Dr. Riley Kirk is a hashish analysis scientist and educator devoted to reworking our understanding of pure plant drugs. With the discharge of her debut ebook, Reefer Wellness: Understanding Hashish Science, Tradition, and Drugs, she has created an all-encompassing ebook that’s a pure extension of the content material that made her a outstanding determine on social media, the place she breaks down complicated hashish chemistry for on a regular basis customers with a mix of rigorous but easy-to-understand science and cultural reverence.
On this interview, Dr. Kirk shares her origin story from TikTok science and hashish advocate to revealed creator, why she believes hashish tradition can’t be separated from its medicinal worth and the way training is probably the most highly effective instrument we now have to scale back stigma and use the plant extra successfully.
Making Hashish Chemistry Accessible
When Dr. Kirk began sharing hashish chemistry on TikTok (@cannabichem), she says she wasn’t attempting to change into a science communicator however was filling a data hole. “I used to be impressed to begin sharing data on-line as a result of I didn’t see anybody else doing it,” she says. “So I knew there was positively a necessity for it.”
On the time, Dr. Kirk was serving to train a university-level hashish chemistry and pharmacology course, which price college students 1000’s of {dollars}. “I feel this data ought to be free and accessible to anyone who’s consuming hashish,” she says. “That method, we now have a greater thought of how this plant works within the physique and might higher tailor this drugs to our personal physique and mind.”
Dr. Kirk’s social media advocacy work started in the future when she was “bored and curious,” she opened TikTok and hit report. “From the primary video I posted, it began to take off, she says. ” Viewers shortly engaged, asking questions and requesting matters, which led her to construct a gentle stream of content material. “I’ve by no means run out of issues to speak about on social media, and I don’t suppose I ever will. That’s the great thing about hashish; there’s all the time one thing to speak about.”
That preliminary curiosity and keenness for accessible training ultimately advanced into her debut ebook, Reefer Wellness: Understanding Hashish Science, Tradition, and Drugs. Dr. Kirk says the thought was sparked when a literary agent (and longtime follower) reached out with a publishing proposal.
“She stated, ‘Hey, I’ve been following you for a very long time. I feel folks would actually like to see this data in ebook type.’” At first, Dr. Kirk turned her down. “I used to be like, no, thanks. I’m not prepared for that.” However just a few years later, the agent reached out once more—and this time, she stated sure.
The ensuing ebook is a deeply private, science-based information to hashish training with a deep connection to preserving hashish tradition. Dr. Kirk says that even the unique working title, Reefer Wellness, got here to her throughout a artistic haze. “I obtained actually excessive and created a temper board with all of the completely different phrases I used to be desirous about together with within the title,” she says [laughs].
Although the title modified earlier than publication, she says the unique thought was to flip the fear-based messaging of Reefer Insanity on its head. “The title was born from utilizing science to reverse the stigma,” she says. “Reefer Insanity runs deep. Persons are nonetheless regurgitating outdated data from 30 years in the past as a result of they don’t know we now have 30,000 new publications speaking concerning the science behind hashish.”
Writing for Her Youthful Self and a Wiser Neighborhood
Dr. Kirk says she wrote the ebook together with her neighborhood in thoughts, grounding the content material in suggestions from her viewers. “When creating the define, I made certain to hit on the whole lot I’ve talked about on TikTok, particularly the heavy-hitting topics the place customers stated, ‘I wanted this data. This actually helped me lock in my hashish use,” says Dr. Kirk.
She additionally used the writing course of to discover matters she hadn’t lined on social media. “Like hashish and fertility or dry herb vaping, I noticed there have been issues I hadn’t mentioned however knew match into the vibe of what I’d already talked about.”
Finally, Dr. Kirk wrote the ebook for her youthful self. “I want I had this useful resource after I first began utilizing hashish,” she says. “It’s not financially accessible for somebody to attempt 50 completely different strains and 5 consumption strategies to determine what works. So it’s about pairing every day client data with science to scale back obstacles and provides folks a very good start line.”
Respecting the Roots: Hashish Tradition Is Drugs
Making hashish chemistry digestible for a normal viewers has change into one among Dr. Kirk’s strengths. Her strategy? Being herself. “I began as a stoner and have become a scientist, so I used to be already a part of this neighborhood. I look and discuss and act like a stoner.” That authenticity builds belief. “It’s not like I’m a scientist asking folks, ‘Inform me the way you’re consuming.’ It’s all of us working towards this collectively.”
For a very long time, hashish analysis lacked public belief. “Most of our research are government-funded, and the federal government has not been on our aspect with hashish—and nonetheless isn’t,” Dr. Kirk says. She believes impartial researchers should step up. “We want people who find themselves ancillary, who’re exterior of the federal government, who the neighborhood can belief, to share these tales, to do analysis and say, ‘I’ll defend your information, your title, your legacy, however assist me assist the neighborhood.’” Individuals wish to contribute to one thing larger than themselves, she says, and lots of “imagine on this plant as a result of it improves their high quality of life a lot.”
In Reefer Wellness, Dr. Kirk explores hashish not simply as a plant however as a cultural and medical phenomenon. “You can not take the tradition out of hashish,” she says. “You’ve got a totally completely different respect for the plant and the folks behind it once you study its historical past. Quite a lot of this tradition is about strategies of consumption, like studying find out how to roll a joint correctly, studying what strains you want.” She believes hashish was “meant to be shared” and used communally, one thing misplaced in its commercialization.
That commercialization can also be why Dr. Kirk emphasizes training as a harm-reduction technique. “As customers change into extra educated, they perceive it’s not simply THC; every pressure has completely different medicinal worth,” she explains. “Once we isolate THC and jack up the doses, that’s once we begin to see hostile results.” Her aim is to information folks towards whole-plant merchandise. “Hashish isn’t like a pharmaceutical. You want a chemistry and pharmacology lesson simply to grasp its nuances [laughs].”
Dr. Kirk believes that the extra educated folks change into, the extra they consider high quality and that consciousness can ripple into different areas of wellness, like meals and dietary supplements. “When you dive in, you get obsessed as a result of it makes you’re feeling higher or extra social… such as you’re blooming.”
Science for Everybody, From Breeders to Budtenders
Reefer Wellness additionally explores hashish science matters, from the entourage impact to minor cannabinoids for breeders and superior customers. That is partly to assist educate readers concerning the complexities and nuances of various cultivars from terpene, cannabinoid and flavanoid profiles. “I hope they take away that hashish is complicated. I all the time say: weed is just not weed is just not weed. It’s not all the identical.” Understanding hashish as customized drugs requires listening to your physique and educating your self. “I really like budtenders. They’re a number of the nicest folks on this planet. However it’s not their job to show you the way hashish works within the physique.”
Some of the urgent points Dr. Kirk sees within the area is the necessity to transfer away from the deal with THC. “We have to return to entire plant drugs not simply to scale back hostile results however to make sure the plant all the time has a spot on the desk,” she says. She’s a staunch advocate for the best to develop hashish at residence. “It ought to be a elementary proper,” she says. “There’s nothing harmful about rising this plant. I don’t know the place that false impression got here from,” she says.
So, how does Dr. Kirk assist folks tune into their private hashish journeys in an more and more commercialized market? “Hashish helps you’re feeling extra in tune along with your physique,” she says. She encourages folks to journal, noting whether or not a pressure helped them sleep and monitoring particulars like compound content material and grower. “That helps with intention. It helps you perceive your physique higher. Hashish can train you a large number, however it’s a must to be listening in an effort to be taught,” she says.
A Tabletop Companion for Hashish Curiosity
At its core, Reefer Wellness is designed to be accessible. “There are these little ‘nugs of information’—little client insights—all through the ebook,” Dr. Kirk says. “It’s meant to be a tabletop ebook you’ll be able to open at any level and nonetheless be taught one thing, whether or not you’re a seasoned client or model new.”
Greater than something, she hopes the neighborhood feels seen by it. “I hope the neighborhood loves it as a lot as I cherished writing it.”
Reefer Wellness: Understanding Hashish Science, Tradition, and Drugs is on the market now.
