Menopause Is Having a Moment: Cannabis, Hormones & Aging Well with Dr. Joan Irvine

Hello and welcome to Just Say KNOW, that's KNOW with a K, N, O and W, I'm your host, Maria Calabrese, and you're listening on KCAA Radio 10.50 AM 106.5 FM and streaming on Green Bee Life , or wherever you get your podcast. Menopause is having a moment, and all I can ask is, why the hell did it take so long? And then some.

But seriously, more than 1.5 million women, American women and menopause every year and up to 80% 80% experienced hot flashes and night sweats. But the story is no longer being reduced to. Women deserve better treatment for hot flashes and night sweats, which we do. Believe me, anyone who has suffered through them will tell you how miserable they can be.

But here's what's actually happening to our bodies during perimenopause, the years leading up to menopause, our ovaries begin ovulating less regularly, so levels of hormones like estrogen and progesterone fluctuate and eventually decline. Now, those hormones there aren't. They aren't just about reproduction. Their effects impact our entire bodies, which is why the contemporary conversation has finally expanded beyond the commercial moment.

Beyond the fad creams, powders, lotions, potions, and diets into something culturally significant, women are asking the questions that actually matter about the relationship between our hormonal transition and cardiovascular health, bone health, cognition and dementia risk, and even what it means for healthy longevity. And researchers are listening, but they're playing catch up because historically, we simply haven't devoted enough resources to understanding this enormously consequential change.

A major National Academies analysis found that only 7.9% of NIH grant funding in 2023 was devoted to all of women's health research, all of it. And ready for this because I had to read it twice. That number was actually down from the mere 9.7% in 2013. So if you think about it, menopause research is a fraction of the already teeny tiny fraction devoted to women's health research.

Meanwhile, we've spent decades hearing about the risks of hormone replacement therapy. And much like cannabis, those risks have dominated the entire conversation. Yet erectile dysfunction only got forbid, right? Hey, I'm not male bashing here. That's a serious problem. But we can name the treatments promoted and prescribed down to the color of the little blue pill. But menopause, half the population, if we're fortunate enough to live long enough, will experience it somehow.

Women are still asking the $64,000 question why you need anybody. Tell me this. Hot flashes, sleep, mood, brain fog, muscle aches, body aches, depleted hormones. Sex. Where did I leave my keys? And maybe the most important question of all. Is this normal? Well, today's guest has been addressing questions like these for decades and reminding women that yes, it's normal.

And no, it's not all in our heads. We'll talk about why these issues are finally being taken seriously, openly debated, and as a result, more actively examined research. And when it comes to menopause, women's bodies and aging, well, no question or conversation is off the table. I am so excited to have Doctor Joan Irvine with us today because she has lived through the before, during and after of this cultural shift.

More than 30 years ago, she wrote a book about menopause at a time when virtually nobody wanted to hear about it, let alone talk about it, let alone read about it. She's an author, educator, and hypnotherapist who has worked in women's health, sexuality and healthy aging, and more recently, cannabis education and advocacy. She's also a former cannabis company CEO and host her own radio show, Your Best Life, which I love, where she talks openly about everything from menopause and hormone therapy to sexual wellness, cannabis and aging gracefully.

She's a long time community advocate and even recently ran for mayor of Redondo Beach. So sit back, relax. But not too much if you're driving. And let's meet at the intersection of conversations that matter most.

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I am here with Doctor Joan Irvine, and we're talking about why menopause is finally having its moment, including cannabis hormones, estrogen, progesterone, and aging. Well, Joan, welcome to. Just so you know, I am so happy you're here. Oh.

Thank you so much. I'm just so honored to be on your show and being able to talk about this really important topic to both women and men and our society.

Well, that's true. And, you know, I wanted to start by having you take us back more than 30 years when you actually wrote a workbook about menopause. Now, what made you even have it on your radar, let alone write about it? And what happened when you tried to get people interested?

Well, it was very interesting. First of all, I want to show you the workbook. This was my workbook. It was never published book. What happened is I got because of the work I was doing, I got approached by a woman that was working in the infomercial business in the industry, and she approached me because there was a supplement company that was going to be doing an infomercial around menopause and supplements.

And so she asked me as Doctor Joan, to be interviewing a lot of women, finding out what's going on with them, seeing how the supplemental work. And so that's how I got involved. And so I was involved and we interviewed probably about 50 women before they were doing the supplements. As they were doing the supplements, we worked, we did this workbook. We were all set to go all excited. And then, the powers to be in TV said menopause not an appropriate topic for TV and it shut it all down. I mean, can you believe that something that's going to affect every single woman as she ages and it was not appropriate to discuss on TV? Compare that to now you know.

I know. And if we look at what was appropriate back then, I'd have to do my research. But I don't know what year they stopped doing alcohol and tobacco ads. But that would be interesting. So why do you think there was such a taboo? Was was warned that television wasn't ready for it. Did they think there wasn't an audience for it?

Did they think menopause was something women themselves were uncomfortable discussing, or do you think it was something the culture just simply didn't want to hear about? Or were those network executives just completely underestimating the audience?

Well, I think first, I think the executives were completely underestimating the audience. However, there were things that were going on that I could, I could understand. First of all, there was that nurses study that said that estrogen would give women breast cancer, and they ended up doing oh, and they said also it could hurt our cardiovascular. And they named all these things that has now been disproven.

You know, 30 years

Like cannabis. Like cannabis.

Yeah. Like cannabis. And so that they weren't ready for it. Plus the doctors were not ready for it. I had interesting story that one of the women I interviewed was in her late 30s. She had been been going through all the the brain fog, the pain, all these the night sweats. She went to at least a dozen doctors.

None of them could figure out what was going on. The last one she went to said, well, you need to see a psychiatrist. Not that there's anything wrong. No. If you feel like you need to talk to somebody. She finally went to a female doctor who said, has anybody ever tested your home loan?

Wow.

And the doctor tests her hormones. And guess what? She was in what they now called perimenopause. But. So. But what's not funny about this is. Fast forward to now. Melissa French Gates was talking about that exact same thing happening, and it took her three doctors to have them out that she was in. This is that famous woman who has recently donated $215 million for women's health research and research.

Yeah, she needs to be applauded. You know, and she's someone with unlimited resources. She. Yeah, she had road blocks in 2026. But when you hear stories like that and today's enormous menopause conversation starting to explode, what part of you thinks finally and what part thinks where were you people 30 years ago?

Well, I really do have mixed emotions on this because first of all, finally, I cannot believe that it took this long. Plus, I've been very fortunate because my BF, since I have been three, is on the board of a medical association that has been trying to debunk all of that research. The man who heads up was the head of at Yale Medical School.

He was head of gynecology in psychiatry, and for the last 30 years he's been trying to have that debunked. So I've gotten a lot of inside information. So I'm really.

He was a head of the department and ahead of his time. So, you know, you know, what you're just saying reminds me of a conversation we had the last time we were talking about how differently women who spoke openly or even male physicians, you know, about women's bodies, sexuality, or frankly, anything that may networks think it would make people uncomfortable, were treated historically.

And somehow we got into the Joan of Arc and Salem witch trials, and I had made some comment about women being accused of witchcraft. And Joan, it was priceless. You said. Do you remember what you said?

Usually at the stake, you know.

Yeah. You said you would have been in serious trouble back then and, you know. Well, you're a I say this affectionately, you're a witch sister, and we need more. Which sisters? Because I would have been one of those witches right alongside of you. And fortunately for us, at least, it's 2026. Nobody's getting hung or burned or stoned for asking uncomfortable questions.

We might be blocked, but.

They do it in a different way nowadays.

Yes, yes. Okay, so, Joan, our women today, do you find asking different questions or have we finally reached a point where women are expecting and demanding better answers? What are you hearing from women now that you weren't hearing 30 years ago?

Can I be real blunt, please? A lot of them are really pissed off. Let me be right there. I mean, they are so annoyed that this information has been out there and it their doctors don't know about it. In fact, I was talking to a young woman, 41 years old, who was a neurologist. Just last night.

A doctor, herself.

A neurologist, and she's 41. And she said all of a sudden she realized she was getting the brain fog, she was getting the sweat. She was doing all this. And she said it took her six months to figure out what was going on. Her doctors didn't know this. She said they did not teach anything about medals in medical school.

And she I mean, this is a neurologist and it's brain fog. You know, it's cognitive stuff. It's all timers. It's all of these things. And she was never taught. And that's a 41 year old doctor, a neurologist of all people.

I remember you saying you talked to a woman who her quote stuck in my head. It was so profound. It summed it up. She said she felt she was robbed. Is that the same? Oh, yeah. Please talk a little.

It's a different person. Somebody I know in Redondo Beach. And I know her and her husband came up to me at an event in Redondo, and they women are coming up and thanking me for the way I'm talking out and the way I'm being really blunt about this. And she said to me, she goes, I've been robbed. I'm she goes, I'm just really she's one said, I'm really pissed off. I've been robbed. She goes my libido is gone. She goes, I love my husband. We had a great sex life. All of a sudden gone. Nobody told me that this could possibly be happening. So nobody told me that there were solutions. And this is where we get into a big issue with relationships, which we can talk about.

I was just going to ask you, I was just going to say, and how does this impact marriages and relationships and your partner.

Yeah, I was I was just reading yesterday or I was listening to another podcast and it's really affecting. Most of the divorces are happening in the women's 40s and 50s.

I saw that.

Yeah, because nobody know what was going on. And so when I talked to this woman, I just, you know, it was so it really hurt me. And she said, I love my husband. She goes, he can still he can still get an erection. He still wants to have sex. It's still he's he's where he was. And I'm like and she said and I'm just like, yeah, you know.

And she goes, and I don't like that.

It's heartbreaking.

It's really heartbreaking. And that women are missing out on, first of all, all the benefits, you know, of sex, the closeness. I mean, that's when you start having these issues. They turns out that couples stop holding hands, they stop connecting. And so it causes us divide in their relationship, which.

Oh sure.

Yeah.

I know myself personally speaking, you feel almost what's wrong with me and not worthy. You feel guilty? Am I holding back on my partner? And then? And then you do distance. And you know what came first? The chicken or the egg? You've got this affecting mood, but then you have the real life consequences of it affecting the mood.

It's it's can I say it's so difficult. But at least now people in the media, it's all over the place. Or maybe it's just maybe it's just the algorithms that have I'm now part of that is just popping up stuff all over Facebook and LinkedIn and all over the place. But I just feel like everybody and their brother and sister but is now marketing.

And HRT. And in a way, it really kind of annoys me because when I see some of the top male motivational men who are now promoting HRT, I'm going. First of all, why are you doing that? And it's like all of a sudden it's like, oh, they realize we're a big market, I hate to say, but they're now seeing that they have something that they can be selling to women, and they are selling it and selling it and selling it. I love parts of it because it's getting the information out, but I just feel like a certain way they're taking advantage of us again.

Well, yes. The exploitation, I mean, it's just like cannabis. You have to separate the marketing claims and the commercial motivation behind the hot, sexy topic with the cultural and scientific. And as women become more informed, taboo and stigma goes down, they start asking more nuanced questions. The marketers are going to jump on that and exploit that. And unfortunately, and it's it's a perfect parallel to cannabis.

The the scientists have to catch up, the medical school curriculums have to have to catch up. And, what advice do you have out there for people where it's impacting their relationship?

First of all, run a doctor and form doctor and get your hormones tested. Don't think it's just you. This is happening to a lot of people, and you want to take charge of your changes, and you don't want your relationship ruined because the doctors don't know what they're doing and they haven't told you.

That's great advice. You want to take charge of your changes. Joan, your workbook that we were talking about earlier, Doctor Joan actually had written a menopause workbook over three decades ago, 30 years ago. It predated what happened in 2002. But, Joan, you've lived through the fallout from the Women's Health Initiative in 2002, where women started hearing really frightening fear messages about hormone replacement therapy.

And those messages breast cancer, ovarian cancer. I mean, they influenced women and their doctors for years that we were we were discussing and and, fast forward now to 2026 and the new advances with the, FDA. I want to put a little current context around this, because I think this is where women can understandably, very understandably, myself included, get confused.

The conversation today isn't simply about hormone replacement therapy, whether it's dangerous or whether it's safe. It's it's so much more individualized than that. You know, current guidance recommends looking at the individual woman, her age, health, history, symptoms, the type and route of hormone therapy, and when it's being started in relation to menopause. But here's here's my question, which you touched on how many doctors, I mean, you have a huge network and you have a network of many learned to people, but how many doctors have actually been trained to have that nuanced conversation with us?

I mean, I recently read that national survey that you referenced earlier of ob gyn residency programs, found that fewer than one third of the programs that responded even had a menopause curriculum. Fewer than one third gave trainees dedicated time in menopause clinics. And another study across ob gyn internal medicine and family medicine residents found that fewer than 7% felt adequately prepared to manage menopause.

Yeah, and you know, that's not blaming doctors. It's about the fame of cannabis. It's about asking whether we've adequately prepared them for our which conversations. And I you know, I can't help but see a parallel here with cannabis. We're asking physicians to counsel men and women about something else they historically haven't been taught much about, and something that remains federally illegal.

Schedule one so hormone replacement therapy was played. Plagued by that 2002 study. The black box warnings, you know, and if so many physicians haven't been adequately trained to navigate menopause and hormone therapy, I mean, imagine how prepared they are to counsel women about cannabis, which also historically has been part hasn't been part of standard medical education. So I guess this is my long winded way of saying, you know, women may be asking their doctors increasingly sophisticated questions about both, and their doctors may be lost and and consider how much information these doctors are being asked to navigate.

Things continue to evolve. I mean, just now in 2026, the FDA did approve labeling changes since that 2002 study that scared of the disease out of everybody removing those risk statements, including cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, dementia from the boxed warnings of certain menopausal hormone therapies. And that's a pretty dynamic change from what many women remember hearing at the time of your workbook, which if the television networks weren't going to be hind you, it wasn't going to break through that. So. I guess I threw a lot out there. But give me your reaction to all of this. That's in the in the current context because you were there before doing now.

Yeah. Let me go back a little bit because I had written this book. And of course, that's when, you know, I was anti hormones also.

Oh really, really!?

Oh yeah. Even back then because the black box. And so when I took a look at things and my book, I talked about the herbs and the, the diet and the exercise and the food. So we addressed all of it not.

Which plays an important role.

Which what?

Which does play an important role.

It does play an important role. But hormones were out. I all of a sudden I was having night sweats so badly that it was I wasn't getting any sleep and went on and on, and I did everything I possibly could. And I find and my just to let you know, my mother had had breast cancer, so I was one that shouldn't take hormones.

Yeah. I got to the point that I finally said, you know, this is about quality of life. I need to get some sleep and I don't want to go on Ambien. I don't want to go on all these drugs to get sleep. So over probably about 25 years ago, I started taking estrogen. And I'm so happy now that I did so.

And you found a doctor to prescribe it?

Oh, yeah. I found one doctor who would describe it, but I also let me go through my list. I also had other issues that I had that they're now identifying with, issues with hormones. I had the night sweats, I had the frozen shoulder. And I had I spent two years seeing acupuncturist and chiropractors and had needles stuck in me.

And now they know that frozen shoulder is part of it. No libido. I was one of the lucky ones. My libido never suffered. I was a kid that I used to kid that, you know, because the estrogen level was going down. My testosterone level was going up, so I had a great libido.

You would also have another book, Hot Sex for what? What is the title of your hot textbook? Oh.

Recipes for Hot Sex. So that's that will get to that later.

In another episode.

Another episode because that but I had the brain fog. I had fibroid tumors. I was coming every two weeks.

oh ...

bloating, I mean, it was I had it was just absolutely terrible. But let me fast forward. So here I am. You know, I'm 78 years old now. I found a doctor that besides the estrogen, you know, put you on progesterone and then put about probably eight years ago put me on testosterone. Not just for the beetle, but for the bones, for everything else that the testosterone can help with.

But then I had to go because my medical insurance. I went to a doctor just about a year ago, and it was a young male doctor. And, you know, and I go in there and I'm going, hey, I'm only here because I need you to prescribe this for me. You know, excuse me, I come in as an expert so I know I'm a little threatening to some doctors.

And he said, first of all, he goes, well, you know, about the estrogen and the breast cancer. And I could say, oh, he that has been debunked. And I know the person who is responsible for debunking it or one of the people. Then he said, well, you're too old. And because there used to be the theory that if you didn't start hormones within two years of going through that, then the receptors were dead.

Well, I happened to be back to visit my BFF, who I said is on the board of this medical association, and they had just discovered that that was needed to be debunked also. And he said to my girlfriend, at 76, you get yourself back on estrogen right now. So I said that to the doctor, and you know this doctor, I said, just give me the prescriptions, you know, let me go.

And did he bring up another thing I was dealing with myself just recently is I was dealing with some incontinence, and I had completely forgotten about the estradiol cream that could help, which has helped. Never brought that up to me. So when you're going to a doctor and you know a medical doctor and you know more about metaplasia than he or she does, you know, you're just kind of going, really?

And they don't like to be told by a patient of what's going on. But the enlightened doctors and they're starting to be more and more of them, you know, are listening to you. They're talking about it. They're getting the information out there. And this is a time that we as women, I always say my book was called Taking Charge of Your Changes.

We have to take our power back, and we have to go in there and say, I know my body. This is what's happening to me. Don't tell me it's in my head, you know? Don't tell me it's not happening. I've been living in this body for a long time, and I can tell you that something's changing and I need some help here. What can you do to work with me to get me through this?

That's it. I mean, you can't get intimidated or take it personally. They don't like to leave their comfort zone. No one does. And if they're back on dated 2002 debunked study. They're they're just they're not going to want to go into territory they don't know about, which is very also. And I'm thank God you were willing to search and probe and and and have the fortitude to stay in your own shoes, in your own body and listen to it and get what it needed.

You know, you've said something interesting the last time we spoke. In some ways, you look at the change in conversation around hormone therapy, the way you look at cannabis. Better late than never. What did what did you mean by that?

Well, you have to laugh because you're talking about doctors not knowing about menopause and HRT. Well, when I go to a doctor's appointment, I let them know that I use cannabis. Yeah. And ...

Wow, that's. You know, what kind of reaction do you get? Oh, yeah.

Oh my God, it is. So I have to say, it is really funny because it's kind of like they look at it and you know, and some of them kind of look at you as if you're like a drug addict, you know, going, you know, it's like it's going back to that old reefer madness thing.

I'm going to interject for one second. I don't mean to. I have a brother who's a physician, a physician in new Jersey. His wife sent me a photo. She said she's a tremendous gardener. She sent a cucumber the size of I don't know what. And and yeah, she does use the little blue pill. Apparently, it helps grow things bigger in her produce.

But in any event, I, I just casually said, oh, my God, I have to send you some hemp seeds. Now. He's a physician in new Jersey, and he said that was federally illegal. I do not want to be on a mailing list. Do not send me that through the mail. So I just wanted to add that.

Oh. Oh yeah, they, they just having I mean, and I don't want to blame them all because they've been listening. What saying what's the medical society has been saying. So I don't want to blame the individual.

No. We have to have sympathy that they're so misinformed that there's this fear factor.

Oh yeah. You know, and then when I talk to them, of course, as you know, one of my specialties and my thesis for my doctor of clinical hypnotherapy was using hypnosis for sexual enhancement, you know, and that way back when, and one of the things that they have found with cannabis, besides, you know, that cognitively it is helping people.

There's some recent research that's coming out and saying that cannabis, as we get older, may actually help with reducing the the symptoms or the time frame for cognitive decline.

Yes.

And I figure if that's the case, I'm in great shape, you know.

Yeah. And and just just to connect a couple of those dots because we recently, refreshed updated an article in our Green Village Learning Center. It'll the link will be on the show page. There actually is you're you are you're spot on. And so many people don't know this. And I love talking to, you know, no grass, pardon the pun, grows under your feet.

But there's actually a biological reason researchers are now interested in the intersection of cannabis hormones and menopause. So for for those who are new to cannabis, you know, our bodies all have something called the endocannabinoid system. The ex. We got hormone replacement therapy, HRT. We got a system called the X endocannabinoid system. And that's a signaling system that helps regulate things like sleep, mood, pain, body temperature, inflammation and appetite.

And here's where it gets interesting. I think you're going to find this interesting. The endocannabinoid system and our reproductive hormones, they don't operate what you just said in completely separate lanes. They interact. So what you just said there are estrogen can influence endocannabinoid signaling. And as estrogen changes during the menopausal transition, researchers are now looking at what those changes may mean for the endocannabinoid system activity as well.

Now, you know, naysayers will say, well, that doesn't mean we've proven that cannabis treats menopause well. And we haven't we haven't proven it in a standardized, randomized pharmaceutical type study. But menopause specific cannabis is still limited, just like women's health issues are. But but what we just heard from you, and I hear it all the time, too, and myself included, women are reporting using cannabis for many of the same things that can become challenging during this change sleep, mood, anxiety, pain, relaxation, and sexual wellness.

So there is a very fascinating intersection here about between what we understand biologically, what women are actually experiencing and doing, what researchers are still trying to figure out. Which means it brings me back to you.

Do you. Do you think women see cannabis as an alternative to hormone therapy? Or have they talked to you about seeing it as something complementary or simply another wellness tool?

I see it as complementary and another wellness tool. I think all you have to take a look. Hey, HRT may not be right for everybody. You know, cannabis may not be right for everybody, but it's that, as you said, it's that combination thereof. One of the things that I have seen, especially with the cannabis there is now research, and I had interviewed a doctor who had done a lot of research on what's called female orgasmic difficulty.

FOTA and what they have found. They thought only 40% of women had it. Her research is showing 72% of women have this. But what they have also found is cannabis works so well and almost I mean, it's one of these you can't say in every case, but every case because it relaxes us. It helps us focus on what we're doing because you can't be having good hot sex if also you're going little Johnny, oh, he's going to be coming home or what?

Do I have to cook for dinner or G I have that appointment you it helps you focus. Plus what it does is we have receptors in our vagina and our Taurus. And doing the cannabis help stimulate those receptors. So it is like an aphrodisiac for your mind and your body. And I love that.

Oh. Amen, sister. That's Joan. You just nailed the perfect example of this inner interaction. And yeah, I'm so in awe of your involvement with Doctor Suzanne Mulvihill. Work around female orgasmic difficulty. I mean, FOD and medical cannabis, you know, without taking us too far down that topic today, her work is you just said what what has you know, that work has shown us what can happen when women's experiences are ahead of the research.

And I, I loved I listened to your podcast on Your Best Life guys. It's a it's a great show. When you're not listening to Just Say KNOW, listen to Your Best Lifeand vice versa. But thank you. I was blown away when she said orgasm is a bodily function, just like sleep, not an event. Yes. And that's just another Just Say KNOW episode because I refuse to reduce that conversation of four minutes.

So. All right. But that was that was mind blowing. What did you think of that? Just very briefly. We're going to do a whole episode on that. Oh.

No, we could do definitely. Because, you know, that's my area of expertise also is orgasms. Well, to me, what it is we're talking about, what sex means to a relationship, also what sex means to our body. We're talking about hormones. We're talking about the way we live and all that. When we're having sex, we actually naturally produce a lot of hormones.

We produce things like oxytocin, which is good for us. Open minds, you know, we produce all of these things naturally that make us feel good. And if we feel good and we feel good about ourselves, then it reflects in everything that you do. And whether you're having sex with a partner or you're having sex with yourself, you're still getting those hormones in your naturally, producing those hormones in your body, and it's good for you. So that, to me, is so important for people to realize because we were taught masturbation was bad, bad, bad, you know.

Like the blind, right? Yeah. What the heck?

And somebody was talking. No, it's kind of like, oh, no, it's priming the pump. It's getting. I mean, our bodies are then naturally, you know, working. Well, we're feeling good about ourselves. We, you know, maybe we start to do that in the morning. We start the day and we're just going out there and going, wow, life is really good.

And we did that by having sex or self pleasuring ourselves.

Which helps our sex life with a partner. I mean, you have to know yourself first, not just in that area, right? You know, there's there's a thread running through everything we've been talking about. Women experience something. They compare notes, they start asking questions and sometimes discover that science simply hasn't asked enough of those questions yet. So those questions aren't welcomed by their health care providers.

Now, you've proposed the Women's Health Panel to ignite. It focused specifically on this research gap. So tell us a little bit about ignited the the panel you're proposing. And where do you think we're still not asking the right questions or doing enough research to answer them?

Well, I think ignite is kind of its own unique animal. It is a business executive business conference. So they're not talking they're not drilling down. It's really from the business perspective of it.

And it's held in LA. That's right. Is it held in LA or all over.

In October. It's going to be in LA. They've they have them all over the country now. Okay. What in LA. So I looked at it and I said, as much as I was a little annoyed that everybody's taking advantage of, you know, the economics of this, it does bring in a deep different economic factor. And for cannabis, very important that it proves that medical cannabis know cannabis is good for us.

And we are. We always have been. The women are the ones that usually do the buying. The women are the ones that are out there. So if you're going to be sewing anything to anybody, you want to be selling it to the women. So, you know, I think it was important for them to be able to put this information out there.

Plus, the more recently, the consumer for cannabis has become an older demographic, not just just the young ones. And if you take a look, as we always talk about my best life or, you know, the healthy life net, the platform is on, that the clientele or the listener, it's 70% women, over 40 with higher incomes who are interested in wellness and healthy aging and all that.

Well, these are the people who are now buying the cannabis. The young ones, they don't have as much. Let's be real, they don't have as much money as we do or in general. And so when you're taking a look at the cannabis industry, kind of shifting their focus, then we need to be addressing women's health as part of that.

Yeah, I think that's the part of what's changing. There's power in the moment when women have the information, not just the commercial information, but the actual information in the moment and realize, wait a minute. This isn't just happening to me. And there are solutions out there, that maybe I haven't heard about them, but just because I haven't heard about them doesn't mean I don't need to investigate.

And that's when the individual experiences can become much bigger. Questions worth studying and hopefully inform science. Not just marketers, but I mean, you're 100% right about, you know, there's marketing claims and there's nothing wrong with economics. We need the economics. We need to be able to turn our lights on. But there's there's commercial motivation and then there's educational motivation.

And what I love about you and about Your BestLlife. And for anybody who would want to reach out to you, they would go to Doctor Joan Irvine Consulting. Is that correct?

That's that's my website. But they can contact me at Joan@JoanIrvineConsulting.Com.

JoanIrvineConsulting.com and guys, all of this is going to be on our show page because I think in the cannabis space, many of the marketers fell short and put the commercialism, but they're trying to survive legalization and compliance is. Yeah. And so they're putting the commercialism in front of the education, which is the cart before the horse.

As you said, women are the consumers. Women are smart. We do the due diligence. We do the research. We need that educational information. And we need voices like yours, which are just so powerful. What else is on your radar?

I am so excited to tell you this, I participate. Yeah, this is and it's I participated in a sex in meta documentary.

No kidding.

That Naomi Watts is a celebrity connected up with it. Doctor Somi, who was the founder of Her M.D., is the medical doctor, and there was nine women they brought across from across the country for a two day retreat that we talked about sex and metabolic, and they filmed it. It is it was just it was a transformative experience connected with the women, as you were saying.

We were open. We were talking. We got right down to.

It that how to feel so good.

It was it was just it was so heartwarming. And that is going to that documentary is actually coming out in September.

September 2026. Right.

It actually there's going to be a free viewing of it from September 9th through the 15th. And if you go to one commune com and you can sign up for it, or they're promoting it all over social media. So you can sign up to look at this for free for a week. And you can I haven't even seen it yet.

I don't see it until I don't see it until the end of the month. They're having a gathering of the women who are with it. So but it's going to be really good. And it's women being honest about what's going on with them. And, you know, sex and meta pause and life. So really important.

Amen. And, I just you haven't seen it, but you've lived it. And I have to say this for our listeners who are listening in our archived library, what Doctor Joan was referencing was the premiere in September of 2026. But this documentary is going to have legs. It's going to be out, it's going to have legs, it's going to have eggs, but it's going to be out.

And keep an eye. On Doctor Joan’s website. All this information will be in our show page and on their website. Because if you miss that promotional window where you could watch it for free. Don't worry, they're going to have more documentaries and more windows and and more offers. And so thanks. Thanks so much for bringing that to us and and for participating in that.

I just can't wait to see it. And I just you went from a, a workbook. That network TV was like wooh, too Now being in this documentary with any other wonderful brave warrior sister, warrior witness, whatever we're going to be called and it's fantastic. All right.

But thank you so much for allowing me to be talking about this, because it is so important and.

Allowing you. Thank you so much for coming on and and spilling the tea with us. My goodness.

I want to end by looking forward and talking about what it actually means to age. Well, you're hosting a radio show, you're advocating around women's health. You're planning health panels, you're consulting with major brands, you're working in your community, you're developing new projects constantly. You just ran for mayor.

Dr. Joan, what does aging well mean to you. And how do you go about it?

Well, I must say, and it's very funny because I'm kind of rewriting the workbook.

And I ask you what became of the workbook. Great, great, great.

... in and, you know, because I didn't even have a digital copy, so I'm rewriting it.

Oh, my gosh!

I know that’s how old it was.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, it's so funny. But what as I'm doing it, I'm kind of going through my life and I'm inputting information and it's like I've had one consistent thing or many consistent things through my life. And one of them is I pivot very well. And I've never I do not. I can't say never. I normally don't have an issue with taking on controversial, you know, topics.

Let me just say pivot was a kind, professional way of saying you duck and roll.

Yes, I do, and can I even I had never planned to run for mayor. I was, I was I got very involved in my community when I moved down here. I did Leadership Redondo, which is a program through the chamber, you know, and I just started getting involved. But I had never, you know, it was not in my goals or even in anywhere about running for political office.

But I just got so upset after like 15, 16 years of seeing what was going on down here and a few things I won't go into the details that I jumped in. I said, okay, I'm going to run for mayor because I don't I think it's important that my voice and the voice of the people who talk to me is heard.

And I was criticized for being a sex educator. I was criticized for supporting cannabis. I was criticized for my age. I was criticized for all these things. And I'm going, this is what healthy aging can be. Not that I'm perfect. Listen, I have some authorities. You know, I've I've had some issues, but I've been very lucky that the issues that I've had have been fairly minor.

I mean, I had uterine cancer, I needed a hysterectomy. That was all. I didn't need medication, chemo, radiation. So it's not like I'm without having experience some of these things, but that just makes me want to go forward. And I realize that I'm very fortunate with. However, whatever it is I contributed to being this at 78, I'm very fortunate.

Also, I have younger women, even this doctor, this neurologist that I was talking to last night, 42 years old. She was going, Joan, thank you. Because we don't have that many role models of women because people think of, you know, I should be like, you know, like that.

And yes, especially women with your level of experience. Yeah, yeah.

And I'm out and I go, you know, and, you know, we talk about exercise. I go out and I go dancing to the local bands every single weekend, you know.

And you gave up Apple. Is that right?

And I gave a walk.

And you recently were telling me and it made such an impact for you gave up alcohol because of the ...

... I was noticing. And this is where we have to take charge. Hey, listen, I love to party and I was at the party, but I was noticing neuropathy and I did like you. I do lots of research and everything I read. There was one common thread and it was alcohol. I mean, I one time and I broke my fractured my ankle and I had to take a look at my own life and say, is the alcohol worth it for me? I said, if I don't change something in my life in ten years, I'm going to be in a wheelchair.

That's just right. That's just it. I'm just when we we've got to wrap really soon and I'm having you back. But even now I go to the gym for a different reason. I did a long time ago. A long time ago. We did it to look good in our genes. Now we go to preserve our bones and promote longevity.

But go right. You're right.

Absolutely. And we need to. So this is I see myself continuing on. I don't I can't look out 30 or 40 years I used to.

Well maybe.

But I but I look and I go, okay what am I doing today? What am I doing now that is going to have so I can have my best life?

I love that, all right. And my best life people can. How can they listen to my best life? Where do they go? What's the website.

If they if they go to healthy life net, that's the platform. And so then they can look for for my show.

And any brands out there looking to enlighten first not just sell. You know, women are savvy consumers. You're going to want to check out Doctor Joan, and Joan, where could they reach you at?

Oh, they can reach me at Joan@JoanIrvineConsulting.Com.

Perfect. And that will be on our show page. I, you know, I can't thank you. I can't think of a better place to leave our conversation at, you being around. I love the fact that you're open to looking 30 years down the road. And if I'm going to be right there with you, girlfriend. So I'm going to call you.

And thank you so much for joining us today, Joan. We'll definitely be having you back and for being willing to talk about all of it, all of it in in such a accessible, friendly, relatable way. So guys, if there's one thing I hope you take away from today's show, it's this. Because if we've learned anything from Jones story, it's that sometimes women are asking the questions long before the culture, the research. Or even medicine. Right is ready with the answers. Now was it isn't simply about hot flashes and night sweats, and those are bad enough. It's a hormonal transmit.

It's a hormonal transition that can affect truly affect how we feel, how we sleep, which affects how we feel, how we think, how we experience our bodies and how we function. Quality of life and has opened up such a much bigger conversation about women's health, sexuality, and aging. We also talked about just how dramatically what women have been told has finally changed or not told, and an entire generation heard really fear factor frightening, sensationalized messages about hormone therapy following that Women's Health initiative in 2002.

But if you look at how that study was conducted and why it was developed, you'll understand why the FDI FDA removed a lot of those potential alleged potential health risks. And, you know, today the conversation is far more nuanced and individualized. And that's what Doctor Joan reinforced. I mean, the science and the regular regulatory landscape. It's going to continue to to evolve, but it's it's individualized medicine.

I think the biggest takeaway from Doctor Joan is know your body and trust that, you know, our doctors are navigating that evolution, too. As we discussed, many physicians received remarkably little formal education about menopause and historically, little about cannabis. So if they can't speak about it or are resistant to having a conversation about it, that doesn't mean it's not worth investigating.

Not about blaming doctors. Right? It's one more reason to become an informed participant in your own care. Learn enough from people like Doctor Joan, her website, her her, her workbook, which I'm so excited she's going to rerelease her existing locations.

Green Bee Life Learning Center. And what you want to learn is what questions to ask. And then it's it's a chore. But find health care professionals who are aligned, who are willing to have those conversations with you. And then there's cannabis. How can we end without cannabis?

We don't know.

We don't have all the answers. I mean, menopause specific cannabis research, it remains limited. But so does menopause in general research. But women are using cannabis. They're talking about their experiences and we're having them on. And Doctor Jones having conversations with them. And researchers are asking more questions. And those experiences deserve to be examined rather than either dismissed as anecdotal or promoted as proof. Something in between. And the distinction matters because perhaps the larger lesson from today's conversation is that we don't know a lot of things yet, that if we don't know yet, that shouldn't be the end of a conversation.

What I love about Doctor Joan and her approach is it should be the beginning of better questions. And Joan, you've been an example of that. Okay.

Thank you.

We need to compare notes. We need to recognize patterns. We need to speak up. It's okay. You know, researchers will investigate evidence of and ideally our understanding will evolve with it as well.

That's how we get from the workbook that a TV network didn't want to air and infomercial, including it, a workbook that nobody wanted to talk about more than 30 years ago or nobody was allowed to talk about it. So the conversation were having today, and maybe aging well isn't about having everything figured out. Maybe it's about staying curious, staying engaged, continuing to ask questions, and giving ourselves permission.

That's what I always get when I have a conversation with Doctor Joan. She reinforces giving ourselves permission to keep learning right? Keep learning what our bodies need as they change. It's natural. Doesn't always feel natural.

Joan, thank you. Thank you for helping us do exactly that today. And to everyone listening, remember, education isn't about telling you what to think. It's about giving you the information to know what to ask. You can continue today's conversation at GreenBeeLife.Com where you'll find our Learning Center article exploring cannabis, the cannabis system and menopause, along with more evidence informed resources to help you separate what we know, what we're learning, and what we still don't know.

You can also find more episodes of Just Say KNOW with Maria, wherever you get your podcast. And and of course, a very, very special thank you to everyone for joining me today. Until next time, stay curious, keep asking questions, and remember, just say KNOW. That's know with a k, N, O and W,

Just Say KNOW is a green Bee Life presentation airing live weekly on Friday afternoons from 4 to 5 p.m. Pacific on KCAA radio and KCAA TV. Archived audio episodes are on green B, life, green, believe, I Heard radio, Spreaker and most third party major platforms for archived videos. Check them out on GBL TV on Green Bee Life, YouTube and Rumble to follow us. Our Instagram and Facebook is at Just Say KNOW Radio to apply to be a guest on the show or for sponsorship and advertising opportunities, go to Green Bee Life /JustSayKnow and feel free to reach out to me Maria for any questions. I'm at Maria@GreenBeeLife or call me at (818) 758-6925.