It has now been over a year since cannabis was legalized in New York state, and Saturday is 4/20, an unofficial holiday that celebrates it. With more than 100 dispensaries in the state, there is now a conversation about safe and responsible use of cannabis. A new CBD dispensary hopes to further this discussion.
“I’ve always been a very strong person, and that’s also what helps me,” said Barbara Vaughn, the founder and chairwoman of Cannabicity. “I’m very of a very strong mind and a certain amount of pain I could just put out of my mind.”
Fourteen years ago, Vaughn was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease.
“It’s called transverse myelitis,” Vaughn said. “It is numbness in the body. It started with my feet and within a few days went all the way up to my midriff.”
Initially, Vaughn was prescribed strong pharmaceutical medications, but she didn’t want to become dependent upon them. She says she was worried about various side effects of the drugs.
“I was really looking for an alternative to taking more like nerve medication for pain,” Vaughn said. “And that’s what led me to want to explore like the CBD. And I do find that it
