OHANA

by Brittiany Adilas

Family is everything for most people. Which is exactly what “Ohana” means, family. It’s not just your immediate family either. It’s all the family that “your family” encompasses. For quite a few mixing Ohana and cannabis has been taboo. But, that wasn’t the case for Alicia Napualani Kamakeeaina Grass. Her love for her family and cannabis has led her to have an amazing relationship with her sons and that has allowed their whole lives to flourish by integrating their love of cannabis and its healing properties into everything they do. This all came very naturally to Alicia being from a culture where all generations of a family may live in the same home. She has felt blessed to have that opportunity to really connect with her family that way. Alicia says, “I’m from a community where I wake and go have “breakfast” of THC with a group of Ohana, we discuss what our plans are for the day, burn and get it done. I’ve made cannabis a part of our Ohana life and welcome discussion of any questions or stigmas that arise.”

Being He Hawaii Au (Hawaiian) and growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii, she was always around cannabis. “Where I learned to welcome everyone with open arms, me ke aloha ku’u home ‘o Hawaii, my love my home will always be Hawaii,” Alicia told me. Everyone in her community was very accepting of cannabis and it was something that she never felt afraid of. For some, when something is a normal part of the lives of those around you, there’s no need to try things until you are actually ready to. Especially if you feel safe and happy in that environment. So, at an ideal age of 20 she tried cannabis for the first time. Where you ask? Well, Oklahoma of course! Grand Lake to be exact. “Grand Lake was scattered with boats, tan bodies, water, liquor, orange zig zags and endless amounts of “meh” weed,” according to Alicia. Her love of cannabis truly began that summer, and oh, her love of tan bodies, who could forget those!

Throughout her life, so far since that summer, she has incorporated cannabis into most aspects of her life, including raising her sons. Cannabis has a way to help with so many aspects within a person’s life, some

may find themselves feeling more whole and content. Alicia has tried to love her life with some of those ideas in mind, allowing for her to really figure out what kind of mom she wants to be and how she would raise her sons. Being that her sons are 23 and 17 now, it seems Alicia has been able to do what we all hope to do as parents, and continue to have a great relationship with our kids as they become adults. Cannabis helped play a huge part of that in their lives. Even to the extent of her oldest son being in the cannabis cultivation part of this versatile industry. Since they are both patients today they now have the opportunity to learn and explore more within cannabis together.

Throughout the entirety of Alicia’s motherhood she has used cannabis. As a way to help with her anxiety, as well as, a way for her to handle a L-1 burst fracture spinal cord injury. This occured after being in a car accident. Doctors have told her she should be paralyzed from the waist down. But she isn’t, so Alicia feels huge waves of pain regularly, ” Thank God my body rejects narcotics and that gave me the motivation to start researching the medicinal benefits of cannabis and it’s been an exciting journey,” she told me. Because of this, Alicia had no choice but to learn more about how to use cannabis medicinally in different forms to help with her health and manage her pain levels. Since cannabis was the route she had to take because of her body rejecting narcotics she has been nothing but open to her doctors about her cannabis use throughout all of her visits and time spent raising her sons. She isn’t about to let her health drag her away from the life that she wanted for her sons and herself. So she started her research on ways of consuming cannabis, what may work best for her ailments and how to properly dose edibles. Since she has to be able to function doing her job as a tax preparer and going to school for biotech and biochem, while staying medicated, all of these aspects were very important to gain a better understanding on. The more she learned about cannabis the easier it became to have discussions with her sons and understand what the more age appropriate answers to give for questions they may have. “You’re providing them with information instead of the internet or friends. I try to make them feel comfortable about asking future questions, I praise them for coming to me with an important question.  Shower them with aloha, hugs and kisses….lol Watching them grow up is an absolute honor to be a part of their lives for me,” says Alicia. Which you can truly feel from her when she speaks of her sons. She has a way of making everyone who she speaks with feel that she honors them. Having been through so much in her life she exudes an aura of understanding to a lot of situations and how people may feel in any situation.

Family should mean being able to be honest with who you are and still being accepted by those you love. Being within an environment that really does give understanding allows for that family to grow. Since Alicia is able to pursue her passions while still being a great mother, she is able to really give to those that she cares for around her. While still helping to destigmatize cannabis use by contributing to help make masks for essential workers, being a cannabis advocate on social media within informational groups, showing that parents are able to be cannabis patients and still have lasting, loving relationships with their children. Cannabis has penetrated every aspect of her life, but it gives her life.

The life that’s important to her sons and all her extended Ohana.