The Canna Curious Podcast: Conversations on Cannabis, Wellness & Women’s Health

This episode marks the beginning of a new era for the podcast, one that feels more intimate, reflective, and human.

After conversations with an award-winning producer and some unexpectedly confronting feedback from people closest to her, Kyla opens up about why she’s evolving the format of the show.

This season will still bring evidence-based education around cannabis, women’s health, hormones and the nervous system… but with more space for lived experience, cultural conversations, wellness experiments, personal stories and honest reflections.

In this episode Kyla talks about:

• Why the podcast format is changing
• The feedback that challenged her creatively
• Doing everything alone as a creator and educator
• The emotional side of receiving constructive criticism
• Women, perfectionism and vulnerability
• Returning home from Nimbin and deciding to attempt a tolerance break
• What tolerance breaks actually are
• Why tolerance breaks can sometimes fail
• The relationship between stress, nervous system load and cannabis use
• Learning to approach wellness with curiosity instead of perfection

Download my Free 21 Day Tolerance Break Guide 

Thanks for being here for the evolution of Canna Curious.

This episode of the podcast is supported by Azure Health.

http://azurehealth.com.au/cannacurious

@azurehealth

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In this episode, Kyla sits down with pharmacist-turned-veterinary cannabinoid specialist Emma Delaney to explore the rapidly emerging world of cannabinoid therapies for animals.

From chronic pain and anxiety to seizures and palliative care, cannabinoids are increasingly being used in veterinary medicine—but the real insight comes from something deeper:

animals don’t have a placebo effect.

This conversation unpacks what that means for how we understand cannabis, the endocannabinoid system, and therapeutic outcomes in animals.

What We Cover

• Why animals have an endocannabinoid system (ECS) just like humans
• The key difference: why dogs are more sensitive to THC
• CBD vs full spectrum vs isolate—what it means
• Common conditions treated in animals:
• Chronic pain (e.g. osteoarthritis)
• Anxiety (especially post-COVID separation anxiety)
• Seizures
• Skin conditions (like atopic dermatitis) 
• What to do if your pet accidentally consumes THC
• The role of CBD as a potential “buffer” or antidote
• Why journaling your pet’s behaviour is critical
• Dosing principles: start low, go slow
• What animals can teach us about:
• Placebo vs real effect
• Observable outcomes

 Important Notes

• Always speak to a qualified veterinarian before giving your pet any cannabinoid product
• Animals are more sensitive, particularly to THC

 Resources & Links

Research Papers

Is cannabidiol (CBD) effective to ease separation anxiety? 

Efficacy and safety of cannabidiol for the treatment of canine osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of animal intervention studies 

Daily dosing of cannabidiol (CBD) demonstrates a positive effect on measures of stress in dogs during repeated exposure to car travel

Scientific Validation of Cannabidiol for Management of Dog and Cat Diseases

Learn more about Emma’s work

• Website: kindredcbd.com.au
• Instagram: @kindredcbd

NEW* Kindred has offered a discount on their take home range use the code KYLA10 

This episode of the Canna Curious Podcast is bought to you by Azure Health

https://azurehealth.com.au/

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What happens when the system you trusted… walks away?

In today’s episode, I sit down with Debi Wimberley — a former oncology professional who went on to live with one of the most severe chronic pain conditions imaginable.

For years, Debi was prescribed high-dose opioids to manage her pain.
Then, almost overnight, that support was removed,  with no real plan, no transition, and no safety net.

What followed wasn’t just withdrawal.
It was a complete unraveling… and then a rebuilding.

This conversation explores what it looks like to navigate pain, autonomy, and healing when you’re forced to take your health into your own hands — and how the plant became part of that process.

This isn’t a simple “before and after” story.
It’s complex. It’s messy. And it’s incredibly important.

What We Cover

• Debi’s early work in oncology — and first exposure to the plant before the ECS was even discovered
• Living with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) — one of the most severe chronic pain conditions
• Long-term opioid prescribing and what high-dose use actually looks like
• The abrupt withdrawal of care during the opioid crisis — and what that means for patients
• Why regulation without education creates harm
• Navigating cannabis with no clinical guidance
• Trial, error, and real-world patient experimentation
• Understanding the endocannabinoid system in practice
• Reducing polypharmacy (25+ medications)
• The shift from outsourcing health → reclaiming body autonomy

A Note on This Episode

This episode discusses chronic pain, opioid use, and medical system failures.

Debi’s story is her own lived experience.
 It is not a universal outcome, and it’s not a substitute for personalised medical advice.

If you’re navigating medication changes or chronic health conditions, please seek support from a qualified healthcare professional.

Resources & Further Learning

• Endocannabinoid System basics https://effectivecannabis.com/about-effective-cannabis/

You can find Debi @debwimberley 

🌿 Support the Podcast

If this episode resonated with you… and you want to support the work behind Canna Curious:

You can buy me a coffee 
(or realistically… help fund more conversations like this)

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This episode is a little more personal than usual.

Today, I’m sitting down with my daughter, Ruby and we’re having a conversation I’ve been quietly avoiding for a while.

Because while I spend my life educating people about the plant…
Ruby had an experience that changed her relationship with it completely.

We talk about:

• what it’s like growing up with a parent in this space
• the stigma that still exists (especially in younger years)
• her first experiences with cannabis
• and the moment everything shifted after a difficult “greening” experience

But this isn’t just about one night.

It’s about what came after the anxiety, the fear of it happening again, and how that feeling can linger long after the plant has left your system.

We also explore:

• why edibles can hit differently (and sometimes unexpectedly)
• the importance of dose, timing, and environment
• how CBD can be used as a harm reduction tool
• and what honest, open conversations about drugs actually look like in real life

This episode isn’t here to convince you of anything.

It’s here to show the nuance that the plant isn’t one-size-fits-all, and that education, safety, and self-awareness matter more than anything else.

If you’ve ever had an experience that didn’t feel right…or you’re navigating this with your kids, your friends, or even yourself this conversation is for you.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Growing up around cannabis: stigma, secrecy, and shifting perspectives
• First experiences with the plant (and expectations vs reality)
• What “greening out” actually feels like
• How one experience can lead to ongoing anxiety
• The difference between THC and CBD (in real-life terms)
• Why edibles require a completely different approach
• Harm reduction: what we wish more people were taught
• The gap between school education and real-world drug use
• Navigating this as both a parent and a young adult

A NOTE FROM KYLA

This one stretched me.

It’s one thing to talk about the benefits of the plant it’s another to sit across from your daughter and hear how it impacted her in a way you didn’t expect.

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who might need it.

You can find more conversations like this at Canna Curious — where we explore the plant with curiosity, not assumption.

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In this episode of Canna Curious, Kyla sits down with Grace Ker to explore her deeply personal journey with endometriosis and fibromyalgia,  a story that began at just 13 years old and unfolded into years of chronic pain, medical intervention, and self-advocacy. 

Grace shares what it was like to:

• Be dismissed in early medical appointments
• Navigate multiple treatments, including hormonal therapies and surgery
• Enter medical menopause as a teenager
• Experience chronic, debilitating pain that conventional treatments couldn’t resolve
• Later develop fibromyalgia following burnout and physical stress

The conversation also explores how alternative approaches  including Chinese medicine and plant-based therapies  played a role in symptom management, and how Grace learned to trust her intuition in a system that often didn’t listen. 

This episode is as much about emotional resilience as it is about physical health — touching on identity loss, grief, and what it means to rebuild your life when your body changes.

Key Topics

• Early onset endometriosis and symptom dismissal
• Chronic pain and the limits of conventional treatment
• Medical menopause in adolescence
• Fibromyalgia onset and full-body pain
• Opioids vs alternative approaches
• The role of the nervous system in pain perception
• Plant-based medicine and symptom regulation
• Self-advocacy in healthcare
• Grief, identity, and chronic illness
• The importance of education and body literacy

🌿 Resources & Links

• Grace Ker on Instagram: @spencergreen
• Recommended Chinese Medicine Practitioner: Richard Best, Chinese Medicine House of Natural Health Hendra
• Support the podcast: Buy me a coffee!

From Kyla

This episode really stayed with me.

There’s something about hearing a story like Grace’s that reminds you how many women are navigating pain quietly… and how often they’re told it’s normal.

It’s not.

And conversations like this are how we start changing that.

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Somewhere along the way, the conversation around cannabis got… distorted.

Depending on who you listen to, it’s either: dangerous and life-ruining or a cure for everything.

And neither of those are helpful.

In this episode, I unpack the gap between those extremes and why so many people are still confused, even with more access, more products, and more information than ever before.

Because the issue isn’t the plant. Maybe its body autonomy and intention.

What I cover:

• Why cannabis is still misunderstood (just in a different way)
• The shift from fear → hype (and why both miss the point)
• The role of context: nervous system, stress, environment
• Why people think they’re “doing it wrong”
• The gap between clinical messaging and real-life use
• Why more information hasn’t led to better outcomes

Journaling + tracking

A beautiful journal for handwriting and keeping with your stash https://www.rubymarybotanicals.com.au/products/cycles-journal

Australian designed and decentralised - Online app tracking with @ontrackaapp 

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This week, we explore a question that seems simple… but isn’t:

If hemp can be used as fuel then why aren’t we using it? Particularly during this very planned war and outage of oil with far reaching implications.

In this episode, I break down:

• The history of hemp as an industrial crop
• Henry Ford’s plant-based car and early biofuel exploration
• What hemp fuel actually is (biodiesel + ethanol)
• Whether it really works — and where it falls short
• Why it didn’t scale (policy, infrastructure, economics)
• Where hemp fits in today’s energy conversation
• And the bigger question: how systems decide what gets adopted… and what gets left behind

References & Further Reading

• USDA Hemp for Victory archive
   https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/IND43843001/PDF
• Hemp biomass & biofuel potential (Bioresource Technology)
   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096085241830306X
• Industrial hemp for energy (Energies journal)
   https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/21/5810
• Bioenergy crop comparison review
   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032118304983
• Hemp and phytoremediation (Frontiers in Plant Science)
   https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00359/full

For more on Australia's Oil production, petrol etc  and who is and isn't paying tax follow @punterspolitics on instagram

If you’re enjoying the podcast and want to support these conversations, you can do so here:

Buy Me a Coffee 

If this episode made you think differently, send it to someone who still thinks this plant is one-dimensional.

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Cannabis research often feels confusing.

One study says the plant may help with pain, sleep or inflammation. The next headline warns about risk.

So what’s really going on?

In this episode of Canna Curious, I unpack why cannabis science has been so difficult to interpret for the past 70 years.

From the Nixon-era report that recommended decriminalisation but was ignored… to the discovery of the endocannabinoid system by Raphael Mechoulam… to modern case studies in epilepsy, endometriosis and chronic pain.

I also explore how research bias, funding incentives and media headlines can shape the way cannabis science is interpreted.

Most importantly, I look at how to read cannabis research with a more critical and curious eye.

Because the science around this plant is still evolving.

And in many ways, the most important questions are only just beginning to be asked.

In this episode we discuss

• The 1972 Shafer Commission and the research that was ignored
• Raphael Mechoulam and the discovery of THC and the endocannabinoid system
• Why cannabis was placed in Schedule I and how that shaped research
• How media headlines can misrepresent cannabis studies
• Case studies in epilepsy, endometriosis and chronic pain
• Practical tips for how to read cannabis research

Support the podcast

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to support the research and production that goes into each episode, you can buy me a coffee via the link in the show notes.

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In this episode of Canna Curious, Kyla sits down with psychiatric nurse Megan Simpson for an honest and deeply human conversation about mental health, stigma, and healing.

Megan has spent years working on the front lines of psychiatric care, supporting people through crisis, trauma, and severe mental illness. But behind that professional role was also a personal story — one that includes burnout, PTSD, and navigating her own path toward recovery.

Together, Kyla and Megan explore what happens when the people caring for others also need support themselves.

This conversation covers:

• The realities of working in psychiatric nursing
• Trauma and burnout in healthcare workers
• How alcohol is often normalized as a coping mechanism
• The stigma surrounding substance use and mental health
• Why understanding the root cause of coping behaviours matters
• The importance of community, connection, and compassionate care
• Throughout the conversation Megan reflects on what helped her rebuild her life and how her experiences now shape the way she supports patients.

This episode is raw, thoughtful, and ultimately hopeful.

Content Note / Harm Reduction

This episode includes discussion of:

• PTSD and mental health challenges
• Alcohol use and coping mechanisms
• Suicide and suicidal ideation

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available.

Australia support services

Lifeline — 13 11 14
 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention
 https://www.lifeline.org.au

Beyond Blue — 1300 22 4636
 Mental health information and support
 https://www.beyondblue.org.au

Suicide Call Back Service — 1300 659 467
 https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au

If you are in immediate danger, please contact 000.

Disclaimer

The information shared in this episode is for education and discussion purposes only and does not replace advice from a qualified medical professional.

Experiences shared by guests reflect their personal perspectives and may not apply to everyone.

If you are experiencing mental health difficulties, please seek support from a qualified healthcare professional.

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This week on Canna Curious, I’m reflecting on 48 hours that revealed the tension inside Australia’s medicinal cannabis space.

From hosting a candlelit launch centred on women, story and nervous system safety…to having a thoughtful dinner conversation with Professor Kylie O’Brien about the TGA and AHPRA review…to walking the floor at UIC 2026 - one of the country’s major industry conferences.

On paper, the conference program was rigorous and impressive, with respected clinicians and researchers presenting on addiction, hormones, endometriosis, regulatory frameworks and real-world data. Speakers like Justin Sinclair, Dedi Meiri and Dr Shabnam Sarshar are doing important, evidence-based work.

And yet, walking through the exhibitor hall, I kept asking one question:

Where were the patients?

This episode explores the shift from movement to marketplace, the evolution of the industry over the past decade, and why lived experience still matters in rooms where regulation, research and commerce intersect.

This isn’t a takedown. It’s a reflection on growth, memory, and the importance of keeping care at the centre.

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