Hey, have you hugged your country boots today?
Do you smoke marijuana?
This what's going on to our meditators?
Doctor Herring!
Welcome back, welcome back, and sorry for the delay in uploading a new episode.
April's been a very hectic month until now.
I've been doing everything here on Reefer the Reefer, on my own time and my own dime.
And then I met Dan from Honored Photography.
Dan's been helping me put some YouTube content together this month with Where's the Terp?
stream reviews with Little Farmer.
So head over to YouTube and follow me at Little Farmer and check out some of the content.
And for that, this episode is brought to you by Honored Photography.
Thanks Dan.
Go check out his webpage at honoredphotography.com and check out what he has to offer.
Great guy, great photography, great videos.
Thanks Dan.
And without further ado, let's get into the next episode with Derek McDonald.
He is a singer songwriter who wrote Doctor Herb, which is the intro song to Reefer the Reefer.
If you're interested in hearing the full length of the song, wait till the end of this episode and I will have a version of it for you to listen to.
Hey, thanks, Derek.
Welcome to Reefer the Reefer, the podcast.
I'm here with Derek McDonald.
Thanks for coming in, Derek.
Yes, sir.
Derek is a singer songwriter from the band Rasta Raffighi that I remember, but also he has a couple other bands and I think he does some solo singing possibly on occasions.
Mostly with other artists.
Not much solo stuff, just duos and group stuff.
Duos and group.
So I was introduced to Derek and Rasta Raffighi back in 1993 in Morgantown, West Virginia at a venue called Nyabengi back in the day, which is now called 123 Pleasant Street.
Right, right.
Yeah, and they were playing, and I was 17 and my sister was in college and she knew the doorman, so she snuck me in there and I was back in the corner digging it.
I didn't drink or anything.
I think I smoked one or two bowls.
I had a great time.
First introduction to live music.
It was great.
Thank you for that.
Yes, you're welcome.
And he sang a song called Dr. Herb, and it is actually the intro to the podcast now.
I reached out to Derek and asked him if I could use it, because it influenced my life so much and I thought it had so much meaning and fit the podcast perfectly.
And he was gracious enough to say yes.
And I invited him to the podcast here to talk about the song actually and what inspired it and how he got into cannabis and what he's up to now and what's up with Rasta Raffighi, which is actually playing this summer in West Virginia at Cheat Lake.
Yeah, June 17.
Yeah, I can't wait to hear some of that music.
If I can't get there, I'd like to at least grab some audio from some of the live stuff.
Oh yeah, we got to make sure that there's some video and audio.
We got to see to that.
So when did you actually write the song Dr. Herb, Derek?
Well, I wrote that song.
It was back in the day when I was in my early 20s.
And Ross Raffighi had gotten to the point where we were like, we were touring, well not say touring, but we were gigging on a regular. Like every midweek through Sunday, we were hitting spots out of town.
We were having a pretty regular routine there and I was living above the Nia Binghy with Ross Johnny, who was the owner of the Nia Binghy.
And I said, you have to say, you know, in my early 20s, I had a lot of free time on my hands.
So whenever I wasn't on the road, I was pretty much just chilling, waiting until the next time I was on the road, going to rehearsal.
You know, and I found that oftentimes when I got off the road, of course I was tired. I found myself sleeping in it and sometimes I wouldn't wake up until someone knocked on my door.
And they were like, yo D, what you doing? Let's burn some herb, you know.
I'm like, all right, cool.
They would come by, we'd burn some herb and we would always get to this point and burn herb where we were having deep conversation.
Every conversation was meaningful. It was never just trivial conversation. That's just how it was.
So in my mind, I just really thought to myself, I feel like I'm a psychiatrist sometimes.
I feel like I'm a doctor up here, people coming into the office and we burn the herb and we start talking and we start getting deep into each other's personal space and conversation.
So that's when the idea came to me, like, it's like a doctor.
So Dr. Herb to me became the herb is the doctor that talks to you and you are a doctor when you burn the herb and you talk to other people. So it has so many meanings to me.
It's like there was some literature going around, I think it was called the Emperor Wears No Clothing, which was like the first literature that I had read talking about the positive use of marijuana and herb.
So with all that going on in my life, I kind of just really came up with this concept of Dr. Herb.
And I can remember me sitting around going diggity diggity diggity doctor, just kind of like just fully in my head thinking herb is like medicine because you get deep with it.
And that's how I came up with the idea.
Yeah, and at the end it's like good for asthma, good for this, rather good for this.
For the food, food, fiber.
And fun.
So when were you actually introduced to cannabis for the first time?
Well, the first time I really was introduced to it is when I realized my parents were smoking it.
And me and my brother, we'd be laying around at night, my older brother and I could smell it.
And I would say to him, what is that?
And he would be like, that's reefer.
And granted, we were young.
I mean, I'm saying we were probably like seven and nine years old.
My brother's about a year and a half older than me.
I'm like, what is that?
He said, that's reefer.
And in my young mind, all I could think was Christmas wreath.
I'm like, reefer?
Christmas wreath.
I'm like, and I'm thinking my parents are sitting around smoking the Christmas wreath.
And I'm thinking, why would they be doing that?
It's the imagination of the kids.
My parents are smoking the Christmas wreath.
I said, they're smoking the wreath.
Why are they smoking the Christmas wreath?
And he was like, no, it's weed marijuana.
And that's when the first time I heard about it, and I started noticing the smell.
And of course, you started learning about it in school, and they didn't have nice things to say about it in school.
The D.A.R.E. program.
And so that bothered me to the point where I would start saying things to my mom and dad at night like, mom, dad, I can't sleep.
I'm feeling real dizzy.
I'd say stuff like that, and my mom would be back in there choking.
Just go back to sleep.
You'll be all right.
You're good.
Right?
But then I had an older cousin who ended up moving in with us.
And he was a street slick individual.
He had herb, and he would always dare me.
I dare you to try this.
And he would say, I'll give you some money.
I grew up with that hustle mentality.
You're going to give me some money?
Sure, I'll try it.
So that was the first time.
And I was probably in seventh grade.
It was the first time.
I heard about it in the seventh grade, but I didn't really smoke until about tenth grade when I was introduced to some friends walking through the path, and they handed me a joint.
By the time I got to high school, I became a user because I had buddies who older brothers could get access to it.
And we'd get the old corn-carb pipe from the convenience store or take an apple.
We'd get a carrot too.
Carrot, aluminum foil.
So they'd paper roll it with aluminum foil.
It was my favorite.
You cut a little hole, put the aluminum foil in there, and you have your own little steamer.
You know, it never tastes as good as the first time.
The first time you smoke it.
What was the best herb you ever smoked?
It was probably when you were younger.
Everybody has a nostalgic memory of something back in the past.
The best herb I ever smoked, it's memorable, but it was also a little traumatizing.
It was on my birthday in West Virginia.
My brother and my best friend, they drove up to Morgantown to surprise me on my birthday, and they had what they called skunk bud.
Remember that strand?
It smelled like a skunk.
They were like, hey, man, we brought this to help you celebrate your birthday.
And I was already excited and surprised because I didn't think they were coming.
And then we started burning that skunk bud, and we put on some Bob Marley and One Love.
We put on One Love.
And that bass line, that bass line and One Love, it just sunk into my chest.
I was just, you know, for the first time really feeling that bass line.
And that got me to a point where I started to hyperventilate a little bit.
And I was like, wow, I'm hyperventilating.
I'm feeling a little edgy, you know, like.
So I went and took a shower to calm my nerves.
And then it seemed like after I took a shower, it just felt like everything, my senses seemed like they were like heightened, like music playing.
It was just boom, boom, boom.
And I got to the point where I just really started breathing really heavy and my brother was like, what's wrong with you?
I'm like, I'm hyperventilating. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.
He's like, sit down. He got a bag and had me breathe and relax.
But that was the first time that ever really intensely happened to me like that, with marijuana.
And we were smoking bongs. So what I did was for a while, I didn't quit smoking weed.
I just quit smoking bongs for a while.
Yeah, I had an incident in college where we were sitting around.
We were taking blunts and putting them in the end of the bong and smoking blunts out of the bong.
Take a bong and we did like three blunts like that between three or four of us.
I got so high, I got nauseous and threw up.
And then it felt like I was tripping on mushrooms after that.
You know, my whole body was just like, I felt like I was tripping.
But you know, over time, as you grow, you realize you learn how to use, you know,
because it was illegal for so long, it kind of forced you to abuse it
because you always had to do it in hiding. You had to get it in when you could.
So it kind of, it being illegal kind of encouraged you to misuse it.
But now that it's legal, you can educate yourself and you can use it the way an herb,
a natural herb, a God given herb is supposed to be used.
You don't have to puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff.
You know, you can use it in moderation.
You can know the strand and what it can do for you or maybe not do for you.
So did you grow up in West Virginia?
No, I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, but I ended up going to WVU for school,
you know, out of high school. That's where I went.
So you were downtown in Baltimore. You grew up in the city?
I grew up, well, I was born and raised in the city up until a certain age,
until I was nine and then my parents had enough wherewithal thank you, Mom and Dad.
They moved us out into Baltimore County.
We thought we moved far away from the city, but it was only basically 10, 15 minutes down the road.
But the neighborhoods and communities were completely different.
The education system was completely different.
So through that, I got a good education in Baltimore County to the point where I had enough to go to college.
I kind of just took my finger and picked West Virginia.
And all my friends were like, why? I said, I don't know.
It's a special place.
I said, I don't know. Have you ever been to West Virginia? I said, no.
They said, do you know anything about West Virginia? I said, no.
They said, you know about the ratio of blacks to whites in West Virginia?
And you know that there's potential racism and situations like that in West Virginia?
And I said, I'm going to find out.
And I just went on an impulse.
I went there just because I'm from West Virginia and family went there and it was the closest one to the house.
And I had an herb connection there because that's one of the main reasons I went there, because I had an herb connection.
And it lasted a few years and then it ran out because, you know,
Morgantown is a big place and a lot of people getting busted here and there.
I was there during a lot of those periods.
And did you ever have any bad experiences in Morgantown while you were there?
I almost got arrested a few times. I was just lucky that something else happened.
You know, I saw a lot of crazy stuff happen in Morgantown.
Me personally, I never had anything too drastic happen to me.
There was a time, you know, where there might have been some small brushes for the police.
Like one time they come knocking on the door above the Niavingi saying, they need someone needs to see you down at the station.
And I'm like, OK. So or no, somebody came to the door and said, police officers came at the door looking for you.
I said, really? I said, well, let me go walk up there and see why they're looking for me.
So I walked up there because I don't like the idea of somebody looking for me.
I'm like, you looking for me? And they said, no, that must have been some mistake.
So whatever. But there was one time where we had a situation where a friend was in need.
And we had called 911 because we were concerned about a friend because they weren't feeling well.
We felt like they needed to go to the hospital, but they didn't want to go.
We didn't know that then. But now we know that if you ever call 911 or you call like emergency and your friends are calling for you, you know, they need you and you decline it.
They'll send someone there anyway. And they sent the police because they thought the person was in a dangerous situation potentially.
And the police, they could smell the herb and they gave us a hard time about it.
They're like, we smell herb. We smell marijuana. We need everybody to go back inside.
Somebody's been smoking. I mean, decline, decline, decline. I don't know. I don't know why you smell that.
We don't have any air. And they were like, well, what we're going to do is we're going to take all your names and phone numbers down.
We're like, OK. They started with me. Tony Johnson.
I'm like, are you serious? I'm really going to give you my real name and number. But, you know, little silly things like that.
But nothing ever serious. I've been. Rosser and Figi bus did get pulled over one time though, down in Lewisburg.
That was a little embarrassing. That's a little different part of the state. So West Virginia is a state that Eastern panhandle with the Morgan Tons could be a little bit different than the southern part of the state.
They pulled us over once we were leaving town. We just did a show that night. They pulled us over, made us get out the bus and they were threatening to search the bus and everything.
We were like. They're like, if you don't let us in, we're going to call. Get a search going. We're like, go ahead. And then they finally just let us go.
It's not a bad place in Morgan Tons. Big party school. Crime rates pretty low compared to most other universities.
I had a great time there. It took me six years to graduate. Biggest problems I had there were I just saw a lot of people get busted for selling weed.
A lot of my friends who live there now, they say that it's changed a lot though that downtown there's a lot of homeless situation of a lot of people who may be drug addicts and things.
So it doesn't have the same feeling. It's kind of scary. But that's happening all over the U.S. from what I hear.
Yeah. West Virginia, you know, is one of the worst days for the opiate epidemic. Yes. And people dying. And I've had friends die from it.
Friends of friends. And if not your typical drug addict either is going to be the young girl that went and got her molars taken out and got some pain pills and got addicted to those and then ended up getting heroin somewhere because she couldn't get her pain pills anymore.
And low tolerance, you know, indeed, real quick. It's pretty sad. It seems to go back and forth from opiates to heroin to back to pills, depending on what's cheaper on the streets.
And I think cannabis can really help. Sure. Like wean a lot of these people off. I know there's some medical dispensaries in West Virginia now, but they're really behind on what's happening.
And I recommend everybody back there try to just get involved and start talking, getting in contact with your senators and just telling, hey, we want to legalize it.
We're just tired of waiting. People are going to the other state next door to Virginia to get an ID to get their weed or they're going to Maryland or to D.C.
because anybody can go to D.C. and just sign a paper saying I'm a medical user and they can get access to medical dispensary weed. And I've heard of people even driving up to Massachusetts still from from West Virginia to get good weed.
So the state's losing out. It's been five or six years since they legalized and still the only West Virginia based operator hasn't opened his first door yet.
It's all out of state entities like truly even a cheerleaf, I think, and a couple other MSOs, which means multi-state operators.
If you guys haven't heard that term yet, MSO is multi-state operators and none of the local people in West Virginia are getting a chance.
So they're trying to monopolize it. That's what's happening.
And it's it's cost so much to get the doors open for the only local operator. And it's a curative growth.
There's both open one in Romney, West Virginia, where I'm from, Morgantown and Fairmont.
But just financials, all the headaches of trying to get the permits, trying to have the people next door complain, having to get the walls up, the fencing.
COVID, no money left to actually remodel the building and get it set up.
So you had to get more investors to come in. And they're guaranteed to lose money for the first five years.
There's no way they're going to make a profit the way the system set up.
And I have people in West Virginia going to call me up because my business where I sell seeds and I help people consult to grow their own cannabis,
calling me because they think I'm the dispenser in Romney, because somehow when they search Google, that's what comes up.
The market's there. We just got to figure out how to get it opened up.
And so now you're in Denver. I forgot to mention to the people we're in Denver. Welcome to Denver.
Derek, he's here to see the Reggae Show at Red Rocks coming up with the Marley Brothers.
You've been here before to see Reggae on the Rocks. Hopefully we can get you out here and do a little show.
Yes, I like the compound you have going on right here.
We're down at the Connoisseur Collective right now and he's checking out the area and smoking some of the good herbs, some of the best herb that Colorado has.
What do you think of some of the stuff that you've been smelling compared to what you've been getting back in Baltimore?
You know, just the diversity of aromas that I've been smelling is just I've smelled aromas that I've never really smelled in marijuana before.
Yeah, the one he gave you has that orangey, like, tropical Hawaiian punch smell with a little chocolatey.
That's one of my favorite. And that chocolatey, man, it's so diverse with the terpene profiles.
We've been talking about the terpene profiles and some of the differences.
You don't even have to burn it to get some benefits from it. Just the aroma therapy is strong.
I don't know if you've ever said this when you were younger, like, man, if I could put that smell into a bottle and carry it around, you know.
I call it contact.
And now they actually can separate the terpene to put them into bottles and they're really condensed up.
Like we were talking, put them in the diffusers, let them go through the air.
It's such a nice smell. I don't know why some people don't like it.
I've heard a lot of people, like some of my ex-girlfriends, I don't like it. I don't like it.
And then all of a sudden there'll be that one. That one, they'll be like, hmm, that one does smell pretty good and get really interested.
A lot of them may not like the smell of it when it's burning, but when it's just the aroma, they might like it.
And then some people are opposite. They prefer.
Like me, I noticed like if I've ever been to like a concert and I haven't had, I didn't have anything to smoke,
everything I smelled in the air smelled like the most amazing herb you've ever smelled in your life.
And I thought to myself, what smells better than my herb, somebody else's herb?
The herb smells better from the other pipe. You know what I mean?
Have you had any correlation with smoking herb in creating this creativeness and writing music?
Absolutely.
And how has it influenced your singing and songwriting?
You know, with me, herb just opens me up and connects me to co-create with the most high inside of me.
And, you know, I used to think, oh, man, I came up with a great idea.
I can't do it, but it's not just me. It's a co-creation, you know.
And the herb has just always been there to put me in that place, you know, like to come up with creative things.
And over time, I've been able to maintain them.
Like in the past, I'd come up with them and then an hour later, it'd be gone.
But in time, you learn to capture them. It's easier now with, you know, technology.
I sing it to my phone often, you know, not just words, but melodies and bass lines and rhythm, you know.
But I always know it's that voice within communicating with me.
Like, I like being alone now because my alone time is creative time.
I think it just makes me more one with the music at itself.
I can get into it and kind of mine out a body experience with the music and become one more with it.
And just I have those moments too, creativeness.
And if you don't write it down really quick, gone.
That's one thing herb actually helps me to focus and control those thoughts
and remember the things I want to remember more than and forget the things I don't want to remember easier.
Instead of letting the things I want to forget cloud my mind and help me forget the things I want to remember.
Yeah, I like to use herb when I'm in a creative mood, not when I'm wanting to relax.
You know, yeah, at the end of the day, it's a nice thing.
But after all the creativity has been done, you know.
All that mental work is actually relaxing and helps you.
You know, I needed to go to sleep or relax in the evening with all that.
Same with me, I'm doing physical labor.
At the end of the day, I'm already relaxed and I can go to bed because I've already smoked.
I've already worked hard and my body's ready to go to bed or mentally exhausted myself.
But I have found that some are more creative than others.
There are some with certain terpene profiles that stimulate my mind more than others.
See, that's the beauty of it now becoming more accepted that now people can use the herb exactly how they need to use it.
Before you just had to get with the man the doc down the street had, which is another man in the doctor.
He's not a drug dealer. We call him Dr. Herb.
You know, that became the catchphrase around town.
You seen a doctor? Do you have any doctor?
You know, that was a way of communicating without saying, hey, you got any weed?
Who's a drug dealer? You know, you seen a doc?
Yeah, he wasn't a drug dealer.
The problem is there's a lot of times you had to go to a real drug dealer to get your weed.
That's one thing I didn't like either.
But you had to get whatever he had, whatever he was able to get.
Now you can get whatever you want, whatever you need, you know.
A lot safer, too.
Apothecary.
Apothecary, that's a common term out here.
Apothecary for arms is a good one.
Using natural remedies, natural herbs.
So you're currently in Baltimore at the moment, but I know you're in Florida and Tampa a lot.
I see you're doing a little trio of music.
What's the name of your trio that you got going?
We got a trio.
It's bigger than a trio.
We call ourselves One Love Rising.
We're out of Tampa, Florida.
Right now, you know, the main crew is me and Mr. Juan Jimontero and Phil Compass on the bass.
But we have other people that we build with.
But yeah, I'm planning on going down there in May.
We're going to do some shows in May in Tampa.
And what's happening in June?
I kind of mentioned it earlier.
You have a plan, getting a Ross DeRofiki band back together.
Yes, right.
We're getting together with Ross DeRofiki.
June 16th in Charleston at Lava DeLevi.
And June 17th, we're going to be opening up the Raging on the River series that they have every summer.
So this will be the first installment of the summer of 2023.
And it's at the Cheat River Festival grounds they have there.
Adam Payne runs that.
Yeah, Music to Your Productions, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Yeah, he runs a lot of shows out there.
Shout outs to Adam.
He's a friend of mine from back in college.
Adam Payne been holding it down for years.
We appreciate him for that.
Yeah, anything with live music going on in Morgantown, he most definitely knows about it.
And yeah, he's told me about a couple shows and I made my way out to Morgantown just to check them out.
Definitely excited for that.
There's going to be many artists on that June 17th camping out there along the Cheat River.
And the other question I wanted to ask you kind of slipped my mind.
Also, other types of besides mental relaxation and creativeness, are there any other ways that cannabis has helped you better your life?
You know, I've always noticed that like certain aches and pains that you may have in your body.
I've noticed that after I've used some herb, I can focus on those pains and those aches and those places in my body and almost isolate them.
To know where I might need to apply pressure for stretching, mainly with stretching, you know, and just where to release that tension in my hips and my legs.
And I find that cannabis helps with that.
I think it helps me become more self-aware of my body.
Like you're saying, it just helps me to slow down and I know more about the effects of what I'm putting in my body and how they affect me.
I'm more conscious of how my body is reacting all the time.
And you know, I noticed that cannabis is not necessarily for everybody.
And it's also not necessarily used the same by everybody.
Some people can smoke it and get use from it and some people don't.
Some people can eat it and get use from it and they don't.
Some people can get the tinctures and get what they need, you know what I mean?
Or rub the cream.
And that was another question I wanted to ask you about the CBD in animals.
How is that used?
Because I have a really active puppy who's almost adult.
But I noticed that her personality tends to be one where she just will naturally get hyper.
And she needs help relaxing.
And I find myself saying, just relax. It's okay. We're going outside. It's okay.
We're just chilling.
I was wondering, is there things like CBD?
They do make CBD shoes and treats.
So you can buy treats for the dog that have CBD already infused in them.
And the way CBD works and the way it's explained,
every person and every animal and plant has an endocannabinoid system or ECS, endocannabinoid system.
So if you ever see ECS or something related to that, it's talking about the endocannabinoid system,
which is basically like your nervous system, your circulatory system, your respiratory system.
But it controls your brain and your nervous system and touches on all of your other systems too.
So it touches all of your organs basically and your muscles and your nerves.
And endocannabinoid system starts in the brain.
The CBD helps to regulate that focal point in the brain that controls everything else.
So CBD doesn't do a hundred things. It doesn't kill the pain. It doesn't help you sleep.
It just helps control that, which helps control your hormones, which helps control your nervous system, which calms you down.
That's why you see people with epilepsy.
The brain is going too fast. It's sending too many signals and the receptors can't receive all the signals at the same time.
So it slows down the signals and then the receptor can take it. So they're instantly, their nerves calm down.
And it's something about that synapsis of the brain because it's all electrical signals in your brain.
And the receiver is telling the sender, we can't take them that fast. Slow down.
It'll slow down. Or if your sender is going really slow and your receiver is like, we need more.
It can tell it, hey, we need you to speed up. That's why it has the opposite effect to some people.
And it's a complicated system in the brain where other mechanisms of medication from pseudoclically work the other way.
They try to control the sender and the receiver has no say. So it causes different issues.
And there's a podcast I listen to called Smoke and Science.
These girls are PhDs and my B.Ph.D. is a neuroscientist on the brain.
And she talks really in depth about how CBD affects the brain and then how that will affect your nervous system and the rest of your organs and everything.
And it's really good for the nerves. So with the dogs, they don't recommend THC.
Right. I've heard that. But they might in some cases.
I don't know. There's some doctors are just afraid to say give us THC in case something happens. They don't want to be responsible.
So one thing I think about with the dogs, I often ask myself, what would a dog do if it was in the wild?
So I try to think about that, too. How would a dog get CBD in the wild?
They might be able to eat the plant. I don't know. Most dogs would be in packs and are living in a free world.
I think about that my dog all the time. If you were living in a free world, how would your life be in a dog free world?
So the only way I recommend I've heard is the tentures or the treats already prepackaged.
There's some really good ones out there, too, that are other ingredients that are good for their stomach with the probiotics and help them to digest their food and help stop the scratching, too.
I've heard it help calm dogs down. But also if your dog's old and starting to have it, it actually gives them more energy and they become more youthful.
And it could all be dependent on the dog, just like humans. It reacts differently for person to person. So it can be the same for dogs, I would imagine.
But I have heard of one or two doctors talk about CBD with just a little THC to activate the CBD, just like it is in humans.
If you eat CBD and you have just a little bit of THC with it, that CBD will function more readily.
I can see that being the case for myself, for sure. A little THC in there with the CBD would help me.
Because from my past experience with just using CBD, my mind doesn't really feel like I'm feeling it.
One of the main things with the CBD, and I'll give you some tentures that I made that has a CBD, THC, and CBG in it.
So you can try some of that. It's called the trifecta of those cannabinoids. And it's the one I feel that works the best for me.
The main thing about it, it's full plant extract. So I'm getting all parts of the plant. I'm extracting those smells and the terpenes too.
So when you ingest it, that's going to injure your body also and gives you more unique effects than if you buy a distillate CBD on the shelves.
A lot of times you go back east or something, you're going to get a distillate. It'll say 1000 mg CBD, alcohol extracted, and it has none of the terpenes.
It has no other part of the plant in it. And there's other parts of the plant that we probably just don't even know exist yet.
We haven't discovered because of the research or lack of research. But the main ones are cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids that we know of.
And those mixtures in with the THC and CBD all together create synergistic effects. And you strip away one of them, the other ones aren't going to work as well.
So the all full plant extract is some of the best medicine. And those CBD products probably don't taste the best, but they work best.
If it tastes good, it probably doesn't. It's either got sugar in it. I'm a fan of bitter being sweet to the body.
You have a strict diet also. Does the cannabis play any role into that? For me, I know my diet got much better once I started becoming more self-aware.
And it just wanted me, growing cannabis made me want to grow more plants and then I wanted to eat the plants I grew and want to take care of my body more.
You know, when I'm going through some of my fasts, I find that the cannabis helps me to maintain the steadfastness of the fast.
You know, if I didn't have the cannabis, I might lose the steadfastness and break my fast earlier than I intended to.
But knowing me, I could do the fast without the herb too, because I challenge myself with things like that.
I'll fast from herb, you know, to show myself that I can, because I don't like to feel like something can control me, you know, in anything, a person, a thing, anything.
I want to feel like I'm in control of me. So every now and again, I'll even fast from the herb just to remind myself.
I think the cannabis too can help you keep focusing on the path, whatever path you're on and help you keep dialed in to what you want to do.
Yeah, it's like, in other words, it's like if I can't have a drink or if I can't have these cookies, at least I can have my herb.
You know, sometimes that's how I feel.
I think it helps a lot of people that way.
You know, it gets a bad rep. I'm going to smoke it and I'm going to eat a pack of potato chips. I can't, because I got to watch my weight. I can't smoke herbs.
There's no calories in the herb.
I'm like, what? You got to watch your weight so you can't smoke herbs. Smoking herbs is not going to make you fat.
It's going to probably actually do the opposite. It's going to probably slow your metabolism down and help you lose weight.
It's a grounding thing to me, it grounds you. And I like being grounded because I'm a tree, so trees like the ground.
Well said.
So what other plans have you got here in Colorado while you're here?
Anything special besides the shows? Have you got a chance to make it up into the mountains and visit the mountains? Denver is beautiful, but the mountains are beautiful.
I was going to extend my stay until the end of the weekend, but I have to get back on Friday.
So basically, my focus is just to check these shows and just vibe with the people that I come across.
And just have a little break from the hustle grind I've been doing in Baltimore.
You've already met the people here at the Connoisseur Collective, so you know you're welcome here.
I've already talked about playing some music here.
I've already talked to the regent down in Tampa about our next Colorado trip.
That was in the works before I even got here because I and I manifest these things.
Last night, some of the musicians got together and we was just jamming.
I saw the vision and it was like, you're going to come forward to Colorado.
It's a different vibe here.
I was getting ready to say you've got a unique chance and perspective to see what's happening in Florida and Maryland at the time with their legalization and where they're at.
Is Maryland in your mind a little bit further ahead?
They're actually moving into rec in Maryland, but in Florida it's still medical only.
Let me say they're further enough for now for me, it thanks, you know what I mean?
I got my medical card in Maryland, so I'm straight.
I would like to get some seeds and grow because it's such a beautiful thing to witness and be a part of, which I have no experience with, but I want to create that experience.
Yeah, we talked about Maryland. I think it's allowing every resident, every 21.
It's going to be counting to counting for sure, but to grow a couple of their own plants, I think up to four plants per person.
And it'll depend on county and what their local authorities will allow.
But you mentioned it might be postponed a little bit.
They say it might be a little delayed come July 1st, but they say that's typical for all states to go into the recreational realm.
There's always a little giddy up at the beginning, but eventually it'll be smooth.
We were talking about how you got a unique perspective of being in Florida and in Baltimore, and you like how Baltimore is a little bit more advanced, right?
And you got to access everything you need with your MedCard.
They're going to be able to grow there.
But I've heard some stuff about Florida, and they've already been called out for it.
Some out of state or multi-state operators trying to pay off some politicians to really to control home grows, not to allow home grows,
not to allow certain operator license just to control the market so they can have a monopoly of the market in Florida.
There's some of the same people that are in West Virginia holding it back there, too.
I didn't get the card when I was in Florida.
I didn't bother with it there because I didn't need to.
I had good access to it just around where I didn't have to go the medical route.
But when I went to Baltimore, I didn't know as many people, so it was better for me to go the medical route.
Can you find this being kind of sketchy in trying to find some urban Baltimore without knowing people?
I just didn't know as many people.
I've been gone away from Baltimore for 34 years.
So I didn't really know any people.
So it was a better route for me to just get the card.
So in Florida, there's pretty readily in certain areas where they get your cannabis.
Yeah, you know, I was in Florida for quite a while.
You know the right people?
Yeah, you know.
So down there, the herb grows completely different than it does here because of the climate.
Here, you're going to find out, you know, see why I keep mine in these jars and I put the lids on it really quick.
I'll let them sit out because it'll turn into Colorado crumble in a couple minutes.
This stuff right here.
Watch.
By the time we get done in this little 20 minutes, this right here is going to be crumbly.
And when I pulled it out of there, it was hard to break up.
It probably will be.
Yeah, I recommend trying to get a little better bag or something, or smoke a quick, or it regardless.
But in Florida, you've got the opposite.
I'm sure it's really nice and fresh and sticky all the time, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
What's the regular average humidity in Tampa?
That I'm not sure, but I would say it's well over 70 percent.
So 16 to 65 percent is going to be ideal for cannabis storage and consumption.
A little bit less than that is going to start losing some of its terpenes.
They are just volatile to dry and to heat.
So if you let them get access to heat, some of the smell is going to be lost and you can't get it back.
We were talking about the...
I don't know what the percentage would be.
We were talking about the concentrates.
You just had a nice little dab.
It will concentrate.
You said you enjoyed it.
I like the fact that it didn't make me cough my face off, you know?
Yeah.
Because who enjoys that?
It's not good for you.
Yeah.
I had bronchitis for probably two years in college because of smoking.
Herb that was bad probably had pesticides or mold or something on it.
I smoked tobacco for a little bit and I drank too much at the time.
I'm pretty sure it was the pesticides or mold or something on the herb that triggered bronchitis.
I coughed for like two years.
I had such abdominal pains that I never wanted to cough again.
It's really bad for your chest, your stomach, your abdomen.
That's all about once again being able to select exactly what you want, you know?
Not just have no options.
So I was turned on to the same dab that you had or the same concentrate you just took the wrong way.
The first time I had a dab, somebody heated up the little banger like you see here.
Way too hot.
It was burning red.
Put a dab on there, inhaled, and it was too hot.
That combustion of everything is too much of an explosion of energy for your lungs to take.
So he was saying, the expert there, Jason, he's kind of a surer on dabs.
They have $1,000 rigs, just this little part, and the rest of it could be up to $20,000.
You'll see some of them over here in just a little bit.
Some of these unique and fascinating glass pieces of art basically.
And little inserts that will go in there that will cost up to $1,000 just to maximize the taste
and the flavor and the smoothness of it.
It's a connoisseur thing now, like wine, especially for the Rosins.
Like fine chocolates.
These people just flew in from Florida just to come here and take dabs and smoke some of the weed here.
It's a part of their experience, you know?
Like they come here, they do that, they might go skiing, they might do some other things, you know?
So here you're going to find cushions grow really well.
Hybrids like the sativa that we smoked a little bit ago, those don't grow so well here
just because of the dryness, altitude, and lack of moisture.
Excuse me.
Florida, you get longer days.
Just like certain flowers will grow there better than up north.
You have passionflower down in Florida, don't you?
Passionflower.
Think it's like a blue star shaped or something.
I remember getting some seeds and trying to grow them up north, they just didn't grow.
And you look at the region, they grow in Florida really well.
And I met a girl from Florida who tried to grow them also, she didn't have any luck.
But yeah, the days are longer, more humidity, you can get these sativas to grow more like certain terpene profiles.
So what we were saying, talking about the different terpenes too,
depending on where the plant's grown, it can affect those terpenes.
The terpenes are, or the trichomes that contain the terpenes and cannabinoids are known to be like sunscreen for the plant.
So it could be used as a sunscreen for you also.
Or it's a mechanism to repel pests that they don't want on them.
So if they boost up a lemon scent.
That's a serious thing with the sunscreen because most of the sunscreen they got out there is not good for you at all.
A lot of chemicals and they say it's good for you and now they're talking about cancer.
It's good for you but not for kids.
The sunscreen itself is good for cancer.
I use coconut oil and I put a little cannabis in the coconut oil and will douse my body in it.
Coconut oil itself is good for your skin and then the THC and cannabinoids in it.
That's my theory and I've heard it from other people too that it will help with sunscreen.
Everybody got a different science these days man.
I know some people that just say don't put no coconut or any oil on your body or in your body.
So everybody got it different way.
It's just to hollow out what they want to believe in, who they heard it from and which they want to believe.
A lot of times if they hear from a person that they look up to then they're probably going to believe it.
You have to follow the science of your heart.
I'm like a gut instinct.
Absolutely.
I got this song I've been writing that has that line in it.
I got some lyrics.
It goes, I don't believe in nothing.
I don't believe in nothing no more.
No, I don't believe in nothing.
I don't believe in nothing at all.
What they're trying to tell you.
I don't believe in nothing at all.
And what they're trying to tell me.
I don't believe in nothing no more.
But I believe in love.
I trust in my gut.
With the basic instinct.
To be a good human.
To be a good dog.
To be a cool cat.
And you can't beat that.
So that's basically it.
I don't believe in nothing.
But I believe in love.
And I trust in my gut.
And I just have this basic instinct to be a good human.
To be a good dog.
To be a cool cat.
What's wrong with that?
That's my goal too.
I love the message in all your songs, man.
Strength of consciousness.
I'm going to put that to music.
They got the dog crying about it.
I'm going to put that to music to like a New Orleans type of Mardi Gras type of sound.
I don't believe in nothing.
Like that.
I like it.
So you've had two albums out with Rasta Rafiki, correct?
Let me see.
Another Strength of Consciousness.
The first thing we put out was called Ecogeo.
That was years ago, the first thing, and it was on a cassette.
I don't think it even, it wasn't even on CD.
It was just cassette.
I've never seen or heard that one.
Yeah, that was the very first one we put out.
And then we put out this one called Cousins.
And that was on cassette and CD too.
I had that one on CD.
That's the one with all the faces on it.
It was black.
And then the last one was Stream of Consciousness, which has a picture of the blue hole on it.
That was a popular swim hole in Morbentown, Washington, Washington.
It was.
I know, at least it was.
Yeah, I remember when they were many times.
Not everybody knew about it.
It was more of a local thing.
If you knew a local, they would take you there.
But if you didn't know a local, you were from out of state.
Andy Lindsay would always tell me he's the bass player for Rasta Rafiki.
Because he lives in Mason Town.
Yeah.
So yeah, my first year, somebody took me out there and I knew the secret swimming hole.
There would always be maybe 10, 15 people out there.
The road is a little treacherous to get there, right?
Yeah, especially in spring after snow melt and the rain.
And it would be all washed out.
It's actually an entry point for whitewater rafting.
So even if you get it at the wrong time, you'll have a big bus with a bunch of rafts coming at you on that little narrow, muddy road.
It can be pretty hectic.
On the cover of that stream of consciousness CD, those people that are depicted through, it's like it was a carving or something, a print.
They were all there that day.
Like we all went out there the night before and camped out there.
And then the next day, people stayed out there and posed.
Guy took a bunch of photographs of the whole area and then he put it together and made like a big print.
Nice.
So do you have any more records out or songs available?
We do have some more songs that we've been recording over the years because Ross Rafiki broke up officially back in 1995, something like that.
I'm terrible with time.
Back in 1995, 96, we broke up for a while.
And then after like 10 years or so, we got back together.
As our drummer Steve Markle put it, our statue of limitations on our grievances had expired.
So we got back together and we called it a family reunion.
And we did some shows and we enjoyed each other so much that from that moment on, we kept getting together every summer.
So put some time in it.
1995 and then 10 years later, like around 2005.
We've been doing that like that from 2005 after being broken up for 10 years every summer, 2006, 2007, all the way up to 2020.
When everything happened in March, we were supposed to be getting together in March to do some shows that all got canceled right at the whole 2020 March thing.
And we haven't been together since.
And now we're getting together.
So it's kind of like a little mini reunion tour after two, three year hiatus.
You know, like people started to turn again, you know, Steve had just moved to California and he was like, I need a little break.
So he didn't want to come back to West Virginia right away.
So this is going to be nice, man.
I wish you could be there.
I might try to see if I could fly in. It's all going to be tight on the financials, but I'd love to be there.
I'd do what I can to help you.
I can get a nice videographer or something to videotape it.
Do you have any YouTube videos out there?
I'm trying to see how we can get some people to listen to some of your music out there and where it's available.
My favorite Ross the Rafiki YouTube video is Ross the Rafiki Cousins.
The song's called Cousins.
Check that one. That's my favorite one.
We'll put some links, whatever links we can find for you.
We'll put them in the links in the description of the episode.
That way if people want to listen, they can go click it and take it right to them.
They don't have to do any searching, try to cut out the hard work for them.
I had another project in Tampa I forgot all about because I haven't been able to do it called the Sunsetters.
It was me. I played the drum kit and I sang and then my good friend Jose Paschini,
he created a guitar where I watched him do it over the years because me and him played together for a good,
we played together for a good 21 years in Tampa, just me and him as a duo.
He took a guitar that he was comfortable with and he put two bass strings on it and four regular strings on it.
He's from Brazil. He would play the bass with his thumb and play the rhythm.
Sounds like a Flamingo style, right?
Yeah, he had that type of influence although he said he never studied it.
We would sound like four guys performing.
So I had that going on in Tampa too.
Did you guys ever get any recordings?
We recorded a CD and I'm going to give you a copy of it.
But the CD actually has more than just the two of us because I played drums and he played some bass on some and some keyboards on some, but Sunsetters.
I have not had a chance to hear anything from Sunsetters.
Oh, cool.
I came right out of college, right out here for two years.
I ended up getting married and moving to Spain. I lived in Spain for like 15 or 12 years.
I was in Canada for three. I fell off on all American music, almost all American entertainment.
That's something I did in Tampa. It's all original music.
Sweet. I'm definitely going to bump this in my car.
A couple of tracks, I worked with a keyboard player who was once with Ross Torefiki.
His name was Chris Whitley, but he was with Ross Torefiki for a few years and then he ended up eventually touring with one of the reggae icons, Joseph Hill from Culture.
And he was a part of the band that supported Joseph Hill for years until Joseph Hill passed away.
Me and him stay in touch. He sends me musical tracks and ideas. He had an output lyrics to it and vice versa.
So a couple of tracks on the end, he was involved in. So I hope you like it.
I can't wait to give it a check in. I will definitely give you some feedback on that.
And excuse me, we're going to wrap this up here and go over here and check out some more of the Connoisseur Collective and maybe check out a little bit more of Denver here next couple of days.
I wish you had time to come up into the mountains and see that.
Maybe we could set up a trip before the weekend, do a day trip up to the mountains because it's a whole other world up there.
Still got snowfall up there.
Weather is supposed to be iffy in the next couple of days from what I heard.
Yeah, we'll check it out in scope. I ain't trying to deal with too much cold and snow.
We'll see. I might have had the right shoes though.
Nah, I wouldn't take you into a snowstorm or nothing. It shouldn't be too bad up there now.
But when it does snow up there, it turns into spring, 50 degrees in the daytime, below freezing at night, so it melts.
It's like skiing in t-shirts up there sometimes for the next two, three weeks and then it finishes up and there won't be any snow at all.
Like I told you, I'm going to be back through because I already manifested. I'm bringing the Florida crew to Colorado.
We'll do something right in the backyard right there on the compound right here.
We'll advertise it guys. If it gets out here and it happens, I'm going to advertise it on the podcast.
We'll get a nice little crowd out here to check out the Sunsetters.
That's going to be One Love Rising.
One Love Rising. All right. The One Love Rising is the current group. This is Sunsetters. I got the two confused.
I've seen you post both of them on Facebook. If you want to follow Derek on Facebook, it's Derek McDonald.
I'll actually put a link in there.
Sunsetters is a Tampa-based thing. We don't really travel too much, but One Love Rising, we're trying to make some moves.
We're trying to move around.
One Love Rising, if anybody out there looking for some reggae artists to come by Denver, we'll try to set up a couple shows for them.
Yeah, because we're going to link up with some of the local musicians because I got some local musician friends that I've known from West Virginia
who live here outside of Denver in Lawn Mound. I've known him for a long time and played in bands with him for a long time.
We're going to link up with him and have a local, but it's going to be local artists, but us all together, jamming.
Up in the Boulder area too, from here up towards Boulder, there's a lot of music seen up in Boulder. It's a younger crowd up there.
That's the college town up there.
You've got to link me up.
A couple different vendors up there that play.
If we do this thing here, you've got to help me link up some other stuff too.
These guys know some more people too. We'll definitely look out and see where we can find some spots.
Looking for some reggae bands out there. I know there's a couple radio stations out here too that play some reggae.
It's going to be mad love. That's a Ross Rodriguez cut right there.
I got the same song. I got Dr. Earv with my phone ringing too. He's Dr. Earv coming on.
That one was a song that actually Don of the Buffalo wrote for and about Ross Rodriguez.
Jeb Peryear. You know Jeb Peryear. He's the lead guy with Don of the Buffalo.
I know Don of the Buffalo. I didn't know the name.
He wrote a song about and for us. It's called West Virginia Ross DeFarai.
I was going to say a little bit ago that when you went to West Virginia, did you find a little West Virginia Ross DeFarai crew?
Or is that just from his song? Was there a Ross DeFarai crew there?
He wrote that song about us because we played together. We played shows together.
His band got in touch with Tom Bachelon and was like, hey, can we come to Morgantown and do a show with y'all?
We heard you guys got a little scene. We're like sure.
Then we're like, hey, can we come up to New York and do a show with y'all because we heard y'all got a little scene.
That's how we got to know each other.
Then Don of the Buffalo got the greatest idea of all to get their own fricking tent and their own equipment
and start throwing their own fricking festivals, which became the grassroots
and all the great festivals that Don of the Buffalo had been a part of.
One day Jeff came up on our bus and was like, hey, I wrote a song for y'all.
We're like half asleep because we've been driving all night.
He broke out his guitar and he started singing it.
He says, I wrote this song for y'all. Y'all should play this.
It was beautiful and we recorded it.
That's a great story.
So, Derek, I highly appreciate you coming on the show.
I think the dog needs to go out here.
He likes to thank you for coming on the show too. We got his attention.
All right, brother.
Love you, brother.
Thank you.
Definitely going to hit the links up in the descriptions.
That way everybody knows where they can follow you at.
We'll get this done here. I love to see you come out here and play.
I appreciate it, man.
All right. Thanks for tuning in, everyone.
We'll be back next week with another show. Until then, peace and love.
I also want to give thanks to the Connoisseur Collective for letting me use your space to record this episode with Derek.
Coming up soon on May 6th, Pato Bantan will be playing down at the Connoisseur Collective in Wheat Ridge.
If you want to get tickets, go to theconnoisseurcup.com for more information.
Hey, have you hugged your country boots today?
Do you smoke marijuana?
This is what's going on to our meditators.
Dr. Irv.
Yo, I need the doctor.
Yes, I need my diggity diggity doctor.
Yes, I need that doctor.
Yes, I need my diggity diggity doctor.
Yo, where is that doctor?
Yo, where is the diggity diggity doctor?
Yes, we need that doctor.
One joint a day, it keeps your feeling in a positive way.
One joint a day, yes, will keep a negative feeling away.
Just one joint a day, I keep my conscience conscious all day.
One joint a day, but some I smoke up many more in the day.
Yes, I smoke that herb and it talks to me.
Yes, I smoke that herb.
Yes, I have a doctor to my diggity diggity doctor.
Yes, I need that doctor.
Yes, I need my diggity diggity doctor.
Yes, we need that doctor.
Yes, I need that diggity diggity doctor.
Yo, where is that doctor?
Yo, where is that diggity diggity doctor?
Yes, I need that doctor.
You see, I'm a meditator on the top of every hour.
Yes, herb I'm in a smoke, yeah, to find herb strength and power.
And when this task is done, I call for running over.
And the notion in me now to walk about I town and smoke that herb.
Yes, then you talk to me.
Yes, yeah, you smoke that herb.
To the doctor herb.
The herb is a kind but the herb is a bush.
Herb'll make ya high.
Herb is just a kind.
Well you think you're making me a nutcase.
Use herb to seed.
A cancer patient use herb to eat.
For the AIDS patient need to make the herb free.
Let's work upon these patches immediately.
Yes, the herbs are naturally doctored.
Yes, the natural doctor.
Herbs are natural doctors.
Yes, the natural doctor.
Yes, the herb doctor.
Yes, the natural doctor.
No, don't call it a comeback.
It's been here for years.
Don't diss herbal doctors from rumors you've heard.
The man's not drugged, they'll all call him Dr. Err.
For the healing meditation and good vibration.
For food, fuel, fiber, and a little bit of fun.
See the joint ain't necessarily the point, but I want one.
For the doctor.
At 1993 we're gonna be like a doctor.
We're gonna be like a doctor.
At 1993 we're gonna be like a doctor.
What a bottom herring.
You