Today's episode will broadly cover the topic of HOW the modern human condition is over-medicalized and how the Powers That Be and the medical-industrial complex gain money and power from spreading sickness and deceit. FUN STUFF, I KNOW!

We'll cover astroturfing, we'll cover pinkwashing, we'll cover disease mongering. We'll cover regulatory capture, we'll cover the fallacy of the appeal to authority, and we'll cover the good things and the bad things about the ICD-10.

Plus a couple of fun questions thrown in for good measure.

A few weeks back, the fine folks at The Flowery invited us to hang out and record an episode in their secret room at their brand new Ocala location. It was there that we met Josephine, who has been working for decades now to destigmatize and legalize the use of medical cannabis. She tells us the heartbreaking reason behind her tireless-yet-joyful mission, tells us about the varieties of THC, the safety of Delta-8 and other synthetic cannabinoids, and the legalistic tomfoolery surrounding Cannabis in America.

Check out their website to learn more, to sign up, and to order online: https://theflowery.co/

Today we're recording LIVE at The Flowery's newest Medical Cannabis Dispensary in Ocala, FL, and have the distinct pleasure of interviewing Mike Smuts, the C.O.O. and one of the coolest, chillest, and most passionate guys in the business.

Their facility, their personnel, their whole BRAND and approach to plant medicine...its nothing short of stunning.

Check out their website to learn more, to sign up, and to order online: https://theflowery.co/

It takes a humble explorer to admit to their crew when they've misinterpreted their map, and WE, dear listener, admit to YOU that our first attempt at discussing medicalization was..."clunky" is perhaps too kind. "A complete and utter sh!tshow" is still under-representing it.

And so out of our near-obsessive desire to GET THINGS RIGHT, we're re-recorded our previous episode, so make sure we provide the information and the hot takes we promised we'd provide.

In this episode we discuss: WHAT is medicalization. What is OVER-medicalization. How sinister can it be? How can healthcare providers get it right? How can YOU, the humble citizen and health-seeker, ensure that YOU aren't victimized by it?

Listen in. Learn how to cultivate your most precious resource: your biological, psychological, social, and spiritual health.

ALSO covered in this episode: you traveling internationally in a box of tarantulas or monkeys.

Well folks, starting a podcast isn't a simple "if A then B..." process. It requires a bit of fiddling, a bit of experimentation. Trial and error. Strikes and gutters.

So in the spirit of transparency that we aspire to every day, we've decided to KEEP our less-than-excellent recordings, and to let you, dear listeners, decide for yourselves whether or not this episode is a keeper or a stinker.

There are also some decent jokes in there, so why throw out the comedy babies with the juddering content bathwater?

Ahem. The original episode description is as follows.

Medicalization is a morally neutral process by which modern medicine expands its scope to better address the wide variety of human maladies. OVER-medicalization is the process by which the modern medical establishment comes to diagnose and treat normal human conditions, ranging from pregnancy to birth to depression, anxiety, shyness, aging, and death, as pathological and in need of medical treatment. Usually in the form of expensive medications, unnecessary surgeries, and expensive therapies.

Sounds corrupt? Evil?

We agree.

In this episode we also touch on several obligatory topics such as garden gnomes, reanimated spiders, talking dogs, and telekinetic sperm whales.

Joy.

Welcome to the Vital Revival Podcast, your go-to for evidence based medicine, health, rehabilitation, performance, and human optimization. Our goal is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date, most scientifically sound information on how to live your best life, and to do so as entertainingly as possible. Who are "we"? Vanessa is your classic Norwegian by way of New England, and is a professional writer and Human Networking Consultant. She likes psychedelics research, longboarding, and longer walks on the beach. Rob is a meat-and-potatoes midwesterner with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy and a nose for nonsense. He likes lifting heavy shit, standup comedy, and painting tiny, overpriced monsters.