Sue DeGregorio-Rosen’s life connects more than four decades of nursing with activism, recovery, cannabis advocacy, mentorship, and an enduring search for belonging.
Nursing gave Marilyn Pierce more than a career. It became a pathway to safety, independence, self-belief, and a new purpose. Discover how she transformed lived experience into empathy, cannabis advocacy, and a commitment to becoming a bridge for others.
After 11 days and more than 2,000 pages of testimony, the DEA marijuana rescheduling hearings reveal a national gap between cannabis access and competent clinical care. Here is what nurses need to understand before the final decision.
In the inaugural episode of Conversations That Connect, Love Hawkins shares how intuition led her from doula work to midwifery, cannabis nursing, and an extraordinary path to motherhood – and why the most powerful thing a nurse may offer is the space for someone to hear their own truth.
Some lives appear to unfold according to a carefully drawn map. Love Hawkins describes hers differently: as a trail of breadcrumbs—small impressions, unexpected encounters, and moments of intuition that changed the trajectory of everything that followed.
In the inaugural episode of Cannabis Nurses Network’s Conversations That Connect, Love joined Nurse Heather Manus for a heartfelt exploration of the woman behind her many professional titles. A retired United States Air Force veteran and nurse with more than two decades of experience, Love has served as a women’s health nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife, nurse coach, educator, researcher, and advocate. Yet when asked who she is beneath the credentials, she began not with accomplishment, but with life itself.
Love spoke of the joyful, painful, and challenging experiences that have shaped her through 55 years of living. Over time, she said, the process of trial and error began to settle into something more recognizable: intuition.
Despite growing scientific evidence, stigma remains one of the greatest barriers to honest conversations about medical cannabis. Marilyn Pierce, BSN, RN, explores how fear, misinformation, and lack of education continue to affect healthcare providers and patients alike – and why replacing stigma with education is essential for better care.
Cannabis nursing education is rapidly transforming healthcare as nurses, researchers, and advocates lead the integration of cannabis medicine into clinical practice. In this powerful Cannabis Nurses Network discussion, leaders in cannabis science, patient advocacy, and nursing explore cannabis research, endocannabinoid system education, healthcare policy, Schedule III implications, and the growing role of nurses in shaping the future of compassionate, evidence-informed care.
The DOJ’s move to reclassify cannabis to Schedule III signals more than a policy shift – it marks the first federal acknowledgment of state-licensed cannabis systems. For nurses, this is a defining moment to lead with evidence, bridge clinical gaps, and guide patients safely through an evolving landscape of cannabis care.
UCLA’s oncology team has set a new standard in compassionate care by successfully implementing Ryan’s Law (CA SB 311), allowing terminally ill patients to access medical cannabis during hospitalization. This groundbreaking initiative—driven by the advocacy of Jim Bartell and Cannabis Nurses Network leaders Heather Manus, RN, and Ken Sobel, Esq.—demonstrates how thoughtful policy and nurse-led leadership can transform patient care at the end of life.
Discover the innovative intersection of holistic nursing and cannabis science at the Nurses Week Spring Intensive on May 4th, followed by the Cannabis Nursing workshop at Cannabis Science Conference on May 7th. Embrace the future of nursing with us!
