Episode 502: From Survivor to Cancer Survivor: Finding Relief with Cannabis - Ethan Zohn

Welcome to Cannabis Health Radio, where healing stories meet science. Join Reverend Dr. Robin Swann as she talks with patients and experts about the healing power of cannabis and other sacred plant medicines. Trusted information, real experiences, new possibilities for healing. Cannabis Health Radio starts now. Hey friends and family. It is yours truly, Robin Swan, coming to you from Cannabis Health Radio. And today to share his story, I have this incredible human being named Ethan who has done so many incredible things with his life. And he's gonna share his stories about what he's up to, what he's been going on with, and where all of this has taken him. Some of the things about him that I want you all to know is that he was not just on the show, but he was the winner of season 3 of Survivor. Now, if that doesn't define you as a badass, I don't really know what does. He's a former professional soccer player, a cancer survivor, a cannabis advocate, an entrepreneur, and the founder or the co-founder of Grassroots Soccer, a nonprofit that has reached millions of young people through soccer-based HIV education, which I— we have to just I just want to know how, like, how cancer, HIV, and soccer all come together for you. But Ethan, thank you for giving us your time today and sharing your story. You know, it's in our stories that we really help other people. So thank you for sharing yours.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. And that was an incredible introduction. I pretty much have nothing left to say.

You're very handsome. So we could just sit here and look at you. Just look at the handsome man on screen. Yeah. I'm— can you, well, let's just start with the soccer HIV conversation, 'cause that's, that's something that nobody really talks about anymore. And HIV is still very prevalent in our world, especially in third world countries.

Definitely. Yeah. So before my time on Survivor, I actually lived and played professional soccer in Zimbabwe. And while I was there, I witnessed firsthand what was happening with HIV and AIDS and how it was just destroying the community that I was a part of. A couple of my friends got sick with HIV, kicked off the team, ostracized from the community, and lived the end of their life in a really sad and lonely and challenging way. And myself, along with 3 of my other soccer buddies, co-founded an organization called Grassroots Soccer. And I actually used the money that I won from Survivor to help to donate to start this charity. And so Grassroots Soccer is an adolescent health organization using the power of soccer to help kids connect around their own health and connect them with caring mentors. And, uh, it's actually more than just HIV and AIDS now. We've broadened our scope since we first were founded in 2002. Now we're in adolescent health. So we do stuff in and around mental health, female reproductive health, gender norms, drugs and alcohol, malaria, depending on where we are. We just entered the United States this past year for the World Cup. And so we've been running mental health soccer camps in the cities hosting World Cup matches this past summer.

So one of the things that you said is that you're part of the World Cup. We just finished it. Yay. It was such an exciting, it was really an exciting tournament this year, I think, with all of the political whatnot on top of it. And then the way that it just came out. You are, you mentioned in your bio that you work with cannabis and soccer and the World Cup. Very curious how that all— I worked in pro sports for a very long time. I was a structural integration neuromuscular therapist and I worked in the NBA and the NFL and So there's, I just, for people who don't know about professional athletes, these guys start training when they're like 7, 8 years old. It's the same trajectory as becoming a surgeon or a research doctor. Their whole entire life is sucked up into their sport and they have to, they're professionals at the age of 12.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. The, the connection for me between soccer and can— I never used cannabis when I was a player. I actually never touched the stuff until cancer came into my life because growing up playing soccer, going through college, I wanted to play pro soccer. Cannabis wasn't even in my world. However, when I was diagnosed with cancer in my 30s, things changed a little bit. But we are in a really unique time in history where this is the first time in the history of the World Cup where it's being held in countries that are cannabis-friendly: USA, Mexico, and Canada. This is past tense now because the World Cup just ended. So this is really the first time we can actually have a conversation around the intersection of soccer and cannabis in and around the World Cup. And so I partnered with High Times, uh, to create a program called Kicking Back. Where are my High Times jerseys? Right here. You can see it.

Here it is.

Um, and we were a soccer and cannabis-themed World Cup travel series where I traveled to all the World Cup host cities and explored the intersection of soccer, cannabis, and community. And it was wild. Let me tell you that.

I bet. I, I so bet. Because the players, the professional players still can't be using any kind of substance while they're actively playing, whether it's cannabis or not, except for topically. Correct. 'Cause it doesn't cross the liver and nobody will fail a drug test.

However, the, not at the World Cup and in the soccer world, but a lot of the professional soccer leagues and even the college scene has loosened their restrictions on cannabis and THC. NBA, WNBA just became the first professional league to decry, to take THC off their banned substance list. NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Soccer, golf, they're all loosening their views on performance-enhancing drugs and what cannabis can offer to you as an athlete.

Because it's definitely not going to improve your performance, but it might improve your recovery.

So definitely improves recovery.

There's so much to talk to you about.

It's really—

I'm going to be like, no, no, I really want to just have a focus. So let— we're just going to follow a timeline and we're going to come back to the grassroots soccer program that you're doing with High Times. So let's start. Here you are, perfect person, winner of Survivor, pro athlete, gorgeous man, epitome of health, probably eating this very clean diet. And then all of a sudden the unthinkable happens in your life. There's 2 components to your cancer journey that I wanna visit on. One, the first, and then the second, because a lot of people get an NDA, they think they're home free, and then they're not. So if you can just share that journey all the way back to your second diagnosis with us.

Sure. So I was, uh, 35 years old on top of the world. training for the New York City Marathon actually, and I had some really itchy skin and I tried every pill, cream, lotion known to man. And it wasn't after about 5 months of wondering what the heck was going on inside my body that a swollen lymph node popped outta my neck. They found a 6-centimeter by 12-centimeter mass in my chest, and I was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called CD20-positive Hodgkin's lymphoma. I'd never heard of it either. Don't worry. And so I went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, 22 blasts of radiation, and 2 stem cell transplants. And so for that, me during that time, incredibly challenging. And the doctors were pumping me full of synthetics, which definitely cured my cancer and saved my life. However, I was definitely looking for alternative ways to make myself feel better.

Yeah.

And so someone introduced me to medical cannabis. And like I said earlier, I never touched the stuff. Really wasn't part of my life. My friends did it growing up. I tried it once, second semester of my senior year of college. Don't tell my mom. I just wanted to do something crazy before I graduated. Wow. Um, but then obviously once I was sick, I really leaned into medical cannabis.

And tell me about the cannabis. Like what kind of cannabis did you lean into? Were you smoking? Were you using a concentrate? Did you find an infusion? Were you eating edibles? Like what, what journey of cannabis opened up to you?

The journey was incredibly difficult and challenging. So when I was first diagnosed, I went to my hospital, as you should, and I talked to my oncologist. I said, hey, I wanna try to use cannabis with cancer. And he's like, uh-uh. And there was not one trained oncologist, nurse practitioner at I won't name the hospital. New York City, largest cannabis, largest cancer hospital in the world. No one could advise me on how to use cannabis with cancer. So I was left to figure it out on my own. And I had to go to the streets of New York City, 2009. We weren't in a world where medical cannabis was accessible to me. So I'm talking to a drug dealer with—

In Washington Square Park. Is that where you ended up? Did you go, did you head down to Washington Square Park?

Well, luckily I, I had a number or two, so I actually had some guy, but he sold everything. He sold coke and ecstasy and Percocets, and I didn't know where this stuff was coming from. Was it sprayed? Was it pesticides, mold, heavy metals? No idea. So I'm doing something illegal on top of having cancer and trying to figure out how to use this medicine to make myself feel better. It just was not a good process for me. However, it worked. It definitely made me feel—

Were you smoking weed? Is that what—

So yeah, no, I was not. I was, I was eating it. So the doc— only thing the doctor told me is don't smoke it. So I, I had an old school tabletop vaporizer that I used, and then I would cook it to make like edibles, like a cookie or a brownie is the way I would use it at that time.

And what kind of relief did you find when you started like eating those brownies and stuff? What, what was happening for you?

I was mostly taking cannabis to, you know, I was on so many drugs. I mean, I was on mood stabilizers, sleep medicine, pain medicine. I was on stuff for guys that happens when you got cancer and nausea medicine. I was on 7 to 12 different pills, all prescribed. And this is the height of the kind of opioid crisis. So I was super fearful of becoming addicted to anything they're prescribing to me. And so, yeah, I was basically using cannabis for all those things. You can say sleep, anxiety, pain, mood, sexual stuff, like all of it. And it really helped a lot. So I could reduce some of, I could get off some of the meds completely, nausea and sleep, didn't need those anymore. And then I could reduce the other, the dosages of all the other meds I was on.

That's all through an edible. So that, that's pretty amazing.

Yeah, all through an edible.

So, so seriously, you have some incredible culinary skill as well.

I guess so, yes.

'Cause you must have pulled that butter really well to get all of those benefits from an edible.

But I didn't even know, so like I actually ended up There was a woman out of Massachusetts, her name was Janibus Cannabis, who is just a resident nurse who I paid $250 to have a conversation with who could just educate me on cannabis, which was the best decision, best money I've ever spent in my life. Now it might not sound unique to anyone out there because cannabis is kind of mainstream in a certain way. But back then I didn't know who to turn to.

In 2009, we were in a completely different climate for sure. Yeah. And then also just the construct of where you come from. from in pro sports and all of that. There's a lot, there is a container that somebody who is a professional athlete is not gonna really bust out of. And making your own cannabis butter and eating it was definitely a bust out. Yes. So I'm glad that you found Janice from—

Yes.

Who knew about cannabis and that she was able to educate you. So did that change the anything about the way that you processed your flower or did you end up pulling it to a concentrate? Or did you just stay? No. So you were really, you weren't really using it to cure your cancer. You were just using it to mitigate your other symptoms.

Yes. I need to clarify that and say yes, the chemo, radiation, stem cell transplants cured my cancer. Cannabis saved my life is the way I like to put it. Yeah.

Well, I think that they go together, you know? I mean, I, I really believe that there's a marriage between allopathic and plant-based medicine that we have to pull from all of it to get the best mix. So, okay. So where—

Cannabis really came into play for me was post-cancer to deal with. I had such extreme anxiety and fear of relapse that I really couldn't leave the house. And so that's when I really leaned into CBD and medical cannabis just to be able to handle that side of my life. And so that was a huge— this is post-cancer into recovery, picking up the pieces of my life as a young adult. Having to face the world after going through what I went through for 5 years, that was when cannabis really helped. And I'm still using, you know, cannabis today in a medical aspect, I guess you could say.

It's always medical no matter how you use it, Ethan. Don't forget that.

It is.

So how long were you, like, how long were you in the NDA? Were you clear for how long was that cancer-free zone for you?

So 2013 is when I was in remission. Deemed in remission. So for about, it's been 13 years. Oh, that's pretty cool.

Right on. Right on. So, but you didn't have a second journey. You didn't dip back into—

Oh, sorry.

Yeah, that's what— Yes.

Yeah. So it all, all between 2009 and 2013. So I, I was in remission for about 16 months and then my cancer returned and I had to go through everything all over again.

So let's visit about that because I have a tremendous amount of clients. And that is, like you said, like you were so paralyzed in the fear of it returning that you didn't even want to leave your house. And I know that at first it's like, you know, I always feel like when we get a cancer diagnosis, it's like getting hit by a bus, you know? And there's nothing inside of our body that helps us really absorb that information and just ground into it. So you help yourself, you get over this paralyzing fear. And the worst case scenario comes back anyway. The, you know, your worst fear shows up. So what was that like for you and how did you handle that?

Getting the news that the cancer returned was deflating, exponentially more difficult than the first time around. I was running out of options. I was scared, pissed off, didn't want to die. And for me, that, you know, the, that's when I kind of really Went outside of the traditional medicines to look for anything that would help me. Like I went to Bali and went on a healing safari. I was doing some really crazy shit just to try to heal myself. And I'm not saying it worked. I don't know what worked, what didn't work, but something did. And that process for me, you know, I was also put on a clinical trial for an experimental new drug, and that was not even passed by the FDA. And clinical trials are equal parts fear and equal parts excitement for a cancer patient. Fear because if it doesn't work, I'm dead.

Yeah.

And excitement because if it does, go for it. Experiment and experiment on me. Let's pave the way for everyone after me. Luckily for me, it did work. And that experimental new drug got my cancer into remission again so I could get my second stem cell transplant using my brother Lee as the donor. So he donated his stem cells to save my life, which is pretty awesome as a brother.

Absolutely. For sure. Stem cells are really amazing things. They're really, and I'm glad. Did you do that surgery here in America? Were you able to do the stem cell transplant? And that's really rare. Like everyone listening, that's really him having the opportunity to do a stem cell transplant in the United States is really new and fresh. That was something that was just happening in South America for many years. And I believe, maybe you can validate this or not, that's really when we get those new stem cells, our body just attaches to them and they spread through our body and we actually really heal very quickly with them. Yeah.

Yeah, I think there are a couple different forms of stem cell therapy. There's basically what I have is what happens is they take all your red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets out of your body. They zero you out and then they reinfuse healthy stem cells into your entire system. So then it goes into your bones and they replicate as healthy stem cells versus infected, diseased cancer stem cells. There are other stem cell therapy programs more for athletes where they'll inject stem cells into your joints and your muscles to help recover faster, but this is definitely to replace your immune system, completely replace your entire immune system with the immune system of someone else. And that was my brother. So right now, my— I renamed myself. My name is now Lethan because my brother's name is Lee.

Oh, I love that.

Your brother's name is Lee.

Yeah.

And I'm no longer my mom's favorite son, which is pretty much her.

Well, now you're like both her favorite sons.

You're like—

Exactly. You've become like a twin, which is cool.

Exactly.

So do you— I imagine you were using cannabis the entire time that you were From 2009 to '13, when you were going through that, were you continuing with your edibles?

Yeah. Not, I wasn't like wake and bake smoking all day, but like when symptoms spiked and I was having issues with nausea or I needed to eat something or I needed to sleep that night, or I was in severe pain, that's when I would take it. But I wasn't just using it all day, every day. There are some powerful meds that you are prescribed that do work better than cannabis. But cannabis in conjunction with some of the stuff I was going through is very helpful.

And you never really got past, you never got to the concentrated phase, right?

You never got to the gel oil. Not at that time in my life.

Yeah. So have you, did you find your way to the, to the, to the FECO Fully Extracted Cannabis Oil? Because we're not here to pimp Rick Simpson, which is what RSO is. And he really hates that we use his name. So the actual product is called Fully Extracted Cannabis Oil. It comes from the Ming Dynasty. It has been in the Ayurvedic and Ming Dynasty texts since 600 BC. So it's a formula that has been with us basically for always and since always. And it's a foundational element of Ayurvedics.

Yeah, I, at that time when I was going through cancer, I wasn't aware of it. And maybe it was just coming out, that type of stuff in like Colorado. I remember something. Families moving to Colorado to get access to this special oil for epilepsy. Right, the recent episode. That whole thing. I was having friends like ship me weed from California and Colorado illegally because I needed it and I couldn't get it in New York, right? Or I didn't want, I didn't, couldn't get safe, trusted cannabis in New York. And I was so fearful of, I don't know, using something that was off the streets and just—

Yeah. And that sometimes now with dispensaries the way that they are, sometimes your street vendor has a higher quality, less contaminated product your dispensary does. Always check your farmer and make sure where it's coming from. And yeah, we license our products in New York. So I have a lot of under— I mean, way back when it's like, you know, the statute of limitation is gone. I used to sell weed in New York and we would bring it from California and sell it for $10,000 a pound. Okay. And now a pound of weed is like $600. So there it is. And, and that's awesome because it makes it more available to everybody.

Yeah.

And you need a lot of flower to process it into a fat, a concentrate, which is what the real healing goo is. So I love that you found cannabis in a way that really helped support the journey that you were on. And it obviously inspired you so much to wanna like hook up with High Times.

Yeah.

The ultimate stoners in the industry and roll around to all the cities in the countries that had the game. So can you share a little bit about like What's the premise of that show and what did you find? Like, I would really like to know what you found in your journey of going to all those different cities, what the inconsistencies were, and what was the thread that tied everything together?

The thread that tied everything together is that no matter where you come from or what country you live in, everyone loves weed. I, you know, every soccer fan that I came in contact with loves weed. Saying that publicly on camera is a different story. But the general perception of soccer fans in this world is that cannabis is a very popular medicine, if you will. Having traveled to 8 different cities, I definitely became aware of the issues facing the cannabis industry in the world today, especially here in the United States. From Massachusetts, which is completely adult-use recreational, to Dallas, where there's 30 million people and only 3 licensed medical cannabis dispensaries, but 7,000 hemp shops. To Philadelphia, that is medical, so everyone drives to New Jersey to get their weed. It's just a completely broken system. And I was literally kind of— I'm not an expert by any means. I am a soccer fan, I'm a cannabis user, I'm a patient, but I don't know everything about cannabis. So for me, this literally was an educational exploration of kind of what is the state of cannabis in the United States. And I was able to tie that with the World Cup just because it's a huge multimedia event. Everyone wants to get in on the World Cup in terms of a marketing and PR perspective. So it was a really kind of easy pitch to go to High Times and say, hey, I want to travel around the country, check out the soccer scene, check out the weed scene, check out the community with using, you know, the World Cup as a backdrop. And so we have now filmed 8 episodes, 6 of them, oh, 7 as of today, will be dropped on High Times YouTube channel. And it's been just really fun and exciting meeting incredible people, legacy growers, dispensary owners, grows, you know, then on the whole soccer side of things, it's just been, it was a really fun, wild, entertaining, confusing trip.

Oh, I'm so, I'm so sure. So as far as the players go, and because of the restrictions of Playing soccer and being a professional athlete and cannabis, like, and I wonder how, 'cause I know from the NFL, like, I'll just share a little story that my favorite NFL owner is Jerry Jones. And when he was super gracious to me when I brought him a CBD product and he like let me work, like use it with the players and all of that, as long as I used it topically. So he had no problem as long as nobody failed a drug test.

Yeah.

And I, I thought that was super gracious of him to begin with.

Yeah.

But also the players who were already partaking in their off time when they learned that cannabis actually had a medicinal property to it, like not just smoke some weed and chill out or eat an edible and sleep better, but to actually rub it on your body or the way that it's compounded can really affect your performance.

Yeah.

And the fact that you just become better. They really opened up to it, like super opened up to it. So we're, and when I think of football, especially football, soccer, football, I, I think of beer.

Yeah.

I think of Scottish people and I think of British people and I think of pubs and people yelling. I don't think of a bunch of people like passing joints around and being like, yeah, that was a good play. You know?

Like, I like that.

They're more like, there's so much more like firmer in soccer.

So yeah, it is. Listen, it's, you rarely see people smoking weed and getting in fistfights over sports games, right? That usually comes from the alcohol side of the fandom. Uh, but it was incredibly fun to see some of these people coming from countries where cannabis is highly illegal. Morocco, Saudi Arabia, even Scotland, if you wanna say so. Like now all of a sudden they come to the United States, they can just walk into a shop. Buy some product. But what was really interesting for me is like, and I'm preaching to the choir here, but like, you can walk into a bar, you can grab a beer, you can drink it there, and you can watch soccer. You can't do that with cannabis anywhere. Some places had a consumption lounge, but it was a little—

But not very many.

A few lounges. But the general consensus is you're still getting your product and then you're taking it and you're rolling a joint in the alleyway, you're smoking it on the side, not in public. So That's one thing that was a big, obviously, you know, I would've loved to stay in the dispensary and smoke a joint and watch a soccer game because those are my people, right? I'm not with the alcohol people. Having said that, there are dispensaries on Fifth Avenue. There are dispensaries on Lansdowne Street adjacent to Fenway Park. It's progress and they're there and we're on Main Street USA now. However, we're still not all the way there like we see in alcohol. And I don't know if we ever will be. Will cannabis ever show up at the World Cup? Maybe. I don't know. Is it a sponsor? I have no idea. But the, it's there. People enjoy it. And no one, but no one would talk about it. I had trouble finding people to talk about it on camera. You know, you, they'll, they'll pour a beer over their head and do keg stands on camera, but no one's gonna smoke a joint with me on camera, which is interesting.

And do you think that's because they're gonna get in so much trouble at their, in their home base? Like, I know that some of those countries, like, I cannot see the Moroccan team even though they're smoking hash and they also are moving into legal cannabis and they are going to, they're positioned to grow all of the weed for all of Europe. There's still such a, a tremendous amount of stigma on the, the plant there. So like, how is there, did you see a disconnect with the player? Like you're talking about it right now with the, like, we don't wanna go on camera. We're gonna party over here, but don't put us on camera.

Yeah.

So how do you edu— is there a need for education within the player community? Or is it just the stigma, I don't want to get caught and get in trouble and lose my position on my team?

Yeah, to be completely honest, this was less about talking to the actual professional players. I was definitely in and around the culture and community around the World Cup. I did talk to some retired players and some ex-players that were willing to come on camera and talk to me, but majority of them would not. even if they have been retired for 25 years and use weed every day, they still didn't want to come on because it's— there's a social stigma associated still with cannabis, um, which I understand. We're just not there yet.

How can we fix that? Like, how could we, you know—

Shows like Kicking Back, like, if you take a look at this show, this is Main Street. This is consumer commercialized cannabis programming and content. That's what we created. We are the 5 milligrams, we are the drinks, we are the pre-rolls, we are the vapes. We're not like the legacy growers, the hippie stoners. We're not the urban giant bong hits. We love flower. That wasn't what we were going for. We were going for like, hey, I'm in Philadelphia, or I'm in New Jersey, or I'm in Dallas. Where can I get some weed and have a good time and enjoy the community? So that's what we are exploring, the commercial side of it, the marketing side of it, dispensaries, dispensary owners, the people in and around that are making this industry thrive in today's world, which aren't necessarily the major High Times Stoners vibe or the hippies or the urban folks. That's 'cause we're the soccer mom. We are the Disney of cannabis, the soccer mom TV program.

Those soccer moms are hitting those vape pens. You trust and believe that, man. They are definitely Snugging it down for sure. I think that is the deal. I think we're still stuck in reefer madness in some ways. And you know what the dispensaries, from my humble opinion, have not done is move the conversation of medical cannabis forward because it's all about like how much THC can be in the product. Like how high can I get? And that's not gonna help us with this. And then also, I also see in my industry, like I'll go to a networking event or something with a bunch of cannabis, other entrepreneurs, and they're all sitting around smoking joints, doing bong hits. And there's that, that element of professionalism has not, you know, it's a very, it's a very delicate thing because nobody wants corporate cannabis. All right. But we also can't be the dirty hippie stoners and be taken seriously. I work with people who have children, babies, 9 months old that have brain tumors.

Yeah.

So convincing a parent that is only seeing that, like, for, I love Cheech and Chong, so no shade on them.

Yeah.

But if all you know is that, then you're not gonna know what this is. So that's, is the focus basically on this is how cannabis is really moving through our communities in a good way and why we should open up more and why it's better because no one's gonna beat their wives when England loses. Yeah. That's it. They're just gonna Stuff, donut in their mouth.

Yeah, I, that's exactly the angle we were taking. We, our angle is access. Like I believe in have for everyone to have the choice and have the access to use cannabis if they so choose. So for me, I think a medical or adult use cannabis dispensary is a great option because it's tested, it's regulated. It's, that's a good thing. However, I do feel the system's broken because if someone has a real medical issue, you go to your medical cannabis doctor, you see them once, you never see them again. You go to a dispensary that's not a hospital, you talk to a budtender that's not a doctor, and they're telling a guy like me with cancer that you need to use this when they're just getting greased on the back end where they get the most margins. When I really need someone to tell me like, okay, you're on this drug, you're on that drug, you're on this drug, you have this type of cancer, you can't be high at this time of the day, you gotta drive the schools at this time of day, you need to work here. This is what you need to be using when you're using it. This is the dosage. Call me in 3 days to tell me how you feel. There's no medical oversight over anything in the cannabis industry, and I think that's a major pitfall for the entire industry. So I'm all about access and safe, guided, trusted cannabis use is where I'm coming from.

I agree 100%. And it's very like shows like Kickback are gonna be amazing because they're gonna show people in real time. That this is a way. So everybody's just got to go to YouTube. These are already dropped now, but when we drop this episode, they're going to be there. So youtube.com/kickback and go to go to YouTube.

Yeah, go to YouTube, search for High Times, and then I'll pop up. But the name of the show is Kicking Back. It's on High Times YouTube channel.

Yeah, that's exciting. So through this whole journey of what you've been through, and congratulations on NDA for 13 years. God bless you, may it continue. Because every single day, every day, every single one of us could walk outside and get plastered by a bus. So, you know, time and unforeseen things come for every one of us. And I'm always fond of saying, it's not what happens to you, it's what you do with what happens to you.

Yeah.

So, for— there must have been like a moment where you were like, why me? And that shifted To what's next. Yeah. So can you like, yeah, anything?

Well, for me, I live my life these days by making sure to never let a crisis go to waste because it's an opportunity to do some really important things. And when I was 14 years old, my dad died of colon cancer. I've been surrounded by cancer my whole life. My uncles, my grandma, my mom, me, my dad died. It's been, it, I've been part of my life forever. And so I truly believe That the details of my story can help others out there. And I think focusing on the challenges of other human beings help you heal as a human being. So my philosophy these days and what's next is anything bad that comes my way, I accept it, I face it head on, and then I turn it outward to the community around me. Because I really do feel that if I can make something incredibly good out of something incredibly bad, that's a good way to live your life. So for what's next for me, take that into consideration. But I truly believe that this, this sports and cannabis and marketing and PR and storytelling has a place in the industry. And I think it's a good angle to move forward in the world to try to erase some of the stigma, normalize cannabis as we kind of progress and where we are. Because we're still, we're still in the first inning. We're still in the dark ages. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Slightly getting out of the shadows. On that note, if there was one thing that you could, like, if Some, you know, there's some like, you know, the people who are just so like on the whole cannabis conversation. What would you say to those people who are like, oh, I'm not gonna smoke the devil's lettuce. I'll be okay. What was the, 'cause it sounds like you've had that moment of, oh, wait a minute. I'm this super clean life-enhanced character. I'm not gonna put that garbage into my body. And then you saw how much benefit you got from it. So what would you say to somebody who was where you were at the beginning of this journey? Just filled with fear at the substance and they watch Reefer Madness. So what would you say, what would you share with them to dispel their disbelief?

Oh man. I, you know, I would definitely just, that's a good question. What I would tell people who don't wanna get into cannabis, I, you know, I, I don't wanna, I'm not like a drug pusher. Not if you're, it's not, if it's not your thing, it's not your thing. But I do see people struggling. Through life, it may turn to other vices like tobacco or alcohol. And so if you're looking for a healthier option to make you feel a certain way, I think cannabis could— is one of the healthiest. Exercise first, and then eating food, good food, and then cannabis is a good supplemental medicine for a lifestyle. And I think you can have a—

Right there.

Yeah, an active, healthy lifestyle that can incorporate cannabis. Obviously, if you ever do something too much, it's not good in, in certain ways. So there's a balance. Find what works for you, dial into your dosage and your modes of ingestion. But it's kind of tough and it's, it's very, the way dispensaries are organized, it is very overwhelming when you walk into a dispensary. If you've never used before, you don't know anything about it. It is scary. You walk in there, there's thousands of brands with tons of doses and form factors, and it's just, it's overwhelming. So my advice to folks would just to be, get, I get, I guess it's called a cannabis guide or use a program that can help you figure out what type of product. There's one out there called EO Care, eo.care, personalized physician-guided medical cannabis care plans for cancer survivors, patients, seniors, athletes. So you can get onto this program, they can, you fill out all everything about yourself and it will spit out a care plan for you that has been overseen by a real medical cannabis doctor. So I think things along those lines and technology kind of coming together with cannabis can help people make informed decisions. And that's what I tell people.

Is educate yourself. That's what that sounds like is get some education.

Educate yourself, watch Kicking Back on High Times. DM me, whatever you want.

Okay, so you are open to some DMs.

So do you see this beautiful man?

Let's see, are you married?

I am married, yeah.

Okay, so all of you ladies out there who are listening after this beautiful man—

Actually, the deal I made with my wife was I said, hey, once we get married, I will try bacon. I've never had bacon. I'm Jewish. I don't eat bacon. I don't eat ham. I'm like, I will try bacon if you try smoking weed. And we're like, deal, fine, let's do it. I ate bacon, changed my life, by the way. Love it now on me, but I love bacon. But my wife still hasn't tried cannabis. So I'm like, what kind of deal is that? So anyway.

She's getting there. We just have to get her a topical because I think she probably, I always feel like topicals are the best gateway for people with cannabis. But my favorite character is the Zohan, who I, you have to know if you're Jewish, you know, your name's Zohan.

My last name is Zahn.

Zahn. Yeah, I know. That's why I saw it. So I was like, I'm going to talk to the Zohan. I love that. It has been a pleasure, Ethan, visiting with you. And I love the light and the truth that you bring to the conversation and the lived experience, because those are invaluable for people who are on the crux. They don't really know, they're afraid, they don't wanna really, they don't wanna go to a dispensary. They're not sure how to navigate this. So Kicking Back sounds like an awesome series that's gonna help people in various different regions all around this country. So it's not just one place, it's all over East Coast, West Coast, and give them a better understanding because once it's demystified, because I work with people every single day formulating medicines, creating plans for them with cannabis. That's like what I do.

Right.

And the, the biggest thing is to demystify the plant. This is just a plant. You are also a plant, and it sounds like you understand that baseline way of healing, that good Clean water, fresh food, exercise, and a clear mentality are really what's gonna help you heal yourself. And you're living proof of that. And exercise, I cannot, like, Joe Pilates.

Exercising with cannabis is a new thing for me. I was so, I became the first person to run the Boston Marathon publicly medicated on cannabis. So to celebrate 10 years—

Were you last person in? Were you like, oh yeah, I'm running.

I felt like I was sprinting. I was walking. So for me, that's it also. Like if you are not inspired to exercise, cannabis has helped me get back into fitness, if you can believe it. It seems counterintuitive. I can believe it.

You know, the correct stain, it's not, or strain, it definitely can get you motivated in different ways. And when we naturally become feeling better, we naturally wanna get out and move. Yes.

Yes. The endorphins and the dopamine and like THCV, as you know, is a good molecule within the cannabis plant that gives you a little energy, they say. So yeah, that's changed my life being able to work out using cannabis.

All right. Thank you, Ethan. Remember you guys, you can find him on YouTube at Kickback, right? That's the High Time—

Kicking Back.

Kicking Back, the High Time series on YouTube. Ethan Zohn, I'm sure you can find him on the internet. Do you have a website or anything like that you wanna drop inside?

ethanzohn.com.

Oh, there you go. I love it when it's people's names and that's it. All right. So thank you so much for your time. Everybody else out there, remember, do your job. The currency on the internet is share, like, comment. So please spread the good word of cannabis. That's why people who don't know about this plant are gonna find it. So help us out. And again, thank you so much, Ethan, for your time today.

Oh, thank you so much. I'll take care.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of Cannabis Health Radio. We hope today's conversation has reminded you that healing is possible and that you are not alone. If you found this episode valuable, please share it with someone who may benefit. Every story shared helps bring the good medicine of cannabis to more people. For more episodes, educational resources, and community, visit cannabishealthradio.com and consider joining our Patreon family.

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where you'll connect with like-minded individuals as well as help support our work. A special shout out to Smarty Pants Production for their engineering expertise and creative support. Until next time, stay informed, stay curious, and keep advocating for yourself. I'm Reverend Dr. Robin Swan. Thanks for listening.