A WEED SHOP in Opelousas?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: About to get lit. [00:00:01] Speaker B: All right, y' all ready? [00:00:02] Speaker A: Ready. [00:00:02] Speaker C: Did you just say we're about to get lit? [00:00:05] Speaker A: No, I said it. Well, if me and Marley fight, it's going to be lit, but we're not going to fight. [00:00:09] Speaker B: Is lit another expression for getting high lit? [00:00:12] Speaker A: Me? No, no, no, no. [00:00:13] Speaker D: Yes, it is. [00:00:14] Speaker B: I just. [00:00:15] Speaker C: I just heard it from Jesse. [00:00:16] Speaker A: You're talking to the cultural. [00:00:18] Speaker C: I'm talking about a Canadian weed head. Their culture's different up there. [00:00:21] Speaker D: You. [00:00:22] Speaker A: Have you never been to Canada? [00:00:23] Speaker C: I've never been to Canada. [00:00:24] Speaker B: It's lit. Eh? [00:00:25] Speaker A: Lit means, like, exciting. [00:00:28] Speaker D: It's on fire. It's on fire is what is happening. [00:00:32] Speaker A: Like partying is lit. Like, if you're. If you're really hype, it's lit. [00:00:37] Speaker B: All right, so lit is not high, actually. [00:00:40] Speaker C: Let's see what Jesse Google this. [00:00:43] Speaker D: Lit does mean inebriated in some cases. [00:00:46] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [00:00:48] Speaker B: That's right. [00:00:48] Speaker C: Drugs or alcohol. [00:00:49] Speaker A: But if you say it's. A person can be lit. But also when you say it's lit. [00:00:54] Speaker B: It means the joint. [00:00:57] Speaker C: Is. [00:00:57] Speaker A: It means the essence. The air is about to get lit. We're about to get hype. [00:01:02] Speaker D: Yes. It means exciting, not high. [00:01:05] Speaker B: It's an upper, not a downer. [00:01:08] Speaker D: Exactly. [00:01:09] Speaker B: Okay. [00:01:09] Speaker D: All right, guys. [00:01:10] Speaker B: Welcome to another episode of the Parish Circuit. I'm your host, Stuart Ammidon, and joined with me, as always, is the Jesse Marsalis. Whoop, whoop. Say hello, Jesse. [00:01:21] Speaker C: Hello, Jesse. [00:01:23] Speaker B: And we also have our producer in studio, the man himself, the highly esteemed. The highly esteemed. What was your official title? We had you an official title last time. [00:01:32] Speaker D: Executive producer of all audio content at page 50. [00:01:36] Speaker B: That's very official. That's very high. That's very high tier. And today we have a special guest with us in the studio this week. Get excited, everybody. Jordan Bresnahan is here. [00:01:47] Speaker A: What up, baby? It's time to do a podcast. [00:01:50] Speaker D: It's him. [00:01:52] Speaker B: It's the man himself. So we have. We have officially brought. You were. Jordan was a listener before he was a participant. Is that right? [00:02:01] Speaker A: Further up and further in. [00:02:05] Speaker B: So I feel like. How much did you have to pay for this? [00:02:09] Speaker A: I thought I was getting paid for this. [00:02:11] Speaker D: Oh, no. [00:02:11] Speaker B: We need to renegotiate this contract. Turn it off. We're start over, guys. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Paris Circuit. Here's what we're trying to do here. As always, we are looking at news and current events that are going on in Opelousa's St. Landry parish, the surrounding Area and trying to provide analysis of them from a biblical worldview. That's the overall goal. And we have a big topic to discuss today. We've been prepping for this one for like a week. It's been exciting. I can't wait to get to it. Are you guys ready? [00:02:39] Speaker D: Oh, boy. [00:02:40] Speaker A: Ready. [00:02:41] Speaker D: I'm highly ready. [00:02:42] Speaker B: Appelousis is getting a weed shop. [00:02:46] Speaker D: Yo. [00:02:48] Speaker D: What? [00:02:49] Speaker B: Now? I know many of you might be saying, I thought Ophisis already had weed. And you'd be right. That's right. You would be right about that. [00:02:58] Speaker A: I know some corners, small businesses, but now entrepreneurs. [00:03:04] Speaker B: Some guys who are just trying to hustle. [00:03:05] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:03:05] Speaker B: They're just trying to work hard. They're just trying to do their. [00:03:08] Speaker D: Yes. No. [00:03:08] Speaker B: Opelousis has had weed for quite some time. In fact, I remember back in the Gap, whenever I was working with the police department here in town before certain events transpired. And, and one of the things that we did for them was we would handle their social media presence. And one of the things that we posted was about a weed bust that happened. And I remember to this day one of the comments that went under the post about the weed bus that went down in town was, come on, guys, it's just a little weed. [00:03:34] Speaker A: Just a little weed. It probably was a lot of weed. [00:03:38] Speaker B: It was. I don't know how to quantify weed. I don't know. Like, what is a. It looked like a palm full. Is that a lot of weed? [00:03:46] Speaker A: A palm full is not a lot. [00:03:48] Speaker B: It's not. [00:03:48] Speaker C: So it was a little. [00:03:49] Speaker B: It was a little weak. [00:03:50] Speaker D: Yeah, probably 7 grams. [00:03:52] Speaker B: They were just. That was a very specific statement. [00:03:55] Speaker D: Okay. [00:03:58] Speaker B: We'Ll talk more about that later. [00:04:02] Speaker B: So here's. Here's the deal. Opelousas, the city of Opelousas is getting a weed shop. Now what does that mean? That means that out on. What is that highway I49 between. I think it's between like First Baptist and Opelousis General. Isn't that right, Marley? [00:04:17] Speaker D: Yes. If it's not between those two places, it's within a quarter mile of those places. [00:04:22] Speaker B: Yeah, it's close to those two places. Somewhere over there there's a shop that's opening. The name escapes me. What was the name of it? [00:04:27] Speaker D: The name is called the Apothecary Shop. [00:04:29] Speaker B: The Apothecary Shop. Now this is a multi site church. No, sorry, a multi site. It's a type of church. [00:04:38] Speaker B: It's a multi site marijuana distributor. What's the. There's a word for this, right? Like There's. They sell weed on site, but they sell it for. Is it strictly medicinal purposes? Because recreational is not legal in Louisiana yet. No. So it has to be medicinal purposes, right? [00:04:53] Speaker D: Correct. So as advertised on the Apothecary Shops website, this man has the website open? Yes, I do. [00:04:59] Speaker B: He's ready to go. [00:05:00] Speaker D: So they have. They are officially listed as a medical marijuana pharmacy. So. Yes. [00:05:08] Speaker B: Does that mean that's all they do, is just medical marijuana? [00:05:12] Speaker D: Yes, the Apothecary shop, as far as they are concerned, as far as they advertise on their website, they only sell medical marijuana. [00:05:19] Speaker B: Okay. Now we know they're coming because there is a sign up in front of, you know, an empty plot of land that says, basically coming soon. The Apothecary Shop. Right. Y' all have seen that sign? Have y' all seen that sign? [00:05:34] Speaker D: Yes. [00:05:34] Speaker A: I am not from Opelousas. [00:05:36] Speaker B: But you drove here today. [00:05:38] Speaker A: I did drive here today, but I wasn't looking for a weed shop particularly. [00:05:42] Speaker B: Well, credit to you then, sir. Credit to you. Credit to you. [00:05:45] Speaker A: But I will see it on the way home. [00:05:46] Speaker B: You will look for it now? [00:05:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm gonna look for it. [00:05:47] Speaker B: Search for it. And so now the patrons at Opelousis General or First Baptist can now drive right down the street. [00:05:57] Speaker B: It's conveniently located. [00:05:59] Speaker D: Oh, man. [00:06:00] Speaker B: So this is a big deal. Okay. I think that this is a big deal for us to be able to talk about, because first. First, one of the things that we have to talk about is, is marijuana an acceptable practice for a Christian? Okay. That's going to be the first topic that we deal with. And then we're going to talk about if it is or is not an acceptable practice for a Christian, then what does that mean for our city? [00:06:24] Speaker A: Okay. [00:06:25] Speaker B: That's kind of where. Where I want to go for this. Now, before we get to all that, let's just talk about what the context is. The context is that this is a. A that sells medicinally. Correct? [00:06:37] Speaker D: Yes. And I also have some information about their founding and upbringing that may be useful. [00:06:42] Speaker B: I would love to hear this. [00:06:43] Speaker D: Okay, so the shop was founded in 2019. Their first location was opened up in Lafayette, Louisiana. [00:06:49] Speaker A: Okay. [00:06:50] Speaker D: It seems to be co. Founded by three different people. Eric Vadrine from Lafayette, Louisiana. [00:06:55] Speaker B: Okay. [00:06:56] Speaker D: David Meyer from Washington, Louisiana. [00:06:58] Speaker B: Washington. [00:06:59] Speaker D: So right down the road. [00:07:01] Speaker B: Okay. Then that might be why they're moving into Saint Landry. Okay, I got it. [00:07:04] Speaker D: And then a man named Brian Rud. So Brian Rudin is an attorney. He graduated. He. He earned a J.D. from the University of Denver's Stern College of law. In 2013, Mr. Rudin actually opened up a Met. Not a medical dispensary, but a recreational dispensary called Starbuds. [00:07:25] Speaker B: Where? [00:07:26] Speaker D: In. In Colorado. In Colorado. So he's from, he's from Colorado. [00:07:31] Speaker A: From Colorado, yes. [00:07:33] Speaker D: As far as now I have. I wasn't able to find his home, you know, his birthplace or his hometown, but he basically pioneered the, the medical, the, the marijuana industry as a whole, basically. Really? He's one of the cannabis experts. [00:07:53] Speaker B: Lawyer. [00:07:55] Speaker B: He's a lawyer. [00:07:55] Speaker A: He's a missionary. [00:07:56] Speaker B: I wonder how many things like this he's. He's a part of, like how many companies like this. [00:08:02] Speaker D: I wonder. Uh, but I know that he, he's listed as a co founder on the Apothecary Shops website, so might be something there. [00:08:11] Speaker B: So does that mean that. So the last time that I saw the laws in Louisiana, the only people that were licensed to grow in the state of Louisiana was lsu. [00:08:19] Speaker D: Yes, actually. So LSU AG actually provides. Is one of two of the sources for the marijuana of the Apothecary Shop. [00:08:31] Speaker B: So there's another source? [00:08:33] Speaker D: Yes. Let me, let me just look at the website here. So all products that we carry are grown in Louisiana and sourced through our two state approved growers. Good Day Farm in partnership with LSU AgCenter and a Yo. In partnership with Southern University AgCenter. [00:08:49] Speaker B: Oh, so it's LSU and Southern. That would make sense. Yes, that would make sense. [00:08:53] Speaker A: What is the. Why is it happening at universities like that? Why are those the sources of growing? [00:09:00] Speaker B: Why are universities the ones making money off of a drug that was, until very recently, illegal? Wait, let's ask this a different way. Why are predominantly liberal universities the only people that are receiving licensing for the sale and remediation of a product that was very, until very recently illegal in the state? Is that the question? [00:09:21] Speaker A: I think that answers the question. [00:09:22] Speaker B: Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it. All right, Interesting. Got it, got it, got it. Just, you know, I just, I felt like asking it that way might be helpful. [00:09:31] Speaker A: It is helpful. I mean, it makes sense too, because, you know, people are getting high at college. That's what you're doing. When you go to college, you're getting high. [00:09:39] Speaker B: That's the thing you do. [00:09:40] Speaker A: That's what you do. [00:09:41] Speaker B: Look. [00:09:43] Speaker B: So these guys partner with a fellow from Denver who's an attorney, who may send us a cease and desist letter shortly after this. And they're, they're starting these, this chain of shops that Seems to be centered around Acadiana, right? [00:09:57] Speaker D: That's correct. So they are actually. [00:10:01] Speaker D: While building all of this, they're actually building a bigger location in Lafayette. It's like a monster location. [00:10:07] Speaker B: So they're expanding like crazy. [00:10:09] Speaker D: They just broke ground in there and they don't have a date. I tried to look up, when is this thing going to be here? Yeah, it just says opening soon. I wasn't able to find a date. I wasn't able to find an estimated time. If anyone knows of the estimated time, please reach out to us. [00:10:25] Speaker B: For the Lafayette or for the Opelous? [00:10:27] Speaker D: For the Opelousis. Yeah. [00:10:28] Speaker B: I just saw a sign up, so I assume that construction has to happen. It's going to take some time. Going to be at least six months, I'd imagine maybe a year. [00:10:34] Speaker D: But the bigger Lafayette location should. They said should be here in next April, hopefully. So they broke ground on it in the past month or two. [00:10:43] Speaker B: Okay. And the trajectory is to finish in April. [00:10:46] Speaker D: Correct. [00:10:46] Speaker B: Okay, I gotcha now. So the one in Appaloosa. So I can't speak to the one in Lafayette, but I looked up the zoning for the one in Appaloosas, and it's odd, based on the location that I think that it is placed. It's hard for me to tell if the place that's being built is inside the Opelousas city limits proper or not. Okay, so that has a. So if you are listening to this podcast and you're thinking, I live in St. Landry parish and I don't want this here, I need to make some noise about it. The problem is, based on where it's located, I can't tell you who to talk to. Yeah, it's either the Saint, it's either the parish, or it's the city of Opelousis. And the line, the property. I'm sorry, no. The zoning line, like, goes sideways across the particular plot of land that this place appears to be located. So it's difficult for me to tell you where to go, but we'll talk more about that hopefully in a later episode. So we got a weed shop coming to Opelousas in the city of. I'm sorry, in the state of Louisiana, you can only purchase legally marijuana if you have a prescription. Correct. [00:11:50] Speaker D: So that's a very good question. It's a question that could be answered by going to the Apothecary's website, as I did. [00:12:00] Speaker B: They. They bring the answers to you? [00:12:03] Speaker D: Oh, yes. Not only do they bring the answers to you, but they. They have A list of tele. Telemedical professionals that you can call and that they request or basically recommend to you to find these things. [00:12:18] Speaker B: Wait, okay, hold on. Roll that back. So what you're telling me is on their website. Okay, you go to their website, the place that sells weed? [00:12:28] Speaker D: Yes. [00:12:29] Speaker B: Okay. And then they tell you you need a prescription for this. Here's the doctors to go talk to to get one. Is that correct? [00:12:38] Speaker D: It's funny. It's not even a prescription, but yes, you're right. So let's get into the FAQ section on their website. [00:12:47] Speaker B: Over here. Let's go, let's go. I have so many questions. [00:12:50] Speaker D: I found this very interesting. So there's an FAQ section on their homepage. They have certain questions like, where are you located? What products do you carry? But they also have interesting questions like who qualifies as a patient? How to become a patient, how to find a doctor? So let me run through a couple of these that I found really interesting. One of them says, who qualifies as a patient? The answer is in bold letters. You probably qualify. [00:13:18] Speaker D: Okay, this is not a joke. This is. This is straight from their website. [00:13:22] Speaker B: You probably qualify. [00:13:24] Speaker C: That's good to know. [00:13:24] Speaker D: I was getting worried. But there's more, there's more. [00:13:29] Speaker D: As of 2020, any licensed physician is able to recommend medical marijuana to a person for any condition that can be deemed debilitating. This may include, but is not limited to, stress or anxiety, depression, what? Insomnia, pain, nausea, inflammation, etc. [00:13:48] Speaker B: Any type of pain? Yes, any person who says they're stressed. Any person who says that they have anxiety can now have a weed card, supposedly. [00:13:57] Speaker C: Isn't that something that everybody experiences? [00:13:59] Speaker B: Yes. [00:14:00] Speaker C: Oh, okay. [00:14:01] Speaker D: I think. [00:14:02] Speaker C: I think I might. [00:14:02] Speaker B: This is fascinating to me. [00:14:04] Speaker D: Let me. Let me go. Because you said the wheat. [00:14:07] Speaker B: You said we were already in trouble, like Appaloosas was already in trouble for the amount of drugs present. Now, of course, anyone can find it. [00:14:14] Speaker D: So you said weed card. Let me bring this to another question on their site which says, what is a medical marijuana recommendation? Okay, the answer to that is, our state does not issue medical cards. Rather, a medical marijuana recommendation is Louisiana's legal equivalent to a medical marijuana card. In Louisiana, a recommendation is treated the same as a prescription. [00:14:41] Speaker D: Any marijuana product you purchase will come with a prescription label with your name on it. And this label on the original product packaging is your legal right to possess the product. In Louisiana, this takes the place of a medical card. [00:14:54] Speaker B: Wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. So they're saying that upon the sale of the product to you, they have a tag that they put on the product. Okay. Am I understanding you correctly? That takes place of you needing to carry a card in your wallet? [00:15:14] Speaker D: This is correct. But only on. Upon the medical marijuana recommendation. So you have to be. Somebody has recommended. Yes, but after that. Okay, so once they're in your. Once you're in their system and they sell to you, you have it. You. You have your name on it as if it was a prescription, and that is your legal right to hold the substance or the product. [00:15:36] Speaker B: This is wild. This is wild. [00:15:38] Speaker A: So if I'm a pothead, I'm so excited. [00:15:43] Speaker B: Well, it seems like. It seems like. Okay, so here's. If I'm just predicting the future here, I don't think this is actually going to cut down on the illegal pot smoking that exists in St. Landry parish already. Well, yeah, I don't. [00:15:56] Speaker A: Medical marijuana is more expensive. [00:15:58] Speaker B: Correct? Yeah, that's gonna. And in Opelousa's St. Landry parish, we are known for being. [00:16:06] Speaker B: Less blessed than other people around us. Can I get an amen? That's just cold, hard facts about it. Right. And so I don't think this is going to completely. First off, it's not going to eliminate the illegal activities that are going on. It's not going to make them go away, because people are not going to pay more money for it. Okay, established. Now, the weird thing about this is that you can do this through. Did you say telehealth? [00:16:30] Speaker D: Yes. That brings me to another question that I. That I saw on their website. [00:16:34] Speaker B: So Marley over here is do a deep dive. [00:16:37] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:16:37] Speaker A: It's. Instead of calling your dealer, you call a telehealth professional. [00:16:43] Speaker C: You could just call them and they'll just do it. [00:16:45] Speaker D: You just call them. [00:16:46] Speaker B: Okay, sounds like I got. Okay, so I'm going to. I don't know if y' all have ever done a telehealth call before. I've. I have done this. I've done telehealth calls that did not result in ambulances coming to pick me up. That's a story for another day. But I've done telehealth calls, and here's what it consists of. You go online on an app of some type, and you click on a doctor, and then that Dr. Facetime calls you or calls you through the app or something like that, and then you tell them how you feel, and then they write you prescriptions. And I'm not joking. That's it. Okay. That's What a telehealth appointment is. You say, I have this going on. I remember one time I was describing my symptoms to her, to the telehealth person on the other side of the phone. And she wrote me a script for, you know, the standard things that you always get whenever you go into a doctor, which is a Z pack and a steroid, you know, because I had some respiratory thing going on. And that was it. That was it. She just asked me how I felt and we went from there. So now we have a situation and it cost me like $25. Like it was not a lot of money. So now we have a situation where I can book a telehealth call with anyone, right? And then they say to me, are you stressed? And I say to them, yes. Boom. Now I have my recommendation. Am I tracking? Is this correct? [00:18:08] Speaker D: So you're basically tracking now. Let me read the four step process to answer the question. [00:18:14] Speaker A: How is not. [00:18:16] Speaker B: They're making this as easy as possible, man. These guys, they know how to play the game. [00:18:21] Speaker A: Yeah, they, we need to get like. [00:18:22] Speaker B: Church assimilation down to this kind of a process right here. [00:18:25] Speaker A: Like this is a four need to. [00:18:27] Speaker B: Be better at this. [00:18:28] Speaker D: It sounds like they might have had, you know, a lawyer or something help them. Oh man, I don't know, man. We're figured it out. [00:18:35] Speaker B: Page 50, marketing and media. We request that you cease and desist. [00:18:40] Speaker D: So here's the thing. The question is, how do I become a patient? Four step process. Number one, get an evaluation from a doctor. Right below that. This says visit our find a physician page for a full list of recommending doctors. So you go on their, their physician page. It says find a physician telehealth options. It says, see below for a list of telemedicine providers actively recommending medical marijuana in our area. So it seems pretty cherry picked to me. [00:19:09] Speaker A: So you, you don't want to just call anybody? You have a list of guys you. [00:19:14] Speaker B: Can call, check with these doctors who. [00:19:15] Speaker A: Will write you, in other words, the recommendations. [00:19:18] Speaker B: I mean, come on, let's read between the lines here. We're allowed to read between the lines, right? We have a list of doctors that we recommend you go seek for your recommendation. [00:19:28] Speaker D: So number two, well, actually get an evaluation from a doctor and it says telehealth options are available and allow you to speak with the doctor for a brief phone call from the comfort of home. So it's funny that they say brief phone call. They're like, don't worry, this is easy, this is short. Number two, Dr. Faxes recommendation. Once approved, your doctor will fax over your medical marijuana recommendation to the apothecary shop. Number three. The apoth. The confirmation from the apothecary shop. Once we receive and process your recommendation, we will send you a confirmation text message. You should expect to receive this message from us within 24 hours or less after approval from the doctor. [00:20:04] Speaker A: Wow. [00:20:05] Speaker D: Number four. That's it. Once you receive confirmation that we have your recommendation on file, you are now able to purchase medical marijuana products with us. And as a side note, may I add, there's a whole shop online that they do this. Yeah. [00:20:22] Speaker B: So wait, that's, that's two steps. There's an online shop. [00:20:26] Speaker D: Oh, yes. So you go on the website, you can shop online all of their products. [00:20:30] Speaker B: Hold on. No, no, no. So I need to roll back. How is it delivered? [00:20:35] Speaker D: It's not delivered. [00:20:36] Speaker B: You have to go pick it up. [00:20:37] Speaker D: Correct. Okay, but it can, but it can be transferred between shops. [00:20:43] Speaker A: So in that four step process, there, there are two steps. You call the telehealth professional from their list, you're on their site, you call the people, and then you go to the shop and pick up your weed. That's, that's, that's a two process. Yeah, I mean they add their two steps in there, but now this is. I want to ask the question maybe Marley, you know, is there any limitations on like, is there any age restrictions? [00:21:10] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:21:11] Speaker A: Do you have to be 18 or older? [00:21:12] Speaker B: There is in Louisiana. I think it's 18 last time that I checked. Well, obviously a lot of these laws have changed since the last time I looked. Let me look again. [00:21:18] Speaker A: Well, yeah, because it, now it's just a prescription. I mean you'd probably evaluate it based on the health effects. You know, kids can take like penicillin and stuff like that. [00:21:26] Speaker B: 21 marijuana you marry. Marijuana use by youth under age 21 is illegal in Louisiana. [00:21:33] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll see how long it lasts. [00:21:34] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts. [00:21:35] Speaker D: Now that probably should be specified under who qualifies as a patient in their faq. It says you probably qualified. Good point. To a person for any condition. So it, it's, it's pretty vague, but yeah, I would probably say that if you're under 21, you'd be hard pressed. [00:21:51] Speaker B: So if you have any pain, if you have any stress, if you feel anxious, you can have an approval for marijuana access in the state of Louisiana if you're over 21 years old. Is that correct? [00:22:04] Speaker D: That's correct. [00:22:05] Speaker B: This is terrible news. [00:22:06] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:22:07] Speaker B: Okay, let's Deal with this all the way. So here's the thing about weed. Now this is a lot of the times that I have conversation with people about marijuana. The pushback that I get is, but people take anti anxiety meds, okay? That's the pushback I receive. So what's the difference? What's the difference between smoking a little weed and having an anti anxiety pill? Now, I would argue in some cases not much, but that's not a good thing. Okay. [00:22:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:38] Speaker B: We live in an age today where anxiety, antidepressant hormone drugs, all these kind of things are so incredibly over prescribed to our people. And the mechanism by which you go get these things is very comparable to what you just described as the qualifiers for the weed shop. You know what I mean? I go in, I say, I am experiencing anxiety. And a certain doctor will say, here's a pill for that. The only difference now is this weed shop says, here's the doctors that will say, here's some weed for that. Am I, am I right here? [00:23:16] Speaker A: Yeah. The healthcare professionals just become a channel for you to self diagnose and self medicate. [00:23:21] Speaker B: Correct. And you doctor shop. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah. If you want a particular outcome and people know how to do this. Okay, I know people that have done this, they doctor shop until they get the specific outcome that they, that they want. Now people did this during the opiate crisis of the 90s. And then eventually people said, oh wait, too many people are dying and killing themselves from this. We should probably turn it off. And now what's happening again? It's just happening on the other side. There's a couple of great books that I could recommend. One of them is the Anxious Generation. I can't remember who the author of it is. It's a good read on this kind of concept. There's also another book called oh man, I can't remember what the name of it is now, the Anxious Generation. And I'm gonna have to look to my Goodreads, but this is a massive problem that we're dealing with now in our time and age. Like this is not a good thing. [00:24:12] Speaker D: In other words, not to mention the within 24 hours or less part of that, how to become a patient. So apparently from this, this step, it makes it seem like someone can call and get a confirmation within 24 hours. [00:24:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Two great books. Okay. I found my second book. First book is the Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. The second one is Bad Therapy by Abigail Shirer. Now these are not Christian authors, okay? So heads up, but they are relative secularists who are seeing the same thing wrong with society that we're seeing, that everybody is anxious. Everybody's dealing with anxiety and therapy and the doctors who prescribe such things has not worked. It has not worked to solve the problem. Now. [00:25:02] Speaker B: So there's the anxiety argument. And also, who's not suffering from anxiety? Do you guys know anybody who's not suffering from anxiety? [00:25:11] Speaker D: Children, let's define anxiety. [00:25:13] Speaker A: We have to figure out whether or not we want to keep or ditch the modern understanding of anxiety. [00:25:20] Speaker B: So when we say anxiety, let's define it. What are we talking about? Are we talking about stress? [00:25:26] Speaker D: Nervousness? [00:25:27] Speaker A: Are you nervous? [00:25:28] Speaker B: Stress, Stage fright? [00:25:30] Speaker C: People take stage fright as though I do. [00:25:33] Speaker B: I have. I get nervous when I talk in front of people. My armpits get sweaty. You know, like, I still have anxiety. I still get red in the face sometimes. Whenever. I was doing an interview with somebody on a podcast the other day and I was embarrassed because I really respect this person and I was like, I hope I don't put my foot in my mouth. And I was getting nervous and I got red in the face. You know, I was anxious. [00:25:52] Speaker D: What about social anxiety? [00:25:53] Speaker B: Well, I get nervous when I talk to people. [00:25:55] Speaker A: Well, yeah, there's, there's so many ways you could go with it, but it is, it, it is like you're just taking something and you're, you're medicalizing it. [00:26:06] Speaker B: You're. [00:26:06] Speaker A: You're making it available for prescription. [00:26:09] Speaker B: Yes. Now this is. I don't want to go, I don't want to go too far. Okay? There are people who deal with actual legitimate anxiety attacks. Like they have panic attacks, their body seizes up, they start throwing up on the floor like that. That's a thing that exists in the world. PTSD is a real thing. And I don't want to short those guys that have gone through some very hard things in their life and they're still dealing with the repercussions of it. Like that exists. But my point is that we are the most over diagnosed people that have lived to date. We can call anything anxiety. We can call anything stress. We can call anything pain. We can call it emotional pain and receive prescriptions for it. So just because they can take a pill for it doesn't mean that they should. Okay, there's the first argument. Now the second piece. What's wrong with a little bit of weed? If we circle back to the, to the original argument, okay, so marijuana has drastically changed since the 60s. Like, drastically changed. Okay, so marijuana comes on the scenes in the 60s, it's the Woodstock era. This is my parents generation. I don't, I don't think my mom and dad smoked weed. If they did, they never told me about it. And my dad's a pretty straight arrow and so is my mom. So I don't think they ever smoked weed. So there you go, mom and dad fighting in your corner. But anyway, back in the day, marijuana then was six times weaker than the common stuff that we can find today. Six times weaker. Meaning the guys who are growing this stuff are intentionally growing a higher powered strain. You know what I'm talking about? [00:27:47] Speaker D: Yeah. And that's just the plant. [00:27:48] Speaker B: That's just the plant. That's right. In fact, and some guys have gotten to the point where they can grow a strain that is nearly perfectly pure THC by the time that it comes out. That's wild. So in other words, it's considerably more powerful than the expression just a little bit of weed would allow a person to believe. [00:28:10] Speaker D: Okay, absolutely. [00:28:10] Speaker B: Now what is, what does marijuana do to you? [00:28:16] Speaker A: Makes you anxious. [00:28:17] Speaker B: Where do you smoke it? [00:28:18] Speaker A: It makes you anxious. [00:28:19] Speaker B: It makes you anxious. Isn't that profound? [00:28:22] Speaker A: Makes you, it makes you nervous. Now some people, it does not have the same effect, but I think that any long time weed smoker can point to a time where they smoked and they just started like tripping. [00:28:38] Speaker B: They started tripping out. [00:28:39] Speaker A: Like, like you get in your head, you, you start thinking, you know, all these repetitive thoughts, you start getting the physical side effects of it. It causes anxiety a lot of the time. [00:28:49] Speaker D: I mean, also, not to mention it makes you hungry. [00:28:55] Speaker D: No, but the Twinkie sale is about to go up. [00:28:58] Speaker A: That's right. [00:28:59] Speaker D: It's happening. [00:28:59] Speaker B: It's. You're going to see a bunch of guys in Appaloosas at 1 o' clock in the morning, morning buying nachos. And you're gonna say, y' all went to the apothecary, didn't you? [00:29:07] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:29:08] Speaker B: I knew it. That gas station down the street from the apothecary is about to blow up. [00:29:11] Speaker A: I was gonna say that. Hardee's. [00:29:13] Speaker D: Oh, man. [00:29:14] Speaker A: Get a bunch of late night visitors. Well, actually it's not. I mean, it doesn't even have to be associated with the late night anymore. It's an all day thing because it's. Now it's legal now. It's acceptable now. [00:29:24] Speaker D: It's absolutely acceptable on that point. I would also say that it's also with like eye drops and such. It's actually pretty hard to actually just tell immediately if someone's high nowadays. You, you would be, you'd be surprised. So yeah, I mean there, there, there is like now vapes that are like incredibly. Just like almost. You can't smell them. And then if people put eye drops in, like you can't really tell. [00:29:50] Speaker B: Oh, it's. So you're talking about the vapes, like the pins? [00:29:53] Speaker D: Yes. [00:29:53] Speaker B: Right, yeah. [00:29:54] Speaker D: Or like kind of edibles or tinctures or anything like that. [00:29:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:57] Speaker D: Like what my point was that like people like what he was saying, like in broad daylight people can basically be on this stuff and you, they get away with it. Yeah. [00:30:06] Speaker B: It's an easily discoverable thing. [00:30:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:08] Speaker B: And it's getting harder and harder to see. In other words, what used to be easily discoverable is now harder and harder to see. [00:30:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And I wanted to make this point earlier. The, you know, you had said that it's not going to take down the illegal use, which I believe is true because you have the difference in price. You have people who, you know, they're just not going to switch their. [00:30:31] Speaker B: And there's also people, they want a specific strain, they want a specific strength. So I've had. [00:30:36] Speaker A: Well, you can do. But that's medical though. Medical is strong. [00:30:39] Speaker B: So let me tell you this. I've talked to people who have their cards or at the time it was a card. Okay. So now it sounds like there's no card required, but at the time it was a card. And their conversation with me was yeah, but that legal stuff, man, it's got no kick to it. So I just keep getting my stuff from this other guy. [00:30:59] Speaker B: There's this rhythm that happens. Okay, so the legal is available, but here's the thing. And this goes back to the anxiety conversation and it goes back to the anxiety pill conversation. Okay, here's the thing. When you take. [00:31:16] Speaker B: A mood altering chemical on a regular basis, what does your body do? [00:31:22] Speaker C: It gets used to it. [00:31:23] Speaker B: It gets used to it. [00:31:24] Speaker A: You get dependent. [00:31:24] Speaker B: And that's any type of mood, that's caffeine. [00:31:28] Speaker D: Right. [00:31:28] Speaker B: This is why 17 year olds sit up until 3 o' clock in the morning and they hammer seven monsters because their body doesn't metabolize it at the right speed anymore. And now it burns through it much faster. So they have to hit harder in order to get the same effect. Right. Everybody's tracking with me. Yes, same thing happens with alcohol. This is why people develop alcoholism, alcohol addiction, because they hammer so many, so much alcohol all the time that in order for them to get the same Sims sensation, excuse me, they have to hit it harder. They have to go, go deeper. This is the same drive for a more potent THC. [00:32:10] Speaker B: Variant of the marijuana plant or the pure THC vape pens like you were talking about. [00:32:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:16] Speaker B: This is why people pursue these kinds of things because it's, it's not about. I just need something to take the edge off. Because if you are routinely just needing something to take the edge off, eventually you need more to take the edge off. That's the same thing that happens with mood stabilizing pills, anti anxiety medication. If you're not careful, you're going to have to keep raising the dose over and over and over again. So in other words, this is something that very easily ramps up into a very serious habit. [00:32:51] Speaker D: Okay. [00:32:52] Speaker B: You're taking a lot of something now for an anxiety problem. And to go back to what you were saying earlier Jordan, about it causes anxiety. [00:33:02] Speaker B: There it is. So in other words, you have a new normal. Okay. As far as like how your body normally operates. So I used to use mood altering medications. Okay. I won't go into all the details. [00:33:18] Speaker D: Of exactly what it was. [00:33:19] Speaker B: You know, that's a story for another time. But I, it was a prescription. I used to use mood altering medications. This was when I was a teenager back in the gap. Okay. You know what was amazing is when I would use those pills, they were to help me focus. You know, when I would use those pills, I was on point. Like I could, I could drive in focus real hard. Oh yeah, for about two hours. And then when that puppy wore off, I couldn't pay attention to nothing. [00:33:50] Speaker A: Yeah, you get, you get burnt. [00:33:51] Speaker B: I couldn't read anything. I couldn't look at anything. I couldn't, I couldn't focus until I got another hit. [00:33:58] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:33:59] Speaker B: And then I could zone in and focus again, but it would wear off again. And then I noticed that even when I would be on the medication, it wasn't as effective as it used to be. Isn't that fascinating? [00:34:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:10] Speaker B: It didn't have the same. I had a new normal. In other words. Yeah. [00:34:13] Speaker A: You had to up the dose. [00:34:14] Speaker B: That's right. My body got a new baseline for what normal was and was trying to metabolize and operate accordingly. This is the same principle with marijuana. This is the same principle with any kind of drug. There is. No, I'm just here to use a little bit of weed. It will own you in time. [00:34:32] Speaker A: Well, I think that's why, that's probably why they made the FAQ section so simple. They're creating, you're creating a, a returning customer. When you, when you create A medicated. I was listening to the. Some like, there was the Tucker Carlson interview with the. The means. [00:34:52] Speaker A: You know, those. Those two. I think they're. They're doctors or. I don't know. [00:34:56] Speaker B: It's like a brother and sister. [00:34:57] Speaker A: A brother and sister. Yeah. [00:34:58] Speaker B: I think I know. [00:34:59] Speaker A: And one of the things that they, you know, they. You're creating a. In the medical industry, whenever you're creating these people who are dependent on these drugs, you're creating a. A lifelong customer. [00:35:10] Speaker B: Creating a lifelong customer. [00:35:11] Speaker A: Now, the thing. The difference is. But the difference between. And I think this is important and like, understanding what the apothecary. The presence of an apothecary in Opelousis could do. The. Whenever you take this from somebody who. Like back when I was a teenager, a medical card was like. It was like the most amazing thing, you know, like, we were trying to. And they had these things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A medical. A weed card. So I was living in California, and me and my buddy. It was like I was like 17 or 18. Me and my buddy were trying to find a way to get medical marijuana because you have certain people who smoke weed who want to smoke weed, but don't want to get wrapped up in the legal ramifications of being found, you know, possibly being caught with weed, you know, because it's like you could get a misdemeanor. So I don't. I can't remember what it was in California, but that was one of the things that made us so. Like, made the medical card so desirable. [00:36:07] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:36:07] Speaker A: And so what you do, you take. You have those people added you. All of a sudden, you open up a new market for legal marijuana. There is a market for legal marijuana. And then whenever the difference between that and, let's say something like, you know, you were, like, talking about Adderall. [00:36:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:23] Speaker A: Or like Adderall or Vyvanse or whatever the uppers is that weed is a. Weed is a downer. [00:36:30] Speaker B: Right. [00:36:31] Speaker A: Weed will make you, like, turn you into a vegetable. And so instead of in. What it does psychologically is it almost like draws you away from real life. It, like, takes you out of reality because, you know. [00:36:45] Speaker B: Because nothing makes you anxious anymore. [00:36:47] Speaker A: Well, yeah. And if something makes you anxious, it's not even something important. Like, it's like a repetitive, stupid thought or something like that. But it's like it takes the. You were saying it takes the edge off. I would say, like, you know, you might want to do something and take the edge off. Right. Well, you smoke a little weed to, like, take the life off, you know what I'm saying? Especially as a man. That's kind of what it does. [00:37:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:08] Speaker D: Yeah. That's. That's another thing that we does that I didn't mention earlier is that it just kind of makes you complacent. [00:37:14] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:37:14] Speaker B: Don't care anymore. No. Anything. [00:37:16] Speaker A: You don't even have the. The presence of mind to care. That's it. Almost like zones you into, like a little bubble. And that's why it's so like, you know, you have people who go to work and they get high and they can do the work. They can be a functioning, you know, pot smoker, but it doesn't. You know, you might be able to focus on, like, putting ranch in a cup, you know, at BJ's Brewhouse, like. Like I was. But you. You're not going to be able to, like, think about, like, what am I going to do in five years? You know, if you're always high, like, what am I. When am I going to start a family? [00:37:48] Speaker B: You're just, you're. You're. You're in this own little bubble. You're cut off from the world around you. [00:37:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And you're, like, on autopilot. [00:37:54] Speaker B: Wow. [00:37:54] Speaker A: Okay. [00:37:55] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:37:55] Speaker C: I had one guy describe it to me like, it was. It was a. It was like being in a box. And the only thing you can focus on is whatever fits inside that box of about five minutes. Nothing else matters. The only thing that matters is the next time you pick up that. That joint. [00:38:09] Speaker B: That's all, man. [00:38:10] Speaker D: I think, I think this is a good point to talk about idolatry. [00:38:16] Speaker D: So whenever people are addicted to weed, are they idolizing the weed or are they idolizing something else? [00:38:22] Speaker B: So I think what they're actually trying to do is forget. That's what I think is actually going on, I think. But. And that goes. That's not just a weed statement, but I think weed is the extreme version. Okay? Drugs are the extreme version. I think that anytime that something uncomfortable happens to a person, they go to their gods. Okay? Something that you don't want to deal with, something that you don't want to face. You go to whatever your God is, and sometimes you're going to your God for distraction to take your mind off of it. Like, we could talk about the social media zombie scrolls or the 17th time you've watched the Office on Netflix and you just can't turn it off or peacock or whatever the heck it's on now. You go to your gods when you are bothered by something. Now the Christian when they are bothered by something, if they are convicted of their sins with something that's going on in their life, they do go to their God and they confess and they repent. 1 John 1:9. If you confess your sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And you trust that. But everybody, everybody has a God that they go to when they are afraid, when they're anxious. Right. When they're convicted of their sin, when something's bothering them. And so for some people, they want to forget, they want to check out, they go to the God of. I don't want to say that necessarily, the God of marijuana, because I think marijuana is just the thing that gets them there. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah. [00:39:54] Speaker A: It's like a means to get to. [00:39:55] Speaker B: It's a means to get to the place where they disconnect from reality, where they don't have to worry anymore. [00:40:04] Speaker B: I'm so anxious. Oh, these things are going on in my life. Listen, maybe you should be anxious. Maybe you being anxious about the stuff that's happening in your life is good. Maybe if you don't get a job within the next week, you're gonna get evicted. [00:40:23] Speaker B: You should. That should cause anxiety, right? [00:40:26] Speaker A: Yeah. It shouldn't be. It's not something that you can prescribe away. Which is kind of why we question that definition. Because, like, there is a form of anxiety that is indicative of a real thing. [00:40:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's good for you. [00:40:37] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. [00:40:37] Speaker B: Yeah. It's the idea. Okay, so like, I don't have any groceries in the fridge and I have a two year old. Time to roll a blunt. You know, like, that's the wrong, that's the wrong response. You know, the proper response is, I should get a job. I need to go procure food for this child. [00:40:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I shouldn't go buy an eighth. I should go buy some food. [00:41:03] Speaker B: I should go buy some groceries. I need a job to feed this kid. You know? Like, that's a good anxiety. Oh, man, I had a really stressful work day at work today. Why? Well, I suck at my job. Well, get better at it. [00:41:18] Speaker A: Yeah, stop. Stop smoking weed at your job. That's why you suck at your job. [00:41:23] Speaker B: You suck at your job because you're not doing your job. [00:41:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:26] Speaker B: You know, you're like, I don't know why I'm so anxious every time I go to work. Well, maybe your boss is a jerk. That's totally possible. Or maybe you're bad at what you do. So get better at it. Like push in that particular direction. Anxiety, stress. I remember having this conversation people in the past. It's a good thing. It's good for you. God designed you a certain way to make you worried about particular things happening to you. We might run out of money. You should fix that. My car is almost out of gas. You should get some gas. You see what I'm saying? Those are good prompts for you. And you should obey that stress in the direction that it sends you. But the weed head. [00:42:13] Speaker B: Never feels it. [00:42:14] Speaker A: Yeah, well, the weed head. The weed head feels it. The weed head. Then this is the difference between. I mean, this is the difference between weed turning to weed and turning to God, but turning to any idol and, you know, basically turning away from God and turning towards him. This is the difference. [00:42:30] Speaker D: You. [00:42:32] Speaker A: You can't. The. The issue doesn't get handled when you turn to the weed. When God. When you are faced with anxiety, you're told to turn to the Lord and to pray and to work diligently and to have faith and to trust. But whenever you turn to the weed. [00:42:51] Speaker A: Imagine it like a pile of stuff. The pile of stuff is still there. The pile of anxieties, stresses, and worries are still there. You can turn it off for a second. And the reason why I said the weed head feels it. The weed head feels it when they're not high. [00:43:05] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:43:05] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying? The weed head feels it whenever they're not. Whenever they hit that moment where they're like, oh, this is bad. And then they turn right back to the marijuana. [00:43:14] Speaker B: And they're also creating a scenario. Sorry, let me say this real fast. They're also creating a scenario where they're going to need more to forget to the same level next time. [00:43:24] Speaker A: That's right. Because the pile only gets bigger. [00:43:25] Speaker B: That's right. Well, the pile gets bigger because they're continuing to neglect their responsibilities. Not only is that happening, but also the amount of drug that it's going to take them to forget. [00:43:35] Speaker D: Right. [00:43:36] Speaker B: Is also going to increase because their body is stabilizing and metabolizing all the stuff at a. At a different pace. And so eventually you get to the point where we don't work. It doesn't matter how much you smoke or how much you have access to, which is the common story of every pothead I have ever talked to. [00:43:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:54] Speaker D: And also, as the pile gets bigger, you need to be high more often to forget. So, like, scarier. Oh, like. Yeah, it's like. Oh, it's okay. If I smoke before I go into work today, it's like I'm just having a really rough time, just really stressed, you know, really anxious. [00:44:07] Speaker B: I'm having a. This is hard for me. That's right. So you start self excusing, self diagnosing and the cycle gets worse and worse. [00:44:14] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:44:15] Speaker B: And it ends with Xanax bars. [00:44:17] Speaker A: Yeah, it surely does. [00:44:18] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, and so I don't. [00:44:20] Speaker A: Can't get the same thing from weed that you can from something like a. That's why, I mean, people call it a gateway drug. And I would say that's probably one of the reasons why, is because the stronger stuff can really take you, can take you there. [00:44:33] Speaker B: And so, and for people who are listening to this, who might be saying, you guys are just all talking about things that you don't know about and have no personal experience with. [00:44:45] Speaker B: I'm not going to intentionally out anybody in the room, but I'll just say, yes, we do. I'm just going to put it that way. I'm just going to say it just like that. Yes, we do. We, we, we, we know about 14. [00:45:01] Speaker D: Years of combined experience. [00:45:03] Speaker A: That's right. [00:45:03] Speaker B: And not the good kind. [00:45:04] Speaker D: Not the good. [00:45:05] Speaker B: You put on a resume. [00:45:08] Speaker B: Very different. Very different. [00:45:10] Speaker D: But we have found Jesus. [00:45:12] Speaker B: That's right. Amen. [00:45:13] Speaker A: One of the, one of the things that. Yeah, so what you just said, I'll just come out and say it. I used to smoke weed. [00:45:22] Speaker D: All right. [00:45:23] Speaker A: And one of the 14 years. No, no, no, no, no. That's split. [00:45:30] Speaker A: One of the natural progressions for me was between marijuana and Xanax. Absolutely. [00:45:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:45:38] Speaker A: And it was. [00:45:39] Speaker B: Eventually the marijuana didn't hit hard enough. [00:45:41] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And once you got to that point where, I mean, you're talking about a drug that takes you out of reality and pushes you further below the surface. Like you're all, you know, I'm already dealing with these. For me, it was particular because I was, I had a friend who was a dealer and I lived with him and he could get stuff. And so I was getting, I was getting further and further in. And just like you said, you know, when you buy weed, you can't always buy a gram because you need to get higher. And assuming you have the money, you're going to continue to get further and further in. [00:46:19] Speaker B: And so start looking for deeper strains, more money on the strain. Start looking for higher concentrations. [00:46:24] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Or higher amounts is like in. The higher amounts thing really gets you in a lot of legal trouble when you start to get into like, you're buying ounces and pounds. I don't know how it is. [00:46:32] Speaker B: Because now they pick you up and you're charged for distribution. [00:46:36] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. [00:46:37] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:46:37] Speaker A: You might just be a regular pot smoker, but you need to buy three pounds at a time because it's cheaper that way. And, you know, you. But you just ended up there. Now, the funny thing is that. So what you said is true, but the funny thing is that you have it underneath the surface, which is like the. By the surface, I mean, under, you know, under the COVID of night. Illegally. You can do that. But what's funny is that there's a similar pipeline to like, taking something like Xanax because you call the same people, you call those telehealth professionals to get the weed. Once you're done with the weed. Hey, I, you know, I'm really anxious and I've been smoking weed and the weed. Stop. This weed stops working. [00:47:16] Speaker B: Let me prescribe you the Xanax bar. [00:47:19] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. It's a similar. It's a similar pipeline, and it's a above the surface pipeline. I'm sorry. [00:47:24] Speaker D: And people are wondering why California is trying to legalize, say, psychedelic mushrooms, you know. Really? Oh, yeah. [00:47:32] Speaker B: I did not know this. [00:47:33] Speaker D: Yeah, no, don't take this as legal advice. But, yeah, that's. That's. That's sort of in the works. [00:47:40] Speaker B: Wow. [00:47:40] Speaker D: So now. And I. Let me just give my two piece. So I will also say that I used to smoke weed. [00:47:47] Speaker A: He's the other half. [00:47:48] Speaker D: I'm the other half. [00:47:52] Speaker B: There was so many people that were listening to this that were like, pastor Stewart used to smoke weed. What? [00:47:58] Speaker D: What? In between us two. That's. That's it. That's. That's, that's the total. [00:48:03] Speaker D: No, but I remember just. I mean, always hearing, yeah, weed is a gateway drug. And, you know, potheads really hate to hear that. But I mean, I. [00:48:13] Speaker B: Because it's condemning. [00:48:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [00:48:15] Speaker D: Yes. But it's true, because I. I followed a similar. Similar path. Yeah. Into. Into other substances. If you would like to hear more about that story, let us know. We're thinking about doing a podcast about this. Oh, just let us know. Just let us know if you want to hear about that. [00:48:32] Speaker B: But anyway, in the demonic realm. All right, keep going. [00:48:34] Speaker D: Yes, I remember. [00:48:36] Speaker A: Closely tied. [00:48:38] Speaker B: Intimately tied. I would say that the. [00:48:41] Speaker D: The thing that Jordan was saying earlier about, you know, weed head turning to weed and Christians turning to God, it's like. Because there's. There's like, you know, in churches you always hear there's a. There's a God shaped hole in your heart. [00:48:55] Speaker B: Right, Sorry, I don't mean to laugh at that. [00:48:57] Speaker D: I know it's. It's pretty funny. [00:48:59] Speaker A: It's a good illustration. [00:49:00] Speaker B: All right, Good illustration. [00:49:02] Speaker D: I'm sorry. Keep going, keep going, keep going. But it's actually, you know, that actually has a lot of truth to it because, like, the people that don't know God try to. Try to replace God with drugs, money, alcohol, sex, whatever. [00:49:17] Speaker A: Any idol you can think of. [00:49:18] Speaker D: Any idol. Yeah. Yes. And I can. I mean, I can attest to that. And as a just a person testimony, you know, I was like, before I came back to the church, I was, I was doing all those things. I was. I was in. I was, you know, doing drugs. And then I stopped all of that. Started faithfully going to a church and. And grafted, you know, and joined a covenantal church community. And a year and a half later, I moved out. For the first time in seven years, I got married. Hello. Amen. I got a new car, new job. [00:49:48] Speaker B: Like fruit right there. [00:49:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:49:50] Speaker B: Smokes. [00:49:51] Speaker D: It's like when you actually start to look at your pile, it gets smaller and you can actually deal with it. [00:49:56] Speaker B: That preaches right there. Let's go, baby. [00:49:59] Speaker D: I like that. [00:49:59] Speaker B: I like that. [00:50:01] Speaker B: Where we got it, we don't. [00:50:02] Speaker A: We need. Hallelujah. [00:50:04] Speaker C: That works. [00:50:05] Speaker B: We'll take it. Look, that's absolutely right. You see, the deal was you would get convicted of your sin and you would run to your false gods, and that actually only compounded it and made it worse. [00:50:20] Speaker D: Yes. [00:50:20] Speaker B: That's the same thing with everybody. [00:50:21] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:50:22] Speaker B: They get convicted of their sin, they feel guilt, they feel shame right. About what they're doing, and they run to their false gods to try and cover their guilt and cover their shame. The problem is those gods are false, which means it actually makes it worse. It compounds and gets like, I use these illustrations all the time. You do not wake up in the morning and say, I would love to use a little bit of meth today. Like, no normal person does that. [00:50:51] Speaker A: Right. [00:50:51] Speaker B: If you're clean, you don't roll out of the bed and say, give me a line. You know, that doesn't happen. That doesn't happen. That you get there over time because of a perpetual neglecting of the true God of the universe and diving deeper into sin. You don't. People who become pedophiles don't become pedophiles overnight. There's a trajectory of sex and pornography addiction that destroys them over time. That's consistent, universal across the board. You don't become addicted to some perversion because you just woke up in the morning and suddenly you were like, I think I'm going to check this out. No, that's not how it works. You slide into it over time. It's a gradual descent. And that's what Romans 1 talks about. Eventually you get to the point where God turns you over. That's how homosexuality works. That's how drug addiction works. That's how pedophilia works. That's how all of it works. Okay? You land there because God gives you over to the things that are destroying you. And for some. For some, he has grace, and he reaches down by the power of the Holy Spirit and drags you out of it because he's a good God and he cares about his people. [00:51:59] Speaker D: Been there. Yeah. [00:52:01] Speaker B: But for sure, the stories that I hear about guys who come out of it, God typically lets them walla in the pig pit for a little while first. Do you know what I'm talking about? [00:52:14] Speaker A: Oh, like, be a Christian and still smoke weed. [00:52:17] Speaker B: No, no, no, no, no. I mean, God. God lets them get real low. [00:52:21] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:52:21] Speaker B: And they. Until the point where they realize they got. They got nothing else. And then it's the story of the prodigal son is what I'm referencing. [00:52:28] Speaker D: Right. [00:52:29] Speaker B: He gets to the point where he looks at the food the pigs are going to eat, and he says, man, that doesn't look that bad. That's when he goes back to the father. You get what I'm saying? So I think there's a. There's a specific thing that we need to understand here is that the guys who are about to jump on the marijuana train that aren't there yet with their medical recommendation card or whatever it is in the city of Opelousis, they're gonna most likely listen to this podcast, and maybe we can convince a few of them to stop. Maybe. Maybe. [00:53:02] Speaker D: Can I try? [00:53:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:05] Speaker D: So if I would just say the short statement, I guess I'll make an analogy. [00:53:12] Speaker D: So if anyone, you know, goes to the gym and knows, like, what it's like to work out. Right. It sucks to work out. You know, like, it's hard if you're doing it right. [00:53:21] Speaker B: It's. [00:53:21] Speaker A: It sucks. [00:53:22] Speaker D: Yeah. It's like you get sore, you know, it's. It's hard. Like, you breathe. You breathe heavy. [00:53:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:27] Speaker D: But, you know, it sucks more being obese. [00:53:31] Speaker B: Dying when you're. [00:53:32] Speaker A: You're obese all day. [00:53:33] Speaker B: That's right. [00:53:34] Speaker A: You only work out. [00:53:35] Speaker B: You breathe Heavy all day, you know. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:53:38] Speaker D: So I think. I don't know who said it, but, like, you sort of. You sort of have to choose your hardship. It's like, are you going to deal with life without these escapes and without the drugs, without whatever it is that you're running to? Are you going to deal with that? Because, like, yeah, that's hard, but it's also. It's also a lot harder to either, you know, end up in jail or destroying your life and the rest of the people that you know, their lives as well. That's a lot harder than the. The narrow path. [00:54:11] Speaker B: Amen. [00:54:12] Speaker D: That's a. [00:54:12] Speaker A: That I think there's a scripture verse that talks about the. The difference between the saints and. And those who are not saved. And the difference, Paul, is like, outlining the difference. And it says, like, we are. We're afflicted, but we're not crushed. [00:54:28] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:54:29] Speaker A: If you think of like. And I remember Pastor Brandon did a little piece on this in Wednesday Night Bible Study where he was talking about how Jacob got his hip put out a socket, but Jacob was not thrown into hell. So you either suffer for the sake of the Lord. And I mean, even if you're listening to this podcast and you're thinking about turning to weed, if you don't, you know, if you end up not smoking weed, but you don't end up turning to the Lord Jesus, you're just going to turn to a different type of weed. There's only one way to turn away. [00:55:05] Speaker D: From. [00:55:07] Speaker A: The desires to run away from God, and that would be to turn towards the sacrifice of Christ and then turn towards the hardships and that you have to face. Like, turn towards your pile. Like, you've got to deal with your life. You've got to go through the trials that God has put in front of you, but you're not going to be. You're not going to be destroyed. You might be afflicted, but you won't be destroyed. [00:55:31] Speaker B: And those trials are actually good for you. [00:55:33] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. [00:55:34] Speaker B: The pile is. God gave you that pile on purpose because it's good for you. Because he said this is the kind of gym you need to go to in order for you to develop into who I want you to be by the time that your. Your real job in life shows up. Like, that's. That's the point. You know, your gem analogy rings true. All the trials, all the difficulties, all the hardships that God sends to us, all the pile. Okay, that we need to deal with. Romans 8:28. All things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. All of it does. So that means that every difficult thing that you do is preparing you for a particular glory, for a particular thing that God has given you to do in your life. It's the gym. You're going to the gym. So don't. Don't necessarily think that I'm just going through this difficult thing because God wants me to. There's a drive behind it. There's a purpose behind it. [00:56:28] Speaker A: It's for you. [00:56:28] Speaker B: It's for you, and it's for his glory, and it's for your good, and you can trust him. Like one of the hardest things that ever happened to us, my wife and I was. Whenever we were pregnant with our second. And by we, I mean her. [00:56:46] Speaker B: And miscarried. We miscarried the baby. Okay, that was crazy sad. Like, if you've ever. If you've ever had a miscarriage, if you've ever been. If you've been married long enough to have a miscarriage, it's very, very sad. And that was hard to walk through. And, you know, we had to talk a lot and pray a lot and ask the Lord for grace. But what was fascinating about all that, and I'm gonna sum this story up real short. What's fascinating about all that is because of that pregnancy, even though we lost the baby, my wife went to the doctor and they found out that she had a mass on one of her ovaries that we never would have found. Now, thankfully, it was able to be removed, and she was fine. There's more to that story, but I'll save that for another day. But all of that proves that this terribly sad thing that happened to us had a good purpose. And because of that, my wife is still alive. [00:57:37] Speaker A: Amen. [00:57:37] Speaker B: That's good news. And that's. That's every hardship that you walk through as a person. Okay, let's. Let's ask this question. So, you guys, y' all came out of this. What would you say to the guy who's already in the game? Like, so it's not. It's not that he's thinking about going to the shop. He's already in the game. He's already taken. He's already smoking weed. He may be even already in the Xanax game. What would you say to him? [00:58:00] Speaker D: Well, it's tough because. [00:58:04] Speaker D: So I remember knowing that what I was doing was wrong for years. Like five years or more. [00:58:12] Speaker B: And you just did it anyway. [00:58:13] Speaker D: Just did it. Anyway. And I remember just getting so beat down about it, it's like, oh, yeah, you're always. You're always gonna be turning to this, right? [00:58:23] Speaker D: You're always going to turn to the weed. You're always going to turn to this thing and that thing, and you're never going to get out. Well, that's an accusation. And the. You know, the main accuser in history is Satan. Yeah. [00:58:37] Speaker B: The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. He accuses. [00:58:39] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:58:39] Speaker B: He points at you and says, you're never going to be better than this. [00:58:42] Speaker D: Yes. So, I mean, the answer, you know, is Jesus. Basically, it's. You need to. You need to turn to Christ. [00:58:55] Speaker D: And maybe. Maybe something that might help you is like, you know. You know, when you're doing good, you know, you feel like you're having good days and you, like, you know, you're. You're productive. But then, oh, man, I fell back into this weed thing. It's like that time where you're doing good. It's like there's a. There's just an objective goodness about everything in the universe, and that comes from God. So it's like that feeling that you get whenever you're doing good, it's like that happens. That happens so much more frequently whenever you're actually following Christ and not ruining your life and spending all of your money. [00:59:32] Speaker D: Chasing something that will be gone by the morning. [00:59:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Well. And the accuser is easily dismissed by the Gospel. The accuser who stands there and says, you will never be more than this. The Bible makes it plain. If you confess, he will forgive. Period. [00:59:47] Speaker D: Full stop. [00:59:47] Speaker B: Confess your sins, and he who is faithful and just will forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So that weight that you just feel that keeps getting bigger on your back can be gone in a moment. [00:59:59] Speaker D: Yes. [01:00:00] Speaker B: If you trust that promise. [01:00:01] Speaker D: Absolutely. [01:00:02] Speaker A: For me, it was immediate. I remember meeting Jesus in the way that. [01:00:11] Speaker A: He didn't come visit me, but I really. [01:00:14] Speaker B: Hello, Jordan. I had a accent, apparently. [01:00:18] Speaker A: Yeah. I had a crazy experience. And what I mean by that is, like, I had a moment experience. And I remember after that I was done with weed. I remember it was like a. No, like we used to have. What's funny is, Marley, I know you remember this, like the culture, the weed culture, at least in our circles that we ran in, when a dude would stop smoking weed, it would always be like, man, good for you. [01:00:41] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:00:41] Speaker A: Like, we were always fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's. That's real. Like, you. [01:00:45] Speaker B: Even the guys who are smoking weed Right. They're all saying, good for you. You got out. [01:00:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Like if you went into the circle and you, and you were like, yeah, like, I remember our buddy, he would, he came one night and he was like, yeah man, I'm not smoking right now. And we were like, oh man, that's cool. [01:01:01] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. But the thing is, if, if all of a sudden you were like, you know what? I've had a, I've had a hard day. I think I want to break my six month long stretch of sobriety. Any one of us would have been like, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, take the joint. [01:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Wow. [01:01:15] Speaker D: Okay. But, so, but that's a side note. [01:01:17] Speaker A: Basically that, you know, you, you, you can be delivered from it. Now the, the piece that I would, the piece that I would point to is that I'm gonna, I might be simplifying it here, but I think there's two ways that you can go with, with marijuana. [01:01:35] Speaker A: So you can go the one way which is like, and both of them are spiritual, a form of spiritual destruction. But you could go into like a very like secular. [01:01:45] Speaker A: Secularly defined period of lethargy or like what, I mean, even using biblical terms, just, just increasing in slothfulness and like abdicating. So that's one, that's one spiritual. Like, okay, the dude who's smoking weed right now, you're either going to further and further move into, or if there are any women. But I mean, I don't know, I think dudes probably smoke weed more than women. [01:02:13] Speaker C: But. [01:02:14] Speaker A: And there's a spiritual reason for that that I think that. But if you're a dude, you're always going to be pushing more towards abdication. That's, that's one way that you can go like, you're, you're like we were talking about before, you're going to increase the dose, you're going to become. Your relationship with marijuana is going to increase. You're going to go further up and further in, into your dependency on marijuana. But there's also, and you should be terrified of that, but you should also be terrified of some of the spiritual implications of smoking weed. And this is one of the things that I think is maybe like underplayed, like you can get really. You could go crazy smoking weed. [01:02:59] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah. [01:03:00] Speaker A: And I know because I went crazy smoking weed. And it was, it was like a, it was, it was weed that started it. Weed was literally the gateway drug. [01:03:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:14] Speaker A: And then it was, it was moving into other things. And as a, you know, it opened me up to take further drug use but then at one. At a certain point, you know, they had the anxiety setting in and out and. And listener, if you. If you're feeling this, just know that it could be indicative of things that could come. You have the anxiety that sets in. You have maybe like, a sense of paranoia. That's what it started as. It started as me, like, being suspicious of my friends and, you know, other. Other, you know, things that are like, you know, I would get on the weed and I would just start having these, like, repetitive, anxious thoughts. [01:03:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:51] Speaker A: Paranoid thoughts. Scary thoughts. And then the devil just. Just prodded me just a little bit. I remember there was this one day where I had this dream that my buddy also had. And I remember coming out on the couch. So this is how fast it can go crazy. I remember coming out on the couch. I've been smoking weed for years at this point. And my buddy. I had a dream and I was like, I remember the dream. I was like, I just have to tell him about this. And it was a dream where he shot somebody. And so I go and I sit on the couch and he comes out of the room and the first thing he says is, dude, I had this crazy dream. And I get chills down my spine. And I'm like, I'm not high at this point. I'm like, what? What was the dream? He's like, dude, I had a dream I shot somebody. And then immediately I got hit with, like, this weird desire to discover more about the universe. [01:04:45] Speaker B: Oh, what? [01:04:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so. And. And, you know, weed is like, the person who's listening knows weed is, like, closely tied to acid. Things like acid, lsd, dmt. [01:04:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:05:01] Speaker A: Mushrooms. You know, if dudes. [01:05:03] Speaker B: Psychedelics. [01:05:03] Speaker A: Yeah, psychedelics. If dudes have been smoking weed, they've at least. They may have been offered one of these in the past or have taken them in the past. And I'm telling you that these. That. That these drugs have a spiritual significance. And even. Even into meth, I would think people who do meth and who see things and stuff like that, I think that's all spiritual. And I. So what's my point? My point is it's dangerous. [01:05:29] Speaker B: You're headed on whichever. Victory. [01:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah. You're on the way somewhere. And I want you to understand that if you think that it's. And I'm speaking very pointedly on purpose, if you think that you're good because you just take. You just smoke a little bit of weed and that's just all you do, I would encourage you to rethink the. You know, think about all the things that we've said about how these things lead to other things. You have to go further with these things. And there could come a time where you just get stumbled because you're not. You're. You might not be as in control as you think you are. [01:06:07] Speaker B: Well, you're definitely not, because you're taking medication, you're taking either prescribed or not, you're taking a substance to send you in a different direction. You're not in control. [01:06:17] Speaker A: That's right. [01:06:18] Speaker B: Intentionally trying to get out of control via something else. You're being sent somewhere by a chemical concoction. [01:06:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:25] Speaker B: And you don't know where you're being sent. [01:06:27] Speaker A: Yeah. That's a very vulnerable place to be. [01:06:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:06:29] Speaker C: For a horror story on that. I had a buddy, emphasis on, had a buddy who would take acid, and he said it was literally like going to a different plane of existence. [01:06:40] Speaker B: That's right. [01:06:41] Speaker C: And he said in a 15 minute trip, he was chased for three days straight by Sauron. [01:06:47] Speaker D: Wow. [01:06:48] Speaker B: Yeah, see, you're being sent. Yeah, see, that's it. You're headed in a trajectory. You're going somewhere. You're being sent somewhere by a chemical. You don't know where you're going. I think this is all super helpful. All right, so there's your appeal. If you're already in the game, consider getting out and heed the warnings that you've heard. But maybe you're somebody who's listening to this episode and you're not smoking weed now. You just heard that there's a weed shop coming to Opelousas for the first time. And you're like, I gotta stop this thing from happening. Amen. Who do you call? I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. The boundary lines look weird. If you find out, would you tell me? [01:07:25] Speaker C: You know, and we can. We can distribute it. [01:07:27] Speaker B: You can send me an email and we could tell people where to go. And, like, all that stuff would be very important, I think, to know. But it's either parish government or it is the. The city of Opelousas. Based on where the boundary lines fall, I can't tell exactly which one has jurisdiction in this particular area, but there, if it's in the city of Opelousas, they're going to have to apply for zoning. They're going to have to get approved by the council for zoning. They're going to have to get approved by a subcommittee for zoning. And then they're gonna have to actually build the structure itself. So there's. There's ways that we can bump this thing if enough people care about it, and they make a little bit of noise. So. [01:08:03] Speaker A: So where. Where is it on the timeline as far as, like, because they have a sign up. [01:08:06] Speaker B: They have a sign up. So. But I have seen zero construction happening, and I have not heard a word about this coming up at the zoning commission. [01:08:14] Speaker A: So maybe they just purchased the land or something. [01:08:16] Speaker B: Pieces to me and indicate that they bought some land, they put a sign on it, they're testing the waters. That's my hot take. I would think they're testing the waters right now to kind of see what's going to happen as a result of it. But I think if there was a time for Christians to act on an issue like legalized marijuana, do it on a local level, do it in the place and where you live. This is the time for you to do or say something about it, if you would be so inclined. So there you go, guys. Thank you all so much for listening to another episode of the Parish Circuit Podcast. Aaron Vaughn, we appreciate you, our loyal listeners. [01:08:53] Speaker D: And Jordan Leslie. [01:08:54] Speaker B: And Jordan Leslie. I'm sorry. [01:08:55] Speaker D: And Margaret. [01:08:56] Speaker B: We have three, you know. [01:08:57] Speaker D: And Harold Zarrain. [01:09:00] Speaker A: Oh, man. My goodness. [01:09:01] Speaker B: We have listeners now. What's even going on in the world? That's crazy. So. And, you know, we brought one of our listeners into the studio with us, so we actually lost a listener this time. Sad face. [01:09:12] Speaker A: But I totally would have been listening to this podcast. [01:09:15] Speaker B: You go back and listen to it later, and then we still keep you as that. [01:09:18] Speaker A: That's right. [01:09:19] Speaker D: That's it. [01:09:19] Speaker B: That's it. Guys, thank y' all so much for listening to the Parish Circuit. We're trying to bring a biblical worldview to current news and events in and around St. Landry parish. If you find this helpful, we ask that you share it with a friend and distribute this. And we're trying to build something cool that we think would be beneficial for our local people. So thank you all so much for listening, and we'll see y' all next time.