Compassion on Life Support in Cannabis Industry
Where's your pain, Bro? ~ Brian Walker and Ed Breslin of Making You Better Brands (MYBB)
On April 6, 2010, I got legal in California. After visiting the on-site Venice Beach “Kush Doctor,” my Colorado doctor's recommendation for medical marijuana was transferred to California and I headed to my first California dispensary – upstairs at the Kush Club, overlooking Muscle Beach and the glorious Pacific Ocean.
Marijuana helps control arthritis pain in my fingers, hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders. It also treats depression and helps inspire me to write. I was starting to write strain reviews because why not? My quest was, and still is, to discover strains that kill pain while also inspiring creativity. But when I found out that state-compliant medical marijuana dispensaries were getting raided by the feds, I morphed into a courtroom reporter, and have a couple blogs to show for it. But that’s a story for another day.
High Times in Los Angeles
In 2012, at the first Los Angeles HIGH TIMES Cannabis Cup, I occupied a booth for the NORML Women’s Alliance of Los Angeles. Across the aisle were Brian Walker and Ed Breslin of Making You Better Brands (MYBB.) They asked me a simple question: Where’s your pain? I held up my hands, waved a bouquet of gnarly, inflamed fingers and said, “I’m a writer. It hurts to write. Even hold a pen.”
“Here. Try this,” one of them said. I can’t remember which one, because they both blasted me with these sparkly-eyed smiles. I swear, for at least a year I was convinced they knew the secrets of The Men Who Stare At Goats with those smiles. Anyway, I went home that night with a bottle of Xternal topical analgesic spray, tried it on my hands the next morning and knew instantly why these big burly guys were beaming: It works!
Within minutes I was writing without pain. I went back to the Cannabis Cup later that day, Sunday, appropriately enough, and said, “I’m a believer! I want to evangelize your product.” And I did. And I do. Every day. Because every day, it works for me.
A few months later, at a different trade show, I saw them again. Brian Walker said, “Here. Take four drops at night for 30 days, keep a journal, and let us know what happens,” as he handed me a one-ounce bottle of Nternal Oral Elixir.
I did as instructed and within 30 days, I was off my nightly dose of Xanax and Vicodin, which I’d been taking for over a year, maybe longer. OK, longer. I was pretty sure I’d be in trouble if I suddenly got cut off. Instead, I tapered off gently, and suffered no withdrawal effects at all. None. I’ve been using Nternal, and sharing it, ever since. Whether it’s for pain, anxiety, nausea, or dis-ease, Nternal makes it better.
In today’s post-compassion era, no part of this story would be possible.
First of all, the Los Angeles HIGH TIMES Cannabis Cup never took place in L.A. again. The closest city to brave hosting the event has been San Bernardino. Not exactly LaLa Land, if you catch my drift.
Second of all, after the 2016 passage of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Proposition 64,) giving away samples was no longer allowed. Not at any of the Cannabis Cups, Hemp Fests, other cannabis trade shows, the 420 Games, not even dispensaries.
Further damaging topical manufacturing brands like Making You Better (MYBB,) the new regulations banned product demonstrations. Gone were the popular Xternal Spray Days at dispensaries where they could literally spray patients’ pain away as they waited in line to buy bud. Where’s your pain, Bro?
By the time patients got to the counter they could BOGO (Buy One, Get One) of the topicals along with their smokables and edibles. Thus, word spread. This comprised Making You Better’s entire marketing budget and strategy for nearly ten years, and many companies emulated them – from making topicals themselves, to Demo Days and “Pop-Ups” at pot shops.
October 10, 2020 was Making You Better’s ten-year anniversary in the cannabis industry. They’ve survived the obstacle course of taxation and regulation and are licensed to operate legally in California.
With the passage of the Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary Act (SB 34,) MYBB’s partnership with and dedication to support veterans’ compassion programs like Operation EVAC and Weed for Warriors with donated meds continues unabated. In truth, it never stopped. It just got very expensive.
