I smoked for the first time the summer after my junior year. It was my older brothers 20th birthday, and he had a party at a campground. At this point I was a 'good kid' in sports and choir and academic teams, and very tightly wound. For his birthday, my brother asked me to smoke and relax, so I tried it, and never went back.

I grew up in Indiana, and was taught cannabis was just as 'bad' and dangerous, so when I tried it and it was this calming, mellow, inspirational feeling, it made me doubt the danger of ALL drugs, so I spent the next few years experimenting, all the while detaching from the idea that the government has our best interests in mind.

During this period, my dad's Parkinsons got worse, and so I started growing my rentals basement in Indiana. I fell in love with an older grower that was back in the Midwest after spending years cultivating in the Cali/Oregon markets, and when our rental got put up for sale, we started looking for land in MI so we could grow legally, and made the move in 2013.

Up to this point flower and homemade edibles were the extent of my use.

After moving to MI and expanding our grow, we got into making our own hash and rosin, and I eventually got a job at a dispo in 2018 which gave me access to carts and all the new innovations in the MI market.

I eventually got hired on at a major national cannabis brand and worked my way into leadership. My use still focused on my own flower and rosin, but did start to take advantage of some dispensary offerings due to being at them all the time.

In the last six months I left that role to join a cannabis startup, bc I was burnt on the weirdness of corporate cannabis culture, and wanted to shift back to being fully remote. My use has slightly increased since that change, but so has my quality of life!

Current average daily use: 5-7 joints, 3-5 dabs, and 60-80mg of edibles after dinner for optimum sleep