We’re proud to welcome into the PrimeMyBody family, internal medicine physician and cannabinoid expert, Dr. Mary Clifton. Along with a 25-year career in hospital and private practice, Dr. Clifton is also a renowned public speaker—presenting at major cannabinoid events around the world—and is the best selling author of The Grass is Greener and Get Waisted. Recently, Dr. Clifton has become a leading voice in telemedicine, helping to bridge the gap between digitally-accessible healthcare and long-term wellness.

Before developing a specialization in cannabinoid consultation, Dr. Clifton’s introduction to cannabis and cannabinoid health stemmed from two traumatic experiences involving very important people in her life.

“I had an experience where my brother died and had pretty uncontrolled physical symptoms. I was at the bedside for his death experience. In addition, there was a spiritual disconnection…it was just a lousy death. And then a few months later a girlfriend of mine was diagnosed with ovarian cancer recurrence and died somewhat abruptly. But she had cannabinoids as her primary mechanism of controlling her symptoms. It was just such a remarkable difference between those two death experiences,” says Dr. Clifton—who is now a PrimeMyBody Affiliate, introduced to our company by Double Diamond Affiliate, Imani Mamalution. 

Although she was hesitant to believe the differences in those death experiences were a result of cannabinoids, Dr. Clifton took the initiative to review cannabinoid literature.

“I went back to review the literature thinking nothing would be there and there ended up being tons of data. Then I started to wonder how much we really knew that we weren’t sharing with people. It was then that I got more interested in cannabinoids. I love innovation. I love patient empowerment. And I love disruption. The endocannabinoid system and cannabinoids is all of that,” says Dr. Clifton

With her interest piqued by cannabinoids’ place in wellness, Dr. Clifton began to connect the dots between her medical understanding of the body’s systems—including the endocannabinoid system (ECS)—and cannabinoids. 

“The ECS is like a lot of other glandular body systems that we already know about, like the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis where cortisol touches every cell in the body. The ECS is present on every organ in the body. It’s one of these globally supportive body systems…that helps maintain homeostasis and bring balance. Our bodies were designed to live in balance. We weren’t designed to live in states of emotional distress or chronic pain,” says Dr. Clifton —who received top honor designations in internal medicine and family practice while attending Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

Dr. Clifton noticed after years of cannabinoid research and in-depth conversations with other professionals in the health and wellness fields that as a society we’ve become endocannabinoid deficient. Endocannabinoids, or endogenous cannabinoids, are chemical compounds produced within the body that help the ECS to communicate, regulate, and balance the functionality of other body’s systems and processes like immunity and detoxification. She points out that for over 5,000 years, going back as far as ancient Egypt and China, healthcare providers utilized cannabinoids for common and rare health issues and conditions. And then cannabis was muted, both as a crop and as a resource for wellness.

“After prohibition began, everything went away. It’s really just a weed. It (hemp) would be in your neighborhood or a ditch and pollinating the air several times a year. Our cows and chickens would nibble on it. It was integral to our food system. So we are probably dealing with a relative deficiency like so many things in modern society,” adds Dr. Clifton.

A strong advocate for hemp’s global resurgence, Dr. Clifton understands that mainstream medical adoption of cannabinoids is going to take time.

“The ECS just got discovered in the 1980s and there’s been such a prohibition on hemp and hemp products for so long, as well as limitations on research. Even with data traveling at the speed of light it still takes 10 to 15 years for people to switch gears and start making recommendations. Studies show that upwards of 60 percent of doctors think that cannabis and stimulation of the ECS with cannabinoids is beneficial. But only 30 percent are comfortable making that suggestion and even less know how to use the product.”

Our progressive approach to cannabinoid wellness, commitment to high-quality, highly-absorbent hemp extracts, and dedication to global hemp advocacy is what attracted her to PrimeMyBody and why she’s excited to be a part of the PrimeMyBody team.

“I know a lot about how (hemp) products are created. PrimeMyBody is one of my favorites. The nano-technology is very exciting. The CBG component is very innovative and very much sets this product apart. I also think that a lot of people, especially new users, have trouble with the taste of hemp products. So having a product that has a very good taste like RECEPT is important.”

Hear and learn more about cannabinoid health from Dr. Clifton by visiting https://bit.ly/2pk5dtk. Be sure to leave a comment and welcome Dr. Clifton, a pioneer in the cannabinoid community, to the PrimeMyBody family.