My name is Callie Blackwell and I’m a UK cannabis activist. And I’ve been actively helping people with cannabis for the last years.
I actively now help people. And obviously, because I’ve been on the television, I’m a, I’m a bit of a beacon and people come and find me. People will find me in various ways, usually on social media and they will usually come to me and say, I need some of that CBD oil. And then I have to say, what CBD oil do you need and why do you need it? And they’ll, they’ll usually tell me that they’ve got cancer. That’s the main one. That’s the thing that I see the most of or they’ll tell me MS, Fibromyalgia, chronic pain, arthertis or things like this. So then I have to tell them that CBD is probably not going to be enough for them, but I always tell people to go and try a really good CBD product. First, if they haven’t got cancer, if they’ve got cancer, then we have to talk THC immediately CBD on its own is great at managing the symptoms.
But with a little bit of THC in there 1%, we can actually look at getting to the root cause of the issue, which is obviously what we want when you’re sick, you don’t have a lot of money. And so the last thing I want to do is add financial stress to people as well. So I work closely with CBD brands to try and get people the best deals that I can get them before they need to break the law with me. If they need to break the law with me, then I’ll quite happily do that with them. I tell them that it’s illegal and they obviously, I have to, I’m very honest. And nine times out of 10 people will come back to me and need THC. So then therefore I will talk to them through that discuss kind of what ratios we think they need.
And then I’ll send the oils out and then they’ll start taking them. And we’ll go from there. Jeff Ditchfield who obviously is the founder of bud buddies. He mentored me and he took me under his wing because he was the guy that was, he helped me save my son for the second time. So I worked very closely with him learnt. I went to Madrid, university mates up to Christine Sanchez, Guiermo Valesko, things like that. So he, yeah, I’ve been mentored by him and he’s might, his knowledge is 15, 18 years now. So every everything I know, but a lot of what I know stems from him, I actually used to when people came to me, I would pass them over to bud buddies, but it got to a point where they were becoming quite stretched. And actually as an activist, I was adding to their work rather than reducing their work.
Cause every time I go on the television, which is great, more and more people find me, I’m just adding to their work. So then that’s when I decided a couple of, well about a year and a half ago to start actually getting oils myself because I felt after five years that I’d actually learnt enough to confidently start helping people with oils. And I wanted to take away the work stresses to bud buddies and other organizations. So I thought, you know, I’d start doing it myself. So here I am, I don’t want to do what I’m doing. It’s it’s the stress levels. I mean, instantly I was, I was before I even got here on the phones, to a mother of a five-year-old child. Who’s dying and they want to try cannabis, but she’s on an extraordinary amount of opioids. So have to be very careful because of the country indications.
I don’t want to be in that position. I’m not a doctor. Also at the moment I have the mother of a 16 year old child who is palliative care and the similarities between her son and my son are incredible. And so I’m feeling again with her and I, and I know where she is. I know where she is. I’m not just from a cannabis company who doesn’t understand. I know. And so that’s another reason why I would like this all to end because I just want to have a life that’s not continuously, I’m on the phone to people. And I mean, I literally counsel people through everything and I counsel them after their children have died as well, because nine times out of 10, they do. And so I’ve been to children’s funerals and the parents, even after their children have died, the parents always come back to me and say, my God, what that cannabis did was incredible.
And they’re so thankful because they didn’t die on morphine or in pain. So, you know, for palliative care, it’s amazing. But yeah, the toll that reliving every time when I get someone with MS or fibromyalgia, it’s not so bad because it doesn’t resonate with me so much, but I get a lot of cancer and I get a lot of children and that’s very, very difficult to deal with on a daily basis with no support.
I was at a conference a couple of weeks ago, actually, where Cam Butley from Aurora sat there and said, you know, I knew he started using the word new, new medicine, new, and it’s like, this is, this is older than man it’s not new. So we need, That concerns me. But there is a place of pharmaceuticals. There is a place to pharmaceuticals. Very often the epileptic children that I’m trying to help, I can’t help them effectively because epilepsy is very difficult to, to kind of treat effectively.
So pharmaceuticals are great for certain elements and they have their place, but what I fight for and what many activists fight for is freedom of choice. And that’s the thing we don’t want pharmaceutical only. And then they’ll have the door shut behind us. And that’s what we’re worried about is that who is driving this train and what destination are we going to end up in? And so as much as there is a place in these, these massive conglomerates need to understand that there is enough for everybody, they don’t have to try and take it all. There is enough for us all. And so if they can be balanced, we can be balanced. They have their place. We have our place and freedom of choice ultimately is, is what we’re all fighting for. So I see CBD’s place in the potential legalization of cannabis. And then it’s a very good door opener.
It has, it has got an awful lot of people on side. I’m talking about cannabis where before they wouldn’t. I mean, before I went on television in 2017, I believe it was I looked at public opinion and public opinion on cannabis as a whole was people. Weren’t happy about it since I’ve been on television. And since other people have come out, public opinion has changed. And I think that’s largely to do with CBD. It has caused a bit of confusion, but with the right amount of education and the right going out there, I believe that actually getting the door open and having these people that would never have spoken about cannabis before now using the word cannabis. That’s a big enough leap in itself for many people. I do believe that it has started the ball rolling CBD products are amazing, but we must not forget the THC.
We mustn’t allow them to, or we mustn’t allow THC to get forgotten about and get pushed out. My, I have a main concern that in 200 years time, we won’t even know what THC is. And we must not forget about that because THC, although it is psychoactive in the right ratios, in the right format, in the right situation, it’s medicinal very medicinal. And so I want the public to never lose sight of that. Really my thoughts on the hemp expo that we had in March was it was really good. Actually. I was, I was a bit skeptical because I I’m naturally a bit of a skeptical person anyway. But I thought there was a, a wide variety of brands and companies that were represented there. And there were some really, really good ones and there were some pretty terrible ones. So I’m hoping that with, with things like this, we can weed it out or at least make them up their standards.
And so yeah, I was very, very impressed. Actually the one experience I had that really stood out or the state was talking, I, it was, I, I love talking anyway, like I could talk the hind legs of a donkey, so to be able to stand and engage, and I had a very good reception as well. I think I had one of the most kind of attended talks as well, which was, it’s wonderful for my confidence as well. And to know that I’m on the right page and doing the right thing and that actually I’ve got a lot of support and from, from the public and that obviously going back to the last question of how it feels to be in this role, getting, knowing that I’ve got all those people behind me is actually, it keeps me going. So yeah, it was, it was amazing.
I would absolutely urge any CBD company out there to come and showcase your come and showcase your work. If you think you’re good enough, then come and show everybody and let the public decides, you know we’ve got so many companies that hide around in the background and don’t really get as much exposure as maybe they should. This is an ample opportunity for you to come and get real good exposure at the hemp and CBD expo. And plus I’ll be there talking. So come and see me.
My dream and goal is that I don’t have to do this anymore. And actually these people can go to their doctor and get what they actually need. And and that I am allowed to continue to treat my son with something that’s worked for him for the last five and a half years without fear of persecution or prosecution. And my dream dream and goal is that my son is no longer a criminal just by being alive.
