Xzibit: It’s the Lasagna Ganja Podcast. I am Mr. X to the Z, Xzibit.

Tammy: And I’m your girl, Tammy, a.k.a. The Cannabis Cutie.

Xzibit: That’s right. We had a great time at Biz Con. We had a lot of great guests. Now we’re back in our groove.

When you’re in a groove, how important is it to stay in a groove?

Tammy: As much as possible.

You know I like science and information. The brain loves to be able to predict what happens next.

So not only does that groove feel good because you feel prepared and productive, but your brain thanks you because it’s not stressed out.

Xzibit: Consistency. Efficiency.

Tammy: That rhymes. It’s like you’re a rapper!

Xzibit: Well we have someone with us who is very special to us and to the cannabis community.

Tammy: We have another powerful, beautiful woman in the cannabis space. You know how much I love women in weed. I’m loud about it. I catch so many strays on Instagram.

We have Dreka Gates with us today.

Dreka: Hi!

Xzibit: How are you?

Dreka: I’m great. Still recovering from Biz Con.

Xzibit: How was your show?

Dreka: It was pretty good.

Xzibit: A lot of people go to the after parties more than to the conference. What were you doing there?

Dreka: I was one of those people going to the after parties!

Xzibit: This question is to both of you.

Do you think you get more done at the conference or at the after parties?

Dreka: I say the after parties.

Tammy: The networking at the after parties.

Xzibit: Yeah but everybody’s drunk. You never get the follow-through.

It’s different when you’re at the beginning of the day and everybody is drinking coffee. And you’re exchanging numbers and talking about your widgets and tidbits.

And then you get to the after party and it’s loud.

Tammy: Some of them are cocktail hours. Some of them are gifting suites.

And I’m on the other side of the EXPO so I may have never found the person I meet at the after party.

Xzibit: I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m glad you’re here with us today, Dreka. I’m glad you had a good time at Biz Con.

We’re big fans of women in cannabis on the show. You have a very interesting story.

Tell us about your background and how you got into cannabis.

Dreka: My very first time smoking, I was 17 years old. It was the worst fucking experience I had.

I don’t know what I was smoking, but it was horrible.

So I was with my husband. Late at night. It was around 4 o’clock in the morning. We were just riding around and doing what we do.

We were smoking, and I was hitting back-to-back. First time smoking.

Next thing I know, I’m running down the street thinking that somebody is chasing me. Really having the worst possible experience that anybody could have.

He got so freaked out that he called his mom. She came over and took care of me. She sat with me overnight.

Xzibit: It was traumatic for your first time.

Dreka: Yes.

But that didn’t stop me. I'm a lover of all things plant medicine. Anything that comes from the Earth, I will try it more than once.

Xzibit: Oh, so you’ve done mushrooms.

Dreka: Yeah. I do mushrooms, combo, ayahuasca, and a bunch of other stuff.

Xzibit: You’ve done some shit!

What was the ayahuasca experience like? Did you have a shaman and all that?

Dreka: Yes I did.

I’ve sat 8 times. The first time I did it, it changed my life. If you look it up online, people say it’s like 20 years of therapy in one session. It is.

I did it here in LA.

Xzibit: You got overcharged here in LA.

Dreka: For sure!

Xzibit: So I’ve had people tell me that I’m the perfect candidate to do ayahuasca. They try to get me to do it.

Dreka: You’ve got to do it!

Xzibit: I don’t got to do nothing!!!!

But I want to hear from you, as authentically as you can, what the experience with ayahuasca is like and what you got out of it.

Dreka: It catapulted me on a journey of self-discovery.

Xzibit: Ok but what the fuck is it though?

Dreka: I’m trying to tell you!

Xzibit: Is it a fire? A drink?

Dreka: It’s a tea that’s made from a vine in the Amazon.

Xzibit: That doesn’t sound bad so far.

Dreka: You drink the tea and then sit back.

Tammy: I heard a lot of people throw up.

Dreka: I did do a lot of that. But that is like a purge.

What the shamans say is that you’re throwing up the bad ‘juju.’

Tammy: I’ve been wanting to do ayahuasca.

But I read this book on DMT and how DMT is the spirit molecule.

Xzibit: That’s another thing I want to talk about. But let’s talk about that in a second. Let’s not get off course.

So after you vomit, what happens?

Dreka: You don’t vomit immediately. You’ll be sitting back, getting all kinds of ‘downloads…’

Xzibit: When you say downloads, what do you mean?

Dreka: Insights. It’s amazing.

Xzibit: You get the downloads and you feel enlightened. But you don’t feel drunk or high?

Dreka: Actually, no. You can get up and dance. That actually helps move the energy through the body.

You sit back, get the downloads, but you also see imagery. Have you guys heard of sacred geometry? You just start seeing all that stuff.

Tammy: Have you ever taken a lot of mushrooms?

Xzibit: Yes!

Tammy: Well that’s what it sounds like.

Xzibit: No, no! I did mushrooms and almost shot my leg off.

But that’s why I’m saying that this experience has to be different.

Dreka: Yes, with no weapons around.

Xzibit: When you say download, where do you download from?

Dreka: Your Higher Self. God. However you want to refer to it.

Tammy: Call it a premonition.

Xzibit: It reinforces your perception of things.

Dreka: Yes. It gets you to the root of who you are and what is real.

Tammy: It’s going to break you open in a transformative way.

Xzibit: I don’t know what I think about the breaking stuff…

Tammy: It’s gentle!

Dreka: You come out of it enlightened.

Xzibit: And you’ve done this eight times?

Dreka: Yes.

Xzibit: And the eighth time was different from the first time?

Dreka: I got different downloads each time.

And I’ve brought other people in, so that’s why I’ve done it so many times.

Xzibit: So the environment-do you do it in somebody’s house?

Dreka: Yeah. So I did it in someone’s house and the last few times, I did it on the farm.

Xzibit: That’s right, you do live on a farm.

Is it better indoors or in nature?

Dreka: It’s better in nature.

Xzibit: How long did it take to come off of ayahuasca?

Dreka: 3 weeks.

Xzibit: 3 weeks???

Dreka: Not in a bad way. You’re in a state of pure bliss.

Tammy: It’s like being high for 3 weeks straight.

Xzibit: Ok. DMT.

Tammy: So apparently all living things have this molecule in them. They call it the Spirit Molecule because it’s the thing that connects us all.

And in high doses, it feels like you’re back in the spirit world.

Xzibit: Out of your body?

Tammy: No because the body is just a shell.

Xzibit: Here we go! My chakras are all fucked up.

Ok, why do they call it the Spirit Molecule?

Tammy: Because it’s in all living things. It’s similar to how everything that has a spine also has an endocannabinoid system.

Even if you don’t have a spine, you also have DMT in your body.

Xzibit: How do you harvest DMT?

Tammy: The body naturally has it. When you’re dying, your body is going to dump a whole bunch of DMT.

Xzibit: So how do you ingest it?

Tammy: I’ve never done it.

Xzibit: How do you know how much to take? And when you do take it, what is the experience?

Dreka: So I did it with a shaman. I felt crazy doing it because it was like smoking crack.

Tammy: He’s out! Xzibit has a crack trauma wound.

Dreka: Vape pen is a classier way to do it.

It’s actually poison from the back of a toad. You inhale the vapors from it.

I felt like I died and came back to life. You stop breathing, see the light…

Xzibit: YOU SEE THE LIGHT?

And you volunteered for this shit?

So you saw the light—what did the light look like?

Dreka: It was like I was going down a tunnel. After that moment, it was like my body got flooded with a feeling of love. It felt so good.

Xzibit: Then what?

Dreka: It was very quick. The shaman said I was out for 20 minutes.

Xzibit: But the shaman said you stopped breathing. When did you start breathing again?

Dreka: When you come back.

Xzibit: What???

Dreka: You’re not going to die!

Xzibit: Breath is essential to life.

Dreka: I came back ok!

Obviously there’s a science behind it, but there are people who will hold their breath to intentionally get into an enlightened state.

Xzibit: Thank you for walking me through that. I’m trying to learn and am glad to speak to someone who has done it and had a positive experience.

I’ve been an alcohol and weed guy. That’s where I stayed.

Going back to your journey in cannabis, what made you decide to go into weed as a business?

Dreka: I’ve always felt like I was a healer. I went to school to be a doctor, but I dropped out to do music.

So health and wellness is important to me. And the power we have in ourselves to heal ourselves, coupled with plant medicine—you just can’t beat it.

My goal and intention in this industry is to remove the stigma and taboo that surrounds plant medicine.

It’s shit you can grow in your backyard. Why is this shit illegal in the first place?

But in 2017, I did a 3-day crash course at Oaksterdam University. I like to go in and do a little research before I jump into stuff.

I was so busy in the music industry. I was touring 90% of the year.

Finally COVID hit and I had some extra time on my hands. And I had an opportunity to enter into the industry.

Xzibit: What was that opportunity?

Dreka: My partners do Provisions up in Michigan. It’s a family owned operation. They reached out to me.

I went up to meet them and we just vibed. They brought me on and I handle marketing and product development.

Xzibit: How did they seek you out?

Dreka: I don’t know. They just thought that I’d be a good fit.

It was all aligned.

Xzibit: So the name of the company is what?

Dreka: BE Provisions.

Xzibit: What kind of products do you create?

Dreka: We have dark chocolates, tinctures, flowers, body salves, and more. A wide range of products.

Tammy: How often do you get to go out to the farms and see the products?

Cause you seem like you’re in love with plants and nature.

Dreka: I try to go up there as often as I can. But I travel a lot and still have my wellness company.

I’m starting my own cannabis operation in Mississippi, which is where I’m at.

Xzibit: What are the laws like in Mississippi?

Dreka: It’s strictly medical right now.

It’s the first state to have a hybrid set up, though. We’re only medical, but we’re able to sell adult use topicals.

Isn’t that crazy?

Tammy: It’s crazy because of the history of Mississippi. The University of MIssissippi grows weed and has for a long time.

So the fact that only topicals are legal when they’ve been prescribing weed is crazy.

Xzibit: How close is recreational use in the legal system there?

Dreka: I don’t know. But I’m riding the wave.

Xzibit: Do you think your next step is to expand to other states?

Dreka: The next step is Provisions in Michigan. We are steadily expanding. We just opened our 4th dispensary.

And in Mississippi, we’re opening up a dispensary called Love’s Harvest.

So that’s going to be opening at the top of the year. Then I’m going to get into cultivating and processing.

Tammy: And you live on a farm. Walk us through your day.

Dreka: I have a farm. Camels, alpacas, peacocks, dogs, cats, tortoises, etc.

Xzibit: You have help, right?

Dreka: Yes.

Xzibit: How many people does it take to run the farm?

Dreka: I have 6 people who are there Monday through Friday.

Xzibit: How much land do you have?

Dreka: On that little piece, it’s about 43 acres.

Tammy: Do you garden as well?

Dreka: Hell yeah. I grow over 60 fruits and vegetables.

And my farm is actually a blueberry farm.

Xzibit: So you live in this zen place. Maybe this is why you seem so happy!

Dreka: Before I moved to the farm, I lived out here. It was actually ayahuasca that made me take my ass to the farm.

Tammy: Wow.

Dreka: I did a ceremony at the end of 2019. The download I got during that ceremony was, “Why the fuck are you here? You have a whole farm in Mississippi. You need to take your ass to the farm.”

So I was there. I was planning on moving in May but then COVID hit.

They shut down the parks and that’s when I was like, “I got to go.”

I moved to the farm and that's my homebase forever.

Xzibit: Finding peace is relative to everyone. You have to be able to mature into finding your peace.

It sounds like you made that decision and the holistic lifestyle is where you’re at.

Tell us about your wellness company.

Dreka: It’s something I’ve been trying to start up for years, but I’ve been so busy working in music.

Again, COVID hit. We weren’t touring. I just took the time to get the wellness company off the ground. And I just share all the tools that I’ve accumulated over the years.

And we have different tinctures for immunity. And I have “my open for love” and that opens the heart and gets the energy flowing.

And skincare. I plan to introduce more products as I go along.

Xzibit: It feels like you’re on a wellness journey yourself. We applaud that. We love to see positivity.

And I think that you coming here and sharing your story is awesome.

Where do people find you and your products?

My products are at dreka.com and beprovisions.com. And soon to be lovesharvest.com in Mississippi.

Xzibit: So when you open your dispensary in Mississippi, it’s going to be medicinal only?

Dreka: Yes.

Xzibit: That’s a good start.

Dreka: It’s just the warm up. I’m very patient. I’m riding the wave.

Xzibit: Anything else you want to share with us?

Dreka: No. I just feel honored to be here with you guys today.

It’s been fucking amazing. Thank you guys for having me.

Xzibit: We’re right here on the Lasagna Ganja Podcast.

We’re here with Dreka Gates. I’ve learned a lot. Still not going to do ayahuasca just yet.

Tammy: Baby steps.

Xzibit: And DMT, you can go first, Tammy. Then come back and tell me. I don’t want to die just yet.

It’s Mr. X to the Z, Xzibit.

Tammy: I’m your girl Tammy, a.k.a. The Cannabis Cutie.

Xzibit: Tune in next time!