Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick McCauley.
Hi Nick, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am the owner of a CBD cannabis business in East Atlanta it is called Holistic Hemp GA. We are Located on the Atlanta beltline in the new Madison yards Fuqua development area in front of the Publix facing the beltline located right off of Bill Kennedy Way off of I-20.
We help patients with Dr. Hodges CBD line that is sold exclusively in my shop at Holistic Hemp Ga
My father was a combat medic in the Army. He had a chaotic childhood and traumatic background. His mother abandoned my father at an early age and his father was a horrible alcoholic and person. With all the trauma my father experienced in his life and in the military, he had a compulsive addiction to opiates and alcohol. My father would drink what they call “lean” by the pint. Which back then in the early 90’s , was before “lean” was glorified and part of the epidemic we are seeing now. My father would take any opiates and pills he could get his hands on pills,lean, alcohol and benzos. Often pawning everything we had to support his addiction until we had nothing left.
My family caught the first opiate wave in the early 90s. Most people aren’t aware that the first opiate wave hit in the early ’90s. This was the start of the opiate epidemic that we see today.
My father’s addiction spiraled out of control until the point he was so addicted he couldn’t work. He would nod out all day and sleep.
My mother was a housewife up until I was seven years old. My mother was born and raised in Birmingham,Alabama.My mother’s first job was working at the mall for Rich’s and Parisian. We went from my father’s 6-figure yearly income to government housing, food stamps(paper back then). Our power was cut off often and evictions were always an issue. At one point living in hotels for years being a family of five living in a one bedroom hotel.
I grew up in doctors offices, methadone clinics and pharmacies. My father with his knowledge of being a combat medic in the military he would call in his own prescriptions using the doctor’s DEA # and would drop me or my brother off to pick the prescription up. My mother worked 2-3 jobs most times struggling to raise three kids. One of her side jobs was to clean apartments for clients. At times my fathers addiction was out of control to the point he pawned her vacuum she would use to clean apartments. My father went with her one day to help clean one of her clients homes and he stole checks from the homeowner while she was cleaning without her knowledge. Which the homeowner found out and pressed charges.
Constant police raids/warrants were issued on my home being served for my father. Police would park down the street and surround our home at all sides of the house wearing military gear . I would often visit my father in the county jails until they sentenced him and sent him down the road to prison.
My father was convicted and sentenced for check fraud and prescription narcotic fraud.
I started using cannabis at age 13 at the time my older brother was 14 and I have a younger sister who was 11 at the time. I was smoking at age 13 not knowing at the time I was trying to escape my reality and environment(CPTSD). I was arrested for cannabis at age 14. Arrested again at age 14 for aggravated assault and went on to be arrested several more times up until age 20. My son was born at age 21. Which made me want to get my life together and change my ways. I did not want my son to see me like I saw my father through a prison glass.
One of my last arrests was for aggravated assault. At the time I was 17 years old. One early morning on Mother’s Day. While I was out doing the wrongs things with the wrong crowd. I was attacked when I wasn’t looking and had a man that I knew, come up from behind me while I was in s verbal confrontation with a mutual acquaintance and slam me on the concrete. When I got up and realized what was going on, I stabbed him five times puncturing his lung sending him to the ICU. He almost died. While waiting for trial I was involved in another assault and battery case as well.
Once I was released from a prison boot camp by the State of Georgia’s custody, I was in work release for another year then required to complete both felony intense probation for 6 years while my misdemeanor one year probation ran concurrent with my felony charges
About the time I was getting out of the state of Georgia corrections for my aggravated assault charge. My father was also being released from prison. We were housed in the same halfway house or what some refer to as work release. We would eat breakfast or dinner at times together. While the CO’s at the halfway house would constantly talk about how bad my father was as a parent.In 2013, I met a doctor named Rasean Hodge MD. Rasean is a Morehouse graduate. Rasean broke his neck back in 2012 and at the time, he was the Director of the hospice program here in Atlanta. Dr. Hodge did not like the way opiates made him feel. He then began lobbying and advocating for cannabis in Ga. He wrote some of the cannabis laws intractable pain. Dr. Hodge also sits on the Sicklecell board here in GA. Dr Hodge was named “Dr of the day” seven years in a row. Dr. Hodge recently received his Master’s degree from the University of Maryland in Cannabis.
Together we share the same vision on plant medicine and see the future is cannabis and psychedelics as medicine.
Using Doctor Hodges knowledge in cannabis we formulate all of our CBD products with a chemist to develop CBD products that are proven to work. Dr. Hodge is a FORCE here in Atlanta for cannabis who will be front page media news very soon. Dr. Hodge is not only an article but a book in itself. He was named Dr of the Day 6 years in a row which is a major honor. Together we work to change patients lives who are tired of taking pharmaceutical meds with a list of side effects and want another option.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing is ever easy in the cannabis business. All the regulations and laws make it very challenging for patients who are suffering to gain access to medical cannabis
As you know, we’re big fans of Holistic Hemp Ga and Rasean Hodge MD. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We help all walks of life with pain, anxiety, PTSD, cancer, sickle cell, chronic pain and other applicable diseases that cannabis can be used for medicinally
We are known for being the best CBD cannabis shop in Ga with Doctor Hodges formulated CBD products
Our passion for the plant, quality CBD products customer service and education on the plant is what sets us apart from the rest. We both are natural empaths who truly care about human beings and their well being
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I see our brand getting bigger and Holistic Hemp Ga being a franchise all over Ga and other states/countries soon.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.holistichempga.com
- Instagram: @Rasean Hodge.md /@holistichempga
