TrueLife - Haley Higgins - Cannabis, Commerce, Veterans

Episode Date: June 25, 2023

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/http://linkedin.com/in/haleyhiggins2920 years of experience with cannabis in all capacities. It's been more than a passion. I love to advocate for equal rights to use plant medicine, especially for our military servicepeople. have experience in consulting, education, administration, advocacy, journalism, and research. I'd love to talk more about how we can work together! One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Fearist through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. I hope everybody's having a beautiful day. It's Friday. We've got a bridge from the mainland to Hawaii right here with the love. Haley Higgins, a veteran in all cannabis capacities, event management, marketing, client relations, management, development, advocate for cannabis for veteran alliance, cana mom, THC girls, member of the women's cannabis Chamber of Commerce, lover of all things plant science.

Haley, how you doing today? I'm in a parking lot. I'm doing well. It's an old Navy parking lot and I think a home goods and a T.J. Max. sorry, I keep seeing these flyways and I told you beforehand I would focus on them so I'm going to try not to you I don't know why that is such a girl thing

like anyway I'm yeah so I'm tired I am four hours away from home right now and so I have that drive to look forward to and to think about all the weird things I'm about to do and say

so I will dwell on them for everyone And I will obsess for all of you. So if you think I do anything weird, just let it go. I've already clocked it and I will think about it a lot. Nice. It's hot. Yeah, sometimes we're our own worst critic. But it seems to me that what you're doing is pretty awesome stuff.

You're trying to help out a lot of veterans by showing them how plant medicine can help them solve a lot of their problems. The problem is there's these huge. roadblocks because the VA is like fight club about cannabis and about plant science in general because pharmaceuticals are the only answer or the only thing that they're allowed to give out. So if and if you come in and I'm just going to lay it out there word to the wise, if you come in there testing positive for THC and you're on some kind of like opiate for pain management or benzodiazepine for anxiety, don't be surprised if they yank that prescription from you because doctors at the VA and it's all liability and it's like whatever it is what it is.

But just be prepared to be treated differently. Like it's not, you're not, it's just not acceptable yet because it's still federally illegal. So people who are still in active, you know, service members are not allowed to use. use it. People like my husband, who is a prior, he's a combat veteran. He did two tours. He did 13, almost 14 years in the military. And then now it's, he works in the federal sector. So he has a security clearance and stuff. So he can't, because it's strictly forbidden by his company because he works with federal contracts. So, you know, and that is a huge. market they head hunt the shit out of veterans because there's stand-up people and they want them

you know and typically they're people who are good with engineering and analytics and things like that and so they're good in these engineering and you know um like like not um factory but like you know things like there are always government contracts like building things that are tanks or jets or whatever secrets that and so these people are not allowed to choose their own medicine i mean it's like they signed up to die yeah but they cannot choose what they ingest so my uncle was a vietnam veteran and um last year exactly almost a year ago it was last june or maybe it was like the end of may He had been sent home on end of life care because he had been exposed to Agent Orange while he was in Vietnam. And it had affected his lung capacity so much that now he had diminished lung capacity to where he, if he laid flat, he would basically drown in his own body.

And he was miserable. They sent him home with like a feeding tube and that he didn't want. he didn't sign for and it was just like he had just super subpar care and then he decided to take his own life instead of you know go through hospice and go through all the end of life care and wither away and die you know and he hadn't fired a gun since he had come home from Vietnam that was the first and only time he had fired a weapon and he was just just like the most gentle, good man. He was a good Mormon. He was a father. He was a grocer. You know what I mean? Just gentle, like happy with a very small life. But he was not given the

dignity of being able to choose his own medicine in the end. And I wish I would have been able to implement what I know now, like about psychedelics, specifically psilocybin and how they implement it in end-of-life care and people who, you know, have like a stage 4 cancer, for example, or some sort of terminal diagnosis. And psilocybin, it was like 50% of them showed improvement in overall well-being and mental health. And if I could have implemented, that along with some cannabis maybe in his end of life care maybe he would have wanted to hang on a little bit longer or maybe that it wouldn't have been and he chose you know and so my own mom like it's just I have so many examples of where and who so my own husband I'm not going to lie like our marriage we struggle because he's got PTSD diagnosed and he he's already okay I've already done a podcast and talked about it so it's like he has to know I'm okay or he has to be okay knowing I'm talking about this right now I oh I okayed it with him because it is personal

you know because I am talking about him I want to talk about like specifics but he has PTSD you know he saw combat twice and um not everybody made it back and he did so his job in the military was road clearance and he cleared IEDs so he was a combat engineer that's what the technical name for it was and so his and he was also a captain so he was an officer so like he sent people out that didn't come back and i think that is probably the hardest thing for him to deal with is like the survivor's guilt and knowing that he sent people out that didn't come home and like he had to give them flag give their wife a flag you know and it was god it's the only time i've seen him cry i've maybe twice well one of

two times and he is just the rest of i'm stoic we have two children okay he had never cried when our babies were born or anything you know none of that stuff but you know he was very emotional in you know at the at the funeral for his brother he's it's twice two funerals that i've been to And those are the only two times I've seen him cry. And it's both been his brothers in arms. So I know he carries these scars, right? But I'll be damned if it doesn't cause some fucking tension in our relationship. And I'm sorry to use that expression.

But it's like I feel like it have to be so emphatic about it. Like it is just rough. Because I don't know what that. PTSD looks like I have PTSD, but not that kind of PTSD. You know what I mean? Like, I have childhood PTSD and like sexual abuse PTSD, but not near, I don't have combat. So it's like two completely different types of trauma. And you cannot just lump them all together under the umbrella of PTSD because they are

entirely different. And I will never understand it unless I saw it myself. and so I can't even try to understand it so I just feel like all I can do is try and come up with solutions to help ease that and help ease the transition back into everyday living and help just be okay with life you know because life is hard divorce and you know death and loss of things loss of jobs loss of health, all these things can contribute to horrible mental health issues. And you come, you know, add some PTSD on top of that. And you just have a whole cocktail of mess.

And then you have someone stoic, like my husband who refuses to take medication, refuses, you know, because he's a soldier. Got to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You can't be weak. You can't let them see anything. It will compromise your security clearance. It'll compromise. man card or you know whatever so it's like I've tried and tried and tried and I know if we could

share cannabis together it's a passion it's beyond a passion at this point for me like it is just it's just like it's like um I don't know grown into me you know it's just become a part of who I am it's a part of my spirituality it's a part of I just have so much. I just have so much belief and faith in this plant because I know it works. I know it does. And I know it could work for him. And I know psilocybin could do wonders for him and our relationship. If we could share psilocybin, even microdosing together, I really think that it would open up his, I don't think, I don't know. I just think it would allow him to maybe emote because I just think that he feels like he can't emote anything. Not just, you know, he can't not, it's not just tears or sadness or

weakness or any of that. It's anything like above a certain level because that is out of control. And if he loses control, you know, he cannot, who knows if he'll be able to reel it back in. So it's like he has to just maintain control at all times. And I just know if he could like shake it up and loosen it up. little bit, he would just be able to feel and live instead of just tolerating existence. And I feel like a lot of veterans that come home, they are put on SSRIs. They're put on these, you know, benzodiazepines. They're put on regimens of tens of, you know, 10 pills at a time. I had a buddy who actually I'm doing the volunteer thing at the veteran thing with tomorrow.

And when he came home, they had him on 14 different medications. And he said that he had just like become basically a walking zombie to where he was like literally drooling at the dinner table. Like he was just sitting like this and like just drooling. And his family just thought that he was, you know, gone like he was done for, you know, like he was just so. damaged. No. It was the medications because it was like you were treating just the side effects from and it's just a tangled web once you start treating just side effects because then it's like you just stack them one on top of the other. And benzodiazepines and alcohol are the only two drugs that can kill you when you withdraw from. So, you know, they come home from war and they're

putting them on these regimens of these drugs. And then it creates these patients, but it's just keeping them tolerating things. And that's not, you know, it's just sad. And I know they're doing all these studies and they're doing all these veteran lead ketamine and whatever. But it's like, who, what, what veteran can just pick up and leave their family? You know, it's just not a feasible thing for every. So, you know, and in the meantime, upwards of 40 or more, I read somewhere that could be 70 or more veterans are committing suicide or dying of opioids, overdoses, or complications from opioids in some way. So it's like, how many have to die before, you know, give them cannabis at least, like, at least that.

So I don't know. It's so frustrating. And it's it's frustrating for I'm sure my husband, but I know it is. I shouldn't say I'm sure. Or I think it I know it is because he's voiced it multiple times. Because it's scary for him, you know, because before I couldn't be loud about it. I had to be basically a mole person for Jesus. Almost 20 years, I guess, because I got arrested when I was nine. for um i had um a few pounds of marijuana and at the time oxycontin was like in its heyday and it was everywhere in Utah so i can't even tell you how many people i buried and seen die and just ravaged by oxyconin pharmaceuticals have failed me and every person i know at some point and i'm and it's probably failed every single person who's taken a pharmaceutical at some point it's just and people don't see it or they just refuse to, I don't know, because in Utah, it's like the number one state for prescriptions as far as like antidepressants and things like that goes. Number one in the nation, so for the amount of prescriptions. And it's just like there's just people tolerating life all over the place and it's nothing.

being fixed or helped or anything. And so I'm hoping, I don't know if anyone will listen to me, honestly, like here in Mississippi, it's a hard market. It's a hard egg to crack. I'm not going to lie. Like, I feel like an alien most of the time. I felt like an alien most of the time in Utah too because I just feel like, I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know if people know how to like. tolerate me. I don't know, but I think they'll listen, but I don't know if they'll think it's okay, but I'm still going to tell them it's okay, because this thing's been a sin. Cannabis has been a sin, and it's been illegal for forever.

So, and I know what that's like, because it was like that for Mormons as well. It was illegal and it was also going to send you to hell, you know? So I know what that shame is like, and I know what it feels like to carry that around. And you don't have to. you never did in the first place. So, I don't know, I'm hoping,

Mormon, you know, the Mormon culture in Utah is very similar to the Bible Belt culture. Different names, but, you know, similar. Very, you know, strict values and beliefs. And so I don't want to like rock the boat and make people. think I'm, you know, nuts out here trying to shake things up, but I just want people to know that there is an alternative and that, you know, there are options other than just putting a band-aid on something and paying a pharmaceutical company for the rest of your life, you know, so we'll see if they listen. I don't know. I think so. You know, sometimes in a sick society,

the person who is healthy is looked at like a pariah. You know what I mean? Like when you're going around trying to help people, but no one really wants help because they're afraid. It's not that they're afraid of you. It's they're afraid that you have a solution. And if you provide them with the solution, it means everything else they were doing was wrong.

So it's not you that they're upset about. It's not the thing you're offering. It's the fact that you're trying to get them to look at their life and say, hey, maybe you made a mistake here. And people don't want to make mistakes. specifically because of the way you feel right now. Like you were standing up for what you think is right. You're the person going out and saying, look, this is a better answer.

I know I've done it. And people are like, whoa, if we do what she says, then maybe we're wrong about our relationships. Maybe we're wrong about our kids. We're wrong about our parents. And that is the thing that people are taking the drugs to get away from. Like, they don't want to face reality, right? Want moms to be okay with it. And like, okay, so here's an example of exactly, whoa, fly away.

I just thought, here's an example of my friend, my best friend, Kay, my twin freaking flame. It is wild. Our lives have been parallel in so many ways. We have children. Like, it's just wild how things and like our children even look alike. Like, my little boy has red hair. Her little boy has red hair. It's just like our daughters are the same.

We have a daughter first and then we have a son two years later. Both of us. I don't know. Anyway, wild, right? Right. So she and I met in a sober living. And so I was part of that ravaged. Okay, so when I was 14, my mom came home with cancer.

Along with cancer came Oxycontin and Ativan and Perkissette and all this other stuff. And at the time, it was like, Mark. marketed 1% or less chance of addiction. Miracle drug of the future. So they're pushing it on all the pharmaceutical reps. And in Utah, it falls under. So in Mormon culture, in the book of Mormon, they have what's called the Word of Wisdom.

So it's basically like another set of rules to follow along with the Ten Commandments. I don't even remember. I think there's, I don't even remember how many or what it, you know, like it's been a while. Right. Look it up. But in the word of wisdom, it says nothing about pharmaceuticals, right? So if your doctor who happens to also be in your church congregation or whatever, because that's usually how it happens is like, you know, your doctor or he's your, you know, church leader or whatever. He's, you've grown up with him your whole life or whatever.

So they prescribe you oxycontin and so you and they don't know and prescriptions in Utah like anything, it falls under the safety of, well, it's under doctor's care. It's under doctor's orders. Therefore, it's not contradicting anything, you know, it says here in the Word of Wisdom. So it gives you a pass, right? So OxyContin hits real hard in Utah. And everybody I knew in my high school knew at least one person who'd done it or OD'd from it. Like it was rampant. And my mom came home with it.

And it was in our medicine cabinet just next to like, you know, like the Tylenol and the Band-Aids, you know. like it's just like it's sitting there no nobody knew the harm they didn't my parents didn't know I didn't know right and then you know my mom's diagnosis freaked me out because you don't really think of your parents dying when you're 14 you think of them always just kind of being there right yeah and so you know to hear that and to face that in junior high at such a weird age too where you're like in this weird like not woman you know Britney Spears not yet a woman phase or whatever and so I was very confused and you know I was angry at God and at the church because I felt like my mom had followed every rule she never drank never smoked never took a drug in her life

why would she of all people be cursed with this, you know, with this cancer? It was in her sinus cavity. It was wild. Okay. So it was this inner sinus and it had started to like grow up and behind and like push her into her ocular cavity. And if, you know, if it had metastasides anymore, it could have gone into her brain, you know.

But they caught it in time. You know, she had radiation and whatnot. But like the down. damage was done and she was a patient from then on. And so in her, in them creating her as a patient, they also created me as a patient. At 14, I'm confused about, you know, all these things and I'm mad and angsty and emo and whatever. And, you know, and I have a friend that tells me like, hey, just take some pills.

And so, and then I'm like, well, I wonder what we've got at home. You know, boom. done over with i am a full-blown addict by the beginning of sophomore year so that would have been the beginning of summer before my sophomore year so by homecoming i'd say so we went on a trip to las Vegas um for homecoming around homecoming and i remember that was the first time i started to withdraw because i was away from home and i didn't have any with i didn't bring any with me and i no and so I was so freaking sick and I didn't have the slightest idea why I thought I had the flu or food poisoning or something and then as soon as I came home and I did one of those

you know dunzo gone my symptoms are over and I was like what you know because it still hadn't come out yet that it was so dangerous it was still being so I mean, this is going to date the hell out of me, but this was like 99-ish. So this was like primetime oxy, you know. Yeah. All over. So then, you know, it's just a domino effect from there. And it just destroyed, it destroyed our family.

My mom never got better. She had a stroke the day before my high school graduation. And that's wild because my mom and I, never gone along my mom was very different than me i'm i don't know if you can tell i'm a little wild at heart so like the structure of like 50s housewife normalcy scares me and i don't like it and it's suffocating and i like adventure and i like to have things to go explore and i you know and i like A spice life needs to be spicy, you know, but my mom wanted everything in order and predictable. And she was very good at balancing all that, but she was anal AF.

Never told me she loved me. She was very cold. She made me sing all the time because I could sing well. And so I was like her, I don't know, man. It was weird. And then after, like, I don't remember her having any, like, affection. toward me ever. There was one thing. I remember she came down in the basement. I was playing with my baby dolls because I was obsessed with being a mom when I was a little did I know how

freaking hard that actually is. Breastfeeding is not fun. I pretend to breastfeed and I loved it. No, breastfeed is really hard. Kudos to all your moms who breastfeed for a really long time. Because my God, that is a challenge. It was really hard for me. I loved it, but I hated it. time. But my mom, after she had her stroke, her ego died. She didn't have that weird, cold, like, mommy dearest attitude anymore. She was like a freaking friend. She was chill and I'm trying not to swear because I hate it. And I don't know my kids to see. Let's see her swearing. Mom doesn't swear. But like my mom was all of a sudden very relatable and like just like super. fun to hang out with and I know she would have smoked with me. I know she would have taken psilocybin,

but unfortunately she died before I was able to implement any of that also. So it's like, you know, I have these regrets, but I got away from the Oxycontin, but it's been hard because I got smashed up in a car accident in 2021. So I've had to crawl out. So I did experiments on myself, guys and I know for sure that the pills are creating symptoms. So right after my accident, I was put on oxy, right? I wake up. I'm smashed literally like head to toe. I had a big old gash in my face and then I had broken ribs on both sides, multiple places. I had a collapse lung. I had a broken pelvis. I had a broken hip. I had a smashed ankle in multiple places.

My kids were restrained in their car seats, and they walked away with, my daughter had, like, a very small laceration. And my son had just, like, a very small, like, hairline fracture in his, from his car seat, whatever. But nothing, like, both of them are absolutely fine. They didn't, you know, they didn't have to stay in the hospital or anything. and thank God. And our little wiener dog walked away on stage entirely. I was taking them to school.

It was my daughter's picture day. And we were on this windy road and there was these big vultures eating a dead whatever in the road and when they fly up, their wingspan is huge. So if it gets on your windshield, you can't see.

And so I was trying to avoid that and so I went around them and it just went and we overcorrected and just and then it's like you hear that oh my gosh that silence before impact is deafening okay and it lasts forever and it feels like in the movie when everything like freezes and there's like broken glass like it really does feel like that kind of it's weird and awful but it also smashed me up real bad and so So when I got out of the, so I wake up in the hospital, first of all, and I'm like, oh, shit. You know, like, here we go again, dance with the devil again. Because I know there's not really much of a choice. I know there is a necessity for pharmaceuticals. I'm not discounting them. I'm not saying they're all bad.

But there should be so much more caution. And I don't know. just options because, so they put me on oxy straight away, the kind with no Tylenol, the roxychronomes, okay? So, Jesus, here we go, wakes up the beast inside, you know, unleashes that cage. And so, and I'm old enough now that I see it, right? And I'm like, okay, I can't, I can't do this. I have children. I have two, mortgages, you know, I've got, I've got all this stuff writing on this. I've got all this stuff I want to do to advocate. And I've got, you know, so I was like, all right, well, you know, I'm going to just write it out and see how long

I can go. And then I'm going to taper, right? No. So my doctor wants to keep me on it. And because she's like, Okay, so they did an whatever scan of my foot, my ankle. So I have residual. My biggest problem is with my ankle. It's not healed. And there's so much damage in the joint that it blew out the ball, the ball joint. So inside of there, it's just now every time I walk, it's just great, because there's none of the stuff that lose it up from being.

Right. So it knocked all that off. whatever. So now it's pretty much ground down to where it's just bone on bone. And it's just going to get worse and worse. And it's arthritis. It's just onset arthritis, really. And so they looked at it and the radio or the radiologist tech or whatever, she was like, that is horrific. And I was like, oh, my God, because she did it over a voice thing. And so I heard like the dictation. And I was like, oh, you know, great. It's not great when they say it's horrific.

So I need surgery. I don't want to, I don't want to be off my foot for eight weeks. And so I got to plan that out. But so until then, so I was on pain pills, these roxies, every four hours. And they bumped me up to 20 milligrams every four hours. And I was like, hell yeah, give them to me, baby. I need them. my foot had ballooned up god it looked like it was almost as bad as when I was pregnant and I blew out

some flip-flops you know what I mean like I think it was bad so it was almost that bad and I'm like why am I it's just it's because of the injury you know it's all the injury that's causing this inflammation so I long story short I made the decision I don't want to be on pain pills i've got to find another a different way to deal with this so i withdrawled at home and it was shitty but i did it and i got through it and then i started microdosing like right away and um obviously i was using cannabis pretty heavy throughout that time i utilized cratum for the first two days and then after that i cut it out um I didn't need it after that.

Or I didn't want it. I just was like grossed out. I didn't want, you know, cratum is off. Okay. And if you've ever got it stuck in your throat before, you want to die. You might think you're dying, actually.

It is bad. Or if you inhale and it comes out your nose, that's another bad one. That is awful. So anyways, I got off of it and then, I was like, what the hell? Because all of a sudden, for like two days, I had to pee all day long for two days.

It just felt like I was going to pee my pants all day, no matter what I did. I lost 30 pounds of swelling just probably in my lower extremities. I'm not joking. And I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a lie. I thought our scale was broken. So I was like, I'm going to get any pigments. myself and I'm going to do it again. So I did. And I basically got myself addicted twice and

withdrawn just to see to prove to myself, I think, that the symptoms I had were just because of the pain meds. And it was all the pain. It was from the swelling, right? Because all that swelling is so uncomfortable and your body doesn't want to retain all that water it's so used to not having to do that that's why it doesn't do that it doesn't want it so like duh heyley but still i lost all that blow i lost all that water out of my body and i didn't have the limp that i normally had like even driving so i i've been driving a lot because i've been been trying to do this advocating thing. And so I'm using my tax, or I pretty much used it up now, but I used my tax return to just kind of travel around Mississippi and see, you know,

patience and actual people and kind of get a feel for it here and, you know, what I can do to help and fill in, you know, find the gaps and whatever I can do to help fill them and whatever. And so, um, anyway. Yeah. So I, I, when I travel, my ankle will swell. Like when I'm driving and stuff, I think, you know, obviously because, you know, and I'm like in Jackson, the capital, I'm four hours from Jackson. I live in like the northeast tippiest corner of Mississippi. So it's a substantial drive.

And I used to just get here and be so uncomfortable and hardly even be able to watch. on it. Now it's like no issues whatsoever. And it just, it fucked me up so bad because I was like, man, all this time, all this time just wasted, you know, and just all this money wasted, giving it to somebody, I hate, I hate the Sacklers. I hate Purdue. I hate all, I hate all that stuff. has killed a lot of my friends. It's still killing my friends. So for instance, my twin flame, did I even finish talking about her?

I don't think I did. But she got so mad at me. She called me and she was going to ask me for money. I knew what she was doing because she was like, my cash up card, blah, blah, blah. And as soon as she said, started talking about it. So she's right now back in active addiction, her and her husband.

He was a coach. for a very prominent football team and like man it's just like it's fast it'll take you out real fast so they're doing meth and fentanyl fentanyl fentanyl they're doing the fentanyl to come down and I'm like do you know how much fent and she's like no you know of course they don't know so anyway, she calls me asking me for money and I was like, I can't give you money. You know, I'm so sorry. I just, I can't. And I was just like over it.

And I might have been a little bit rude, but I was just done, I've given her money a lot. And I didn't know she was using because she was lying to me. And she told me it was just her husband and she was acting like, you know, this wounded wife. and whatnot, but she was using with them the whole time. And she was taking the money. I was sending her for her kids. And I'm sure they were using it for drugs. And so I just,

she's lost her kids now and she's not doing anything to get them back. You know, they're not doing anything. They keep saying they're going to do Ibogaine. And they're going to do all, they're saving up for Ibogaine and all this stuff. And I'm like, well, like, what are you doing now? And so she got mad at me and she flipped out. And she was like, you just, you're better than everyone because your pig mushrooms and cannabis and blah, blah.

And she was like yelling at me, like, your life is so great. You're talking about your life is so great. And I was like, yes, it is. It is. It really freaking is. And it just, I was like, I'm sorry. I can't, you know, I can't explain it to you anymore. I love you.

You know, I want to help you. but this is not the way, you know, I can't, I can't just give you money. I don't, you know, so hung up. And then she sends me a bunch of text and that's just like, block me on everything if you want. I'm not going to block you. I love you. I do. I love you.

And it is a better way of living. It really is. Like I finally have found and I'm going to cry. I'm a crier and I'm really sorry. But I've looked my whole life. so I never knew what it felt like to know God when I was Mormon like everyone would talk about you know the burning in your bosom

and all these different things that you would feel when like God was communicating with you or whatever he was answering your prayers and I never felt those things I never felt any of it And it made me feel so left out. And it made me feel like a freaking alien again, you know. You know, I'm already weird enough. And so, and the community I was raised in is so, so predominantly Mormon. And it's, there's nothing wrong with it.

And like, a lot of my family are, and I support that. But for me, sorry, I'm tipping it. Um, for me, I never felt that. I never felt a connection to God. And I never felt it by worshipping the way that they did. Until, um, I took psychedelics and it finally, I'm able now to like look at other people and say, okay, I know what you were feeling now when you said that. And I know now, like, okay, cool, that's your thing. That's how you feel that way. But this is how I have to do it. And it may not line up specifically with how you do it for you.

But like, I don't know, maybe I'm just too much of like a science-based person and I have too much of a curiosity or too much of a curious mind that I asked too many questions and nobody could really give me sufficient answers. And I think that that just made it hard for me to believe in something like that. But this, I know because I've seen it and I feel it every single time. So, sorry, right now, you know, I'm a mob. I've got two kids. And I'm at home right now because I'm using my, like I said, I'm just going and doing advocating.

I'm lucky enough to be able to do that. But, like, mushrooms and or Sylcybin and cannabis have given me the ability to be the mom. I want it as a kid. You know, like the mom that paid attention and acted interested and celebrated, you know, everything. So, yeah. So it's just given me, it's given me a life, basically. I didn't have a life before.

I don't know what I was doing, but I wasn't living. You know, I was just surviving. But I don't have to survive anymore. And it feels weird sometimes. Like, it feels, I feel uneasy about it because I feel like I always kind of have to be in survival mode. And so to feel like I don't have to.

to be in survival mode is an uncomfortable feeling sometimes but it's a good uncomfortable feeling and that's shitty about psychedelics too is like nobody talks about like there's some pain involved like i'll tell you what you got to shed some unhealthy people sometimes and it's not always what you want And it's not always, which brings me right back to my husband. And I wonder how many marriages, you know, of combat veterans and just people with PTSD in general who are veterans. I wonder how many marriages could have been saved potentially with psychedelics, you know, if that could have been implemented. Because I think a lot of these soldiers are just unable to say how they really feel. feel and they don't want to say how they really feel because of the perceptions that they think

that it will, you know, that people will have and that are untrue, mostly, but, you know, it is what it is. So, yeah, so how do you un, how do you unf, how do you unf, how do you un, F-U-C-K, you know, all these years of, of misconceptions that are just drilled into these, these people's heads, like, that you have to be stoic. You have to be brave at all time. Can't let it, you know, can't let it fade. Can't let it ever show any emotion. That's a weakness.

So, I don't know. Hopefully, they just know that they have permission. Now, I don't know. It seems like, you know, it seems to me like, in all of our lives, there's usually someone that people look up to. And it sounds to me, whether it's your friend that's struggling with addiction, when I hear the word she says about it. Oh, you have this perfect life.

What I hear is someone who looks at you and looks up to you. And it's like, how are you so strong? When she says stuff like that, what I hear is, how are you so strong, Haley? How can you do it? And I think when your husband is talking, I guarantee you he's silently struggling, but he probably looks to you as the rock of your family. When your kids look at you, it's like, look, mom is stepping up. Mom is going out advocating for something she believes in.

So it's these daily battles of standing up and regardless. When I hear your story, I think of someone who has the courage to get up every day and fight every battle with every ounce of tenacity they have in their soul. And that is how people begin to change. They see people in their lives. They get up and do it regardless of how they feel. And I think that that's what you're doing. think that your friends see it. I think your husband sees it. And from what I'm hearing is I see

even the people back, you know, in Utah that are looking at you. Like you broke out of something that couldn't contain you. Here's this thing that's trying to hold you in and you're like, nope, you can't contain me. I don't care what you do to me. You've always found a way to find the best route out. And sometimes it's hurtful. Sometimes people don't want to let you go because they want you to stay there in the suffering with them. So what you're doing is it's fucking mesmerizing. It's beautiful. You'd be really goddamn proud of yourself for doing it because people around you see it and you may be the only light in their lives. And that's probably, I mean, that's something the psychedelics shows you was like, look, you do have the courage to do it. I'll help you.

Psychedelics have a way of finding that flame and blowing on that ember to make you become the biggest, most powerful light so you can walk down that path and other people can follow you. You know, And I love it, man. I hear a lot of pain and anger, but what I, what I hear mostly is the heart of a champion. I'm fucking proud of you, Haley. You're crushing it. And the fact that you find ways to go out there and knock on doors and kick down doors and make people listen to you, it's that exact power.

It's that authority that you're giving yourself that's going to make people listen to you. Because anybody can quit. You've had every single reason in the book to quit, but you never have. Like, that's not something people have. That's something that people, you can't teach people. that that's something that grows inside of you. And if you hadn't had all of these things happen, you probably wouldn't be who you are today.

You wouldn't have the fire to do all the things you're doing. No, not at all. And it helps me, I think, in a lot of ways, too, because I can talk to people on a real level. Because I can be like, man, I've been an addict. I've been in the lowest trench. You know, I've been there. I have.

And I have known what it's like to have to have to, crawl out of that hole over and over until you finally get some footing to where and I'll tell you what again the footing that I got didn't start until psychedelics about a year ago and when my uncle killed himself it was just like freaking all the fire just ignited in me all the all the gas was just thrown on the flame and I cannot There's not like there's nights I can't sleep because I just think about like all the people that are suffering for no reason and it just makes my heart literally just fucking hurt because I know what that's like too and I've been oh my god depressed like I have been so bad like my husband had to literally I felt like just gum that melted in the sidewalk. I was just on the ground and I couldn't even I didn't even have the will to let get up and shower or anything. I just couldn't even

I just didn't want to even deal I just cried and so finally my husband was like this is enough And so he picked me up and he put me in the shower. And I think like the next day, actually I got a job offer to work in cannabis. And I think that like that was kind of like, you know, woke me up. But I don't, bud tending is not, I am a closer and I can do it all day. And I love bud tending. But I, that's not my passion. You know, is sitting in forward.

walls and under somebody else's instruction of telling me what to sell i'm not even endorse your shit unless i know it's legit i'm not i'll tell you straight up if it's garbage i have i told a cultivator's shit was garbage i got some gary peyton and it was trash i got up for the playoffs and i was so excited and then it was just not it was very very subpar and i told him because i was like listen, coming from a place of community and love, you know, I just want you to do better. And he accepted it and he took it. He took it in stride and I give him kudos for that. But like, you know, that's just not me.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to sell. So it's medical here strictly. It's not recreational. So I'm not going to work in a dispensary and treat patients that come in like customers and try and push. you know, whatever it needs to be bumped out because it's getting close to its turn time or whatever. I'm not going to do that. I'm just not. I don't feel good about it.

If, you know, your Mi Ma comes in and she's looking for a specific strain to treat her, you know, arthritis or whatever, I'm not going to sell her some shit that I know isn't going to, you know, remotely help with that. Like some, I don't know, like Pineapple Express. Like that's not for arthritis. You know what I mean? So, I don't know, just things like that didn't spark joy with me. So I found out that me working one-on-one with patience, however, and sticking up for them, because that's what I've always done.

I've always just hated to see people treat it unfairly. I fucking hate it. That's mostly why I left or I don't want to go back to the Mormon church is because, you know, I have a lot of, friends that are in the LGBTQ community and I have a lot of friends who are addicts and I have a lot of friends who are in prison, you know, that are another side of the victims of the opioid epidemic. And so I just, I just can't see them be ostracized, you know, and I just can't see them be treated differently. And I know there's like, you know, some people that say,

okay, well, there's, you know, there's like, I can't remember what they call it. Some kind of Mormonism where you're like accepting or whatever of it. Because homosexuality is extremely looked down upon. It's like one of probably the worst things you can do as be a homosexual in the, because you're not making babies that way, baby. And you know what?

babies are tied paying members of the corporation. So it's like, you know, they encourage people to have all these babies because they want those babies to pay tithe eventually. And they give

10% of their income every month to the church. And if you don't, you don't get in to the temple. So, you know, and that's like the club, the clubhouse. So you, your membership is null and void if you you know and it's just silly just things like that i don't

like it i don't like exclusion i don't like i don't like feeling like it's not fair i'm the mom unfortunately on the soccer field that's like both teams you know like because i just want everyone to win i want everyone to feel good i don't want people to be left out i don't want people to feel bad because i've been left out and i have felt bad And it fucking sucks. I'm one of five children. I'm number four. And two of my siblings don't talk to me.

And that freaking hurts, man. And it's not because of anything that I feel like I'm doing wrong even. It's just like they just choose not to. And that's fine. That's their choice. But it still stains. And it's always been that way. You know?

It's always been, I've always felt that way. And it's always been mostly because I just didn't, I just didn't fall in line with everybody else, you know? And sometimes when you dance to your own beat of your own drum, it's very lonely. It's a very lonely dance, unfortunately. And, um, but I hopefully can use my librettist. as some sort of, I don't know, motivation to get out and mingle with actual patients and, you know, get to know actual people and, you know, not just get focused on the business side because I feel like everyone gets sucked up into the money and the business. And it's like we can finally, you know, sell weed illegally. And it's like, oh, we're going to make someone.

No, you're not going to make a lot of money. I'm not in any money. I'm spending my own money, you know, like, because I just want people to feel better. I really do. And it's unfair that there are so many, like, laws and restrictions of who can, you know, what I can even do. There isn't even, like, really a job for me to do this. Like, I basically am, like, creating, I'm trying, well, I'm trying to, like, manifest.

to give me a job doing this. And so I don't know. I don't know if Mississippi's ready for that, though. So we'll see. Well, regardless. Yeah, no, I think that, you know, in creating a path, it's like if you go out on a trail, you can follow the trail and you can get to the destination.

But if you create your own path, you're going to get scratched up. You're going to get hit by some brushes. You might even fall down. But you know what? You may also find a view that no one else has. The only way to make discoveries is to blaze your own trail. There's like one of my favorite myths is like this myth of King Arthur.

And they're sitting down and this giant tower and they're sitting down with the knights at the round table. And they're getting ready to eat this amazing dinner. And all of a sudden there's this beautiful like lights like, oh. And like the golden arc shows up on the table. And all the knights in King Arthur are like, whoa, what? is this thing? And they have this vision. And in this, in this vision on the table, they're told to go and find the ark. So the knights stand up and King Arthur stand up and they, they decide to go and find the Ark of the covenant. And they, what they do is they find, they make their way out of the

dark forest. And they decide that the only way to ever find this beautiful vision that they're looking for is that they have to go alone. And not only do they have to go alone, but they have to find the darkest, craziest, scariest part of the forest for them and make their own trail. Right? And that's the kind of the beauty of our lives is, look, you could stay in Utah. You could make amends with your family and you could stay the course of that way. But that's not the life that you were handed. Your life is a lesser discovery. Yeah, way more than now.

And the thing that I have learned in life is that when we look back on the tragedies of our life, What we see when we get to the end of the road is like, wow, that was a tough part of my life, but I'm glad I took that because I'm here now. And when you think about, when I think about what you're saying about helping people, the only way you can really help somebody is to understand what they're going through. And the only way you can understand what they're going through is to have gone through something similar. You know what I mean by that? Like, that's why you can help out other women that are in relationships with soldiers who have PTSD. That's why you can help out with a friend with addiction. That's why you can kick down doors because you've gone through all that.

And that's like a badge of honor to not only go through it, but to come out the other side with the understanding of how to get through it. I think that's the purpose of tragedy sometimes. And it's not that life is trying to hurt us. It's that we're not real good dancers. And life is. Life is swinging us around and showing us stuff. And we're falling here and there.

But look, once we learn how to dance, all of a sudden, guess what? we're starting to dance with life. This thing you talk about, hey, I'm trying to get someone to give me a job. You're creating. You're an entrepreneur. You're out finding ways to make the world better. And the world will reward you. I promise you on that in ways you can't even imagine. It will. But it's just a matter of going out and continuing to do it. You're continuing to dance. You're finding a way. And in doing that, you're inspiring other people to do it. And there's no amount of money that can do that. There's no amount of money someone can pay you when the payoff is inspiration. This inspiration is something that lasts forever. Money is something that people hand you a paycheck with and, hey, go sell this to this person that doesn't need it. Anybody can do that, but not hardly anybody can do what you're doing. And I hope you are firm with that. I hope you understand that what you're doing is not only something that's necessary, but it's something that you're called to do it.

And a lot of people, they hear the call and they can't do it, right? It's a beautiful thing, and I know it's hard, but if it was easy, everybody would do it. You know what I mean? And it's hard sometimes to find the balance. And like, so like for instance, my son, he's six. Oh, God, here we go. I'm going to cry again, just warning you. He came to me and he said, Mom, I miss you so much.

You know, and he said, when you're gone, I feel like a part of me is gone. and I lost it, obviously. And it's so hard to explain to a six, oh, God, okay, first of all, he is not only a six-year-old. He's like a 55-year-old in a six-year-old body. He has like a stock portfolio stash somewhere. I swear to God, he is the most astute, like, wealth scholar and a gentleman. I'll tell you what, man, I don't know. It must be all the Jaws.

He loves Jaws, okay, all four Jaws movies. Oh, man. The, I can't handle any more Jaws movies. Anywho, he, um, he told me that, and that was very hard because, um, I haven't been gone from him really his whole entire life. I've been home with him. And it's still very fresh to him that I was home with him. because I stayed home with both children. So I didn't, you know, I didn't finish my degree.

I encouraged Bryce, my husband. So when we met, he was still in the military. He was fresh off of combat. He had just come home from Afghanistan in 2012. And so he and I, or 2011, somewhere around there. But anyways, so when we started, when we were together, when we had Penny, my first child, we decided that I would stay home because, you know, it just, it's just the way it is in Utah. And I'm pretty sure it's probably most of the, you know, country, you know, it's just how you fall into things. The woman just typically ends up staying home.

And it was just like, you know, he's a very alpha kind of guy. was just like that kind of role. It fell nicely. And that's what I assumed I was supposed to do. You know, like, that's just what I had been taught and shown what I was to do. I was to be a wife and a mother, a vessel. And so I did that. And I love my babies and I love being a mom.

But I am not fulfilled entirely by being a mother and a homemaker. I'm not. I hate cleaning. I'll tell you honest truth. I freaking hate it. And I do not want to make a career of cleaning my house over and over. I want to do something I'm interested in and I want to do something I feel as impactful. And even if I lose family members and I have to shed some friends in the process,

like the end goal to me is just so much more important because they'll see eventually, I think, you know? Like already I feel kind of vindicated for like, cannabis and all the studies that have, you know, all the science that's coming out about all the benefits and, you know, told you so for 20 years, but whatever. So anyways, when my husband and I got together, the whole point of me telling you that, we decided that I would stay home and then that he would go to school. So he finished his stuff and now he has a great career in aerospace, right so now i'm 37 and it's like i'm starting from scratch now it's rough man like i'm not about to get in some

debt for now for school it's hello i'm like halfway through with like maybe even more than halfway through so shit i don't know though my grandma is 95 And her twin sister is also alive at 95. And their sister, my great aunt Nancy, is 90-something. And she's also still alive. I really hope I don't inherit those genes, though, because I don't want to be 90 and alive. I just feel like by then my body's just going to,

I'll be like the cryptkeeper. You know, like on Beetlejuice, when it's the part when he's like doing the, the spell and like they're falling apart like Gina Davis like her like jaw falls off. Yeah. I remember. But you know what though? At 90 that would only put you one third of your way through life. So maybe this is just.

I don't want it. But what I'm saying is maybe this opportunity that you presenting itself in front of you is an opportunity to be reborn. The same way that the butterfly emerges from the cocoon, right? So too are you emerging in this new form and any sort of birth. I just barely feel like a rebirth. Yes, exactly. Right. It's wild, too.

And it's so hard for moms, I think, to, like, talk about this out loud with each other because there's so much of a stigma, especially against cannabis and psilocybin, like, microdose. It's still not acceptable and it's still not talked about, even though it should be. Yeah. So hopefully, this is honestly. Like, I don't give a shit about making a ton of money. I'll be straight up. I'm not great with money.

I don't want it. I don't need it. Like, I want enough to be able to sustain this so I can keep doing this. Right. Because otherwise, I can't. And so I just want to, you know, I don't want more than any. I just want a simple life where I'm able to help people see a better way. And it's like, so what?

whatever I've got to do to make that happen, I'm going to do it because I don't want anyone to be like I was anymore and just feel like the only option that you have is Prozac or Xanax or whatever. I am missing chunks of my life due to benzodiazepines because they rob your memory entirely. They just chunks of time too, like days. I don't remember a lot of my babies developmental years because they put me on Xanax because of I had postpartum anxiety, right? So immediately they put me on a benzodiazepine and it's like I don't remember. And I'll never get them back. I'll never be able to recall those. And I don't have video of all of it, you know.

And so I just, so like, you know, when you're talking about all these things that I like that I should be proud of, I feel shame. That's how fucked up, like, the culture is around this. Is that instead of feeling, like, brave and proud of myself, I feel ashamed. Like, I can't be proud of it. You know what I mean? Like, I am still indoctrinated to think that I am doing something against God or against, you know, something. And so it's like, this cycle of shame is just, it's awful.

It's like, it can, it's a killer. It kills people, you know? And it's just these very complicated things to unravel. And it's like so, I don't know, it's hard to get the shame away from feeling like it's something acceptable because there's still a lot of shame in other people's views about it. And so it's like, you know, when they feel like it's shameful, it's like you kind of start to trick yourself again into thinking it's something to be ashamed of. But what is what?

I was a lot of more on it. No, it's all good. It makes it. What is shameful? Like what particular experience is shameful? That it's a legal. for one, like that psilocybin is elite. You're breaking

the law. I mean, at the end of the day. And so this is what drove me underground for so long is the threat of DCFS at my door snatching my kids like the scary guys in ET. You know the part in ET with the

white guys and the coats and they come in? Holy shit, that scared me so bad as a kid. So bad. Just that someone like that could just come into your house and snatch your alien friend, you know, just out of nowhere and not tell you where they're taking them. And they're in like these scary white hazmat. Anyways, I, I translate that to DCFS, like what it would be like, because it's that same fear. It's like that ice in your

vain fear, like, of like, and I know I am not the only parent. Who feels that way? and who is worried about that. And I think that that's a lot of why moms in my, I can't speak for fathers, but I do know that I, you know, I have a lot of friends in my mom groups on Facebook and things like that

that are in the same boat as I am. And it's just like we're afraid of the repercussions. And so I just have gone to the point or I don't give a fuck anymore. And I'm a legal patient to use cannabis. So that you can, you know, whatever. Yeah. But with the psilocybin, I will fight to the death in court about the benefits.

And I will show them the benefits compared to what a traditional SSRI does. So, you know, I think that my lawyring skills are true crime based. years of true crime, I will add multiple, multiple seasons of dateline, you know. So I feel like I'm pretty solid as far as defending myself. Yeah, there's a group of... I'm serious, though, like, fuck them. Yeah, there's a group of, I think there's a group called Sisters and Psychedelics, of which a large portion are part of the psychedelic bar group, you know, so they're

lawyers that and women that believe in the exact same mission that you have and they might be a really good source to reach out to and and i'm going to have to yeah yeah yeah but i'll reach out and see because i'm happy to advocate for anybody that i believe in yeah i have to like believe in you sorry but like i will go hard if i believe in your cause i will defend you as far as i can take it, you know, and I will promote it and I will make sure, you know, like I have a friend. His name's Otha. He's a freaking genius. First of all, and second of all, he is gorgeous.

He looks like Farrell Williams, Kay. He's just super good looking. Anywho, he created this app called Tetragram and it's going, I mean, it's going to, so it's like a peer-to-peer based app. So, like, say I go to a, I go to a dispensary here. There's one called Green Magnolia. Say I go to Green Magnolia dispensary here in Mississippi. So I can clock that I went to that specific dispensary and say I bought Cinderella 99 from Wellcraft, which is one of my friends, Derek. Hey, Derek.

And I love that strain. It's freaking, bye, y'all. Anyway, send me some for free because I just plug for that. But Othas app. so like I say I really liked the Cinderella I can rate it on the app and I can tell you and it's better than Leafly because it's not people being paid or you know giving given some sort of you know whatever I don't know what they can I don't even know what they can give them here legally discounts or you know anyways like your buddy your second cousin going on on Leafly so this would be an actual like peer to peer app so it would be actual actual peer to peer app so it would be actual people. people communicating about it instead of just people, you know, making shit up. So, you know, and it'll be legit, like one star. And then it'll say, you know, like, this made me feel sleepy, hungry, whatever.

And it'll be personalized to your own, too, so that you can track your own. Because I've been doing this anyway, okay? So this was another thing. So when it becomes federally illegal, I want to be able to tell my husband certain things. that will help him that I think will help him, you know, because I, that's part of the big reason why I started learning about it is because I wanted to be able to teach him and show him and help him when he was ready. And unfortunately, it's taking a really long time. And even if it does become federally legal, I don't know if he'll be completely comfortable with doing it. He's just,

you know, he hasn't for so long. And it is. scary and daunting. And even with your crazy-ass freaking weirdo wife prop, you know, being a prophet about mushrooms all the time. Like, even then,

it's still, you know, he still has his reservations. Yeah. So it's a, you know, it's a natural human instinct to be scared of something unknown like this.

And I think I just, I just have always, like, not had a very good, like, gave a shit meter. So it's like, you know, I just never really shit. I wanted to try.

And I'm so glad I did. And that's why you should all try. Yeah, I think it's definitely something that is going to revolutionize mental health. And it takes away the lifetime addiction of being addicted, not only the pills, but the care and the hospitals and all the trauma that comes with it. And it's, it can happen quickly, too. And it's, it can, it has the power to heal relationships the same way Neosporn can heal scabs. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's really good.

Right? And MDMA too. Like, I think they implement that in marriage counseling, like as like a freaking on a menu. Like you can go into marriage counseling and you guys can take, you know, plan an MDMA trip together. Holy shit. that would heal so many problems with intimacy and especially with veterans because intimacy is so hard for them to do. I did not see my husband like, man, he didn't know how to even hold our daughter.

Okay. We brought our baby home from the hospital and he was just like for the first six months, he just like didn't know how to like emote. he didn't know how to talk to her he didn't know like because baby talk and all that shit is so foreign to him like he you know like that kind of emotion of like i don't what even emotion is that just like fucking squire like that emotion you know what i mean i get that bad i uh man i love a baby too so you know my i and i'm like obsessed like sniffing my newborn's head like it's crack cocaine you know like oh my god the smell of baby head is so you know like oh my god the smell of baby head is so you know i'm like i'm like bad and addictive. It really is. I used to wear them just so I could smell their little heads. But like he didn't get all that and like and it and it took him early time and I had to like teach him how to talk to a baby. Like it just like things like that are just so suppressed. Like it seems silly but like it's just like things like that are like so hard for them to like because that shows some sort of like I don't know. vulnerability, I guess, to talk to a baby because you're talking like an acute voice.

And so you're not, you know, your Kensington Palace self all the time. So it's hard to crack those guys. And I think psychedelics is definitely the key. And I just so tomorrow I'm going to Tupelo to the veteran of foreign wars. it's like they're it's like at a hotel it's like a three day thing I don't know if it's a conference or what

or if it's just like open to the public but there's going to be a booth set up and I'm going to be there just hoping to hurt them in and sign them up so yeah that sounds awesome let's get hi just kidding I won't say that

is it with like a specific person or is it with like, is there a company you're working with when you go down there? Yes. Okay. So, Micah is the Mississippi Independent Cannabis Association. So it's a group of cannabis owner or, you know, cannabis business, cannabis adjacent business, like transportation, dispensaries, cultivation, all that kind of stuff. So there's like at least 25, probably more now businesses. and they formed this alliance.

And so what they're trying to do is kind of great right now. So they're trying to redo the whole medical bill legislation. So they've all kind of banded together that, you know, they want things to be better. So unfortunately, like, they're all focused on the legislation and running their businesses. And, you know, because it's a brand new industry in the South in general.

And Mississippi, like, kudos to Mississippi, be actually for being a little bit forward thinking. Yeah. You know, kind of for the South. They're dipping their toe. So kudos to them for that. But that's why I was up here at this other thing. So last week I was up or down here.

I guess it's down at a thing for a senator because I was trying to make sure that all the people, the main players in cannabis saw me and knew my face. I just want him to know I'm there and that someone was there advocating for patients. Someone showed up for patients. Someone showed up to be a voice and, you know, because I don't know if the senators have ever sat down with an actual patient. I don't know if the governor himself has ever sat down with an actual patient and said, you know, what do you expect? What do you need? What do you anything? And I think it would really brought in their perspective of what they need to do and how they need to structure it if they did because i don't think that they have really done that i don't think they've really sat down with

you know and thought it's with the public so yeah i hope that they are anyways so um what i'm going to do is just i'm trying to help micha with their social media and try and you know help them with what I can because they're doing, you know, a lot of the heavy lifting with the legislation and all that kind of stuff. So, um, they're doing a booth there and I will be there representing Micah. And with Micah, I will be facilitating people to sign up for the program. I'm also a patient. Um, I'm a patient myself, not a patient myself. Well, I'm a patient myself, but I'm also a registered agent. I have a badge.

So I'm a badge. You got a badge. Yes. That was like the first thing I did too. When I knew it was rolling out, I was like, okay, let's go. Like I was ready. I was ready.

I've been ready, man. I've been a mole person for the last 20 years that's I'm ready. Can you tell? Like I look like I sparkle in the sunlight. Like I'm that, you know, bad. It's pretty bad. which is why I'm in the sheet. No, it's all good.

It's like you've been training your whole life for this. And so it's exciting to have an outlet where you can pour yourself into that container and people can come and learn and understand. And look, you're speaking from experience. So I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of it. And, you know, I got to tell you, this has been a really awesome conversation. I appreciate you coming on. I appreciate you being candid.

I love. love it all. And I think that maybe we can inspire some people that, look, I know without a doubt, there's people that are in the exact same situation and that your story helps those people. That's all we can do in life, is try to inspire other people. And I think that we've done that today. And I look forward to future conversations. And where's the best people, yeah, where's the best place for people to reach out to you is on your LinkedIn page? Or, you know, I just, I'm not, I'm not, I don't have like a, you know, blue check mark or anything. Right, right.

So you can hit me up and I will probably respond because I think it's important. And I'm on LinkedIn under Haley Higgins. I don't think it has my name. Yeah, it's just Haley Higgins. I'm about the only red-headed Haley Higgins on there. And I think my email and stuff is attached to that. So if you want to get a hold of me that way, it's on there as well. whatever.

I'm open to it. Let's work together. Let's change some lives. And if you have questions or whatever. Like, I'm happy to connect. And I've been through a lot of different trenches and I've crawled through them. Yeah. And I will crawl through them with you.

And I promise you there is like an actual light at the end of the tunnel. Man, like an actual light. Like, for real. Yeah. For real reels. Yes. Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate blazing the trail and helping people.

And everybody watching the show, check out. I'm going to put her linked in profile link in the show notes. So you can reach out to her, grab some free advice and free information. And she's willing to help out. Anybody that's willing to give her a buzz and so, Haley, hang on one second. I'm going to talk to you, but I'm going to hang up with the people for a moment. So that's all we got for today. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for hanging out with the both of us.

I hope you had a beautiful day. I hope you have a great weekend, and we'll talk to you soon.