Selling Books By Speaking

SPEAKER_00 0:04

But I try to to do as many podcasts as I can, as many radio shows and TV shows as I can, and I speak as as much as I can. And when I speak, I I sales a lot. And even when I'm on podcasts and and and other shows, the the book spikes in sales. And so that's generally the way I do it. I I really don't have a lot of time to do other marketing.

Show Intro And Guest Background

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Hi friends, this is Read and Write with Natasha Podcast. My name is Natasha Tines, and I'm an author and a journalist. In this channel, I talk about the writing life, review books, and interview authors. Hope you enjoy the journey. Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of Read and Write with Natasha. I have with me today Dr. Raymond Wiggins, who's the author of the book Weeding Out the Myths About Marijuana. He's a licensed physician who has been on the front lines of healthcare for almost three decades. He has served in many leadership roles and has personally performed general anesthetics over 27,000 patients. Wow, that's a big number. Thank you, Dr. Wiggins, for joining us today. So excited to talk about a very timely topic, which is marijuana or even recreational drugs, especially that many states now are making it them legal. For example, in my state of Maryland, it's recreational drugs are legal. So first, why did you decide to write a book about marijuana? Was that an interest of yours? Or, you know, like as a former user or a current user? So I'm just curious to hear it.

Why Marijuana Became Personal

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Well, Natasha, it's great to be with you. No, I I have never used marijuana, but it is very personal to me. I have many close relatives who have had their lives devastated by this drug. And I have three close relatives who died young, and I have no doubt that they would be here today if not for marijuana. One died of a sudden heart attack after 30 years of heavy use, and two others started with marijuana and moved on to other drugs. So I've seen personally that marijuana is a gateway drug. Really, the straw that broke the camel's back for me was a very close family member, great young man who went to college, got in with a group of guys who were smoking marijuana, and he thought, hey, everybody's doing it. Everybody seems to be okay. And so he started smoking it as well. And the second time he did this, he had a severe psychotic episode. He began uh having severe paranoid delusions and uh displaying extremely bizarre behavior, and he thought people were chasing him. He he didn't even know his own identity, and he was taken to a psychiatric facility, and doctors there told our family that he may never be the same. He was never able to finish that semester, he couldn't never return to school. Uh that's the personal side, and then the professional side. I I see, as you said, I've performed almost 30,000 general anesthetics at this point. And around 10 years ago, we started seeing people having much more difficulty being sedated, especially some people, and it was taking up to three to four times the normal amount of propofol to keep these people sedated. And so we started looking into it and we determined that it was marijuana. And when I say we, I say scientists and doctors. And so we also saw that they were having more anxiety, and it was taking about 60% more postoperative pain medication. So I began investigating, and what I found just absolutely shocked me because it was not what I had heard from pop culture and from much of the media. And so I began speaking about the subject and I found that that people it really resonated with people, and and then I I wrote my books.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

So do you think that these cases that you mentioned are extreme cases, are not are not that the common cases, and that's why some people kind of hail the benefits of HTC. I'm just playing the devil's advocates here, serious. So I'm just curious to hear what you think.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

No, these are these are not out of the norm. And that's what I found when I began investigating that so many people have the same stories as my family does. And it it resonated with with so many people. And the book has done well because of that, and the number of speaking engagements I've been asked to do and podcasts, et cetera, television shows, it's all because so many people see this happening in their own families. And they're surprised, just like me, they're surprised when it happens because they don't understand the absolute absolute devastation that this drug can cause and does cause in many cases. And statistics are

Legalization And The Profit Machine

SPEAKER_00 4:58

just uh at astounding.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Okay, so now that states are legalizing the use of recreational drugs, specifically HTC, and the trend is expanding. So every, you know, every few months we hear about, or like let's say every couple of years you hear about another state uh legalizing uh recreational drugs. How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Well, fortunately, I I just came back from a drug policy conference in Washington, D.C. And I was speaking there. But when I was listening to some of the other speakers, the statistics are actually changing. It I I think that's actually peaked, and and it may be heading the other direction. States that have legalized, particularly Texas, where I am, our lieutenant governor is trying to reverse that. And and many of the of the referendums that were trying to be passed this last November failed, particularly Florida and and several others. And there was just tons of money put in by big marijuana. In Florida alone, one Canadian company put in over $100 million into it because they were looking to profit from this. And so I I really think it's it's it's really profit motive motive that's that's driving this. It's not science. Science is against it.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

So there's there's

Psychedelics And Microdosing Skepticism

SPEAKER_01 6:26

other people that might say, well, you know, it's good for like for example, when we met at the National Publicity Summit, I met another author who was saying the total uh opposite. You know, they wrote a book about the benefits of psychedelics and and and you know other forms of drugs. And of course, I also invited them to the podcast because I wanted to have to hear different opinions and let the audience decide. So Michael Pollan wrote a book called How to Change Your Mind, and he talks a lot about the um I'm sure you heard about the effect of psychedelics, specifically mushrooms on treating depression and other sort sorts of things. I have not personally read the book, so I'm curious if you've read it. What do you think about it? But you know, it's it's actually on my reading list to see what is he trying to say. So, what do you think of kind of the other side of the argument?

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, I I think it's it's early on, and and I I think if you look at science, particularly marijuana, that science is against using it for any mental health issues, for physical health issues as well. Mushrooms, I I would not want to have those in my body because we don't know the long-term effects on people using these for mental health issues. And it there is just as much science against it as as there is for. And so I would I would caution people who would want to try to use that for for mental health. And I I know the people that you're talking about. Personally, they they are they're fine people, they're great people, but it's a professional disagreement.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Because especially among I think like Silicon Valley and other places, the concept of microdosing, I'm not a user of like this stuff, so I don't know. So microdosing, uh, there's they're they're hailing the effect of of magical mushrooms and microdosing. So I'm just curious of how do you feel about this? And I even read an article about how moms are using our microdosing to relieve the stress of of parenthood. So the microdosing is a big word now. How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Well, if you're gonna choose microdosing versus macrodosing or larger doses, of course, I would I would want to stay with the smaller doses. However, I'll just respectfully disagree that that it's gonna help. I I think it's gonna eventually lead to to longer-term issues, including more depression, et cetera. And again, especially getting back to marijuana, there is absolutely no doubt that marijuana leads to increased risk of suicide attempts, et cetera. For young people, for instance, there's depending on the the studies and depending on the the circumstances, there's somewhere between a three and a half to nine times risk of a suicide attempt in in those who use marijuana. So I would highly caution against using marijuana for depression. And the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association Association agree with me on

Medical Cards, Pain, And Anxiety Claims

SPEAKER_00 9:46

this.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

What about the the medical cards? So some people get medical cards to treat pain and other sorts of ailments using you know different forms of marijuana and and and other drugs. How do you f and that's pretty common? Like and I know many people who had like, you know, neck pain, back pain, and they many of them have medical cards. How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Well, medical marijuana carries the same risk as recreational marijuana. And one of the stories I tell in my book is is about a man whose wife every time she she got her medical marijuana card when it became legal in their state, and she had psychiatric episodes every time that she used. She was hospitalized 13 different times, or hosp I say hospitalized, that includes being in jail or prison in psychiatric units as well. But she attempted to kill him, kill her husband several times. She had manic episodes where she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it just devastated their lives. And so I would caution against that. And if you're talking about specifically using for pain, there's a reason that the DEA still has it, has marijuana as a Schedule I drug, and that that means that there is no recognized medical use for marijuana, and there's a high propensity for abuse. That that's what Schedule I means. And so it's it's not legal on a federal level for that reason. And if you're looking at pain specifically, there are many studies that show what's called hyperalgesia, increased pain. Yes, you may feel a little better while you're actually using, but are you gonna use 24-7? And if you do that, there's gonna be tremendous downsides to it. So maybe there's a slight benefit while you're on it, but when you come down from it, you're gonna have more pain than you would have had had you had you not used it at all. And that's the same for for for each issue that we can look at. Anxiety, for instance, people uh use it for anxiety. That's that's uh the number one reason that that they use it. Uh but yet there's studies that show that there's a a 92% increase in generalized anxiety disorder when when you use marijuana. So you're not helping the situation, you're only masking the problem and making it worse long term.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

So some people argue, and I read that, is that they'd rather use like marijuana or gummies than drink alcohol for like reducing stress, and they say that the effect of alcohol is harder on the body, and so for them they're kind of choosing the lesser of two evils. How do you feel about this this argument?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Well, I I will say that alcoholism is a is a horrible issue, uh, but I will also say that if I had the choice between alcohol and marijuana, I would use alcohol because I believe I believe that marijuana has many more medical side effects. And for instance, another reason that that people use it, they uh a way that they try to get it legalized is they say, well, this is gonna reduce opioid deaths because we're we're talking about fentanyl and other opioids, but it's gonna reduce opioid deaths. But studies actually show that when people try to substitute marijuana for opioids, they actually wind up in most cases becoming addicted to both. They don't substitute it, they become addicted to both. And so, no, I I don't think that that legalization is good for for that reason alone and for many other

Addiction Numbers And Public Misbeliefs

SPEAKER_00 13:23

reasons.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

So, and you think marijuana is addictive?

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Oh, absolutely. Science is is absolutely on my side there. The CDC says that 30% of people who use marijuana are addicted. 46% of people ages 12 to 17 are addicted, 50% of people who use daily are addicted. So that is there there is absolute irrefutable evidence about that. I know that that pop culture and the media a lot of times try to say that that's not the case, but but again, science is on my side here.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

So how did you publish your book? Did you use a publisher or self-publish or high? What was your publishing journey?

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Well, I I started trying to publish through a self-publisher, and I could quickly see that that was was not going the way that I wanted to, wanted it to. And so I came across a man named Steve Harrison, and he's the the genius behind things like chicken soup for the soul and men are from Mars, Women Are From Venus, and the Dummies series and many other series. He has a company called Bradley Communications, and so I I gave him uh or his company the the project and and they took a very difficult project because it's it's very scientific in nature. I have over 500 500 references in in my book, but they did a great job, and and they I I'm committed always to having the highest quality work, and they did great work. It's the book that they produced is really good. It's it's it's informative and persuasive on the one hand, it's understandable, it's engaging on the other hand, and I'm happy with the finished product that they gave me.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

And what was the reaction to the book, especially from I'm not sure if you heard from the industry, like the the I don't know what's the name of the industry, the the edible industry or the marijuana industry or the THC industry. Did you hear from people from the industry like trying to refute what you claimed?

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Well, especially on social media, they they try to come on and and refute what I'm saying. I haven't personally heard from from anyone in in big marijuana, and that's what we call it. It's just like big tobacco, it's big marijuana, and it's it's it's a very lucrative industry, and they they make a lot of money off of this. But no one has personally come to me from that industry other than on social media. Yeah, they try to refute on social media the things that I'm saying. But I I've had great response from the medical community. The person that wrote the forward for my book is a very prominent neurologist. She is very well respected and renowned, and so many in the medical community have used this as a resource. I have doctors who, when someone asks for medical marijuana, they just hand on my book or they they recommend my book and say, this is why I don't recommend medical marijuana for for your case. And so again, the medical community, the many schools, churches, et cetera, have been on my side in this, and and it's because you know I I I stick with the scientific side of things, and and science is science is on my side. There's just no no doubting it, and and people can say what they want. But if you if you look at the statistics, there's there's no getting around it.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

What do they tell you, the people who are trying to refute your claims, and how do you respond to them?

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Well, a lot of them just start name-calling and and they they don't really use science, and and they they just try to say that they've used it for for a long time and and they're okay. And you can tell by the way they're saying things, they're they're not okay, first of all. But second of all, they're they're a lot of times they're from a different generation where marijuana was less potent than it is now. You know, at Woodstock in 1969, it was one to two percent, maybe three percent for the really good stuff. Well, today the average is 22 percent. And if you're if you're talking about the the highest that you can find, there's some that's purported to be up to uh over 40 percent, and and there's concentrates over 90 percent. Well, well, that causes tremendous problems, more addiction, true physical addiction, not not just psychological addiction. It causes so many problems with the brain, the heart, the lungs, and and with genetics, your your genetic makeup, even your your epigenetics, I should say, which is a fet fascinating area. That's that's a a new area, and and then all of the the mental health issues as well. And and I just come back with science and and you know, they they want to start calling names again. They they can't back they can't back up what they're saying with science. They just go by what you know some celebrity says and

Why THC Keeps Getting Stronger

SPEAKER_00 18:06

and you know it it just doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

So why is it more potent now than the time of Woodstock? The legalization, or what happened that made it more potent?

SPEAKER_00 18:16

No, because it's more addictive and and big marijuana wants it to be that way. The more addictive it is, the the more people are gonna use. And anytime you get over 10% THC, you're it carries a four to five times risk of addiction. And you know, the the people that that use that just like uh nicotine and tobacco, you know, it's it's it's gonna be more addictive the the more potent it is. And so that it's it's been bred that way. They they try to to say that it that it's not genetically modified, it that it that it's you know non-GMO. But if you if you look at the the marijuana publications, which which I do, they have ways that they do it in clumsy ways where they try to still say that it's that it's not GMO, yet they've really changed completely the genetics of the of what we have out

Edibles, Smoke, And Real World Harms

SPEAKER_00 19:06

there.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Well, how do you feel about the rise of edibles versus the smoking?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Well, there's downsides to to each one. Nothing that you inhale as smoke is going to be safe. 120 chemicals, 69 of which it shares with tobacco, are known to be carcinogenic, meaning cancer-causing, teratogenic, mutagenic. They they they cause many problems and they don't just cause problems in you, but if you look at the epigenetic effects, it it can be down to the fourth generation. You're you're not only affecting yourself, you're affecting your great-grandchildren when you use marijuana, CBD, etc. Now, when you're talking about edibles, most of the overdoses are with edibles because people that are accustomed to smoking it, it they get an instant effect. You know, within 30 seconds, it's to your brain, you're high. But with edibles, you eat some and then 30 minutes later you think, hey, nothing's happened. So you eat some more, and 30 minutes later, nothing's happened, you eat some more, and all of a sudden you've overdosed and you wind up in the ER. So there are downsides to each of those, and the vast majority uh of overdoses are from edibles, not from smoking. Smoking, you don't die from from overdose of smoking generally. You're you're gonna have issues with with psychosis that can lead to to death. You're you can have issues with driving that can lead to death. 9,400 deaths in 2022 directly attributed to marijuana and and marijuana causing accidents, fatal car accidents, it can lead to suicide attempts, et cetera. So marijuana kills in a very different way. I call it the diabetes of of drugs because it with diabetes, you know, a lot of times when when someone dies of of a heart issue or or or with you know because they have infections, et cetera, the underlying cause is diabetes. Marijuana is the same thing. It causes a lot of underlying problems, and it doesn't kill like opioids do, it doesn't kill directly, but it it kills it because it's an underlying cause of what happened, the auto accident, the the the violence, the the suicide, et cetera.

Policy Advice When The Genie Is Out

SPEAKER_01 21:20

So what do you advise people on the state and the federal level when it comes? Because you know, the the what the genie is already out, you know, the well like here, I have the genie here. What what do you say? I mean, how like what is your advice? You know, this is already illegal, people are using it, been using it for I don't know, centuries. What are you doing? What is your advice?

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Yeah, my advice is hopefully it it won't be legalized, uh especially on a federal level, because it causes so many problems. But if it is legalized, it it's still at a federal level. it's it's not legal. So technically it it's not legal anywhere in in the United States, although at a state level and and local levels it it is. I would advise them to to try to to turn that around. And again, I'm I'm seeing signs of that at this point and I'm I'm happy to see that.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

What about countries that legalize it, like starting with was it Netherlands and I think Canada is it on the federal level? I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Yeah many many countries have legalized it and and they see the downsides you know and and even in jurisdictions in the U.S. where it's been legalized, you know, you you you see an an uptick in in fatal car accidents, you see an uptick in in violent crime, you see an uptick in organized crime and and it decreases your overall well-being and and so you know so many more family members are committing suicide for instance. The suicide rate skyrockets in in places where it's legal and and there's just I I don't see a a a good reason to to legalize it.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

And do you think that by legalizing it you'll make it less attractive? Because you know some people when something is like prohibited they tend to try it. But this is if it's legal it's like oh whatever it's legal it's not a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Do you subscribe to this argument?

SPEAKER_00 23:24

I I I don't subscribe to that. And the reason is is the the statistics don't go along with that every place that it's legal has increased rates of suicide has in increased fatal car accidents increased overall auto accidents. It just doesn't work.

Publishing Journey And Marketing Lessons

SPEAKER_00 23:40

I I wish it did but it but it doesn't and so legalization is not the key here.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

So how is your book doing and how is like how are you marketing it I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yeah mainly I I am on podcasts uh TV shows radio shows and and I I get way more requests than than I can actually do. You know I've had several quest requests just just this morning to to be on and there's uh I have requests to to write other books etc and I just can't do everything. But I but I try to to do as as many podcasts as I can as many radio shows and and TV shows as I can and I speak as as much as I can and when when I speak I I the book sells sells a lot and even when I'm on podcasts and and and other shows the the book spikes in in sales and so that's generally the way I do it. I I really don't have a lot of time to do other marketing.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

And what is the the feedback that people are giving you on the book?

SPEAKER_00 24:43

It's been overwhelmingly just positive from the medical community from parents from people who have been former users people who are still users I know that it has helped a lot of people in those areas and I'm just super happy that that I'm able to help people and and turn people's lives around.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

And what what does the future hold for you in terms of publishing are you gonna publish more books about similar topics or what what is what is your plan?

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Yeah I I do have plans in fact I'm I'm working with someone right now and we're putting a together a book we're co-authoring a book for parents about marijuana and and we're in the very beginning stages of it but I just just talked with with the the co-author my co-author this morning and things are are headed in the right direction it's it's headed it it's going to be published way much quicker than my last one was because I I learned a lot from from the last time how I did things.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

So do you still practice medicine?

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Absolutely I'm full-time in medicine and and this is full-time too I I essentially have two full-time jobs maybe more my I work a a lot of hours at both and so very happy with my practice it's going well and I'm happy with the way things are going with the with the book and and really educating people

Resources, Website, And Where To Buy

SPEAKER_00 26:10

about the dangers of marijuana because if I do that they're somewhere between six and twenty two times less likely to use when when they understand the the dangers of it.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

And do you think the dangers should be advertised like we advertise the dangers of smoking like if people go to dispensaries do you think they should be required to put the dangers outside or like just to take it another step to deter people from using it?

SPEAKER_00 26:39

That's I I I don't know how much that works. That's from the political side of things I I just don't know that that you know I don't think it really has worked super well with with tobacco maybe it has but but I don't think studies really really show that I I do think overall though that that educating people helps and and so maybe that that would help. I'm just not sure which if it really works.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Do you work with the state or like the government about you know do you lobby to try to lobby to to prevent the legalization of of marijuana or recreational drugs?

SPEAKER_00 27:22

I do talk with my state and and local reps I have talked with with people at the federal level and and the the one of one of the federal entities the the DEA want wants me to come speak for them about this subject so you know I'm I I do that more than I than I actually lobby.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Okay that's that's pretty so how how can people get in touch with you? How can they find your book buy your book all of that like where can they find you?

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Well the books are available anywhere books are sold Amazon Barnes and Noble really anywhere you you want to find it it's there again it's weeding out the myths about marijuana and there's several editions there's a standard edition which is strictly secular there's an expanded edition which brings in a spiritual side as well and you can find my information you can find out about me and my books at drwiggins.com that's drwigin s dot com and there's a lot of resources there for those who are struggling with this drug and we're we're always happy to help you any way we can all right well this this has been great dr wiggins and for anyone who is uh listening or watching make sure to check out Dr.

Final Thoughts And Listener Ask

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Raymond Wiggins' book called Weeding Out the Myths about marijuana and thank you for joining us for another episode of Read and Write with Natasha and until we meet again thank you for tuning in to Read and Write with Natasha I'm your host Natasha Tines if today's episode inspired you in any way please take the time to review the podcast remember to subscribe and share this podcast with fellow book lovers. Until next time happy reading happy writing