Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Taylor
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
During Covid, I was working as a high risk labor and delivery nurse. Those were very dark times. Living through the fear of possible death, seeing it happen all around me and knowing it was real, despite having people deny it all around me. Seeing my co-workers struggle. Seeing patients struggle to enjoy the what is supposed to be their most important work of bringing life into the world, while it is crumbling around them and everything seems uncertain. I became broken. I couldn’t look people in the eye anymore. I couldn’t connect with people. I couldn’t ask them to trust me to guide them in their most important work because the foundation of my identity was crumbling. And then, cannabis. A good friend of mine asked me if I had ever thought about making my own edibles. They challenged me to learn how to do it, and got me started out in the process. I had been a very occasional cannabis user through out my lifetime, as I always tried to keep some semblance of order and responsibility as a wife, mother, and nurse. But once I discovered that cannabis was what worked for me, everything changed. It was not only a grounding factor for me that stopped the racing thoughts, but it uncovered the pain and hurt in a way that made it digestible for me to deal with. Now, I could be more present. Now, I could allow the vulnerable space to open up again so that people could lean on me and trust me to help them with their most important work.
I started making edibles for all of my friends. I started learning about the healing properties of cannabis, and about how the plant is designed to work with our bodies. I discovered cannabis nursing and found my own niche. I launched a podcast when most nurses were doing consulting to set myself apart. I saw the need for knowledge, and the gap there was in where to find that knowledge. I wanted to become the source of cannabis information that people could rely upon and trust. Nurses are one of the most trusted professions, so it made sense. My platform is aimed at being a place where people can tell their own personal stories about how cannabis has helped them, and break stigmas down through these stories. I am laying the groundwork for cannabis to become normalized so that conversations at the bedside can occur to improve patient outcomes, increase caregiver satisfaction in their work, and shed light on a healthcare system that promotes staying in a cycle of perpetual pharmaceuticals and illness versus one where people feel empowered in their choices and their own bodies ability to heal.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been a difficult road to say the least! The stigma around cannabis is very strong, as most people still view it as an illicit drug, versus something your body actually inherently is designed to create, and interact with when it is deficient. Cannabis has been categorized along side of heroin in the DEA’s scheduling program as a Schedule I. Which essentially means it is viewed as having no current accepted medical use, and a high potential for abuse. I think anyone that has used cannabis knows that it has medical benefits, even if that benefit it feeling joy or euphoria. Isn’t the point of life to be happy?
The attitudes around cannabis were fostered by propaganda that was rooted in racism, and greed. That propaganda was highly effective, and has spanned decades causing detriment to masses of people, including but certainly not limited to patients.
So, as a bedside nurse that has armed herself with education about cannabis, I still fear talking about it with patients, providers, and definitely with administrators. It is federally illegal, and not recognized as medicine, or as an effective tool that patients can use to help alleviate symptoms of either a disease process, or from pharmaceuticals treating said disease process. Thus, I naturally had to create a space that cannabis was discussed openly and treated as medicine, as a tool, as an option for people that had tried everything else, and nothing worked until they tried cannabis.
Learning to be an entrepreneur of sorts by creating this platform, by leaning how to brand myself so that my message can be heard far and wide, and how to elevate my profession to a natural position in the cannabis space has had its challenges. I have drawn upon my nursing skills set. We are the teachers that provide you with knowledge in a way that you understand. We are the translators that help you understand your complex medical issues is a way that makes you feel like you can deal with them on your terms. We are the advocates for you when something doesn’t feel right, or your needs are going unmet. We are the people that figure out a different way when a road block in encountered. We are the ones that listens, when it seems like no one else will. We hold you hand. We guide you. We support you. We champion you, in your knowing that you are ultimately the one making a decision that is best for you.
The struggles I may have encountered were all met with the tangible skills I had developed in my career as a bedside nurse. Cannabis helped me find my passion again in nursing.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Cannabis nurse podcaster that destigmatizes cannabis through the use of storytelling. The goal is for people to lay down preconceived ideas about what cannabis is, what it can do to change a person’s life, and how highly successful and functioning adults are using cannabis in really intentional ways to become healthy. I want to be a place where people can come and be confident in knowing they are going to get useful information about cannabis based in science, and in observance of real people. It is my belief when a person tells their own personal story, and is vulnerable about how they came to cannabis, that is where we will change the hearts and minds of people that don’t understand cannabis as medicine. Once we empower enough people to take control of their own healthcare modality options we will force providers and healthcare systems to recognize both the demand for cannabis as medicine, and the its healing properties.
I am most proud of the fact that I want to make these changes happen at the bedside. I want to see cannabis being offered as a treatment modality to people in real time, not in a private office somewhere away from the hospital, as something someone is. trying after nothing else worked. I want to have crucial conversations with not just patients, but with providers, hospital administrators, legislators, and more in order to make sure people have access to what works for them.
I think what sets me apart is that I know I don’t know everything there is to know about cannabis, not even close. But, I do know where to find that information, and I really want to be on a journey of learning from people that do know, whether that be from evidence based practice, research, or just their own personal journey.
I am most proud of the work I have done in the community. Whether it was tabling at a mental health fair in Mankato, supporting Veterans, or elevating nurses in the cannabis setting as the trusted professionals that people can go to for guidance. I look forward to working on policy changes that improve access to cannabis as medicine on both a hospital systems level and the federal and local government level.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
That its ok to not know how to do something, but do it anyway and learn as you go! I learned how to tap into my passion again, after having lost it watching the world and the American healthcare system crash under fear, and immense socioeconomic pressure. I learned that I was resilient!
Pricing:
- No–the podcast is free to watch! I am looking for sponsorship from like minded people that believe in my mission and would like to support that!
Contact Info:
