VOA Š CONNECT 
EPISODE  #166   
AIR DATE  03 19 2021   
TRANSCRIPT

OPEN  ((VO/NAT)) 
((Banner)) 
Understanding Medical Marijuana 
((SOT)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD, Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
I think if you look at the last three years, cannabis has 
already revolutionized the world.  I mean, we have all but the 
three states now that have some form of cannabis accepted 
legally by the state.  
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Bike Lights 
((SOT)) 
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light 
Parade)) 
Venice is like Bohemian capital of the United States.  
Everybody is artistic.   
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Rethinking Choices 
((SOT)) 
((Paula Ellman, 65, Clinical Psychologist and 
Psychoanalyst))  
What would that mean to have faced a life-threatening 
illness where I could have died and how I would want to 
change my life.  You know, I had thought that I would decide 
to work less.   
((Open Animation))  
 

BLOCK A 
 
 
((PKG))  CANNABIS  
((TRT:  09:57)) 
((Topic Banner:  Medical Marijuana))    
((Reporter/Camera:  Aaron Fedor))  
((Producer:  Kathleen McLaughlin))  
((Editor:  Kyle Dubiel)) 
((Map:  Boston, Massachusetts)) 
((Main character:  1 male))  
((Sub characters:  3 female;  2 male)) 
((NATS:  Dr Benjamin Caplan and Kimberly Carvalho)) 
((Courtesy:  Zoom)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD, Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
How have things been going as far as your back?  I 
remember you had some back trouble that was getting in the 
way of your work. 
((Kimberly Carvalho, Patient)) 
I do, yeah.  It's been going on for a while.  Just I've worked in 
the operating room for, you know, many years andÉ.. 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
I went to Tufts Medical School here in Massachusetts.  I 
went to Boston University, Boston University School of 
Medicine for a residency and family medicine.  And I 
practiced family medicine like your old, traditional general 
practitioner or primary care doctor, here in the suburbs of 
Boston.  And I was faced with an onslaught 
of patients.  I mean, primary care doctors are in short supply 
these days.  And my patients that I would see, you know, are 
trying everything they can to get better, as they should.  And 
I can only, at the time, I could only offer them the choices 
that I'd learned about.  And in medical school, you learn 
about medicines, you learn about therapies, you learn about, 
sort of, natural options but only in cursory.  And patients 
were telling me that they were trying cannabis and that it 
was helping them.   
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
And I'm sitting across the table saying, "Great, I'm glad for 
you.  How, I don't know how to help you."  I didn't know 
anything at the time.   
((Photo Courtesy:  Dr Benjamin Caplan)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
And this was embarrassing and it felt unprofessional.  Here 
I was, across the table, supposed to be the expert in 
the room, and my patients were the ones teaching me what's 
helping them sleep or how to, you know, deal with their 
headaches.  And I thought, ŅBoy, isn't this a great 
opportunity for me to learn something and be able to 
help people?Ó 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
So, inside this kief are tiny, little, basically, dusts of cannabis 
molecules, and it's almost as if we digested an entire 
pharmacy into that powder.  And inside that powder, we 
have all of this chemistry.  These are the main cannabinoids 
that most people know about, from Delta-9-THC [Delta-9-
tetrahydrocannabinol] or THC and CBD 
[Cannabidiol].  Some people are starting to hear about the 
sleep cannabinoid, CBN.  But actually cannabis, as 
a plant, has pages and pages and pages and pages of this 
stuff.  I mean, we're literally talking about an entire 
pharmacy.  And if you look closely, you'll find surprising 
things about cannabis.  Eucalyptol, for example, like 
eucalyptus; or Geraniol like a geranium; or the smell 
from roses; or menthol, mint, peppermint.  And all of these 
things actually are produced by the plant naturally.  And we 
can harness all of these individually. 
((NATS)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
Do you want to see it?  It's pretty cool to see.  This was the 
kief and the wax that we just put in.  And you can see there's 
lots of oil and kief on the bottom, and it's a little bit hot so we 
use oven mitts so I don't hurt myself.  And when this is 
ready, I'll be able to add terpenes, which give it extra kick 
and help it penetrate the skin more deeply. 
Then you could have a liquid where someone can put on 
their skin or eat.  And to help them is just revolutionary. 
((NATS:  Dr Benjamin Caplan and Sheila Mattie)) 
((Sheila Mattie, Medical Cannabis User))  
After going through about two years and about losing 90 
pounds [40 kilos], I ended up getting an endoscopy, 
colonoscopy, blood work, the whole shebang.  And I was 
diagnosed with Crohn's.  But then, I started doing the 
tincture or the oil.  And I actually have a couple of friends 
who make that.  And so, they would send me a bottle of 
the THC, a bottle of the CBD, and it did wonders.  And I 
never tried to do Humira.  I never tried to do steroids 
again.  I've just solely relied on cannabis.  And I'm up 50 
pounds [23 kilos].  I can eat.  I have an appetite.  So, things 
have gone back to normal GI [gastrointestinal] wise. 
((NATS)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
So, you know, one of the things that is special as we're sort 
of pioneering, you and I, in cannabis,  
((Video Courtesy:  Dr. Benjamin Caplan/CED Clinic)) 
exploring and learning to, kind of, know where it works and 
where it doesn't.  Sometimes, we find pockets of illnesses 
that gets remarkably better with cannabis. 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
So professionally, I see an industry that needs 
shepherding.  On both sides, I sort of feel like the Western 
medical world needs to learn about cannabis.  They have to 
understand what's out there already.  They have to 
understand that  
((Video Courtesy:  Dr. Benjamin Caplan/CED Clinic))   
there is research, that the research points to much more 
benefit than potential risk of evil.  And they need to be 
teaching their patients this reality.  
Right now, it's the patients that are teaching their doctors or 
patients themselves going it alone or finding people like me 
who are outside of the system. 
((NATS)) 
((Jon Napoli, Owner/Founder, Hempest and CannAssist 
Consulting Group)) 
We sell a lot to just regular adults who want to grow their 
own plants that are, maybe, gardeners and wanted to 
expand their gardening into cannabis.  Medical patients 
usually might have a caregiver grow for them.  Some might 
grow themselves.  Most doctors, unfortunately, are behind 
the curve on the understanding of this.  They don't teach you 
about it in medical school.   
((Photo Courtesy:  Dr Benjamin Caplan/CED Clinic)) 
((Jon Napoli, Owner/Founder, Hempest and CannAssist 
Consulting Group)) 
So, anybody like Dr. Caplan who understands cannabis, is a 
gem to have, a great resource to help educate the medical 
field in general. 
((NATS)) 
((Lee, Medical Cannabis User))   
So, this is a GMO strain.  It likes to stretch really hard. 
The reason why I use cannabis is to give myself a better 
quality of life and to mitigate and navigate all of the issues 
that have arisen from not just Western medicine but from just 
all the stuff with the Crohn's and colitis.  I would say before it 
was legalized in Massachusetts, it was always a difficult 
conversation with my primary care physician.  But, because 
he was a good doctor, after it became legal, he would listen 
to me as the reasons why I say, you know.  I'm lucky.  I've 
always had really good medical care. 
((NATS)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
Music can be very solitary where you're playing alone and 
you can play your emotions out into the instrument, but it's 
also a way to play with other people in a chamber group or 
an orchestra and connect.  You really have to listen carefully 
to what someone else is playing and match them and match 
their pitch and match their rhythm.  And it's a way to quiet 
oneself and connect with someone else.  So, actually it's 
interesting.  A lot of musicians become physicians.  Part of 
that is because we have to learn how to listen to people or 
maybe we enjoy listening to other people and connecting 
with them. 
((NATS)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
Welcome to my life.  It's a strange, hectic mix. 
((NATS:  Dr Benjamin Caplan with his daughter, son and 
Erin Caplan)) 
Hey, can I have a hug please? 
Are we going to have a big birthday for you?  We already 
had a little bit.  So, we had cake this morning.  No, we didn't 
have cake? 
((CaplanÕs Daughter)) 
No.   
((Erin Caplan, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner)) 
What did we have this morning? 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
So, no more cake today, right? 
((CaplanÕs son)) 
Chocolate donut. 
((NATS)) 
((Erin Caplan, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner))  
I'm a pediatric nurse practitioner.  I'd say, in pediatrics, I 
mainly encounter resistance.  I think there's a lot of 
knowledge out there that people don't know about.  And I 
think there's a lot of research about the pediatric brain and 
the concerns  
((Photo Courtesy:  Dr Benjamin Caplan)) 
((Erin Caplan, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner))   
for what cannabis can do to that or the effects that it could 
have on it.  And it's mainly negative.  I find that people don't 
really study the positive effects that you could get, especially 
for these kids 
((Photo Courtesy:  Dr Benjamin Caplan)) 
((Erin Caplan, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner))   
who have ADHD [Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder] or 
epilepsy or other behavioral concerns.  I think it just needs to 
be discussed more in the pediatric community. 
((NATS)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
One, two, ready, go. 
((NATS)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
I've built the largest cannabis library of medical, published 
medical journals anywhere in the world.  And I put it 
on the Google drive that everybody else in the world, who 
wants to read, can follow along.  They can read the material 
same like I'm reading.  And I started to tease out, okay, what 
kinds of things do we know about THC?   
((Video Courtesy:  Dr. Benjamin Caplan/CED Clinic))  
And I would write it down.  And what kinds of things are we 
learning about CBC [Cannabichromene]?  And I would write 
that down.  And IÕm just, as I'm learning, I'm also organizing 
so that I can build an infrastructure to teach people. 
((Video Courtesy:  Dr. Benjamin Caplan/CED Clinic))  
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
I think if you look at the last three years, cannabis has 
already revolutionized the world.  I mean, we have all but the 
three states now that have some form of cannabis accepted 
legally by the state.  And that used to be nothing.  And so, 
we've already come a tremendous amount.   
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
I think to go past the finish line, we're going to need doctors 
to buy in.   
((Video Courtesy:  Dr. Benjamin Caplan/CED Clinic))  
And in order for doctors to buy in, they need to be 
educated.  So, one of the things that I tried to do was  
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
not confront them as a pom-pom cheerleader, that cannabis 
is all great because it's not all great.   
((Video Courtesy:  Dr. Benjamin Caplan/CED Clinic))  
It's a tool in a toolbox.  There are many other things that 
work for people.  Cannabis is a tool which works,  
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
but we have to help physicians understand that. 
((Popup Banner: 
U.S. Federal law bans marijuana use, including as 
medicine.)) 
((NATS)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
That was perfect.  Wow!  You're doing really well.  I'm so 
impressed, sweetie.  And there's nothing to tell you to do 
differently.  You did it perfectly.   
((Popup Banner: 
93% of Americans are in favor of medical marijuana use if 
prescribed by a doctor 
*Quinnipiac poll)) 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
Wow!  Want to try it again?  
((NATS)) 
((CaplanÕs daughter)) 
No. 
((Dr Benjamin Caplan, MD; Chief Medical Officer, CED 
Clinic)) 
No?  You're done.  Okay. 
((NATS)) 
 
 
TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up 
((Banner)) 
Chilled 
((SOT)) 
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
The most difficult thing is the faces.  The eyes, you have to 
do like some reaction.  Once you satisfied, all the details are 
in there, then youÕre done.

BREAK ONE                                                                    
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                          
 
 
BLOCK B  

((PKG))  ICE SCULPTOR   
((TRT:  04:11)) 
((Topic Banner:  Sculpting in Ice)) 
((Reporter/Camera/Editor:  Jeff Swicord))  
((Map:  Glen Burnie, Maryland)) 
((Main character:  1 male))  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
I first got interested in ice sculpture when I worked in a hotel 
back home.  I used to work in a banquet kitchen.  So, every 
time we have a function, we have ice carving.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
Every year, they have like ice carving competition for locals.  
So, I decided to pursue ice carving.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
I was born in Paete, Laguna, known for wood carving capital 
of the Philippines.  In Paete, Laguna, each house are doing 
some wood carving. 
((NATS:  Angelito Baban))  
Sorry, I got small, small art shop.   
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
When I was ten years old, my uncle, he asked me to try 
draw and try to carve it.  So, when I tried, oh, maybe I can do 
this.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
This is Last Supper, originally by Leonardo da Vinci.  And 
this scenario is like a farm, like farmerÕs family.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
Ice Lab is ice company.  Yeah, we do cocktail cube ice, 
logos, something like that.  So, we do a lot of festivals.   
Most of the ice carvers, they, they have like, they call it the 
template.  They attaching to ice, the paper.  But what I do is 
look at the picture and transfer it to ice by using the ink pen.  
The purpose of using the chainsaw, thatÕs easy way to cut 
out extra ice that you donÕt need it.  So, when you apply the 
die grinders and chisel, it is not going to be hard for you to 
shape it because already cut out.   
((NATS)) 
IÕm well known for chisel.  ItÕs my favorite tool.  And you can 
take my machine tools but the chisel just stay with me.  
Yeah. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Photo Courtesy:  Angelito Baban)) 
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
Every year, I went to Alaska for world champion.  2014, 
thatÕs my first world title.  2016, I got the world champion 
again.  So, I lose only one time.  So, I have a lot, a lot of 
different medals in here.  ItÕs kind of like fairy, fairy tale story.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Angelito Baban, Ice Sculptor, Ice Lab)) 
The most difficult thing is the faces.  The eyes, you have to 
do like some reaction.  If not, itÕs like a statue, nothing 
meaning.  Once you satisfied all the details are in there, then 
youÕre done.  In ice, you really can do anything you want.  
ItÕs kind of like magic! 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
 
 
((PKG))  VENICE BEACH MAGIC   
((TRT:  04:00)) 
((Topic Banner:  Parade of Lights))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Genia Dulot)) 
((Adapted by:  Philip Alexiou)) 
((Map:  Venice Beach, California)) 
((Main characters:  1 male))  
((Sub characters:  3 male)) 
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light 
Parade)) 
This bike has 5,000 LEDs on it and it has 36 inch [90 cm] 
tires.  This is Big Red.  This is the parade bike and it is a 
beast. 
So in 2014, I moved to Los Angeles, had a girlfriend who 
was a makeup artist in Kansas City and she wanted to come 
out here and get into the movie industry, you know, doing 
like special effects makeup and she did.  
((NATS:  Marcus Gladney)) 
I will put these in and do a little, quick little check to see if we 
have power.  And we do.  We have power.  
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light 
Parade)) 
Like six months of being here in Los Angeles, she realized 
that she didn't want to be here anymore.  So, she went back 
to Kansas City, which is where we're from, Kansas City, 
Missouri.  She moved back and I stayed.   
((NATS)) 
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light 
Parade)) 
I would hang out at the beach during the day, just trying to 
figure things out.  I was just like amazed at all the bicycles 
with the wheel lights.  And I asked somebody.  I stopped him 
and asked him.  I say, ŅWhat is this all about, you know, 
where do you get the light from?Ó  And he said, ŅIt's a guy 
named Sebastian, Sebastian, the Light Man.Ó 
((Sebastian, The Light Man, Venice Electric Light 
Parade)) 
About 2014, Marcus come along.  He said, now he really, he 
overdid his bike.  He made it spectacular and then he said, 
ŅMan, let's get a ride.  I mean, letÕs get a bicycle ride every 
Sunday.Ó 
((NATS:  Marcus Gladney)) 
I'm the Pied Piper of Venice, Sunday to Sunset.  World 
famous Venice Electric Light Parade.  
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light 
Parade)) 
I would ride around at sunset, pulling a speaker, playing 
music.  And I was kind of like the Pied Piper.  People would 
just fall in behind me.  I needed a specific day and I said, 
ŅYou know what? The best day is Sunday.Ó  So then, I 
coined it ŌSundays at Sunset: Venice Electric Light Parade.Õ 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light 
Parade)) 
Here we are now today, you know.  It started off with like 
two, three people, four people.  The largest ride that we've 
had so far was like close to almost 400 people.  
((Terry, Participant, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
I wanted to do something big and better.  I drew it on paper.  
All my friends thought I was crazy for two years.  I took it to 
my buddy I build Harley's with, because he knows the metal 
and welding and we did it in one weekend.  And it works, 
which is amazing, because every tire, it turns off the back 
tire and I wanted the illusion that it touches.  
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light 
Parade)) 
Venice is like Bohemian capital of the United States.  
Everybody is artistic.  There's no right and there's no wrong 
in Venice.  You can either be barefoot and homeless or you 
can be upper echelon and live in a six-million-dollar house 
as everybody coincides together and we all mesh and we all 
mix and it's magical. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Austin, Participant, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
Actually, I came here on a trip about two years ago and I 
stayed right in Venice basically and I saw it go by and I was 
like one day, I want to live here and I want to do that.  And 
now I do it.  It's crazy.  We've got shoes, pants, jacket, 
glasses, this thing and just some more light snow, some 
gloves.  We literally, my goal is to like to cover every inch of 
myself in LEDs.  
((NATS/MUSIC))

TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up 
((Banner)) 
Life Changes 
((SOT)) 
((Paula Ellman, Clinical Psychologist and 
Psychoanalyst))  
You know, I had thought that I would decide to work less.  
But I feel like IÕve brought kind of a renewed vigor back to my 
work.  I get so much pleasure from both my professional 
affiliations and from my practice with my patients.   

BREAK TWO                                                                   
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BLOCK C  
 
 
((PKG))  CONNECT WITH -- PAULA ELLMAN   
((TRT:  03:07)) 
((Banner:  Connect With Š Paula Ellman))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Gabrielle Weiss)) 
((Locator:  Rockville, Maryland))    
((Main characters:  1 female))  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Paula Ellman, Clinical Psychologist and 
Psychoanalyst))  
IÕm Paula Ellman.  I am a mother of three children, a new 
grandmother and I am a clinical psychologist and a 
psychoanalyst.  I do depth, long-term work with people who 
are looking to make significant changes in their lives due to 
ongoing unhappiness.   
So, you know, one of the interesting things in my life has 
been, you know, oftentimes when you get to be my age, 
things begin to slow down in peopleÕs lives.  TheyÕre facing 
retirements, their retirements and decisions about how to 
spend their leisure time.  For me, itÕs been quite the 
opposite.  You know, itÕs a time of my life where I have, IÕm 
not only practicing, but involved with a lot of committee work 
and study and presenting work thatÕs been very exciting and 
enlivening for me.   
In the midst of my work and my professional work and my 
family, one of the unexpected things that arose a few years 
ago and I think these things can come out of the blue as this 
did, was that I was suddenly, after a full day of work, I had 
not been feeling well.  I had gone in to get a throat culture, 
some blood work, went in to get my blood work results and 
was informed by my internist that I had leukemia.   
And that began six months of needing to, kind of, leave the 
world behind.  But it was successful, and I often had been 
thinking about during the process what would that mean to 
have faced a life-threatening illness where I could have died 
and how I would want to change my life.  You know, I had 
thought that I would decide to work less.  I am working one 
day less.  I do take off Fridays.  But I feel like IÕve brought 
kind of a renewed vigor back to my work and to affiliating 
with colleagues and, you know, I think I have not pulled back 
from work.  I think I get so much pleasure from both my 
professional affiliations and from my practice with my 
patients.   
I think with facing a life-threatening illness I think, it has 
entered me in a way of realizing the impermanence of time.  
That our time here is limited and that we never know when it 
might be stolen and that thereÕs a lot of pleasure in life for 
us, while weÕre here.  
((NATS)) 


((PKG))  FREE PRESS MATTERS   
((NATS/VIDEO/GFX)) 
((Popup captions over B Roll)) 
Near the Turkish Embassy 
Washington, D.C. 
May 16, 2017 
President ErdoganÕs bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters  
ŅThose terrorists deserved to be beatenÓ 
ŅThey should not be protesting our presidentÓ 
ŅThey got what they asked forÓ 
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it  
reliably 
accurately 
objectively 
comprehensively 
wherever the news matters 
VOA 
A Free Press Matters

CLOSING  ((ANIM)) 
voanews.com/connect

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SHOW ENDS