The Story behind
aunt betty cann
Aunt Betty Cann was inspired by our founder, Liz, after a 13 years of working at - and living on - a variety of college campuses.
While earning her Masters in Higher & Postsecondary Education from Columbia University, she first learned of the latin phrase, "in loco parentis," meaning "in the place of a parent," referring to the legal responsibility one takes on when working on a college campus.
Her immediate thought was "Oh, like a cool Aunt!" (like her own incredibly cool aunts)
For the next 12 years, Liz served in an on-call capacity, responding to crisis situations ranging from homesickness to suicidal ideations, intoxication to sexual assault, and everything in between, all while looking after the welfare of her students, in place of their parents.
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It was during these crisis situations that Liz began to notice something she hadn't expected...
the common denominator fueling these incidents was alcohol, not cannabis.
Sure, cannabis created problems when students messed around with edibles, but even in those moments the effects would wear off without any need for stomach pumping. Alcohol, however, was the culprit behind the worst of the worst situations Liz ever saw. She bore first-hand witness to the havoc it wrought upon students and families.
This realization led to Liz research the plant. This interest became so much more to her when she began to understand the therapeutic potential of the plant AND the innate social justice component to it;
not only was it wrong to have a medicinal plant kept from us all this time, but it's also wrong that people are sitting in jail because of it.
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And it's not just people still in jail...there are plenty of people who have been released after serving time and continue to face challenges like finding work, affordable housing, or just trying to expunge their records.
While continuing to teach online, Liz also began working as a dispensary technician at a cannabis dispensary to learn first-hand how cannabis worked as medicine. She knew there was more to the plant than met the eye and wanted to be able to back up her claims.
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Liz worked with patients ranging from 18 to 80+ through a variety of issues: anxiety, neuropathy, back pain, sleep, gastrointestinal issues, migraines, fibromyalgia, menstrual cramps, stress (!!!) PTSD, chronic pain, and more.
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we're all impacted by stress
A major focus of all educational programming at Aunt Betty Cann is teaching our clients about our Endocannabinoid System, a series of receptors and enzymes working 24/7 to keep your body at homeostatsis.
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This system is what allows cannabis to help us in a variety of ways, for a variety of conditions, in a variety of consumption methods.
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Knowing the basic science of how cannabis works with your body is what will allow you to take ownership of your healing experience.
Mission
To guide, educate, and assist those interested in learning how to use cannabis as medicine in a safe & controlled way, while also showing up as allies, raising awareness and support for those impacted by the failed war on drugs.
Vision
Aunt Betty Cann is here to change the way we talk about cannabis through education and honest dialogue. We offer services for individuals, physicians, and college administrators.
Being the "fun aunt," ABC takes pride in serving as a resource for families looking to understand how to broach cannabis conversations with each other.
but why "aunt betty"?
Whether by blood or by friendship, most of us have an aunt that we absolutely love. Aunts bridge the gap between us and our parents, often offering advice and insights that help shape up into the people we become.
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Like the aunts that support us, Aunt Betty Cann attempts to bridge the gap between plant medicine (cannabis) and "canna-curious" individuals and families.
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Cannabis is already legal in many US states and there are ways to use it safely and for medical benefit. Most people just need someone to explain how it works. You know, like a cool aunt would.
