Episode 84 - Matthew Zachary, The Howard Stern of Cancer and Cannabis Advocacy
This episode features Matt Zachary, the founder of OffScrip Media. Matt is 1) an amazing human on a mission and 2) a loudmouth who is unafraid of calling bullshit. Those two qualities combined are his superpower.
This episode features Matt Zachary, the founder of OffScrip Media. Matt is 1) an amazing human on a mission and 2) a loudmouth who is unafraid of calling bullshit. Those two qualities combined are his superpower.
At age 21 Matt was diagnosed with brain cancer. His medical treatment was successful but the way the system treated him left him indignant. “When you’re 8 or 80 you’re treated age appropriately. When you’re not 8 or 80, no one cares about your quality of life. Survival rates for our generation hadn’t improved in 30 years and that was bullshit. I figured it was time for us to save ourselves because no one else gave a rat’s ass about it.”
After Matt got his health and life (but not his hair) back, he formed Stupid Cancer, a nonprofit patient advocacy network that grew into the world’s largest young adult cancer community. He also hosted The Stupid Cancer Radio Show. It was angry, wry, funny and full of audacious information on how to survive the humiliations of the disease and of a health care system that showed little mercy. The show amassed millions of listeners around the world and Matt, never one for politeness, was dubbed the Howard Stern of Cancer Advocacy.
In 2019 Matt stepped away from Stupid Cancer to start OffScrip Media, which he describes as the first podcasting network at the intersection of patient advocacy, education, and digital health. His flagship show, “Out of Patients,” tells stories of healthcare heroes and helps patients navigate the bureaucracy, wrestle with difficult to understand information in hopes of giving them control over their illness and treatments.
Cannabis obviously has a huge role to play in this mission and we are thrilled to join Matt’s new venture as a podcast on his network. Our aim is to bring the knowledge about the plant, and the most-up-to-date ways to use it to anyone anywhere in the world who wants it. That’s why our collaboration makes so much sense. Our two voices combined are so much louder together.
A few highlights of our conversation:
“In healthcare, progress is like the stock market…Compared to 1996 when I was diagnosed, we have come really far. Yes, we still have a fakakta healthcare sector that puts profits over patients -- it took them a long time to realize that the end user is the patient and not the doctor. But I see a light at the end of the tunnel, with telehealth, personalized medicine, and realizing that the cost of care affects the bottom line to a company, not just the wallet of the patient.”
“No one considered the humanity of cancer patients 20 years ago…. But advocacy to me meant one thing…dignity. Yes, there is quality of care, but quality of life is tantamount to quality of care. To me that’s advocacy: Making sure that what you go through sucks as little as possible.”
“I’ve been touting the value of cannabis in cancer, not necessarily to get stoned but to get well, to help create credibility for the people who have the research and have the knowledge. We support the notion that you have a right to achieve the level of wellness that you deserve without breaking the law…you didn’t ask to get sick you just want to feel a little better. Cannabis advocacy and cancer is at the top of my list to bring forward in this new chapter.”
Finally, the great scholar and legalization advocate, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, died last week at age 92. I pay tribute to him on the cast and here is his obit in the New York Times. Lester is perhaps the only doctor to have the honor of having a strain named after him. According to the Dutch grower, "Dr. Grinspoon is an old school sativa of the highest order, which gives a strong, long-lasting, energetic and cerebral high.” RIP, Dr. G.