MY NEW YORK STORY

By Minchul An

I love living in New York City. There’s just something about the energy, the hustle, and the fast-paced environment that motivates you to succeed and make something of yourself. It’s incredible, but also terrifying. While the fast-paced energy is excellent, it has given me a lot of anxiety. As a coping mechanism, I learned that if I wanted to continue to live in NYC and reduce my stress that it meant I needed to travel on the weekends to escape the chaos and recharge a bit.

Often I felt this wasn’t enough. I needed something that would take the edge off while still keeping me focused and motivated. With my training in the profession and my passion for all things natural, I set out to create something that has completely changed my life, and the lives of the people around me. In February 2019, Buzzn was born.

ENTERING HEALTH CARE
While I was still in high school, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was always fascinated by science, math and the human body, but understanding the mechanism of this disease was beyond my control. Despite going through tremendous physical and mental struggles, my mom was able to eradicate cancer from her body completely. This miracle was made possible by advanced pharmacotherapy, which eventually led me to pursue a career as a pharmacist.

My career as a registered pharmacist began in 2012 upon graduating from Northeastern University with a Doctorate of Pharmacy. Being in various health care settings, the one commonality I witnessed was that the opioid crisis was a real dilemma, and people’s addiction to habit forming medications under a doctor’s authority was also a problem. As a pharmacist, I have only witnessed the consequences of opioid addiction at a local level, so I can only imagine how serious the issue is nationwide. On a more personal level, I’ve also seen my close friends struggle with addiction and even at one point teetering close to that line myself.

Then in 2016, I was introduced to CBD by one of my patients, who successfully weaned himself off of opiates for chronic pain by using CBD. He took the initiative to educate himself on CBD and its natural healing benefits to taper off his pain medications entirely. My patient was on high doses of opiates for chronic pain. Every two weeks he decreased his treatment by half, while tapering up his CBD dose. He’s not entirely opiate free as he still takes short-acting pain medications for breakthrough pain, but he’s altogether off his extended acting opiates. Seeing how wonderful it was to see him restore his well-being, I began my educational research on all things CBD and our body’s endocannabinoid system. I started taking CBD, and it too has completely changed my life. I suffer from occasional anxiety and in the past, I have taken benzodiazepines which are highly sedative medications to take the edge off on stressful days.

CHILL & BLISS
These prescriptions are like temporary fixes but do not diminish the core problem. The long-term complications of these medications are very serious, including but not limited to brain damage due to hypoxia resulting from respiratory depression, liver damage, and development of tolerance and/or addiction. Hence, I wanted something more natural without serious long-term side-effects and dependence issues. CBD has become my solution. I put my whole family on CBD—even my dogs! Not only does it have healing properties that work with our endocannabinoid system (we have cannabis CB1 and CB2 receptors), but it’s filled with antioxidants. It’s a dietary supplement, almost like a multivitamin, and it’s one of the best things you can do for your mind and body. It’s chill and bliss in a bottle, and that’s how we named our products!

As a pharmacist, I have witnessed the struggles people go through with addiction to controlled substances that are federally legal. I used to think a healthy life without the presence of these dangerous drugs would be impossible, but CBD has brought a new ray of sunshine in my life. It has completely changed my life for the better. Now I want to share the same positive influences with the world. Hence, why I came up with my CBD products. I want to let people know that there are other alternatives to treat certain conditions like pain or anxiety, and it comes from the cannabis plant. Through Buzzn, I’m looking to educate consumers on CBD and also be an advocate in de-stigmatizing hemp from a health care professional’s perspective. Buzzn’s products are for both people and pets and are made with pure broad-spectrum extracts that contain zero THC and comes with third-party lab tests, Certificate of Analysis (COA).

CHANGING ATTITUDES
The impact of the last century’s perception of cannabis still hangs heavy over the world, but a drastic social shift is underway as attitudes today are more supportive. At the end of the day, however, it’s just a plant. To my knowledge, there haven’t been any cannabis-related deaths—unlike alcohol, which is wholly accepted socially, yet alcohol-related deaths happen every day. People’s attitudes are changing, and legalization is expanding—fast.

Today, CBD oil is being used in cancer patients, and that’s pretty amazing to see. I don’t believe CBD by itself will be used to treat the terminally ill, but I can see CBD being an adjunct supplement to boost immunity and slow cancer cell growth, on top of first-line cancer treatments. First line cancer treatments can be so aggressive that they can often destroy one’s immune system. This goes to show how amazing the cannabis plant has been for multi-purpose therapeutic uses, and it’s time we allow ourselves to accept this plant for what it is: a natural healing alternative.

I’m so excited to be a part of this movement. It’s phenomenal to see a growing amount of people incorporate CBD into their daily wellness routine. Unfortunately for centuries people have created a negative stigma on cannabis and failed to give it a fair assessment on all the great benefits it provides. As a health care professional living in New York City, I will continue to be an advocate for the cannabis plant and recommend CBD to my family, friends, and patients. All of us New Yorkers could benefit from CBD because we all need that break from our daily grinds. Cannabis or any form of extraction, like CBD oil, can honestly give that to us if we allow it.

For more information on Buzzn, visit getbuzzn.com.