The Recovered Life Show

Here is the transcription formatted into a standard SRT (SubRip) file.

Leonard, it's okay that I record this and distribute it worldwide? You're okay with that?

Yes.

Okay. And you know that we might be talking about sobriety, that kind of stuff?

Okay. All right.

I just... I always say it right at the beginning because one time I had somebody go, "Wait a second."

(Intro Music: I'm living my best recovered life.)

And welcome back to The Recovered Life Show. I'm so happy to have my guest on.

You made it on, Leonard Buschel! He is the author of High. It's so good to have you on, Leonard.

Well, thank you, Damon, for inviting me, and I'm very excited to hear what we both have to say in the next twenty minutes.

You wrote a book called High: From Cannabis to Clarity. Why is this important?

Until I spoke with you, I had no idea that this was as big of a problem as it is.

Well, it's only a problem if people want to stop and find out that they can't.

Smoking marijuana itself is not a problem unless you want to quit and you find out that you can't.

I never thought I had a problem until a few years after I quit.

I didn't want to admit that I'd smoked every day of my life for 26 years.

Never went a day without it except for three weeks when I went to Japan.

I couldn't go anywhere without weed, and I just thought it was quite natural.

I started smoking hashish as a teenager. In college, there was a total shortage.

I saw Lebanon was right next to Israel, so I dropped out of college to go smuggle back hash.

Friends thought it was for money, family thought roots. We were just going to get our stash.

Did you realize at the time that this was starting to become an obsession with you?

Obsessions can be very fulfilling if you have an obsession for something positive.

I was obsessed with getting high. We went to Israel and ended up smuggling it back.

God knows what would have happened if we'd gotten caught. I could still be in jail.

The last quarter ounce I sold, one guy put a revolver to my head, another a pistol to my heart.

They said "We're taking your hash and your money." I never dealt in that neighborhood again.

But the idea of quitting never even occurred to me. It was covered in the book extensively.

I see an obsession with cannabis a lot with younger people. One, that it's healthy.

I never heard that. I never heard that.

I hear this constantly. But now, it's come out it does the absolute opposite.

It's horrible for mental health, horrible for anxiety, depression, and it's very addictive.

It can also lower your motivation. Everything is copacetic, and nothing is important anymore.

Driving skills don't improve. "Buzzed driving is drunk driving." Obviously true.

Recent studies show neck and lung cancer. It's not good for you on any level.

God bless you if you can get high once a week and not every other day.

Exactly. Not everybody is an addict. Your work specifically helps boomers getting sober.

Is it people who just took it at a concert and then it became a dependency?

Writing the book was for people in their 50s-70s who are smoking by rote.

They're just not suffering from THC withdrawal, which can be miserable.

It takes almost a month to feel normal. You're smoking because it's a habit.

"When you get the message, hang up the phone." But it's hard to hang up when it's uncomfortable.

Sleep and eating patterns are off for weeks. Going to a Marijuana Anonymous meeting helps.

Your whole life will change. You will see brighter colors and hear music more clearly.

I see people in recovery for years who pick up marijuana because they thought it was safe.

Slowly I see their life being sucked out of them. Most are over the age of 50.

Yes, negative consequences. They call that "California Sober."

The "California Sober," yeah. We need to eradicate it. They're usually not sober.

I don't comment on others' usage. Lyft drivers shouldn't be high, but otherwise to each his own.

What do you say to those over 50 who say, "I don't think it's possible to quit"?

I hand them this book. I tell them how much better I felt when I quit 30 years ago.

Teenage brains aren't fully formed. By 25, it might be less harmful, unless it becomes addictive.

Legality has nothing to do with the harm. When you're hooked on marijuana... you're f***ed.

You really are just as powerless as any other drug. And now it's a big business.

As an ex-drug dealer, it was always a big business.

But now it's a big legal business. I smell it everywhere in Los Angeles.

The first concert after I quit, I wore a scarf around my face so I wouldn't score again.

Now, I can appreciate the smell walk by without it triggering me at all.

Now I look forward to going to concerts. So Leonard, what do you tell the person who can't do it?

Don't be such a defeatist. You're f***ing God in the flesh! Quit! Everybody can quit.

The rewards are beyond anything I can explain. That's why it's "From Cannabis to Clarity."

All chapters are available free on my Substack. Thank you, Damon.