The Highly

My relationship with cannabis began in my teens. It helped me sleep, unlocked creativity, and allowed me to understand me. It was my secret. It had to be back then. Unless, of course, one was comfortable with the label: stoner.

Cannabis was in and out of my life for years in a take it or leave it way. The bad stuff was awful. The good stuff was good. The great stuff — it was fucking heaven. Finding the right stuff was always the issue.

In my late thirties, I took a bad fall and started experiencing neck pain that graduated into a simmering chronic pain. This became my formal introduction into our healthcare system — NYC ‘top docs’, eastern docs, osteopaths, nutritionists. You name it, I did it. Yet I kept getting worse. My pain and fear was now matched by frustration.

At 40, during the height of my finance career, I made the decision to retire. I knew I needed the time to explore my health and reconnect with my spiritual life in a deep way. Because, as time was going by, my fall was becoming as much emotional as it was physical. For someone like me, supersensitive to stress, environments, medications, energy and so on, this had the power to throw me into a tailspin if I wasn’t careful. It was then that my relationship with cannabis was reignited. I instinctively knew I needed this sweet plant to get me through. And slowly but surely my pain subsided and I reconnected with Nina. The Nina I missed and needed. Thank you, flower, again.

Yet as an East Coaster, I still struggled to get my hands on the ‘good stuff’. This at a time when it seemed as though every new day brought a new strain to the West Coast. And so I’ve decided to turn my journey into a mission. To, if I can, help others navigate this next chapter of cannabis: organic, properly labeled, and in different applications. And to explore this magical flower, not for what it was considered, but how it was meant to be, realistically.

Since, I’ve traveled all over seeking the very best in legal cannabis, grown by people who are out to make the world healthier and happier. Along the way, I’ve been inspired by the pioneers and fueled by the snake oil salesmen. My eyes have been opened to this new cannabis world filled with drama, history, politics and hope.

So join me on this new journey. Maybe I’ll help you find some good cannabis. Maybe I’ll help you find yourself. If nothing else, I’ll hopefully bring you some good stories, and an occasional smile.

🖤 Nina Fern

Join me at The Highly and @thehighly

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