental pain, 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.320 all these things and how you know, in particular CBD, cannabis, 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:28.840 these things that really helped him and kind of like 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.079 where he's at right now, and just a really amazing 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:32.480 conversation for someone that. 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:36.040 Like man just really worked the ringer an awesome dude, 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.240 awesome time. He invited us into his house. Really cool 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.680 place h outside of like Philadelphia. I dated a girl 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:48.400 that lived around that area and so he lived around there. 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.640 So with that, let's uh, let's talk to Riley cot 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:52.440 Let's get. 0:03:52.240 --> 0:04:00.000 It me and rig our guests and sponsors may sound smart, 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:01.720 we may even make some good points, but at the 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.240 end of the day, we're not medical professional. Okay, Please 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:08.160 don't get your medical advice from a podcast. Anything we 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.960 say on here does not constitute official medical advice. Relax, 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.839 consult your doctor before you start any new treatment plans. 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.320 Got it all right? 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.800 We are here with Riley Kote. We are in the 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.920 lovely Pennsylvania countryside over here. Riley, thanks for coming on 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.240 the War on Drugs. Yeah, thanks for having me, yeah, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.279 and thanks for letting us into your house here you 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:35.080 live outside of Philadelphia. After your amazing care at the 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.880 Philadelphia Flyers managing their minor league team, coming back, you're 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.640 still doing podcasts with Flyers, still connected the team. And 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.640 I know I went to Penn State from two thousand 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:45.640 and six twenty ten, right when you were playing in Philly. 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:47.760 When I told like my Philly scumbag and I said 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.200 that was all dear respect and endearment, my scumbag friends 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:52.040 were just like, oh. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.000 Fuck yeah, coach, Yeah, we love coach. Yeah, just coach bash. 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:56.559 Yeah, right, exact spot. 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.640 How many fights did you get at it during your 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:00.720 NHL career NHL over. 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:01.719 Two hundred hockey fights. 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.080 Yeah, yeah, I mean it was like averaging thirty thirty 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:08.640 five a year and excluding preseason where you're going into 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.520 the jungle and fighting all these young guys coming up 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:12.240 and trying to make a. 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.080 Name for themselves. So yeah, it was it was it was. 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.200 Fighting like you from like, yeah, exactly. 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.800 Fighting myself exactly. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, but yes, 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.599 it's interesting to look back on it because it's I 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.880 almost forget, like what kind of life I lived, you know, 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.599 how you know how hard it was like is but 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.279 early on, it was like, you know, I just loved 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.240 it early, even though there was parts of it I 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.760 didn't love, Like there's again the emotional roller coaster of 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.920 jacking yourself up and then trying to sleep after. 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:41.360 I didn't love that. But once you're in the fight, 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:45.560 there's something like extremely powerful about the amount of adrenaline 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:46.240 and energy. 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:48.760 It's like you and another guy in front of well, 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.839 eventually playing the NHL like twenty twenty two thousand people 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.240 watching the game, right but in the Central Hockey League, 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:55.640 smaller crowds, but nonetheless like. 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.640 You're you're you're you're in a you know, hand to hand. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:03.400 Combat, you know, hockey fight, and someone's gonna win, someone's 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.080 gonna lose, and it's just like it's just so it's 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:06.680 a intimate. 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.320 So early on, I mean a lot of times grabbing 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.720 jerseys like it's right in the face, turning around and 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:15.240 I mean it's yeah, it's. 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:17.480 Yeah, it's real, right, yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:19.200 as real it's going to get. And you got, you know, 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.400 two big dudes, you know that that are willing to 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.120 punch each other in the face and stand there and 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.960 take it. So early on, it was like just taking 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.080 on this challenge of like, well, a new role, like 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.320 a new skill I had to learn, right, not even 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.280 just the fighting part, but like how to play the role. 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.279 It was there like a coach on the team, like 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.280 did you get fighting, Like like yeah, it's it's kind 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.479 of like one of you to. 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:42.960 Figure it out on your own, honestly. 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.839 So you know, I've been around the fighting since I 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.640 was in junior hockey, so I've observed some of the 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:50.600 tough guys that we had on the team and how 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.320 they carried themselves and how they flexed and how you know, how. 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:54.360 They did their job. 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.040 So it was just really kind of taking pages out 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.520 of other people's books observing, and I started udying the 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:02.280 tough guys right, start studying how they. 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:06.200 Carry themselves when they fought, how they did it, you know. Different. 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:08.479 I was lefty, so you know, there wasn't many lefties. 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.360 The biggest, biggest, baddest dudes landed up being lefties. That 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.080 it was a different strategy now and fighting these guys. 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.680 But it was just like it was just like owning 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:18.560 the role and owning the role, and to a point 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.920 where it almost say, it consumed me maybe to a fault, 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.120 you know, because it becomes you, you know, like this 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:27.440 is just my gig, that's it. 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.400 And then you say that you I say, like playing 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:31.760 a role. You are playing a role. 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:34.440 It's like you know a character that you have to play. 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.040 But you also, as I mentioned earlier, you have to 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.280 back it up. You can't just act tough and then 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.080 when the other when the other guy's tough guy starts flexing, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.400 then then you cowards like I don't want to fight anymore, 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:43.800 you know. 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:45.680 What I mean. If you're gonna if you're gonna puff. 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:47.840 Your chest out and bark at the other guy, you 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:50.520 better be ready. So there has to be the element 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.920 of actually owning it too, right and backing it up. 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.160 So I was actually taking different fight lessons. 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.000 I was. I hired a fight code. Whatever it takes, 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:00.240 there's anything it takes. Yeah. 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.160 So I did some boxing, did some dirty boxing, got 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:05.640 into some karate, you got into some taekwondo, and then 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.240 eventually got into like this really this jiu jitsu type 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.840 you just stand up greco Roman wrestling type of thing. 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.120 Yeah, And so you know, you can't can't win every fight, 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.440 and so even when you are you know, knuckles getting 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.280 busted up, you're already playing hockey, which is incredibly physical sport. 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.160 Long seasons. You're getting hit in the face, you're getting 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:25.000 dragged down bloody. What was that treatment process looking like 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.920 at that point in your career. What were they doing 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.520 for you? And how much pain were you actually kind 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.680 of playing through? And yeah, what did that whole culture 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:33.320 look like for you? 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.880 Yeah, I mean I don't think I ever fully healed. Yeah, 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:38.960 I mean you talk about being always banged up. You're 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.080 always dealing with, like, you know, the aches and the pain, 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.880 especially the hands from fighting. They said that you mentioned 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:45.640 the gripping. You know, you're grabbing on and you get 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:47.679 the fingers. You know, I got the crooked finger from 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.560 dislocating my finger. All these weird little things you don't 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.640 think of, Like the back of the neck is always 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.240 sort of you know, the face inflammation and obviously dealing 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.640 with the inflammation of the brain, which sure you're kind 0:08:58.640 --> 0:08:59.719 of just ignored, you. 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:01.760 Know, just like Sha. 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:05.960 But you know, when I moved away from home when 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.000 I was sixteen years old, you know, you you move 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.000 away and you're you're introduced to this culture of hockey 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.199 and there's a lot of alcohol, there's a lot of partying, right, 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.240 And so I was introduced to that world and you know, 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:18.640 not really knowing it at the time, you know, the 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.040 world of self medicating, right, So like when I started 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:26.280 fighting for a living, there's obviously added stress to the job. 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:28.800 It's like a different dimension of stress. You know. The 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:30.320 party keeps increasing. 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:31.760 As you get older, you get you know, a new league, 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:33.400 a little more money, you know what I mean, the part, 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:35.480 but the party is there though always there was always 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.600 the party. And what comes with the party is you know, 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.560 more drugs and you know, more more means to to 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.960 disassociate or you know, to to numb and to self medicate. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.240 So booze was a huge you know, it's a huge. 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:50.880 Part of my life for a lot of times in 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.720 a really destructive way. And then not understanding the energy, 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:59.120 not understanding the substance itself, misusing it obviously like most people, right, 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.880 and you know, going down some dark you know holes 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:05.400 with that. But I will say I also had a 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:09.199 relationship with cannabis since I was fifteen years old, but 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.800 I think helped balance out some of the booze issues 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:14.679 to the point where it didn't go as dark as 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.480 it could have. Like I've seen some guys go because 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.080 they didn't have a relationship with cannabis. I will say 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.640 my relationship with cannabis wasn't great either, I think without 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.360 understanding the science, like when I turned pro at twenty 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.080 years old, you know, because there wasn't a whole lot 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.120 of different type of products available. Still, you know, flower 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:35.880 would be pretty much anything you're going to find. I 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.200 would move from Canada to Memphis, Tennessee, like slim pickens 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.120 on what you're going to find. But I think it 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.720 was there that I really started. Now looking back, you know, 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:48.680 on my life and career, did I identify the therapeutics 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.720 in that cannabis offered me? Because I could remember like 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.280 like I'm fighting this big ass dude tomorrow. And then 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.439 you know, I could like actually chill, I could actually 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:59.760 fall asleep when I'm hearing horror stories. Some of the 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.000 other guys that you know that are doing the job, 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.840 like they like literally don't sleep right, like literally like 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.120 sweats and like not sleeping. So I could tell that 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.720 it helped with anxiety and sleep for sure, and then 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:15.480 definitely pain. I couldn't communicate it at the time, like 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.560 I didn't have the language because I was you know, 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:19.240 it was still like that was, you know, back in 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.640 two thousand and one, like there was, there was certainly 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.840 not podcast And I'm a naive, you know, Canadian hockey 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.920 player down in you know, Memphis, Tennessee and Mississippi, playing 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:30.960 on that side of it, like. 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.720 Not understanding it, but feeling it. You know. 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:35.640 It's like, you know, it's like, oh, the devil's let us. 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:37.560 It's like, well, surely sort of don't feel like the 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:39.680 devil's let us. I felt better and it's actually helped 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:42.120 me manage some of these things. So I always had 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.079 a relationship with cannabis, like my whole junior hockey career 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.120 and pro hockey careers. Really when I started to make 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.120 sense of like what it was doing, but I was 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.480 also still you know, engaging with a lot of gnarly 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.920 behaviors like drinking night quill on the bus after games. 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:58.839 We're trying to you know what I mean, because we 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:01.520 weren't travel with the cannabis the time, so you'd we 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:04.320 start to use other things to do the same thing 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:08.000 the cannabis was doing. Right, Oh, I need to relax, Yeah, 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.120 oh you got to sleep. You have some night quill, 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:12.960 you know what I mean. But they but they do 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.840 something completely different, right, I mean there's the night quill 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.680 hangover and these weird muscle relaxers, and then you get 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:22.480 into like the percosets, right, they start a Percoset fives. 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:23.000 And then you know what I mean. 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:24.760 So you'd be on the on the bus at the 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.160 time and it would just be like, yeah, after the game, 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.520 it's like everyone's trying to get in relaxed sleep mode. 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.360 Booze pills, right, and night quill and whatever else. 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.400 As you can imagine, it's it's just as a really 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.400 destructive cocktail. And so you see so many guys deal 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.959 with substance abuse issues and it's. 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:42.880 Staring you right in the eye. 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:44.679 It is right in the face, right, It's like it's 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:46.560 it's it's a major problem. 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:47.840 But it's just the way it is. I think the 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:49.680 culture of it exactly, it's the culture. 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:50.840 It feels normal. 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:51.520 Normal. 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:53.319 Of course, I'll take some night. I just saw my 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.720 other like we're passing around like it. I'll just yeah, yeah. 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.160 Now the world is so focused on recovery and rest. 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.600 Back in the day, like we wouldn't take days off, 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.640 like our days off would be getting absolutely crushed drunk 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:05.719 and then still showing up you's got to get a 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.679 workout and executive workout, steaming out and lift and all 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.679 these crazy things. And now it's like mandatory days off 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.000 by the NHL. Like the focus of recovery. It's a 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.000 big part of the work, right because you can only 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.839 work so much and then the body breaks down. And 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.360 you know, for in the business of preventing injuries and 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:25.120 keeping your players on the ice or on the field, 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:26.839 if you have a five million, six million dollars on 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.800 the guy on the shelf, it doesn't help the success 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:30.280 of the team. 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:30.880 So now. 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.480 You see guys using cannabis in these extremely mindful ways 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.520 and you know, just completely different than what we did 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.160 back in the day. So like a laugh, I'm like 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.280 geez man, Like you know here, I am like thinking 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.040 to myself, I'm like an idiot for you know, for 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.120 if you have trial and error for so many years 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:48.920 of trying to figure this out, but there was no manual. 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:51.640 Right now we're living an age of information. You guys 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.880 got these podcasts and there's awareness, but there's like science 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.719 to support it. There's all these different delivery systems as 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.040 I mentioned, but like very predictable outcomes based on the 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.520 varieties that we choose and what we're trying to accomplish. 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.360 Right, right, That ignorance and that lack of like a 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.680 culture around it. Like with alcohol. I remember we were 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.000 in school. It's like five ounces of wine. It adds 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:13.199 up to a light beard ads it. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:14.760 You knew, you knew the quantity. 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:16.360 Yeah, right, you may have had some trial and air 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.360 and some bad moments with some stuff and there was 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:19.480 like some stuff anymore. 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.120 Yeah, you knew, and we just don't have that culture 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:23.560 around campus still even though this. 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:24.280 Is to this day. 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.080 Yeah, the argument of like, well, there's no you know, 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:31.000 cannabis product products for me because I associate cannabis with 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:32.560 being this stone I don't want to be stoned? 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:34.240 Is that to me? That's a myth. 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:38.840 Like there's certainly products that can help service anybody, whether 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.840 you want to get higher or not, just just to 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.320 kind of pick your variety and understand what you're putting 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:45.960 in your body and you know, you can make some. 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:46.400 Sense of it. 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.520 But it's it's it's hard to believe it's only been 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:53.000 what like twenty years a little bit longer, you know 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:54.760 that it's evolved that much. 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:05.359 So Riley, you talk about kind of you were using cannabis, 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:07.880 you know, since you were fifteen on you know, on 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.080 So when do you feel that turn kind of happened 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.520 where you were just kind of taking it recreationally to oh, 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.080 I'm I'm curious about this or I want to do more. 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.200 Was there like an ahaman? Was it speaking to someone? 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:21.520 Was it all post career? Was it during your career? 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.560 Did that kind of lead to kind of like moving 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:25.040 on from the NHL after that? 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:26.640 Yeah, I just love to hear your thoughts about where 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:27.520 that transition came. 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.800 Yeah, the aha moment came my last year of playing 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.960 in twenty ten, the aha moment of like making sense 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:36.080 of my experience and connecting it to something that I 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.160 read supported by science, actually a book called Hemp for Health, 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.640 and it broke down the entire cannabis plant. You know, 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.000 the dig digestible protein source, like the food is a 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:50.160 viable protein source, hemp seeds, the hemp protein, you know, 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.440 the fibers always support cannabis, all my clothes, all I have, 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.000 you know, and I just like just understanding the viability 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.560 of the plant, the industrial applications of the plant, and 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.160 then getting into the true medicinal side of the cannabis 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.480 plant and making sense of some of these compounds. Right, 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.640 THHD was like the only compound I had heard of 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:12.120 at that time, and then you know, understanding CBD and 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.760 some of these other minor cannabinoids and their effect on 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.520 the body and the brain. And I think it was 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.760 just in that moment that I had this aha moment 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.440 of around holy shit, Like I felt like I was 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.240 duped almost right, yeah, but I also felt like energized 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.120 to be like wow, like, you know, I've been believing 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.440 in this thing for so long because I obviously it's 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.280 been by my side. I've been using it, not understanding it. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:36.640 But now it makes way more sense to me. This 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:38.960 is like, there's a reason why this is illegal, has 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.560 nothing to do with you know, the propaganda machine. This 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.880 is an incredible resource, and you start you know studying it, 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.080 and you know, you get started connecting all the dots 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:51.640 to you know, synthetic fibers versus natural fibers and everything. 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:53.040 You know, I mean, it makes sense to the natural 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.680 world versus the chemical world or the synthetic world. So 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.560 I really just started getting excited about it and started 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:01.720 you know, speaking for the trees, if you will. Right 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.639 right out of the gate, when I retired, did I 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.720 start advocating for cannabis. 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:08.520 But but what happened when I had that. 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.760 Aha moment my last two surgeries in twenty ten, I 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:15.239 just used cannabis post surgery, proving to myself, because at 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.520 that point, I was dealing with some major substance abuse, 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.600 like parting way too much and still using you know, 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:25.239 pain pills way too way too often, sleeping pills. So 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:29.119 I chose to just attempt to use cannabis as like, 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.120 you know, I said, some bit of a social experiment 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.840 on myself, and I proved to myself for those two 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.359 surgeries nose surgery and this surgery on my finger that 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.439 I talked about earlier, just used cannabis throughout the pills 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.720 and haven't used a pharmaceutical drug since then. It's been 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:47.000 nothing but earth based medicine since then. And that just 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:49.560 led me down the rabbit hole of psilocybin, which I 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:54.000 had a similar kind of relationship with that cannabis, misunderstood, misused. 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.679 But then the cannabis and the psilocybin, you know, kind 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.280 of using them, you know together, pairing them, as you 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:02.920 could say, to treat some of their collateral damage from 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:05.199 fighting right now. So I always start to understand CBD 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.280 on the level of neuro the neuroprotecting value and you know, 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.840 the promoting neurogenesis, which as I mentioned, led me down 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.320 the researching of psilocybin, which seemed to mimic some version 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.680 of what CBD was doing. Oh, the neurogenesis, the neuroprotection property. 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:21.480 So I was like, shit, I'm like, if this is 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.919 helping me on this level with with the pain management anxiety, 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.280 and I actually stopped drinking for a year. The cannabis 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.320 was this amazing tool to transition out of the grind 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:32.359 and you know, give me something. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.600 To lean on and heal. And then it was the psilocybin. 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.159 Similarly, it was like I gotta I gotta manage the 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:39.359 damage that I've caused. 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:41.680 So I landed up using. 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:47.320 Psilocybin differently, but much like I'd been using cannabis to heal. 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.560 And it really really was that was around the brain 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.160 more than than the physical And that's so what's neurogenesis 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:53.320 for those that don't know at hell? 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:55.440 And like, what are you actually talking with that? 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.000 Yeah, I think the simplest way to describe it, I 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.000 guess at some level of neuroplasticity, it's just it's it's 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:07.040 the brain cells reconnecting, maybe create, connecting new neuropathways, potentially 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.280 old ones. But it's just it's the brain reconnecting in 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.520 some way, shape or form, at least on some level. 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.520 Right. It could take time to full full level. 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:19.280 Of neurogenesis, but there's like connection happening, and there's like 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.920 some life happening in the brain, right, much like the 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:23.879 my ceial network underneath the soil. 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.120 Right, there's like a level of like there's a world. 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.240 There's a world. Yeah, it's like things are happening, things 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:30.720 are connecting something. That's the simplest way I could describe it. 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.280 It's just like the you know, the ability for maybe 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.880 new brain cell growth, but you condict connection of neurons 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:38.280 and brain cells. 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:39.240 Yeah, I know. 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:41.000 We talked to like Liz Carmus and she's a part 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.879 of the Cleveland Medical Study brain study that a lot 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.560 of the NFL players are participating that too, And she 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:50.000 has said since using CBD she had like her brain 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:52.680 the levels that they're measuring for you know what cd 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.520 CT could be damaged neurons, brain cells actually increased in 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:59.919 protection and it's helped her brain like, oh, recover physic 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.000 and it's just an amazing thing to hear. And I 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.000 think that's just so critical for people like that. Who 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:06.920 are you know, she's getting punched in the faces? I'm 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:08.840 too and like, yeah, that's an interesting thing. Have you 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.160 been able to like measure anything from like an FC 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:13.520 standpoint talking to doctors about what you know your brain 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:15.840 was looking like from an MRI casting, I'd be curious, 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:17.600 like what that looks like from that we're just like 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:18.639 physically feeling. 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:20.880 Yeah, yeah, it's physically feeling. Honestly. 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:25.040 Part of my strategy when I first retired was not 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:27.280 to get a diagnosis, because what I had seen was 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:30.920 that once you get labeled with a diagnosis, now you 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.480 get all these opinions. Yeah, you get all these different treatments, 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:35.920 and you get all these different people that wanted to 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.119 heal you and help you. Right, And I know it 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:40.879 sounds great and all, except for it's confusing, right, and 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:42.840 it's uh, and it was not the path that I 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:44.479 wanted to go. I was like kind of done with 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.720 that that that world, and so I was just the 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:49.800 way I'm wired is just like Okay, Riley, You're going 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:51.480 to do this yourself, right, you got yourself in this 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:52.640 whole You're gonna figure this one out. 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:56.040 And then it was really just a it was a 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:56.920 combination of. 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:02.000 Self study, right, myself and and the plants themselves, but 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.800 knowing that that I was just going to trust the 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.359 way I was feeling right, So I had no benchmark, 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:10.200 kind of like you could go back on the look 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:12.320 because I know some people that have and it'd be 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:14.359 nice to look. But like, I think that I would 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.000 have gotten dragged through the mud had I gone that route, 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:18.879 and I don't think I would be where I am today. 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.000 I don't think it would have accelerated the way it 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:24.000 accelerated the way it did. So no real benchmark, you know, 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:25.760 on a physical level, but it was just based on 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.199 the way the way I felt right. I mean, it 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:33.119 was just the emotions, the I guess, the darkness, the fog, 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:37.000 the sense of like purpose, right, because it's way beyond just. 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:37.600 The brain, right. 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:40.320 I mean, we have to be honest with like the physical, 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:43.359 the mental, the emotional, spiritual, right, It's like it's and 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.560 I think that's why these these earth based medicines are 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:49.640 so powerful, is because they address the whole being right, 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:50.240 and it's not. 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:53.280 The foundation, it's the root causes. It's not the lipstick 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:54.680 on it. You know, you're not putting a band aid 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:55.280 over it. 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:57.639 That's it, right, And you get to the nitty gritty, right, 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.199 they're all anti inflammatory. So it's getting to the or 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.280 of maybe where some of the pains coming from, or 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:04.440 the you know, the you know, the issues are coming 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.360 from soda dresses the inflammation. And there's obviously a more 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:09.680 of an esoteric mystical side. 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:12.080 There is a level of you. 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:14.880 Know, emotional release, spiritual release, and we talk about trauma, 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.000 you know, dealing with the physical trauma that was association 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:22.240 with right, So it's kind of attacking the whole being right. 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:24.280 We always look at it as a physical thing, but 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:27.880 it's way beyond that. And I think both of them, 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.800 you know both I say, psilocybin and cannabis in their 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:35.240 own lanes, have been extremely instrumental. 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:36.639 For me to just you know, say get back on 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:37.160 my feet. 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:39.840 Some people would argue all their crutches, and they say, well, 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:42.360 crutches help people walk, and you know it's like they 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:48.320 serve their purpose if respected and used properly, extremely powerful. 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:51.480 And so since then, you know, it's been me just say, 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:54.320 like banging the drama, like speaking to my experience as 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:57.720 much as I possibly can. Now, I have coaches and 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:02.240 players and you know, strength to conditioning guys in professional 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:04.439 sports organizations asking me for advice. 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:07.119 Almost every player is using some version of a cannabis. 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:10.520 Product, including the coaching staff, and the coaching staff would 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:13.479 rather have their players using cannabis than drinking alcohol exactly. 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:17.879 That's how what she's evolved. Hockey Traditionally most sports heavy 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:20.280 on the booze. So it's like it's amazing to see 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:24.440 the shift the levels of consciousness. And rightfully so, people 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:28.000 are just like now, maybe for some time now, I've 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:30.720 been waking up to the idea that we may have 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:34.440 been duped and these are actually legitimate tools to help 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:37.080 us through a daily grind and sports recovery. 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:40.960 I'm curious, like, do you feel you've had more resistance 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:43.639 from folks that are athletes who are very you know, 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:45.600 controlling about a lot of what they put in their body, 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:48.080 or like Layman's people when you've talked about this and 0:23:48.160 --> 0:23:51.119 more steps, I would almost think like athletes just because 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:53.359 they are very skeptical of anything that they're about to 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:55.840 put in, maybe they would believers immediately after because they 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:58.480 know what feels right. I'm just curious, like you feel 0:23:58.480 --> 0:24:00.639 that that's been part of a trans for for folks 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:01.480 or the other way. 0:24:01.920 --> 0:24:03.560 It's the older generational alumni. 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:06.200 Yeah, they were like they were born in the thick 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:08.320 of you know, the war on drugs. They're born in 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:12.840 the thick of the propaganda machine and and heavy drinkers, 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:15.160 and so a lot of these guys driving those emotions down, 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:18.800 driving the emotions down, and and you know, and and 0:24:19.160 --> 0:24:22.080 buying into the belief system that all drugs are the same, right, 0:24:22.119 --> 0:24:25.440 traditional substance abuse program AA programs. A lot of a 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:27.600 lot of guys gone through the AA programs, which is 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:30.560 like all substances bad. We're going to have to be 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:32.800 a Buddhist monk to get through this type of deal. 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:33.000 Right. 0:24:33.280 --> 0:24:36.720 Funny thing about the guy that started A Yeah, he 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:39.080 thought he saw God. Yeah, that's why he started h A. 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:41.680 I know, right, it's crazy, the irony of it, right, 0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:43.359 So we have Actually part of my work is to 0:24:43.440 --> 0:24:47.200 try and introduce cannabis and psilocybin too the recovery settings 0:24:47.400 --> 0:24:51.960 and actually reform the addiction model because from my own experience, 0:24:51.960 --> 0:24:54.040 and I know several others that I've used cannabis and 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:55.560 psilocybin to get off drugs. 0:24:55.680 --> 0:24:57.320 They use it as an exit drug, right. I mean, 0:24:57.320 --> 0:24:58.399 it's like you're giving. 0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:00.920 You something to I don't say, wean off or it 0:25:01.040 --> 0:25:03.879 help you deal with the the the withdrawal, and it 0:25:03.880 --> 0:25:05.560 help you make sense of the core issues you're dealing 0:25:05.560 --> 0:25:08.840 with the trauma itself. So that's a whole other world, 0:25:08.880 --> 0:25:11.119 you know that. That's that I'm kind of trying to 0:25:11.160 --> 0:25:14.119 penetrate with this, But it's generally the older generation guys 0:25:14.560 --> 0:25:18.080 that have had subscribed to traditional substance abuse programs because 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:19.200 they're anti everything. 0:25:19.640 --> 0:25:22.080 But we've made a ton of leeway there. You know. 0:25:22.359 --> 0:25:24.960 I'm working with the Flyers right now, the Flyers alumni, 0:25:25.359 --> 0:25:29.120 to build out a you know, precision dose, customized cannabis 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:31.520 program for the alumni for a lot of these guys 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:34.360 that have just been anti cannabis for good reason because 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:36.080 they're you know, on the programs, they don't know any better, 0:25:36.119 --> 0:25:38.600 but they're suffering so much now and they're seeing all 0:25:38.640 --> 0:25:41.000 the headlines and you know, they're knowing people that are 0:25:41.080 --> 0:25:44.960 using CBD no THC products and using high CB varieties 0:25:45.000 --> 0:25:48.240 for inflammation or sleep. But they're still thinking in their 0:25:48.280 --> 0:25:50.679 minds that CBS a violation of the sobriety, which is 0:25:50.720 --> 0:25:52.600 crazy to think about. So that's their own issues like 0:25:53.040 --> 0:25:54.720 that they have to you know, they'll they help to 0:25:54.720 --> 0:25:58.280 figure out themselves. But that But that's the conversations that 0:25:58.320 --> 0:26:00.080 we're having, and that's where it's going. 0:26:00.119 --> 0:26:02.080 And I'd like to think here, if it's. 0:26:01.960 --> 0:26:06.439 Not already happening officially through strength and conditioning, you know, 0:26:06.720 --> 0:26:10.920 the sports science department actually integrating cannabinoids into their therapy, 0:26:11.359 --> 0:26:13.200 not just like having the players use it on their own, 0:26:13.240 --> 0:26:15.159 but actually making a part of their strength and conditioning 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:17.560 recovery program. So that's where it's going. If it's not 0:26:17.680 --> 0:26:20.679 already fully there yet. It's it's amazing how quickly this 0:26:20.760 --> 0:26:22.879 thing's morph But that the older generation, young guys are 0:26:22.880 --> 0:26:25.040 easy because they're always looking for an edge. They want 0:26:25.080 --> 0:26:27.439 to feel better, they want to optimize, they want to 0:26:27.440 --> 0:26:30.520 they want to play longer, you know, they want to 0:26:30.560 --> 0:26:32.480 make the money as long as they can, so they'll 0:26:32.520 --> 0:26:34.679 do anything. Then then you get in the world of 0:26:34.920 --> 0:26:37.199 microdosing psilocybe, and it's like a whole other world of 0:26:37.200 --> 0:26:38.119 sports performance. 0:26:38.240 --> 0:26:40.640 Like talk about the mind and like focus. 0:26:40.359 --> 0:26:43.000 And PC do it and others I think that is 0:26:43.040 --> 0:26:46.160 such like a foreign const like someone taking a drug 0:26:46.240 --> 0:26:48.280 and doing work. I think, like people, that'll be a 0:26:48.359 --> 0:26:50.159 burrage for a lot of people for a very long. 0:26:50.040 --> 0:26:52.119 Time, it is, But that one seems to be like 0:26:52.200 --> 0:26:55.800 warp speed too, because people are realizing that we've again 0:26:55.840 --> 0:26:56.320 been duped. 0:26:56.359 --> 0:26:58.760 It's like, oh, there's riddling. There's all these drugs. 0:26:58.520 --> 0:27:00.720 That are trying to do this, like the coffee and 0:27:00.880 --> 0:27:03.720 all the stimulants that people are just chasing the dream with. 0:27:04.160 --> 0:27:06.680 But then you got something that's super gentle, you know, 0:27:06.840 --> 0:27:11.879 very predictable, focused, concentrated energy that does actually improve performance 0:27:12.280 --> 0:27:17.080 and you know individual performance, team performance, right, So it's yeah, 0:27:17.119 --> 0:27:18.800 it's wild to think about. And then you talked to 0:27:18.800 --> 0:27:20.880 some of these UFC fighters and they're talking about micro doses. 0:27:20.880 --> 0:27:23.600 They're talking about like mini doses and like one gram 0:27:23.760 --> 0:27:26.159 one and a half grams before combat. Yeah, where you're 0:27:26.200 --> 0:27:30.480 seeing so many high level performers, we're talking about psilocybin, 0:27:30.600 --> 0:27:31.800 you know, microsing Now, but. 0:27:31.720 --> 0:27:33.080 How prevalent do you think that is in like the 0:27:33.160 --> 0:27:35.160 NHL or major sports. How many players do you think 0:27:35.240 --> 0:27:37.080 do that on a semi regular basis? 0:27:37.160 --> 0:27:39.920 Now, It's it's hard to say, but it's quite a bit. 0:27:40.280 --> 0:27:42.480 Oh yeah, and it's more than you may think, and 0:27:42.520 --> 0:27:44.919 it's people that you might not think. Yeah, it's like 0:27:45.720 --> 0:27:47.720 and it's catching on. Just like the cannabis thing. It's 0:27:47.760 --> 0:27:50.120 like when I was coaching in the American Hockey League, 0:27:50.200 --> 0:27:53.440 towards the last second the second last year of my coaching, 0:27:53.720 --> 0:27:57.240 guys were infusing peanut butter, infusing coconut oil with cannabis 0:27:57.240 --> 0:27:58.520 and sitting in the back of the bus and just 0:27:58.560 --> 0:28:01.000 like so they could sleep, so they got unwined and 0:28:01.160 --> 0:28:02.880 like you didn't see the beers on the bus. So 0:28:02.920 --> 0:28:05.600 it's like, like you want to wake up in the 0:28:05.600 --> 0:28:08.600 morning feeling better, and you want to perform better. And 0:28:08.640 --> 0:28:10.880 there's times to go, you know, the times guys still 0:28:10.880 --> 0:28:12.840 go and rip it up, there's no question. But the 0:28:12.880 --> 0:28:15.120 age of like archaic drinking like it was in the past, 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:17.639 that's there is a thing of the past. And guys 0:28:17.680 --> 0:28:20.720 are so focused on taking care of their moneymakers, their 0:28:20.720 --> 0:28:23.480 temples right, and and they're gonna do whatever they have to. 0:28:24.160 --> 0:28:26.800 And you're seeing this in all levels of performance, not 0:28:26.960 --> 0:28:28.479 just hockey, not just sports. 0:28:28.520 --> 0:28:30.800 As you mentioned, high levels. 0:28:30.520 --> 0:28:34.080 Executives, the Silicon Valley coders, anybody I work with some 0:28:34.080 --> 0:28:38.080 some dentists, dental surgeons like so focused, so calm that 0:28:38.160 --> 0:28:39.880 you know that you can be in that moment and 0:28:40.280 --> 0:28:41.200 feel like you can. 0:28:41.080 --> 0:28:42.160 Do the best work. Right. 0:28:42.280 --> 0:28:45.719 Yeah, so that's what you're seeing. So and guys talk right, 0:28:45.720 --> 0:28:47.720 they're not gonna wait for the FDA. They're not waiting 0:28:47.760 --> 0:28:50.880 for the gatekeepers, you know, the regulators that come in 0:28:51.040 --> 0:28:53.240 like you know, to me, this is like green light, 0:28:53.360 --> 0:28:55.560 like they've paved the way with cannabis. This is a 0:28:55.600 --> 0:28:57.960 green light to you know, to optimize in a healthy way. 0:28:58.280 --> 0:28:59.920 The craziest thing about it is just the laws of 0:29:00.000 --> 0:29:01.960 around it. That's the most destructive piece. 0:29:02.120 --> 0:29:02.280 Right. 0:29:09.720 --> 0:29:11.200 You don't have the name names or do anything, but 0:29:11.280 --> 0:29:11.959 are there people? 0:29:12.240 --> 0:29:15.160 Are there people that you saw within your career or 0:29:15.160 --> 0:29:16.920 anything that you were like, man, I wish I saw 0:29:17.240 --> 0:29:19.000 wish I caught him like who I am now? I 0:29:19.040 --> 0:29:21.280 wish I could just sit him down and been like 0:29:21.400 --> 0:29:22.560 I know what's happening with your head? 0:29:22.560 --> 0:29:25.080 I know it's happening aboudy, Like here's a better Yeah. 0:29:25.240 --> 0:29:25.400 Yeah. 0:29:25.480 --> 0:29:29.800 There was so many of those guys during my playing 0:29:29.880 --> 0:29:31.840 career and posts and I still and I still run 0:29:31.840 --> 0:29:34.680 into the Yeah. I mean it's like there's there's guys 0:29:34.960 --> 0:29:36.040 taking their own lives. 0:29:36.200 --> 0:29:37.240 Like you see, seems like. 0:29:37.240 --> 0:29:40.040 Almost every other week, you know, hear these dark stories, 0:29:40.480 --> 0:29:44.240 just guys within you know, the Flyers alumni network, and 0:29:44.280 --> 0:29:47.000 you see them and it's just like every time you 0:29:47.000 --> 0:29:48.840 see the way they moved, the way they're carrying themselves, 0:29:48.880 --> 0:29:51.680 you could tell, you know, they could be optimized or 0:29:51.680 --> 0:29:53.440 they could optimize their lives a little bit better, right, 0:29:53.480 --> 0:29:55.840 And I know what I know, But like you know, 0:29:56.200 --> 0:29:59.560 I also know that they only know what they know, right, 0:29:59.560 --> 0:30:02.000 And like a lot of the stuff that I educate 0:30:02.000 --> 0:30:05.000 people on advocate for is still a taboo, right, there's 0:30:05.000 --> 0:30:08.440 still a stigma around, especially the older generational guys. But yeah, 0:30:08.480 --> 0:30:10.120 I mean I look back and even though I was playing, 0:30:10.120 --> 0:30:12.280 it's like I wish guys would have drank less and 0:30:12.320 --> 0:30:14.160 smoked more, you know what I mean. And like you know, 0:30:14.280 --> 0:30:15.720 there's a lot of guys that never got into the 0:30:15.760 --> 0:30:16.840 cannabis while they were playing. 0:30:17.880 --> 0:30:19.840 And some guys are so proud they will never get into. 0:30:19.720 --> 0:30:21.560 The cannabis, you know what I mean, Because I'm I'm 0:30:21.600 --> 0:30:23.479 an alcohol guy, you know what I mean. You got 0:30:23.560 --> 0:30:26.560 to stay by the you know, bye bye old faithful there. 0:30:26.600 --> 0:30:30.720 But every day. I feel like there's people I run into. 0:30:31.400 --> 0:30:34.400 I think it's it's some bit complex because there's, you know, 0:30:34.440 --> 0:30:38.680 the physical pain guys deal with, you know, the inflammation, 0:30:38.800 --> 0:30:41.720 the actual physical pain, and then there's an emotional pain, 0:30:41.800 --> 0:30:43.720 right depending on how the guy left the game. 0:30:43.760 --> 0:30:46.000 We're talking about more mainly like retired guys. 0:30:46.840 --> 0:30:49.240 I think it is the toughest part because now you've 0:30:49.360 --> 0:30:52.400 left your team, your teammates, that locker room right, right, 0:30:52.440 --> 0:30:56.640 it's like a it's a family, right, And it was 0:30:56.800 --> 0:30:57.640 very organized. 0:30:57.680 --> 0:30:58.840 It was very structured. 0:30:59.080 --> 0:31:02.120 You know, you give your schedule handed out to you 0:31:02.120 --> 0:31:03.240 the start of the year. You knew what you're doing 0:31:03.240 --> 0:31:05.400 every day, every week, every month for the whole season, 0:31:05.480 --> 0:31:07.959 what to wear, game days, practice days, and then all 0:31:07.960 --> 0:31:09.800 of a sudden, you're on the other side of the fence, 0:31:10.560 --> 0:31:13.200 like looking at your career, not knowing who you are. 0:31:13.240 --> 0:31:16.160 There's an identity crisis that follows. Right, It's like holy shit, 0:31:16.280 --> 0:31:19.080 like now what you know? Because I thought I was 0:31:19.080 --> 0:31:21.320 a hockey player, That's how I thought I was, but 0:31:21.360 --> 0:31:25.000 that was the job you did. So I think what 0:31:25.120 --> 0:31:27.800 happens is like they're dealing with physical pain, they generally 0:31:28.000 --> 0:31:31.760 generally mismanage that pain with alcohol and other drugs and 0:31:31.800 --> 0:31:34.960 you know, legal drugs, paint and pain killers, the whole bit. 0:31:35.480 --> 0:31:38.920 Then there's the emotional pain of like, you know, like 0:31:39.960 --> 0:31:42.320 however their career played out, because it's usually ends up 0:31:42.400 --> 0:31:45.640 finishing with an injury or you know, you leave the 0:31:45.680 --> 0:31:47.760 game not in your terms right, and so it's hard 0:31:47.800 --> 0:31:50.040 for guys. And then it's like figuring out who am 0:31:50.080 --> 0:31:52.320 I and where do I go from here? So there's 0:31:52.360 --> 0:31:55.720 all these questions like finding your purpose, redefining yourself. 0:31:55.760 --> 0:31:58.600 Who am I? Now? I got pain? I got to 0:31:58.640 --> 0:31:59.120 manage it. 0:31:59.440 --> 0:32:01.680 So it's like the snowball effect of like, Okay, we're 0:32:01.680 --> 0:32:04.000 just going to keep doing what we did forever because 0:32:04.000 --> 0:32:06.479 it was fine then because I had a purpose and 0:32:06.520 --> 0:32:08.240 I you know, I had a schedule and everything was 0:32:08.280 --> 0:32:09.800 good and it was in the NHL making a lot 0:32:09.800 --> 0:32:12.320 of money. Now I'm not I'm gonna still do it 0:32:12.360 --> 0:32:14.560 the same way. And it gets dark, and it gets 0:32:14.600 --> 0:32:16.600 dark and the snowballs. And if you don't snap yourself 0:32:16.600 --> 0:32:19.200 out of it or find you know, more more sustainable 0:32:19.280 --> 0:32:22.840 means to deal with your stress and pain and suffering, 0:32:23.520 --> 0:32:25.320 you're just going to keep digging yourself into a. 0:32:25.280 --> 0:32:27.520 Whole, darker hole, a darker hole and darker hole. 0:32:27.560 --> 0:32:30.920 And that's really where it goes, is that guys become 0:32:31.000 --> 0:32:34.440 suicidal because they don't know who they are. They've numbed 0:32:34.640 --> 0:32:37.920 their pain for for however long, and they've never addressed it, 0:32:38.000 --> 0:32:39.400 never got to the root cause of it. 0:32:39.520 --> 0:32:41.360 And they're guys, and like, I mean, I know, like 0:32:41.400 --> 0:32:43.560 my dad was a compet, a secret service Asian. His 0:32:43.680 --> 0:32:45.960 dad was an army you know, he was on a battleship, 0:32:46.000 --> 0:32:47.720 and like, you know, they don't know how to communicate 0:32:48.880 --> 0:32:50.520 like that either, And I'm you know, it's that sort 0:32:50.520 --> 0:32:52.440 of thing, so like you don't have that network around 0:32:52.440 --> 0:32:53.840 you be like I'm not okay, Like you're just like 0:32:53.880 --> 0:32:55.960 I got to suck this up or something or not. 0:32:56.240 --> 0:32:56.800 Yeah, that's it. 0:32:56.920 --> 0:32:59.480 That's like you have no moral yeah, no role models. 0:32:59.680 --> 0:33:01.000 And that's the way I was trained. 0:33:01.040 --> 0:33:03.600 I was that really conservative, tough it out guy, right, 0:33:03.680 --> 0:33:07.360 But I realized that being vulnerable was a superpower and 0:33:08.120 --> 0:33:09.680 not that I woke up one morning, but I'm gonna 0:33:09.680 --> 0:33:12.920 be vulnerable. But like when I started speaking on behalf 0:33:12.960 --> 0:33:15.880 of cannabis plants and the mushrooms, like you're speaking for 0:33:15.960 --> 0:33:19.880 something much greater than yourself, right, you're speaking for you know, 0:33:20.160 --> 0:33:23.000 all intelligence, you know, all mother nature. Right, we're speaking 0:33:23.000 --> 0:33:26.360 to something that's gonna help not just myself, but I 0:33:26.480 --> 0:33:28.400 like to think all mankind if you can, you know, 0:33:28.480 --> 0:33:30.000 look at it that way, right, It's going to help 0:33:30.040 --> 0:33:32.960 people live a higher quality of life, maybe raise consciousness, 0:33:33.840 --> 0:33:35.240 you know, maybe make a better world and. 0:33:35.320 --> 0:33:38.120 More gentler world, softer world in a good way. 0:33:38.200 --> 0:33:40.360 Right, And we could argue people are too soft now, 0:33:40.400 --> 0:33:42.960 but like but like really it lands up like opening 0:33:43.040 --> 0:33:46.800 the heart and allowing people's stories to be told by 0:33:46.800 --> 0:33:47.400 being vulnerable. 0:33:47.440 --> 0:33:49.160 But again, like in the locker room, you'd never. 0:33:49.040 --> 0:33:51.160 Talk about your emotions, you know, oh yeah, I'm feeling 0:33:51.160 --> 0:33:52.040 a little down today. 0:33:52.240 --> 0:33:54.000 Yeah I'm gonna play it. And I you know, that 0:33:54.000 --> 0:33:54.840 would never be a thing. 0:33:55.200 --> 0:33:56.840 But when you're on the back end of your career, 0:33:57.440 --> 0:33:59.600 when you're you know, you're retired now, Like not that 0:33:59.640 --> 0:34:01.120 you need to go out and like wave the flag 0:34:01.160 --> 0:34:03.560 like I'm depressed or I'm you know, alonely or whatever else, 0:34:03.600 --> 0:34:07.280 but like you have to kind of come out of 0:34:07.280 --> 0:34:09.680 your shell a little bit and like want to learn 0:34:09.680 --> 0:34:12.560 and want to try and reinvent yourself and maybe open 0:34:12.640 --> 0:34:13.360 to new ideas. 0:34:13.400 --> 0:34:15.920 But you get guys just stuck in their ways. Stuck 0:34:15.920 --> 0:34:16.520 in their ways. 0:34:16.600 --> 0:34:20.560 They've medicated their their emotions with booze forever and they don't. 0:34:20.360 --> 0:34:21.320 Stuck keep going. 0:34:22.840 --> 0:34:26.000 Like that highly addicting, right, Booze is arguably the most 0:34:26.000 --> 0:34:27.520 destructive substance. 0:34:27.120 --> 0:34:27.640 On the planet. 0:34:27.719 --> 0:34:29.880 It's the one you take a thing and turn it 0:34:29.880 --> 0:34:31.359 to poison rather than the other way around. 0:34:31.360 --> 0:34:33.000 A day Like yeah, right, yeah, I know so, but 0:34:33.280 --> 0:34:34.880 that's what guys know, and that's how they do it. 0:34:34.920 --> 0:34:37.279 So you know, it's a nervous system depressant. So the 0:34:37.320 --> 0:34:39.279 more you deal with your emotions and you deal with 0:34:39.320 --> 0:34:43.640 your struggles, that way goes darker and darker and darker. Relationships, 0:34:43.680 --> 0:34:47.160 fail relationship to sell relationships to your partners and your kids. 0:34:47.360 --> 0:34:48.879 They start hating you because you're bad. 0:34:49.080 --> 0:34:51.680 You know, you're just being a bad apple, and life 0:34:51.719 --> 0:34:54.239 gets even harrier. And that's why it goes, you know, 0:34:54.640 --> 0:34:56.439 it lands up going dark. For some of these guys, 0:34:56.440 --> 0:34:58.000 they just got nowhere else to go. They got no 0:34:58.480 --> 0:35:02.160 legitimate tools, and it's oh yeah, it happens all to off, 0:35:02.200 --> 0:35:03.799 not just in hockey, right, this is like you look 0:35:03.800 --> 0:35:06.359 at the veteran community and like, you know, like it's 0:35:06.360 --> 0:35:08.879 a real thing. I mean, yeah, I would say that 0:35:09.200 --> 0:35:13.440 mindful cannabis use is That is the difference between the 0:35:13.480 --> 0:35:16.560 way I approached my relationship with cannabis Back in the day. 0:35:16.560 --> 0:35:19.839 It was I say, recreational. There was no intent, there 0:35:19.880 --> 0:35:22.880 was no awareness brought forth to the plant and on 0:35:23.120 --> 0:35:26.080 some level of like honor, respect towards or like, it 0:35:26.120 --> 0:35:28.800 was like let's just burn some flour and get get stoned. 0:35:28.840 --> 0:35:31.760 Right again, there's no real relationship. There wasn't a healthy 0:35:31.800 --> 0:35:35.040 relationship built there. Now I would say it's it's it's 0:35:35.080 --> 0:35:39.200 it's about intentional cannabis uses. Like you can actually answer 0:35:39.320 --> 0:35:42.080 the question of why it's always about intention, right, If 0:35:42.120 --> 0:35:44.160 I'm just trying to get stone, well you'll just get stoned. 0:35:44.200 --> 0:35:45.919 But if I'm trying to heal or if I'm trying 0:35:45.920 --> 0:35:49.120 to create or use this in a different way. 0:35:49.400 --> 0:35:50.440 Intention is everything. 0:35:50.480 --> 0:35:53.480 So I would think that level of intent and mindfulness 0:35:53.480 --> 0:35:55.680 and respect, right, I think that comes down to respect. Right, 0:35:55.719 --> 0:35:58.600 I was misusing it, disrespecting the plant as I was 0:35:58.600 --> 0:36:01.960 disrespecting everything. You can use this analogy towards food, right, 0:36:01.960 --> 0:36:05.280 It's like you mindlessly eat and you have an unhealthy 0:36:05.280 --> 0:36:06.880 relationship with your food and all of a sudden, you 0:36:06.920 --> 0:36:10.560 bring some level of mindfulness to eating and chewing and 0:36:10.600 --> 0:36:12.400 being present with your food, and all of a sudden, 0:36:12.960 --> 0:36:15.120 like food has always been medicine, but now all of 0:36:15.120 --> 0:36:17.359 a sudden, it actually takes on a new meaning, right, 0:36:17.400 --> 0:36:20.919 And I think cannabis actually, when you when you frame 0:36:21.000 --> 0:36:24.480 cannabis use being used as a medicinal plant or a 0:36:24.520 --> 0:36:27.040 therapeutic plant, I think it shifts the conversation or something, 0:36:27.440 --> 0:36:31.040 you know. But yeah, pain management again, like understanding the 0:36:31.080 --> 0:36:35.239 psychology of the therapeutics that I could then now communicate 0:36:35.280 --> 0:36:38.839 with language. There's certainly helping with pain, Like you know, 0:36:39.120 --> 0:36:41.360 just say the chronic pain or the acute pain that 0:36:41.400 --> 0:36:44.120 I was accumulating over the season seemed like it seemed 0:36:44.120 --> 0:36:45.560 like chronic pain because it never went away. 0:36:45.600 --> 0:36:48.240 But then there was obviously some new levels of pain when. 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:50.399 You, you know, get a direct blow to a certain 0:36:50.440 --> 0:36:52.000 part of your right now you're feeling a different level 0:36:52.000 --> 0:36:52.359 of pain. 0:36:52.840 --> 0:36:56.040 So there's always that level of pain management. I guess again, 0:36:56.080 --> 0:36:56.319 at that. 0:36:56.360 --> 0:36:58.760 Time, I didn't realize how much it was actually helping 0:36:58.960 --> 0:37:01.840 with pain because I just never you know, you're just 0:37:01.880 --> 0:37:04.200 like you're in it, like when you're young and you're 0:37:04.440 --> 0:37:06.640 you're trying to take on this role of being a fighter, 0:37:06.719 --> 0:37:08.879 Like even if I had a certain level paine, I'm 0:37:08.880 --> 0:37:10.680 not even sure if I would actually like I have 0:37:10.840 --> 0:37:13.120 fully owned it. I'm fine, you know what I mean, 0:37:13.200 --> 0:37:16.799 even though like I'm not, But yeah, I think the 0:37:16.840 --> 0:37:19.839 scope of pain is in my experience has been. 0:37:20.920 --> 0:37:21.799 It's helped with all of it. 0:37:21.840 --> 0:37:23.759 So kind of moving forward, and you know, we want 0:37:23.800 --> 0:37:25.560 to like to ad A lot of these episodes are 0:37:25.560 --> 0:37:27.960 like on a good what does the next frontier look like? 0:37:28.000 --> 0:37:29.600 And you've alluded to you know, I think we're going 0:37:29.640 --> 0:37:31.480 to get to a better place where we already are. 0:37:32.640 --> 0:37:34.480 What do you think that kind of looks like? You're 0:37:34.480 --> 0:37:36.920 in the industry, what do you think that looks like? 0:37:36.960 --> 0:37:39.719 From like a sports medicine standpoint, and then just kind 0:37:39.719 --> 0:37:42.479 of a general pop standpoint, and then from a mental 0:37:42.480 --> 0:37:44.680 health standpoint, like where do you see the future. 0:37:44.440 --> 0:37:46.960 And what are those barriers right now? Kind of to 0:37:47.040 --> 0:37:47.880 getting to that point. 0:37:48.520 --> 0:37:51.439 Yeah, it's a it's some bit of a loaded question. 0:37:51.680 --> 0:37:56.080 I see two paths. I still see a true natural play. 0:37:56.320 --> 0:38:00.279 I see a pharmaceutical play. I see pharmaceutical companies entry 0:38:00.320 --> 0:38:01.520 owning the cannabis space. 0:38:02.000 --> 0:38:03.480 Probably a good chunk of it. 0:38:03.920 --> 0:38:07.440 I think there's always going to be like the organic cultivator, right, 0:38:07.480 --> 0:38:10.200 there's always going to be a market for people that 0:38:10.239 --> 0:38:14.160 are looking for premium cannabis, not just like they say 0:38:14.200 --> 0:38:16.680 factory farmed cannabis, right, or like the way we. 0:38:16.800 --> 0:38:20.120 People have the folder's coffee jug and yeah. 0:38:20.040 --> 0:38:20.759 Yeah that's it. 0:38:20.840 --> 0:38:20.920 Right. 0:38:20.960 --> 0:38:22.640 Do you want GMO cannabis or do you want you know, 0:38:22.760 --> 0:38:25.400 organically grown. So I think there's gonna be you know, 0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:31.360 two pathways. I think, you know, the federal the federal government. 0:38:31.000 --> 0:38:33.960 Needs to say de schedule. 0:38:34.000 --> 0:38:37.279 I think that the rescheduling opens up this pharmaceutical thing 0:38:37.280 --> 0:38:40.360 that I'm talking about way too much. So I like 0:38:40.400 --> 0:38:42.400 to deschedule it. But I mean, who knows how this 0:38:42.440 --> 0:38:45.600 thing totally plays out. But sports, in the sports world, 0:38:45.760 --> 0:38:48.040 as I mentioned earlier, I really think that this is like, 0:38:48.239 --> 0:38:49.919 you know, this is going to be a huge part 0:38:49.960 --> 0:38:53.080 of the sports science department. They talk about recovery and 0:38:53.480 --> 0:38:57.040 keeping guys healthy, but keeping them off the ambient, off 0:38:57.120 --> 0:38:58.720 the opioids, off the booze. 0:38:58.760 --> 0:39:01.360 I mean, this is an amazing tool. Again, it's already it's. 0:39:01.200 --> 0:39:04.160 Already in there in the locker rooms, but it's I'm 0:39:04.160 --> 0:39:06.120 not sure it's funneled down from the top. It's kind 0:39:06.160 --> 0:39:08.680 of like it's kind of guys doing their own thing 0:39:08.760 --> 0:39:09.839 and you're sharing. 0:39:10.320 --> 0:39:11.799 Chah, yeah, exactly that. 0:39:11.920 --> 0:39:13.239 But I like to think it's going to be a 0:39:13.320 --> 0:39:16.280 huge part of sports science. It's working too, it's working 0:39:16.760 --> 0:39:19.840 that direction for sure, And in society, I like to 0:39:19.840 --> 0:39:22.600 think that it's looked upon more as like that front line, 0:39:22.680 --> 0:39:26.440 that wellness type of look versus so reactive where it's like, oh, 0:39:26.440 --> 0:39:28.280 we got to be this sick, I got to have cancer, 0:39:28.320 --> 0:39:30.560 I gotta have epilepsy. So I'd like to think that 0:39:30.600 --> 0:39:32.279 we can get to a place where we're looking at 0:39:32.280 --> 0:39:34.520 this in the through the lens of wellness, you know 0:39:34.520 --> 0:39:36.759 what I mean. Yes, it does help people heal, and 0:39:36.800 --> 0:39:40.799 it does does help people have an appetite when they're 0:39:40.800 --> 0:39:43.040 going through the cancer, and you know, there's there's a 0:39:43.040 --> 0:39:44.680 lot of amazing things it does, like in these real 0:39:44.760 --> 0:39:47.680 true medicinal buckets. But I like to I like to 0:39:47.719 --> 0:39:50.000 see this thing opened up in more in the world 0:39:50.080 --> 0:39:52.360 of wellness. And that's really part and parce of like 0:39:52.400 --> 0:39:55.719 where where I'm going with this, and is talking about 0:39:55.719 --> 0:39:58.680 this more of a mindful way, like you know, like 0:39:58.840 --> 0:40:00.640 pairing cannabis. 0:40:00.440 --> 0:40:02.360 With yoga or meditation. 0:40:02.520 --> 0:40:05.000 Right, it doesn't have to be like so reactive as 0:40:05.040 --> 0:40:07.480 I I kind of mentioned as like getting ahead of this, 0:40:07.680 --> 0:40:09.960 like really in the world of wellness, like let's let's 0:40:10.000 --> 0:40:11.600 feel better, Let's let's. 0:40:11.440 --> 0:40:13.280 Take ownership over a wellness. 0:40:13.440 --> 0:40:18.200 Let's use cannabis in a much more intentional specific way 0:40:18.360 --> 0:40:20.560 like we do. We don't need to eat fifty milligrams 0:40:20.600 --> 0:40:23.800 or a hundred milligrams to get the benefits of cannabis. 0:40:23.880 --> 0:40:24.319 We we could. 0:40:24.320 --> 0:40:27.239 We could have one milligram, you know, two milligrams, It 0:40:27.280 --> 0:40:30.480 gets tiniest amount, get the effect, you know, getting the flow, 0:40:30.640 --> 0:40:33.040 start feeling into the body, or again a little bit 0:40:33.080 --> 0:40:37.080 of the somatics, cultivating that relationship with self, you know. 0:40:37.120 --> 0:40:38.960 I think like we can do that with cannabis. 0:40:39.280 --> 0:40:41.759 I think, out of all the earth medicines that I've 0:40:42.120 --> 0:40:44.560 you know, been fortunate enough to work with, cannabis is 0:40:44.560 --> 0:40:48.680 probably the hardest one to master because it's so easily abused. Right, 0:40:49.239 --> 0:40:52.440 And yes, you can abuse anything. I'd like to think that, 0:40:52.560 --> 0:40:55.920 you know, people that use abuse cannabis will still wake 0:40:56.000 --> 0:40:57.640 up the next morning, right, I mean, and no one's 0:40:57.680 --> 0:41:02.239 dying from a cannabis over, right. Could we be more 0:41:02.239 --> 0:41:04.839 mindful of their cannabis use. Yes, but to me, it's 0:41:04.840 --> 0:41:05.360 still a. 0:41:06.239 --> 0:41:08.880 Version of harm reduction or drug diversion model. Right. 0:41:08.920 --> 0:41:10.960 We're getting people off hard drugs and if they need 0:41:10.960 --> 0:41:12.920 to use cannabis for however long, they need to use 0:41:12.960 --> 0:41:17.800 it to maybe avoid the withdrawal or cut the addiction. 0:41:17.480 --> 0:41:18.279 Out or you know what I mean. 0:41:18.560 --> 0:41:21.720 Yeah, I mean states that had recreational or robust medical 0:41:21.760 --> 0:41:26.680 programs had significantly decreased opioid overdose and desks from either 0:41:26.719 --> 0:41:30.160 synthetic opioys or heroin. And so to that point, it's 0:41:30.400 --> 0:41:32.399 removing that other thing from there. 0:41:32.680 --> 0:41:37.040 Yeah, yeah, just getting people well, I mean, who knows 0:41:37.080 --> 0:41:39.520 where it goes. But I'd like to think, like with 0:41:39.560 --> 0:41:42.080 all the information that's out there, all the anecdotal stories, 0:41:42.120 --> 0:41:45.680 I mean, cannabis movement was piggybacked off storytelling. The psychedelic 0:41:45.719 --> 0:41:48.360 movement is doing the exact same thing. How many stories 0:41:48.640 --> 0:41:50.959 have hurt people and people dying. We have to share 0:41:51.080 --> 0:41:54.040 before you know, the Congress, and you know, they get 0:41:54.080 --> 0:41:56.600 they hear us. I'm not sure if they want to 0:41:56.640 --> 0:42:00.520 hear us, you know, but we keep doing what we do, 0:42:00.600 --> 0:42:02.400 and we keep banging the drum and keep sharing the 0:42:02.440 --> 0:42:07.719 stories and doing whatever we can to help more people, right, 0:42:07.800 --> 0:42:10.319 I mean, it's just helping people increase quality of life. 0:42:10.400 --> 0:42:11.719 Yeah, Ron again, I want to I want to think 0:42:11.760 --> 0:42:13.400 where can folks go to kind of find some of 0:42:13.440 --> 0:42:15.520 this information or where you're at, like, yeah, where can 0:42:15.560 --> 0:42:16.479 we send send people? 0:42:16.560 --> 0:42:19.480 Yeah, it's my personal website Rileycote dot com are kind 0:42:19.520 --> 0:42:22.640 of showing the different things I'm involved in doing so 0:42:24.000 --> 0:42:26.719 reaching out to me there and the phone number yeah, 0:42:26.760 --> 0:42:27.719 email addresses there. 0:42:27.760 --> 0:42:28.400 So awesome. 0:42:28.840 --> 0:42:31.719 Thanks again, man, Yeah, thank you of course here see 0:42:31.719 --> 0:42:32.279 you guys coming. 0:42:32.440 --> 0:42:39.920 Yeah, good interview. Man, it was good that kind of 0:42:40.480 --> 0:42:41.920 from the bruiser to the heeler. 0:42:42.080 --> 0:42:42.279 Yeah. 0:42:42.360 --> 0:42:44.880 Yeah, I kind of like it's nice, nice like circle 0:42:45.000 --> 0:42:47.600 circle life. It's crazy like we think of all these 0:42:47.640 --> 0:42:49.880 drugs is like party drugs. But Riley talked about it 0:42:49.880 --> 0:42:51.719 where it was like we were going out, it was 0:42:51.760 --> 0:42:54.759 booze and pills all the time here in this party mode. 0:42:54.800 --> 0:42:56.960 It was actually like this is my way of actually 0:42:57.280 --> 0:42:59.719 getting away from it. It was like partying less. And 0:43:00.239 --> 0:43:02.680 I think that's actually very resonating to a lot of people, 0:43:02.760 --> 0:43:05.520 like that culture of booze. 0:43:05.040 --> 0:43:08.080 And maintenance, maintenance exactly. 0:43:08.360 --> 0:43:10.160 I think that's just really neat to hear that from 0:43:10.160 --> 0:43:14.359 someone that experienced about as much of like waking up 0:43:14.360 --> 0:43:16.839 every morning, like you could you could see his face, 0:43:16.960 --> 0:43:19.279 like thinking about it like that would probably just give 0:43:19.320 --> 0:43:22.440 you the shivers. Man, if you're not I mean, he's 0:43:22.440 --> 0:43:24.160 a tough guy. He's not afraid, but it's just like 0:43:24.920 --> 0:43:27.040 you just you know, I don't know. You you do 0:43:27.200 --> 0:43:28.480 something and you're like, I gotta do that. 0:43:28.600 --> 0:43:31.919 Get like I was saw when I went ice skate. 0:43:32.040 --> 0:43:32.200 Yeah. 0:43:32.680 --> 0:43:35.920 Period, Now that's your job to do that at a 0:43:36.000 --> 0:43:39.080 high level and fight and play hockey. 0:43:39.480 --> 0:43:39.719 Yeah. 0:43:39.760 --> 0:43:41.640 And the other side of it, where you know folks 0:43:41.640 --> 0:43:43.799 that are his age or even older that just kind 0:43:43.840 --> 0:43:46.400 of kept going down that path of the booze and 0:43:46.440 --> 0:43:48.560 the pills and you know, trying to find a purpose 0:43:48.600 --> 0:43:53.520 and a value in their life after sports and all 0:43:53.560 --> 0:43:54.200 these things. 0:43:54.440 --> 0:43:56.000 You know, it's semi okay. 0:43:55.760 --> 0:43:58.000 When you know the train's rolling, but then you're going 0:43:58.040 --> 0:43:58.480 to real. 0:43:58.360 --> 0:44:00.239 Life and all these things are happening and it's a 0:44:00.320 --> 0:44:02.680 huge change and he's seen the other side of it, 0:44:02.719 --> 0:44:05.520 and so hopefully his story can be you know, continue 0:44:05.560 --> 0:44:07.880 being an inspiration to others to kind of maybe just 0:44:07.920 --> 0:44:09.839 look outside of that see if like, hey, if you're 0:44:09.840 --> 0:44:12.600 going down this path, maybe there's other ways to help 0:44:12.680 --> 0:44:17.200 and assist and remedy this similar like Marcus and others. Yeah, 0:44:17.280 --> 0:44:19.359 there's there's other paths and things. And I just want 0:44:19.400 --> 0:44:21.839 to thank Riley so much again. Open his home up. 0:44:21.960 --> 0:44:23.160 I know, his h his. 0:44:23.120 --> 0:44:25.880 Girlfriend's dog was like sick and coming through and so 0:44:25.920 --> 0:44:27.080 he was dealing with a lot of stuff. So he 0:44:27.160 --> 0:44:29.719 was really really generous with his time and so yeah, no, 0:44:29.840 --> 0:44:33.160 thanks again and very excited about our next episode again 0:44:34.200 --> 0:44:34.560 just like. 0:44:36.480 --> 0:44:36.680 Man. 0:44:36.800 --> 0:44:40.160 Yeah, he teaches us the difference between the weed business 0:44:40.200 --> 0:44:41.680 and the cannabis industry. 0:44:42.040 --> 0:44:44.520 Yeah, and he broke that down expert he did. 0:44:44.600 --> 0:44:46.640 Yeah, So if you want to hear what that. 0:44:46.560 --> 0:44:50.439 Means, tune in the next episode. Until then, I'm greg lad. 0:44:51.560 --> 0:44:52.400 This is the War on Drugs. 0:44:52.480 --> 0:44:52.799 Let's go. 0:44:54.040 --> 0:44:56.239 The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for 0:44:56.320 --> 0:44:59.960 Good and Stand Together Music and association with Signal Company 0:45:00.120 --> 0:45:03.800 Number one. Stand Together Music unites musicians and their teams 0:45:03.840 --> 0:45:06.920 with proven change makers to co create solutions to some 0:45:06.960 --> 0:45:10.280 of the most pressing issues in our country, including criminal justice, 0:45:10.280 --> 0:45:15.440 for foreign addiction recovery, mental health, education, free speech, and 0:45:15.600 --> 0:45:16.920 ending the War on drugs. 0:45:17.440 --> 0:45:17.959 Learn more. 0:45:18.040 --> 0:45:21.800 At Standogether music dot org. Be sure to follow Lava 0:45:21.840 --> 0:45:25.880 for Good on Instagram, Facebook, and threads at Lava for Good. 0:45:26.560 --> 0:45:29.439 You can follow Clayton English on Instagram and x at 0:45:29.440 --> 0:45:32.880 Clayton English, and you can follow Greg Laude on Instagram 0:45:32.920 --> 0:45:37.000 and on x at Greg Latt. Executive producers Jason Flam, 0:45:37.440 --> 0:45:42.840 Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wartis, and Collette Weintraub. Senior producers Kelsey Stenecker, 0:45:43.000 --> 0:45:46.440 Zak Huffman, and Nick Stump. Post production by ten ten, 0:45:46.560 --> 0:45:50.640 Audio talent booking by Dan Resnick Rez Entertainment Head of 0:45:50.680 --> 0:45:55.920 Marketing and Operations, Jeff Cleiburn, Social Media director Ismadi Gudarama, 0:45:56.320 --> 0:46:02.600 Social media manager Sarah Gibbons, and art director Andrew Nellis