An Interview with Chip Paul
Photo Courtesy Of Chip Paul
I’ve spent a total of 18 years of my life in Oklahoma. My intro to cannabis was here, at 17. Flash forward ten years and my kids and I are attending a small-town health and wellness fair at our local library. Chip Paul was someone I had never heard of, but after meeting his wife Cindy there, and learning about him and his work, I got goosebumps and knew I needed to talk with him.
Growing Up Hippy
His early years are exactly what you’d expect for a child of the 60’s. You had the government on one side yelling cannabis is evil, and the people on the other saying “Ya bullshit!” The health aspect wasn’t prominent the way it is now.
Art Courtesy of Casey Renteria
During his teen years, he had his fair share of fun. “I smoked cannabis but I also used a bunch of other drugs and I got so deep into it I couldn't stop. So I decided when I was 20 to stop everything: no alcohol, no drugs, and no cannabis. And I stayed that way for 30 years.”
But when he met his wife Cindy, cannabis came back. At the time they were both clean and sober from everything, but dealing with chronic pain and various ailments. Ultimately, they started to seek alternatives.
“We couldn’t just eat Advil all day, so we decided in 2014 to drive to Colorado and just try marijuana. After 30 years of sobriety, it was so intentional and well thought out. But, there was also a lot of worry if I would back slide into cocaine again, and what if I start drinking again– and does it even matter? So I had to go through all that in my mind. This time around, it was a very sober and conscious medical decision that we made, and it works.”
We talked about what the reintroduction was, likely after being away from the plant for so long and facing all those worries head-on.
“It opened my mind and just shattered all the years of programming. I wanted to understand for myself what this plant could do for me.”
At that time there wasn’t anything available regarding higher education. Now there are several programs to choose from when it comes to cannabis but it didn't come into the picture until later in his life.
So what’s his background?
Corporate to Cannabis
Chip graduated from The University of Oklahoma in 1985 with a degree in mathematics and had a robust corporate career. He started building statistical analysis and programming, eventually promoted to the executive level, managing a team of 45 software engineers. Then he left the corporate world to be an entrepreneur, following a passion for health and healing others.
He became well-versed through independent studying, on how our bodies function on an enzymatic and chemical level, and he uses that knowledge to build products that enhance the quality of life and the health of those who take them.
“I found out that many things can modulate the endocannabinoid system (ECS), especially many things in nature, so I took that knowledge and built cannabis without the cannabis. I could give that to you– and, as well as I can measure, you would get the same effect as smoking a sativa. You upregulate your mind, and you get a mood increase.”
This knowledge can have an impact for many reasons, but the first impact I think of is for the cannabis-hesitant. My mother wouldn’t dare use cannabis, but she would take a natural supplement. That opens up the door to having a further conversation– when it’s based on nature, not just cannabis.
Paul makes natural products and sells them through his company TrueMedx Bioceuticals. He has a wealth of knowledge but isn’t stingy or secretive about it. He is very transparent, and that informs the people who come to him about what they are taking.
“You might come to me and say, ‘I have a meat allergy.’ I'm going to dive into building a product for that, by understanding what it is and what that is doing inside you to understand how to mitigate it with things you can do at home, but also by building a natural drug. I’m always going to tell you how to do the things I'm doing on your own. But we may also take that knowledge to turn it into a product and sell it.”
Changing Oklahoma Law
The most fascinating thing his wife mentioned to me was his part in changing the laws here in Oklahoma. He had a massive hand in making this happen, not just with his knowledge, but pounding the pavement and making it happen the OG way.
“We had to figure out how to write a petition first and didn't have a clue what we were doing. We circulated that petition and it didn't get enough votes, but it did start to shift the conversation. In 2016 we petitioned again, and I led with a law that I authored a lot of, but not all of it. there were a lot of eyes and hands in that process.” Chip told me.
They didn’t make the 2016 ballot because of Attorney General Scott Prewitt and had to take it to the Supreme Court to get on the 2018 ballot. They succeeded and the Medical Marijuana law passed with 57%. It wasn’t easy; he told me about how they had to dig deep, and find the means to make things happen
“We had no money, we had to beg, borrow, and steal for everything we did. It was a pretty historic moment for us, and very grassroots in the way this movement came up. I’m very proud and humbled by that. I like to think God put me in that position, cannabis just stuck and this is where he wants me to be.”
The Future Of Cannabis
I was stoked to hear his thoughts on where cannabis is going. He has such a beautifully blended perspective of science–meets natural health–meets activism, and that shines in his vision of cannabis.
“The science behind cannabis and what it does for you will break down the pharmaceutical industry. God has always given us the cures, and he’s built this great system. We just need to wake up and open our minds. Ten years ago if I had a health problem, I’m fucked, I can't do anything about it, so I have to subject myself to the medical system.” Chip said.
“Now, we’re starting to break down those walls, so you know there are alternatives, you can have some control over your health. In the next 5 years, you’ll have the ultimate control over your health. Your mind will be completely opened up to your connection to your body. You’ll start to understand how important being around nature, clean air, and running water is. You’ll begin to see that the standard diet is being weaponized to make you sick so you end up in the medical system. I don't think it's just pharma either, I think it's all institutions that aim to enslave us.”
His passion for taking control of one’s health is so clear, and cannabis played a huge part in igniting that fire. I loved talking with him, and felt like I learned so much. It was amazing to learn about the exact point at which science meets healthcare and natural medicine.
To think that the same state where I was arrested for cannabis has someone like Chip trailblazing the path forward gives me so much hope for our future. I only hope to learn as much as I can from him and carry on the fight.
