"Healing Hope: A Journey with CBD Pioneer, Justin Benton" Justin Benton shares his son's remarkable recovery from autism through CBD treatment on the Ask Dr. Bunny Show. Justin's journey began with shock and fear upon his son's diagnosis, leading him to research CBD's potential benefits. Administering homemade CBD tinctures sparked rapid improvement in his son's behavior, inspiring Justin to establish 101cbd.org to help families access CBD education and products. Despite regulatory hurdles, Justin remains dedicated to spreading hope and healing through CBD.
"Miracle Plant: A Journey of Healing and Hope with Justin Benton"
Justin Benton is a guest on the Ask Dr. Bunny Show, joining host Dr. Bunny Vreeland to share the inspiring story of his son's remarkable recovery through the use of CBD derived from the cannabis plant. Justin recounts the initial shock and fear upon receiving his son's autism diagnosis at a young age, prompting him to delve into extensive research to find solutions. Despite limited information available at the time, Justin discovered research by Dr. Raphael Mishulam from Israel, which suggested the potential benefits of CBD for neurological disorders.
Taking matters into his own hands, Justin cultivated cannabis plants and created a simple cold extraction method to produce a tincture. The transformative moment came during a family outing when Justin administered the tincture to his son, resulting in a rapid improvement in behavior and engagement, sparking hope for the family's journey ahead. Over the years, Justin's son progressed from a non-verbal, isolated state to a fully functioning neurotypical child, defying initial expectations.
Moved by their experience, Justin and his family established 101cbd.org, an organization dedicated to providing education, support, and access to CBD products for families affected by autism and other ailments. Through their efforts, they aim to spread awareness, offer hope, and empower others to explore holistic approaches to wellness. Justin emphasizes the importance of CBD in regulating the immune system and shares success stories of individuals, including those with COVID-19, experiencing significant improvements.
Despite regulatory challenges, Justin remains committed to his mission of helping others discover the healing potential of CBD. With a focus on supporting local communities and fostering compassionate outreach, Justin's journey exemplifies resilience, compassion, and the transformative power of holistic healing.
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Ask Dr. Bunny Show. I'm Dr. Bunny Vreeland and I'm on the phone today with Justin Benton. Justin has a story about his son and how his son got better through the miracle plant. So Justin, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me. And I'd love to hear this story because you said it's amazing and it changed the way that your, your whole family lives now.
Can you tell us the story? Absolutely. So, um, we got the news about five or six years ago that no parent, uh, would ever want to get, um, which was a severe diagnosis. Um, on the spectrum, his diagnosis was a neurological ailment or disorder called autism or spectrum disorder. Autism, I knew it well. We were, we were, um, you know, very confused [00:01:00] and scared and living in fear and we started researching Dr.
Google and going to different research and doctor, uh, doctors that we could talk to and trying many different methods. There wasn't much research out there, um, five or six years ago, uh, when it came to autism, there's really been a spike in autism in the last, you know, five or 10 years. I did some research.
And I came across, um, Dr. Raphael Mishulam from Israel. Ah. I'd done some research in the 70s, uh, with children with epilepsy and seizures, and that there was this CBD from the cannabis plant that, uh, was helping them. And so, we were trying everything. Right. And I said, well How old was your son at the time?
How old was he? Two and a half years old. Oh, wow. Two and a half. Okay, so he was very young. And so Yeah, and so we, um, by this time he was about three or three and a half when I came across this research. [00:02:00] And so I figured, well, if the CBD was helping with a neurological disorder like seizures with children, then why couldn't it help with a neurological disorder like autism?
And so. We, uh, grew some cannabis plants. I was already had a green thumb. I had raised holistically. I understood, I understood, uh, plant based medicine. Uh, and so I just grew some. And then I did a real simple cold extraction. Um, just like orange juice or making olive oil or lavender oil. And I made it into a little tincture.
And so we were out at the Underwood Farms out here in Southern California, a little hay rack ride, my friend was three and a half, and having a tantrum, hiding under a bench, you know, just overwhelmed, and I took out a tincture, and my wife gave it to him orally, five minutes later, he's out picking pumpkins with his sister, the grandparents are there, aunts and uncles, [00:03:00] And everybody was like, what was that?
What did you give him? Wow. And that was kind of our eureka moment, when we said we're really on to something. If you fast forward five years, we were featured last year at American Endocannabinoid Medicine Journal out of Columbia University with his whole story from going on a severe diagnosis on autism, which is non communicative, uh, non verbal, um, really kind of in his own isolated world.
to all the way to fully functioning neurotypical off the spectrum scale. And so, it's been a, uh, it's been an amazing story and amazing journey for us. We started an organization to pay it forward, to help other families affected by autism, to give them education, to give them hope, to show them videos, uh, and even try some of the products, the exact same products that work for our families, for their families.
Uh, for free. And we ship them around the country and around the world for free. Oh my gosh. That, I mean, you gave me the condensed version, but I, and I know [00:04:00] there's more. So, um, how old is your son now? He's eight. He just turned eight last month. And how's he doing? Great. He's gonna go into third grade and he goes to school with his two sisters now.
And healthy and happy and wouldn't know there was anything ever wrong. He's just a sweet kid. And it's happy. It's a great happy ending. Truly amazing. So when you were, when he was diagnosed, back when he was two, two and a half, what was that like for you? You and your wife, were you devastated? Were you horrified?
I mean, what was the feeling for you? Well, I mean, it was overwhelmed, totally crushed, um, scared, so, you know, like, it felt like a life sentence. You know, was your child going to be able to take care of themselves? Uh huh. Uh, you don't have any idea what to do, and there's no one who prepares you for the hearing that kind of news, and there just wasn't much [00:05:00] research out there.
At the time, autism was kind of like, well, uh, you're just going to have to ride with it. Ride it out. And so Fortunately, I was raised, like I said, holistically, um, my mom was way into plant based medicine and she was a flower child in the 60s and so we didn't, we didn't give in. Also, she was a 40 year school psychologist, especially with children with special needs.
But that didn't hurt either. I was going to say, that helped. So we definitely left out with grandma. She came out here right away and we got to work. But even she hadn't heard of the power of this miracle plant. Wow. Flash cannabis plant before and she was skeptical, but when we started showing her and we she tracked everything everything Researched and documented in the endocannabinoid journal, and uh, she's been blown away too.
It's actually changed her life as well So she's actually now on the organization as the head of research and development and and she's out there giving talks And she's a you know a part of the holistic Chamber of [00:06:00] Commerce as well out here in Ventura, California What is her name? Janet Benton Gaylord.
Okay, great. Yeah, I will make, I will make a, uh, uh, an effort to interview her as well because this is a great story and I'm sure that there's millions of families that can be benefited by your story. So tell me again, the, um, the, the publication that you were interested in. Focused in? So it's the, uh, and I can give you a, send you a link that's put in the show notes or whatever, but it's the American Journal of Endocannabinoid Medicine.
Perfect. It's a mouthful. It is, it is, but hey, you know, it's, it's worth it. So, okay. Two questions. Number one, the, the way that, Marijuana and hemp and all of the, um, [00:07:00] medical issues around, um, you know, marijuana. I mean, when I was growing up, marijuana was the devil's weed. And it's completely turned around. I mean, I'm like your mother.
I was a hippie chick when I was, you know, during those days. So, and today, it's like There's a dispensary on every street. So how has that affected the medical situation, the medical, uh, you know, the medical field, if you want to say it that way, in the way that we do, the way that we do business and the way that we do medicine?
Well, it's been an incredible journey. Uh, 2014. Uh, was the first time they passed what's called the Farm Bill, which allowed farmers to start growing hemp for market research. And at that, it was the exact same time when my son was diagnosed. So I was [00:08:00] able to grow hemp at the same time, legally, and also we're here in California.
So we have, uh, personal growing, uh, availability too. Um, I didn't have to jump through hoops. Some families moved to Colorado because they knew that they could do it. Right. I remember that. The amazing thing is that the doctors have come so far in the last two or three years. I'm telling you, I would talk to doctors two or three years ago about our story, about our product, and it was just a brick wall, and it was not enough research, and this, that, and the other.
And, because they don't teach any of the doctors anything about the endocannabinoid system, which is in every body, every mammal, that's set up to receive cannabinoids like CBD, and our body actually makes CBD naturally. And when our body makes it, it's called 2 AG. It's a very long word. And so, now that all these people would go to their doctors and say, well, what about CBD, [00:09:00] doc?
And then the doc would say, well, you know, I don't really know. Now, they go to the doctor and say, Doc, I'm trying CBD. It's working and this is what it's helping with. So, enough of that grassroots effort has happened, that the doctors are prescribing and sending people to us now. We get, we get referrals from doctors, dozens a month.
And, uh, it's just made a complete shift. Because there is no real side effects. It's just a plant. And, uh, there's people that, uh, you know, the only thing about the cannabis plant, is you have to watch out for the THC. Right. So hemp has trace amounts of THC, less than 3%. You'll get more than that walking down the sidewalks in California these days.
And so you won't get high. Oh darn. And everything else, everything else in the plant will get you healthy. And all of our products are made whole plants, holistically, and also cold pressed. So 99 percent of the other companies out there. [00:10:00] They're heating and decarboxylating and processing and isolating and doing all these things to pull out just the heated up, processed CBD.
Well, not us. The plant's made up of over 500 parts. And CBD is a really great part. But so are the flavonoids and the other cannabinoids and the amino acids and the fatty acids. So, we leave it exactly as Mother Nature meant for it to be grown. We keep it raw, just like juicing. And, uh, the effects that we've seen with our family and thousands of other families across the world is undeniable.
There's plenty of research out there that shows our way is the best way for our body to interpret and consume it. But we always say, proof's in the pudding. Try it for yourself. Try it for yourself. See how it can help you. So how are you consuming this? Is this something you said, it's like juicing, but you don't really drink it, right?
No, so it's an oil mostly, so there's oils and topicals. Oils you put under the [00:11:00] tongue for five to seven minutes, long term sublingual, or a topical you would rub on, whether it's pain or skin irritation. Got it. And that's it. Um, we have some other methods that we're planning on coming out with, but there's some FDA things that we have to kind of wait for to unveil, but basically under the tongue is the best way, um, especially if you have chronic pain, chronic anxiety.
major sleep issues or a major autoimmune disease like autism or even cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's. We hear incredible stories all the time with how this, this plant, remember, create something our body creates naturally, which is CBD amongst other things. And it just helps our body find homeostasis.
It's not a silver bullet. It sets our body up for true north and allows our body to heal itself. Just like getting a good night's sleep. Eating well, thinking well, you know, taking care of your body, lots of water and lots of hydrating, hydrating, hydrating, you know, it's [00:12:00] it truly is amazing. And I've watched the way that all of this has transpired over the last few years.
And I have seen incredible results with CBD. It's just To me, it's a miracle. So, um, my, my next question is, do you have a business that's called something? Do you, uh, do you make this yourself? Or do you have a company that How does this work for you? Mm hmm. So we have an organization that we set up in the very beginning, uh, 101, like the highway, cbd.
org. And that's a website. Uh, we're also 101Hemp. But, uh, most people find us through 101cbd. org, and, uh, we make all the products ourselves. We start with little seeds that we plant in the ground and nurture them into full blown plants, and then we harvest them, and then [00:13:00] we extract them, and then we process the, you know, formulation and everything like that, uh, and then we put them on the shelves.
So, we have a store in Ventura off Keyword by Social Tap. We have one up in Ojai. Uh, we have another one in Denver and a couple other locations across the country, and, um, we give amazing, compassionate discounts for any severe or complex ailments, um, and we just, it's, it's just so cool to be part of the solution because right now so many people are high anxiety and high stress.
And this product really brings a lot of relief to a lot of people, especially with this whole COVID scare. And we could talk about that. We could talk about that for hours, too. So have you had success with people who have contracted COVID? Well, yes. Um, so another thing that CBD does is that it regulates the immune system.
Yeah. [00:14:00] It's all about the immune system. If you were to If you, if you, um, contract COVID, the, the problem is these, these psyching storms and they, they basically get our body all whipped up and our immune system actually overreacts. So that's where the inflammation and the water and the pneumonia and the real danger comes.
Well, CBD again, as a modulator, as a regulator. of the immune system would actually pull the immune system back again to that homeostasis, that true north. So there's research out of Israel and Canada showing that, uh, it's like a 70 percent success rate with people that have, that are taking CBD and seeing their symptoms, you know, drastically improve.
So, again, because we're in the USA, everything has to go through the FDA, which is set up for a billion dollar big pharma company. We don't, it's really hard for us to do sanctioned research in the [00:15:00] US, other than thousands of people telling you their story, or millions in some cases, or you do it in other countries like Canada and New Zealand and Israel.
But you're right here in Ventura County, correct? You bet. I live here in Ventura. We have our, our home base corporation is here in, in Ventura County. And where are your growing fields? Are they all over? Ventura County. Okay. So far we've only used Ventura County. All right. We have a couple farmers that we grow with.
Okay. And since we've opened another store in Colorado, we're planning on sourcing from the local farmers and working with the local farmers and some fields in Colorado. So wherever we open a store, wherever state it is, we want to support that local community. Well, I think it's absolutely incredible what you're doing, and I just really want to congratulate you for not only turning your son's life around, [00:16:00] but also helping other people to turn their lives around.
So one more time, give us the, uh, website and all the information so people can contact you. Absolutely. It's www. 101cbd.
org. That's the website. That's the simplest way. Okay. Our email's there. Our phone number's there. My name's Justin Benton. We have free consultations that you actually can meet via phone or Zoom with my mom, who's the head of research and development, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Um, we, we are here to, we, we, we meet with families affected by autism, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer, uh, daily.
For free. We just share our story, what worked for us. Um. And, and let people just kind of at least, you know, maybe glean something that can help their families as well. Justin, this is wonderful. Thank you so much and thank you for your time today. [00:17:00] Thank you. Thanks for having me. We'll see you again. Tell your mom hi.
Will do. Okay. Bye bye. Bye.