387 — What Makes Cannabis Medicine Versus Just Getting High With Ryan Sprague episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 3, 2026 · 2H 23M

387 — What Makes Cannabis Medicine Versus Just Getting High With Ryan Sprague

from Spirit Gym with Paul Chek · host Paul Chek

Cannabis is a plant medicine that can do so much for one’s health when it’s grown properly and used very wisely.Expert and educator Ryan Sprague explores the chemistry behind what makes cannabis work and explains why judging its quality solely on how much THC it contains is a very bad idea this week on Spirit Gym.Learn more about Ryan and his work on his Highly Optimized website and on social media via Instagram here and here and YouTube. Listen to Ryan’s Highly Optimized podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to them.For Spirit Gym listeners: The Sacred Smoke Collective is a private membership association where you can shop for its organic tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) offerings. Save 10 percent on any purchase at this website and a mystery gift by using the promo code paulchek at this link. Also, sign up for the Sacred Smoke Collective’s affiliate program at this link. (Special offers from Spirit Gym guests are time-sensitive and at their discretion to redeem after 30 days.)Timestamps 4:44 How a highly optimized human uses cannabis wisely and as one of many tools.10:00 Do Drugs Have Religious Import? by Huston Smith from The Journal of Philosophy.21:28 Practice the Daoist not too much, not too little philosophy.32:34 Psychedelics are meant to be challenging by design.51:09 Why Ryan believes cannabis and hemp are the people’s plants.1:05:26 “Cannabis is a medicine that works on one regulatory system that happens to deal with 80-plus different conditions and purposes.”1:13:22 Could cannabis treat epilepsy?1:27:42 How much THC do you realiy need in your cannabis?1:34:18 Foods that help with endocannabinoid production besides cannabis.ResourcesSoma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality by R. Gordon Wasson (FREE PDF link)Find more resources for this episode on our website.Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music Thanks to our awesome sponsors:PaleovalleyBIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15Organifi CHEK20Spirit GymCHEK InstituteWe may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

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Cannabis is a plant medicine that can do so much for one’s health when it’s grown properly and used very wisely. Expert and educator Ryan Sprague explores the chemistry behind what makes cannabis work and explains why judging its quality solely on how much THC it contains is a very bad idea this week on Spirit Gym. Learn more about Ryan and his work on his Highly Optimized website and on social media via Instagram here and here and YouTube. Listen to Ryan’s Highly Optimized podcast on Apple P...

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387 — What Makes Cannabis Medicine Versus Just Getting High With Ryan Sprague

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