The longtime Cannabis advocate, concentrates connoisseur and always smiling founder of Oilhead shares his health journey and what’s next for the product line.
How did you start your journey with Cannabis?
I started as a teenager, smoking weed with my friends as a way to get away from the stresses of the world. Mom and Dad were fighting like cats and dogs and getting a divorce, so I got high with one of my brothers. I was in elementary school. By the time I was 19, we were going to Canada for discounts to get bulk supplies. I got caught at the border, got my first felony charge and, compared to hundreds of thousands of others, I got slapped on the back of the hand. I was 19 and had 8.5 pounds, and I got 23 days in jail, a $5,000 fine and $1,600 to a drug tax fund in Bellingham.
Wow, you got lucky! When did you start using Cannabis medicinally?
I see stories of people in prison for eighths of weed, so I feel blessed that I did just get a slap on the wrist. I became a patient in the early 2000s when I was working in MMJ. I was 23 or so, but my memory isn’t the best after all my brain surgeries.
Tell us about your brain surgeries; most people have no idea what that battle must be like.
Geez, I’ve had two brain surgeries, two neck surgeries and two eye surgeries. That’s it for the head part! In my 20s I started having severe headaches for no reason, not from working in the sun or bumping my head. I would be relaxing, watching TV and suddenly it would feel like I got hit with a baseball bat, so I knew something wasn’t right in my head. I went to the hospital. They confirmed it was a tumor and then wouldn’t approve my surgery for insurance reasons. After a couple years of increasing pain and symptoms, I went to Sweden, and they said, ‘You do have a brain tumor that’s doubled in size during the insurance fight, and we had to operate.’
That sounds like a literal nightmare.
I spent a few years thinking I might die at any time because of the tumor pressing on my brain. Luckily the surgery was successful, but I had a brain bleed after and almost died. They had to do a second surgery to drain my brain. This was in 2011. Fourteen years ago.
Was it hard to get out of the hospital?
I barely remember waking up in the hospital, but they told me I was thrashing and screaming and had to be restrained. I don’t remember any of it. They gave me a test at the hospital — they had me go into a little kitchen and show that I could make a cup of coffee and fry an egg and not burn the kitchen down before releasing me.
I bet you were ready to burn down a pound of weed after that. How has Cannabis helped as a medicine?
I use Cannabis as my primary medicine. I take pain meds if I have a serious headache, but I wake up with dabs and a bong hit or two and keep it going all day and all night. It helps with my headaches and keeps them at bay. Without them, my pain goes up because of damaged nerves in my eyes that were damaged in the surgeries. For the last 14 years, I’ve had to put ointment in my eyes and have surgically installed plugs in my tear ducts to keep my eyes moist.
Despite all these challenges, you have such a happy and uplifting vibe!
I try to have a positive outlook — see the better in things. Obviously having the blessing of life after brain surgeries, I feel privileged to be here, just like the other patient Cannabis veterans of who get caught with weed and go to jail or prison. I feel really blessed to have gotten off lightly. I’ve lost my mother, brother, and my dad died in my arms at 13, so I know that life is a blessing — I’ve seen that with my own eyes. Every day I wake up and try to be happy for something, I always try to see the bright side of life.
How did your work in Cannabis lead you to start the brand Oilhead?
I’m an old-school smoker. I’m almost 50 now, and when I started smoking weed, it was always taboo. People called you a pothead, like it was a negative thing. Nowadays, the majority of the industry is oil. So the modern take on pothead is Oilhead! Many people take dabs, vapes or edibles, and that all starts from flower, but it becomes oil, so we’re all oil heads now.
Do you feel the stigma still exists for Cannabis?
It does still exist, so every morning I’m out trying to promote my two loves of Cannabis and music. I’m trying to normalize it as much as possible. I want to proclaim my love for Cannabis. I’m an oilhead!
How does Oilhead speak to the Culture of Cannabis?
Oilhead is directed to the culture! The face in the oil is a sheet of shatter, and it’s one of the newest plays on one of the oldest words. Vaping and dabbing is a culture in itself — everyone and their mom keeps a vape pen in the car for when the torch doesn’t make sense. I hope that Cannabis users and patients are more widely accepted, and I’d love for people to grow in their yard like tomatoes and not need a medical permit. On the same note, I don’t want to see the government and big pharma take it over. I want to see the progression of legalization, but I’m going to fight to make sure the culture isn’t taken away!
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