My father taught us to never be afraid to get our hands dirty, as long as it was honest work. My mother, the nurse, talked about the need for more compassion and empathy among doctors and nurses. As part of chores while growing up, my brother and I cleaned the floors and the walls of our home as children. MLK stated that...”If your job is to be a street sweeper, be the best street sweeper you can be.” As a teenager, I cleaned tables at the Double Day Book company cafeteria, I worked at King Kullen supermarkets stocking the shelves, and I worked at Grumman aircraft corporation putting rivets in the fuselage of the F1-11 jet fighters. Because of these experiences, I knew what I didn’t want to do for the rest of my life. That’s why the idea of cleaning the floors and the walls of the operating room did not intimidate me. The rest is history.

When I applied for the “summer” job at Long Island Jewish Hospital at age 19, in 1969, I didn’t know what a scrub tech was. I had just finished my second year of college, at Lincoln University, Pa., the oldest HBCU in the country, and I wanted to be a biology teacher. The summer youth job recruiter stated that I would be washing the floors and the walls of the operating room. He didn’t know what a scrub tech did. I took the job. However, I was taught to be an operating room scrub technician. After that summer, I decided I wanted to be a general surgeon, instead of a biology teacher. I worked as a scrub tech at Long Island Jewish Hospital every spring, summer, and winter break, until I finished college. The surgeons I worked with there, wrote recommendations for me. I was admitted to medical school upon graduating from college. Most young people today, that I share my story with, would not accept this type job as described to me. I respond by saying that if I had had that attitude, I wouldn’t be where I am today This is the story I share with young people, hospital staffs, and others, everywhere I’ve been in my over 38yrs. of practice.

My passion for medicine began at age 19, while a college student in 1969. However, my parents from Grenada, fostered my interest in science. I was hired as an Operating Room Surgical Technician. It was On-The-Job Training that was unheard of then or now! I didn't see this coming! My Mother was a Nurse who spoke regularly about the need for more compassion and empathy among doctors and nurses. Living near a local pediatrician, me being an asthmatic, and my mom, were the exposures to a career in healthcare and that was enough. I practiced General & Vascular Surgery for over 38 years.

I began studying Cannabis in 2016 when Amendment I passed, and I have attended several Cannabis conferences since then. Monthly Zoom/Virtual conferences allow Cannabis Certifying Physicians to keep current with the latest science, laws, and developments in this Cannabis Science and Industry. When I learned of the Endocannabinoid System in 2018 at a Cannabis Conference it was a "Paradigm Shift" for me of immeasurable proportions! I continue to study the history, science, and the magnificence of this miracle plant-based medicine first documented by the Chinese 12,000 years ago. They described Cannabis as the "Ying" & "Yang" Medicine. How logical, analytical, and descriptive! As a Scientist and as an Assistant Professor of Surgery who has studied homeostasis since high school, I am in awe of the medical miracles that I witness daily. Cannabis Therapy improves the quality of life.

After completing a B.A. degree from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, I graduated from Medical School at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and completed his General Surgery training at Maimonides Medical Center and Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn. I then completed a Vascular Surgery Fellowship with Dr. Michael DeBakey at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. I practiced for eleven years in Houston, for ten years in Corpus Christi, and was an Assistant Professor of Surgery, on the faculty of Texas Tech University Health Science Center in Odessa, for five years. I also traveled during my practice, as a "Locum Tenens" Surgeon, or "Acute Care Surgicalist for seventeen years, working in 40 hospitals in six states. I have also participated in Medical Missionary trips to Uganda & Nigeria and was blessed and privileged to have traveled and seen other countries and cultures. Which allowed me to appreciate more, the things we often take for granted in this country.

"The words that I hear from my patients are that this ancient medicine has been life changing and life altering! I've witnessed tears of joy, laughter, and moments of shocks. I hear testimonies of "not having slept like this in a decade" from patients in their 70's & 80's. I hear testimonies from patients of all ages who've stated that their "pain was still there but it didn't hurt!" Auto-immune diseases, all age-related diseases, and over 200 medical and neurological conditions can be treated with Cannabis. I have seen over 6,000 patients since I have been certifying patients for Medical Cannabis. When I started college, I wanted to be a biology teacher. I have now come full circle. I am a biology teacher like my distinguished colleagues. I am a forever learning and evolving "Cannabinologist!"

"The global shift towards legalization is long overdue and offers hope that we can yet reverse the absurd suppression, the violent defamation, and the desecration, that the sacred plant has suffered, in the last century." "The Endocannabinoid system validates a bio-psycho-socio-spiritual model of medicine, and that it provides the biological evidence of the ancient medical practices that model the same!" Dr. Rachel Knox - Cannabinologist.