Dr. Bao Le
My life changed when I realized that my son Andrew was diagnosed to be on the Autism Spectrum.
“Literally at the dinner table, he fell over and started seizing,” says Le, CEO of Hhemp.co. “I was freaking out and called 911 and got him to a hospital. Then the medicines start coming. Keppra was the choice for preventing seizures but it can cause depression and anxiety. To remedy that, we were prescribed Prozac and Depakote and then when he started school, he was labeled ADHD and took Aderall. So now we had a nonverbal, severely autistic child, who was deeply medicated.” - Dr. Bao Le / Calbizjournal
Asian families are typically insular when it comes to family health issues, and Dr. Bao Le is an example of a father taking it upon himself to heal his son. Traditionally in our family, if you were ill, Grandma would boil up a soup for whatever ailed us, herbs, mushrooms, seeds, fruit, and roots were all thrown into a pot and she would serve this to us in cups as she rubbed our cheeks to bring blood flow to our heads. Dr. Le went further and his journey started in 2011 when the convergence of the revival of our plant medicine practices and the public knowledge of cannabinoid research started by Dr. Raphael Mechoulam from his early studies in 1964.
After researching hemp and cannabis, Dr. Le researched outside his comfort zone and got a medical card to go into dispensaries to ask questions. With his growing research, he worked on a tincture in his kitchen to help his son. After five years of experimentation and testing on himself, he was able to see his son sleep through the night and then weaned him off Adderall, Depakote and Prozac.
We are honored to have Dr. Bao Le on AACE and we hope you are inspired by his story. - Ophelia Chong
We all take paths that we set out for ourselves early on in our lives, however, “life” happens and we find ourselves veering from that path. Dr. Le, how did your family’s lives change with your son Andrew?
My life changed when I realized that my son Andrew was diagnosed to be on the Autism Spectrum. This was a life-changing realization that I would have to monitor his development and well-being as a parent.
Most companies in the CBD industry have research and development different from yours, could you explain your process of perfecting the combination of cannabinoids for your son?
When I started to learn about combining cannabinoids to help my son, it was early 2011 and there was little information. I purchased CBD and THC Oil from medical dispensaries and took them home and started to mix different ratios together. I then took them myself to see what the effects were. I tried a high dose of 20:1 CBD:THC and began to give it orally to my son. I monitored his reactions. After a few weeks, I found an 8:1 CBD:THC blend that helped my son sleep longer and reduced his daily night terrors. Then after a few weeks, I found a significant reduction in night terrors and outbursts. He was calmer and had fewer triggers daily. So, the correct ratio of cannabinoids helped my son.
How did you educate your family on cannabis and hemp? Was there much resistance because of misconceptions about the plant?
After doing my own research about the effects and benefits of cannabis, it was easy to educate my family: to share with my wife and family that the reason why we are providing plant medicine to my son was to help him slow down his hyperactive CNS. Was there much resistance because of misconceptions of the plant? No, because as a family we knew that we were not using it for recreational benefits, but for helping our son.
Thailand has now legalized cannabis and is giving out over a million cannabis plants to the population to have them familiarize themselves with this healing plant, do you see Vietnam following in the footsteps of Thailand ? (Tourism, health, generational wealth, new agriculture, research)
I can see Vietnam following if Thailand will have success with controlling and regulating this opportunity.
Why does HHemp.co sell their products at an affordable price?
I have always believed in providing plant-based medicine to consumers that really need it at an affordable price. I remember when I was buying cannabis products to help my son and finding out that it was not cheap, especially the brands and companies that made products I trusted. I will always try to make products that are effective, strong and affordable.
If you were able to time travel back to when you were as a child in Guam after fleeing Vietnam, and you told your young self what you are doing now, what would you say?
I would tell myself, never give up on your dreams and passions. One day if you lose everything, create a life that will allow yourself to rebuild.
What products of HHemp.com do you use to relax? Heal? (This question is an open one that can be used to talk about the product lines)
I use my Calm Tincture and CBG:CBD Gummies. I have a very stressful job and these help me relax and stay grounded.
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