High Society with Paxton Quigley

Paxton Quigley Spotlight today on High Society with guest host Jorge Hermida only on Cannabis Radio. Prior to authoring books, Paxton worked as a Director in Community Relations for Playboy Enterprises, Inc., Los Angeles, for five years, and reported to Hugh M. Hefner and Christie Hefner. She was at Playboy in its heyday, the cable network had just started up, the magazine at the time had over 5 million readers. So we talk about how Paxton embraced this icon of the counterculture and an iconic figure in Hugh Hefner. Paxton worked with actor, Robert Wagner, as the promotional director for two years for the Jimmy Steward National Relay Marathon in San Monica, California, and was also the editor-in-chief of The Valley Magazine in Sherman Oaks, CA., You chair your family foundation, “Pathways to Success From School to Work”, at the University of Chicago. She's on the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Career Development, NYC. So we talk about the charitable efforts and how the doors to these opportunities were opened to her.

High Society's One Year Anniversary with Paxton Quigley only on Cannabis Radio! Welcome to this first-anniversary recap of High Society with Paxton Quigley. Since Paxton joined CannabisRadio.com last year, she has explored a wide variety of topics from cannabis science breakthroughs to space travel to what people are doing together and alone during this long pandemic.During the height of the lockdown, Paxton spoke with Dr. Sarah Mann, a Chicago-based physician who discussed how the pandemic and its social distancing restrictions were affecting people’s sex lives and what role cannabis plays in enhancing one's sexual activities. Dr. Mann also talked about how prevalent anxiety was, and perhaps still is, among people who are unsure of what awaits them now that we are hopefully seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.In this episode, High Society with Paxton Quigley speaks with one of the most prestigious astronomers and astrophysicists of our time: Dr. Abraham Loeb of Harvard University. Dr. Loeb believes that we on earth very likely have been visited by aliens. He cites one example when a cigar-shaped object flew past Earth in 2017. Loeb goes into detail in this fascinating interview. He also wrote an informative book on the subject called Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.

Dr. Peter Grinspoon discusses current events from Sha’Carri Richardson to legalization after a busy week of events that have seemingly affected not only cannabis legalization but provoked an outpouring of emotions and opinions that can only mean that what remains of the stigma surrounding weed is finally lifting and beneath it are millions who do not agree with its continued prohibition.

UFO expert Avi Loeb discusses the long-awaited Pentagon report and what the U.S. government knows about UFOs and what it didn’t manage to learn and why.The nine-page unclassified document detailed 144 of what the government calls “unidentified aerial phenomenon,” or UAPs, seen by Navy pilots and others between 2004 and 2021.

Award-winning sex educator and coach gives free advice to Paxton Quigley’s listeners in this spicy interview with Ashley Manta, the much sought-after authority on combining sex and cannabis as part of her “Cannasexual Brand.”Manta, author of “Sex: How Cannabis, CBD and Other PlantAllies Can Improve Your Everyday Life,” explained that Cannasexual - a concept she created - describes “mindfully and deliberately combining sex and cannabis to deepen intimacy and enhance pleasure.” This concept is also the basis of Manta’s sex therapy and coaching, which she describes in juicy details, especially when Quigley asked to role-play as if she were talking with a female client looking to make her sex life “more orgasmic.”

Meet the Ohio mother taking on the powers that be for medical marijuana for autism: Tiffany Carwile, who seems to never sleep.For the third year in a row, the Ohio Medical Board has refused to approve autism spectrum disorder as one of the state’s 25 qualifying conditions for medical marijuana. So Carwile is taking her arguments, based on science and experience, to Ohio’s legislators and governor. Carwile, president of the Autism Alliance of Ohio, said the most recent round of negative responses from the Ohio Medical Board was disheartening but “failure is not an option, for me or for my son.” Carwile’s 7-year-old son Jaxsyn was diagnosed with severe low-functioning autism in 2016.

Harvard physicist Abraham "Avi" Loeb talks about outer space in his second interview with Paxton Quigley.A recent report from the National UFO reporting center noted that the number of sightings in the United States rose by a thousand nationwide to 7,200 this year, according to the government’s reporting center. And only now, apparently, the Pentagon is taking them seriously.Prof. Loeb agreed that many more have probably been in our atmosphere, and go either unseen or unreported.

The future of cannabis is in rare cannabinoids such as CBG, CBN, THCV, THCA, and more, said Dennis O’Neill, president of BioMedican, a biotech company that has developed a unique patented method of producing pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoids. “These rare cannabinoids offer specific health benefits that are better than CBD,” O’Neill said.

The burgeoning hemp industry and where it’s headed was the topic of in this interview with Robert Hoban, Esq. president and founder of the Hoban Law Group, one of the largest cannabis and hemp industry law firms in the United States.Hoban talks about the versatility of hemp as a manufacturing product as well as how beneficial its use can be for the environment. He pointed to such benefits as less reliance on fossil fuels and more efficient use of energy; less build-up of carbon in the atmosphere; forest conservation and a deep reduction in agricultural pesticide use. Hemp can also be used to replace cotton, which is a crop that requires enormous amounts of water.

The Martha Stewart of edibles talks about Wana Brands, which produces the country’s top-selling cannabis-infused gummies and other yummy edibles.Nancy Whiteman, CEO of Colorado-based Wana Brands, the largest cannabis-infused products manufacturer in the U.S., tells us how she started her edibles company over a decade ago, what it was like for females to get ahead in the cannabis industry, and how she is now using her success to help women and people of color to get a fair break.With Wana Brands available in dispensaries across 11 states including Canada and the company having been ranked the top edibles brand in terms of sales revenue in 2019, Ms. Whiteman makes a point of giving back to communities in need.  In Sept. 2020, Wana Brands launched a new resource, Cannabis for Justice, which provides “a compendium of trusted resources designed for companies in the cannabis industry seeking to do more.”

420 originators tell how it all started fifty years ago at San Rafael High School and in the scenic mountains of Marin County, California.Known as the Waldos, five high school friends met after school at 4:20 to then go off and search for an abandoned cannabis patch that was planted then abandoned on Point Reyes Peninsula by a member of the U.S. Coast Guard. “We never found the marijuana patch but we had a blast searching for it!” said Steve Capper who along with his friend of five decades and fellow Waldo, Dave Reddix, shared many of the Waldos’ escapades in this fascinating interview.

A new cannabis coalition seeking to influence federal policy was recently launched and is called the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation (CPEAR). The CPEAR Coalition has not only enlisted cannabis policy experts, academics, mental health experts, and law enforcement, it also includes tobacco and alcohol companies as well as several convenience store partners, explained its executive director Andrew Freedman, whom many may remember as Colorado’s cannabis czar in 2014 when then-Gov. John Hickenlooper was implementing the world’s first legal adult-use cannabis market.

New York’s legal weed program is set to be the best in the nation, according to David Holland, executive and legal director of Empire State NORML. How great is New York State’s legal cannabis program? First of all, possession of up to three ounces of cannabis and 24 grams of concentrate is effective immediately for adults. Home GrowHome cultivation, the bane of our collective existence, is permitted once regulations are adopted. Adults can grow a maximum of three mature plants and three immature plants. Households with two or more adults are permitted to grow twice that amount. “Home grow was a critical element as far as NORML was concerned,” said Holland, former legal counsel for High Times and president of the New York City Cannabis Industry Association (NYCCIA).Social Equity and Automatic ExpungementNew York’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) provides for automatic expungement or resentencing for anyone “with a previous marijuana conviction that would now be legal under the law and provides necessary funding.”In terms in fair reinvestment, the law stipulates that 40% of cannabis tax revenue will be reinvested in communities that have been disproportionately targeted by cannabis enforcement and the racist war on drugs as well as women and disadvantaged farmers. “We were no longer going to tolerate rampant abuse of law enforcement against people of color especially black people who suffered under the war on drugs with over policing,” Holland said.Twenty percent of revenue will go to schools, and 40% to drug treatment facilities and public education.Home DeliveryHolland pointed out that there is already an informal yet extremely efficient infrastructure functioning among the legacy cannabis market operators. “Legacy market operators are very capable of continuing to operate efficiently and effectively. We’d like these so-called ‘outlaws’ to become in-laws. They clearly know how to run the industry whereas legislators in Albany have no idea.”Public Consumption New York will have public consumption spaces, pop-up shops, and eventually catering licenses will be available. How many operating licenses? That has not been decided yet, so stay tuned. A tribute   Holland ended the interview with a tribute to those who worked long and hard for legalization. He specifically named two people. “We would not be here discussing this if it were not for people like [former High Times Magazine Chairman and civil rights attorney] Michael Kennedy and [NORML founder and attorney] Keith Stroup.”

Delta-8 THC is popular, legal, and quite fantastic, say consumers of this lesser-known, and now much sought-after, cannabinoid.In the past several year's researchers have found that the Delta-8 THC molecule, which occurs in the cannabis plant in very small concentrations, contains much of the same unique therapeutic potential as Δ-9 THC and CBD. This includes anti-nausea properties, pain and anxiety reduction, appetite stimulation, and much more, explained Eric Recker, Executive Vice President of Indicaloud, a producer of high-quality, compliant, and consistent Delta-8 THC products, made from premium hemp. Recker noted that, unlike CBD, Delta-8 THC can produce a heady, psychoactive experience for some consumers, although less so than Delta-9 THC.

FDA approval to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with MDMA is imminent, explained Betty Aldworth, Director of Communications and Events for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).“We are on the precipice of filing that application to the FDA for approval of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD,” Aldworth said.Indeed, several years ago the Food and Drug Administration designated MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD a “Breakthrough Therapy,” which ensures that the FDA will work closely with MAPS to complete the Phase 3 trials currently underway. This would also fulfill MAPS’ aims to develop MDMA into an FDA-approved prescription treatment, a move Aldworth said would bring a great deal of relief to those suffering from PTSD as well as other mental health conditions. “What we are seeing right now is an acknowledgment that psychedelics might fundamentally change the way we think about mental health conditions,” Aldworth explained. “It may offer us a window into treating these conditions by giving people the tools to work with to get to the core of the issues that are causing them, whether it’s PTSD, depression, or anxiety since many of these things are very much connected.” MAPS is also are studying whether MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can help heal the psychological and emotional damage caused by sexual assault, war, violent crime, and other traumas including anxiety related to life-threatening illnesses.“We are looking at psychedelics as a catalyst to provide people with a new way of looking at themselves and the elements of their lives that are causing them stress and anxiety, with the hope that we might be able to fundamentally shift how we’re treating mental health within the western paradigm,” Aldworth said.

Women’s successful inclusion in the cannabis industry has been the goal of ArcView’s Chief Investment Officer, Jeanne Sullivan, since she left the world of corporate tech investment in 2014 and entered the cannabis industry, bringing her much-needed skills along with her. “Throughout my career, I have been interested in supporting women entrepreneurs who receive less than 3% of venture capital funding and very little access to resources to help grow their businesses, especially women of color,” Sullivan said.Enter Women’s Investor Network “Our goal is to do better than the tech industry has done,” said Sullivan, who co-founded the Women’s Investor Network (WIN), which is part of the Arcview Group. WIN’s members seek to mutually empower, train and support women working in all areas of the cannabis, hemp, and CBD industry.  “We’re bringing more women investors, companies, and products to the forefront of the industry,” Sullivan said. “By focusing on diversity, inclusion, and developing an equitable cannabis industry, we’re opening a door for women and encouraging them to walk through it.” Currently, WIN has more than 120 members. “Many of the women who joined WIN have no formal training and yet they’ve managed to set up and run successful companies,” Sullivan said. “And that inspires me. We share and teach each other.

Reflecting on Black History Month and the cannabis industry was the topic addressed by Dr. Kirsten Shepard Ahmed, CEO & founder of Texas-based CBD company, Pain Stoppers, who pointed out that only 4% of cannabis businesses are owned by African Americans, of whom she is one. As the legal cannabis industry continues to grow, the reality is that white business people are almost exclusively profiting from it at the moment, said Dr. Shepard Ahmed, known as Dr. K, who is a member of the Minority Cannabis Association, Texas NORML, and the Drug Policy Alliance.     Although Black and Latina female entrepreneurs are the fastest-growing category of business owners, they receive only a fraction of available funding and have very little access to resources that can help them grow their businesses...and yet they persist! Dr. K is not only persistent…but she’s optimistic.“As with any new business venture, the biggest challenge is having the capital to get up and running. We had our share of those problems in the beginning,” said Dr. K whose Pain Stopper brand includes a variety of products made with full and broad spectrum hemp. Pain Stopper, Inc., said Dr. K, not only seeks to transform healthcare on a global level, their goal is also to help solve the country’s worsening opioid epidemic by getting people off addictive pharmaceutical pain meds and onto safe hemp-sourced CBD options. Recent studies have concluded that indeed cannabis may have the potential to not only reduce the harms associated with opioid use but also improve the quality of life of those who use opioids. To learn more about Dr. K’s Pain Stopper products or speak with a professional about which of the many medical protocols would best serve your needs, contact the Austin-based company.

Author discusses Mars landing and inner workings of NASA in a fascinating interview that also looks at the agency’s exploration of Saturn’s moon, Europa, whose ocean, say, scientists, is habitable and similar to Earth’s. And if you’ve ever wondered about the inner workings of NASA (who hasn’t!?), journalist and bestselling author David W. Brown talks about how NASA scientists worked for years to discover a large saltwater ocean beneath Europa’s icy surface. Europa is one of Jupiter’s four Moons. “There is three times more water on Europa than on Earth, which makes scientists believe that complex life could very well exist there,” said Brown whose creative non-fiction book, “The Mission: A True Story,” was published in late Jan. 2021. “Life could be anywhere, we just have to look for it,” said Brown who added that it is a long trip to Jupiter: 6 years!And Mars? It’s much closer: around 7 months.

The moon is hollow and aliens rule the sky, says bestselling author and UFO investigator Rob Shelsky, referring to one of his recent books that contain his hollow moon research findings.“I laughed off the idea at first then I started researching and found that the moon is actually very light. If it was any lighter, it would float away,” Shelsky said. “It is missing mass. When it is struck, it rings for hours, like a hollow bell.”According to evidence he gathered for his book, For The Moon Is Hollow And Aliens Rule the Sky, Shelsky noted that the moon’s hollow spaces contain alien structures. He posed the question of whether aliens in fact reside within the Moon’s hollow spaces. In this fascinating interview with Paxton Quigley, Shelsky contends that evidence supporting the idea of our Moon being hollow comes from a wide variety of scientific disciplines and sources. He also notes that there is recorded historical evidence that our Moon has not always been in our skies.Referring to a question about governmental organizations such as NASA that generally covers up UFO sightings and has censored employees who have produced evidence of their existence, Shelsky scoffed. One such incident involved former NASA contractor, Donna Hare, who claimed there were three flying saucers on the moon during one of NASA’s lunar landings, but that the whole episode was covered up. Hare and other NASA officials who wanted to speak out about the existence of UFOs were forced to sign gag orders or lose their pensions.“Our media still seems to have a strong predilection for ridiculing the whole UFO phenomenon and everything related to it,” Shelsky lamented.

Jointly app helps users track cannabis usage and much more, said the company’s co-founder and CEO about a new consumer-driven database, which is already making waves in the legal weed market by helping consumers get organized about what they need, want, and how to find it. “Jointly advocates and promotes purposeful cannabis consumption by serving as a personal and collective database that essentially revolves around the goals users are aiming to achieve,” said Jointly CEO David Kooi. “It does this by providing a clear method to track their own [cannabis] usage, more specifically which products, methods, and routines work best for them." Jointly creators assessed why and how people are consuming cannabis and CBD products and distilled them into eleven holistic wellness goals.