Risshan Leak – KRCL Board Member & Co-Host of Radioactive
In the rapidly evolving landscape of cannabis culture, individuals like Risshan Leak are emerging as passionate advocates, bringing their unique perspectives and experiences to the forefront. With a deep love for the plant and its myriad benefits, Risshan, a self-described hippie, embraces cannabis for its aromatic allure, flavorful profiles, and the diverse effects it offers. As a seasoned enthusiast, Risshan has witnessed the transformation of the cannabis industry over the years and has found solace and inspiration in its medicinal and social facets. In this Kush Conversation, we delve into Risshan’s personal relationship with cannabis, exploring his preferred strains, consumption methods, and the profound impact it has had on his life. From nostalgic memories of youthful encounters to the therapeutic relief it provides for physical and emotional well-being, Risshan’s story illuminates the multifaceted nature of cannabis and its ability to foster connections, both within oneself and with others. Join us as we embark on a captivating journey through the lens of a cannabis lover, uncovering the joys, insights, and transformative power that this remarkable plant can bring.
When you’re done with this conversation, check out Risshan on radioACTive every Thursday on KRCL at 6 p.m.
Salt Baked City: I’m going to get right after it, Risshan. Why do you love cannabis?
Risshan Leak: Multiple reasons, really. One, I’m a self-described hippie. I love the smell of it, I love the taste of it, I love the effects, both medicinal and recreational. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I liked to smoke for the euphoria that comes with it. I would say there’s probably an argument that I started smoking too early at 16, but now that we are where we’re at in 2023 with the way marijuana is set up, I know I can get some dirt swag and it brings me right back to that 16-year-old kid in my friend’s basement having pillow fights my first time getting high. While there’s so many beautiful medicinal purposes, I still love the social aspect that surrounds weed. Rolling a joint, passing the joint, being in a concert, happen to smell it from the next person over – and now for the next two hours we’re best friends. There’s just beauty in that.
SBC: What’s in your nug jar at home? In other words, what’s on Risshan Leak’s cannabis menu for today?
Risshan Leak: I usually go with hybrids. I love my sativa, though, so it’s usually a sativa-heavy hybrid. I’ve been rocking out with this Banana Kush lately, and it is so delicious. Then I go back to some old-school Purple Haze. I try and stay away from the indica-heavy strains because they kind of wear on me and get me a little tired. Anything I can get with a little more sativa in it – I’m rocking that.
SBC: It sounds like you’re more of a flower guy. Do you consume cannabis any other way?
Risshan Leak: I love edibles, and I’m usually rocking CBD every day because I’m a beat-up ex-skateboarder, and I still snowboard. My homeboy Wild Child and I used to push, and we push each other. The harder you go, the more injuries you get into. Cannabis and CBD have really helped with that. If I had my choice, I’d prefer flower. I’m a social creature, though, and I go out to the bars a lot, so having a vape pen makes it so much easier than smoking a loud joint.
SBC: If you had to pick one strain for the rest of your life, which would it be?
Risshan Leak: That’s a hard question. It’s a hard question because as much as I love cannabis, I don’t consider myself a cannabis nerd. That’s not my MO. I am more price-driven. If the price is right, and it smells delicious, and it glows, I’m rocking it. If it has purple hairs on it, I’m all in. I don’t want to come off like the guy who needs this strain, or that strain. That’s not the case and not how I’ve notoriously gotten down. The last strain I got was Hans Solo Burger. I’ve been rocking that one pretty hard.
SBC: What effects are you mostly after when consuming herb?
Risshan Leak: Number one is pain relief. I also like anything that is going to help with stress. When I was younger I lived through some things, and I’ve seen some things, and I was diagnosed with PTSD. I’ve noticed I’m not as chill as I’d like to be in everyday life. I get triggered quickly. When I’m really in it and paying attention, I can let it go and talk myself off the cliff. When it catches me off-guard, it can flip my shit really quick, so it really helps me to calm the hell down. It especially helps with having kids and being a coach. I don’t want to be the screamer and I don’t want to be the mean guy. It helps to deal with that kind of stuff. Pain and stress are the one and two reasons I use cannabis, and they’re interchangeable on who’s on top.
SBC: I don’t meet many public figures in Utah who admit they use cannabis. When did you get registered for your Utah medical cannabis card?
Risshan Leak: I’m fresh into the game. I got my card during the [NBA] All-Star weekend in February. We’re in May now, but I’ve been an outspoken advocate for as long as I can remember. It’s not by accident. I’m very vocal about marijuana being a medicine because we need to break all of the stigma that goes along with it. I tell everybody I work with [about my cannabis use] because of how well I work and how much I am about my business. I rise to the table in my professional life. I’ve been given a corporate award three times in a company of 300,000 and I make sure I’m vocal about my cannabis use, mostly so people understand. People ask me all of the time, “Oh, you smoke?” and I tell them, “Every day.” I don’t partake when I’m working. That’s more for when I do my favorite CBD. When I get out of work, though, I have a joint waiting. Because I know how well I show up in the corporate setting, I know I can help break some of those old-school mentalities that surround it. I want to use the platform, both professionally and as a radio personality here at KRCL, and make sure I talk about it. I might have an ear that others might not have, and I want to make sure I’m responsibly using my platform.
SBC: It sounds like you were a cannabis consumer before you were a legal patient. What kept you from getting your card until this year?
Risshan Leak: Truth be told; price. I’ll call myself out, and say ignorance, too. Just not knowing how easy it was. It was painfully easy. The hardest part was standing in line. The actual QMP process was 15, maybe 20 minutes. I had a hard time at first because I get health insurance through my job, and so I was reaching out to local providers, and nobody was giving me a straight answer and I couldn’t get in. Then I found out it’s $175 to $250 every six months. While I can afford it, the principal in me was like, “This is bullshit.” When I know I can get it from whoever, wherever, whenever or go next door to Colorado, or Wendover and not have to pay anything [for a card]. That was really the hold-up. When they waived the fee during All-Star weekend, I finally pulled the trigger.
SBC: How has your opinion of our state’s medical cannabis program changed since becoming a registered patient?
Risshan Leak: The way it has changed is that I realize how ridiculous it is. I use that term purposely. We say it’s medicinal, and we know the flower itself is absolutely medicinal, but the program itself is not. I went in there and I told them what I had and that was it. So, it was just word of mouth. I don’t know any other doctor who is rocking out like that. Where I can just say, “Here are the issues I have, prescribe me this,” without showing proof that I’ve visited other hospitals and doctors. When I talked to the lady I saw and I said, “This is just recreational with a reason.”
SBC: Would you recommend to your friends and family who need and use cannabis to get their Utah medical cannabis card?
Risshan Leak: Everybody. Everybody I talk to who is in the club, if you will, and I tell them it makes sense. Some of my friends tell me the biggest issue they’re trying to figure out is can I owe guns and marijuana, or can I have my conceal? That’s one of the hold-ups I’ve found when talking with people. When I explain how easy it was, I think I’ve encouraged three or four people to get their cards after hearing me talk about it.
SBC: I love meeting community-minded journalists in Utah – especially those who are familiar with cannabis. When did you start at KRCL and what’s your official role?
Risshan Leak: I’ve been in Utah since 2011 and I would say I started volunteering at KRCL during 2012. I started at Radiothon and answering the phone once a season to twice a year. Then I started participating when we had concerts and things like that, and then it turned out being a volunteer for RadioACTive, which led into becoming a community co-host. That’s what I’m doing now. I’m on RadioACTive once a week doing the show called ‘Round Table Tuesday’ happening every Tuesday from 6 to 7 p.m.
SBC: Like medical cannabis, why do you think RadioACTive and KRCL are important for our Utah community?
Risshan Leak: I think RadioACTive and KRCL as a whole are important because of the job we do passing the mic. I think KRCL does a great job representing the people who feel like they have no voice. It’s no secret that we’re in a very red state. It’s also no secret that we have majority Republicans in the state, so you need a station like KRCL who is going to lean in and really give you the community perspective. Give you an idea of what’s going on. Let you know from a boots-on-the-ground perspective. After seeing what went down in our most recent legislative session and how important it is to have the League of Women Voters show up. How important it is to have our unsheltered community and those people who represent the unsheltered community come in and speak about the issues that are really plaguing our citizens here. I think the fact that KRCL is not just home for it, but known for going out and making sure they are finding those voices so they can come out and really let people know how they can get involved, how they can volunteer, how they can donate. It’s a big piece that makes, in my opinion, Utah so special.
SBC: Like KRCL, do you see the state’s medical cannabis helping our community?
Risshan Leak: Absolutely. Just some of the numbers I’ve seen speak volumes. When you start talking about people using cannabis to get off harder drugs, there’s a big benefit. The War on Drugs, right, wrong, or indifferent, but it’s no longer a black person issue. We’ve learned that it is an issue that affects a lot of our population, both inside and outside the state. So, when you start having programs like our medical cannabis program where you can potentially partake in this plant and help yourself get off opioids. That’s huge and can’t be lost. The joke in the pot community is that the only people who die from weed are when you have pounds of it dropped on you. There’s nobody who overdoses on marijuana. If having access to marijuana can start saving people’s lives and start giving them their lives back – I’m in it 150-percent.
SBC: If Utah became an adult-use state and the state started collecting a cannabis tax, where would you like to see the tax revenue go back into the community?
Risshan Leak: My hope is that when we start to get an abundance of money [from cannabis] we start putting it back into education. For me being a transplant, it’s ridiculous to have a University of Utah and a BYU, two renowned schools outside of the state, and then you have state education that is ranked 49 or 50 in the country.
SBC: Cannabis doesn’t seem to get a fair shake within local journalism unless the report’s name is Ben Winslow. Why do you think our state’s journalists and media groups tippy toe around the subject? Are they just unfamiliar with the plant or is the war on drugs still having its effects?
Risshan Leak: I think it’s one step further. I think they are placating with their population. I think it’s willful ignorance. They know that cannabis is not as deadly as they make it seem to be. They know that it should not be a schedule one drug, but when you have a population who so strongly believes in it. When I say I believe in it, it’s not cannabis. It’s the continuation of keeping it out of the hands of the everyday person. I really believe if local media wants to continue to succeed and to make money and have clickbait, they can’t just all of a sudden be pro-cannabis because they’ll lose their readers. When we start thinking about it, unfortunately, journalism and print are going away, every dollar really matters. If they feel like it will hurt their bottom line, they’re not going to do it.
SBC: You’re a husband and a father. How does cannabis help you be a better version of those two roles?
Risshan Leak: It helps me focus on the things I need to focus on.
SBC: Do you teach your children about the dangers and benefits of medical cannabis, or do you hide your cannabis use like most parents, including mine?
Risshan Leak: No, we have straight-up conversations of all forms. There’s good drugs, and there are bad drugs. Not just good drugs, and bad drugs because good drugs can be abused, and bad drugs can be abused. All drugs can be abused, so it really comes down to how your relationship is with that substance. Anything in moderation and I know I’m saying anything, but it is. Most things when taken in moderation aren’t bad for you. It’s when you overindulge, that’s when it becomes a problem. So I try to have real candid conversations and we talk about addiction, but not so much in the form of drugs because they can’t fully process that. What they can process is addiction to screen time and video games because that is something that impacts their world and that’s how we try to relate it into a thing they’ll understand.
SBC: If you could change anything within Utah’s medical cannabis program, what would it be?
Risshan Leak: More growers. I think that in my mind more growers will help with the price. The more people you have growing this plant, the more of it we have. Right now, we’re in a situation where there aren’t a lot of growers, so there’s not a lot of flower and they get to charge the prices they charge. I’d also like to see the average person getting an opportunity to participate in the market. There is a lot of gatekeeping going on when it comes to the medical industry, and we need to reach out and figure out how we can get all communities involved.
SBC: You asked me this question last year. Now I want to see what you think. Do you believe Utah will ever become an adult-use state someday?
Risshan Leak: I want to say yes, but there’s doubt in me because of how red our state is. Because of how Republican we are, we know it’s a hot-button topic and probably not. Then there’s this piece of me that recognizes how we pride ourselves in having a balanced budget and there’s no denying that there’s money to be made in this industry. What I give Utah credit for is if there’s money to be made, Utah’s looking to make that money. For adult-use to happen in our state I think it really lies within our Federal Government. I think if the federal government decides to move it from schedule one, then I think there is more of a chance to recognize this as a plant and it should not be viewed in the same lens as cocaine, as heroin, as PCP and things like that. Even if we just decriminalize it, that allows other states who have an appetite for adult-use, that will pique some interest.
SBC: What do you think is preventing more Utahns from getting their medical cannabis rights?
Risshan Leak: Just not knowing. We live in a state where people don’t fully trust the government. I don’t think it’s necessarily specific to Utah, but there’s a lot of mistrust. So, when you don’t trust the government, you don’t really want your name in any books. While it’s pretty easy to get your medicinal card here [in Utah], you definitely are giving up your name and information and things like that. People feel like big brother is already watching as is. When we have more trust in the Utah government, we’ll see more people signing up [for their medical cannabis right].
SBC: You moved to Utah from New Jersey during 2011. Besides the cannabis laws, how has Utah changed in the past decade you’ve been here?
Risshan Leak: I never saw marriage equality happening in this state. It just wasn’t even on my radar, especially coming from California where they were so heavily pushing against Prop 8. When I say they, I mean I would assume it’s the church because that would be the driving factor because I guess they believe it’s against what God said, you know. What I’ve enjoyed about living here in the last decade is just how the culture is changing. You go to Pride, and you see Mormons for Pride, or Mormons for Marriage Equality, and things like that. I didn’t see that happening and I wouldn’t have expected at the General Conference to hear people talking about equality. Those are terms that I did not think would come up. I’ll be honest, I don’t care why they’re talking about it. I just appreciate that they are talking about it, you know. It’s baby steps. It’s one step at a time. For whatever reason it’s driving this conversation, the fact that we’re having this conversation is a good thing and I didn’t see that happening ten years ago. There’s a slow cultural shift taking place and so who knows what the next ten years look like. Right now, I like the trajectory. I wish it would speed up some, but I do like the trajectory Utah appears to be on.
