Hey, it’s me. Never thought I’d be starting a new website again but here we are, same new website, different topic. I wanted to give you a little background about myself and where I come from to fill you in on things so let’s get right down to it, shall we? Best not to mince words (although I tend to be loquacious at times), so let’s dive in.
Who Am I?
My name is Bacchus and I run In With Bacchus, a website dedicated to the hedonistic pleasures of life. It is a website dedicated to booze, wine, tobacco, and food. But why start a new website when you have a perfectly good website already running? Good question, dear reader. Let me give you a little information about me and then we’ll dive into that. To start, I have a Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester (Class of 2010) and Masters of Science in Brewing and Distilling Science from Heriot-Watt University (Class of 2011). I have dedicated my whole life to the cause of alcohol in all forms and therein lies the problem because…
…as of 2021, I can no longer drink.
Imagine being someone that’s literally slavishly studied the minutiae of alcohol and yet cannot drink? It’s what I dedicated my life to from 2010 onward and then, BAM, I could no longer drink spirits, wine, beer, or anything in between. Why? Well, I became disabled. And, when one becomes as disabled as me, what becomes necessary is pain management, to forge some semblance of life instead of existence. So I had to trade my love, my joi de vivre, my passion…for the ability to not scream myself awake every day. It was, honestly…a tough call to make but I had to make it. I loved booze that much. I can still sip and spit but I’m on so many medicines (antibiotics, mainly) that I can’t consume it AT ALL to prevent the antibiotics from losing efficacy. What is one to do in that situation, then?
Well, you trade one intoxicant for another.
In truth, it started in 2022. My pain management regimen wasn’t fantastic but it was better than being on no pain management. I talked to my doctor about non-narcotic options as the option I was on was heavily narcotic (fentanyl transdermal patches, 25 mcg/hr q48) and I didn’t want to add more fuel to the fire, so to speak. He recommended cannabis and I was willing to try it. So we went went to MA to buy some (as NY was legal but had no dispensaries), I tried it and it worked well. It couldn’t replace the medicine I was already on but it was a non-narcotic option to help bridge the gaps. As time grew, and I learned more and more, it started sparking the same love that I had for alcohol. I soft-tested the waters on my other website in 2023 with coverage of an event but it wasn’t until I was freelanced to do coverage of Revelry Buyers’ Club via Chronogram that I committed. With that, and my subsequent coverage on my website (greenlit by my editor), I decided to take the plunge and start anew; roughly same topic but different adulterant.
What Do You Do?
This website, first and foremost, is a way for me to learn and a repository of my thoughts. I love learning and since I’m so new to the industry and the concept, I’ve got a long way to go. I’m still getting down terpenes and figuring out the intricacies of solvent/solventless extraction, among a massive mountain of other topics I haven’t even broached yet. So this will mostly be me trying to learn as much as I can about a topic I love. I’ll be doing this through reviews of all SORTS of products that are cannabis and/or cannabis-related, event coverage, editorials, and occasionally journalistic things. I tend to favor gonzo journalism in my writing as I feel that the reporter cannot be separated from the event that’s going on. I don’t believe that a reporter can be that detached and, frankly, if I’m going to be attached, I might as well have fun with it. At the end of the day, these are just my thoughts and opinions, no more than that. I will be (often) wrong as I grow and progress through things and I ask you to bear with me as my stance on things will probably change as I learn and experience more. I go by a rigorous scientific standard, for the most part, in my reviews, hence the open and transparent review methods tab to tell you exactly what I’m doing at all times. This website will probably never have ads or make money, either. I’m not doing it for that. I -will- do sponsored posts as I feel that’s a good compromise on my end but you will always get the truth from me.
Where Are You Gonna Do It?
Well, in my office for one. But I’d like to be on-site for as much as I can. I’d love to tour processing and manufacturing facilities, visit farms, talk with people in the field, and just get into the nitty-gritty of things. To begin, and I think for the most part, I’ll be focusing on the cannabis markets of both New York and Massachusetts. I’m excited to see the growth of New York (which is still VERY much in it’s infancy stage) and also see the subtle trends in the more developed Massachusetts market as well. I love learning so I will go wherever my body can physically take me. Which brings me to the next point…
When Will You Do It?
This is a tough one. I am, at my core, disabled so I have to put that first and foremost. I’d love to have the money and the strength to travel around the US (or the world, really) covering this but for now it will have to be at my own pace. Things may be slow in the beginning as I’m going in for extended experimental treatment to resolve some outstanding medical issues and that’s currently taking an EXORBITANT amount of time, energy, and effort to manage. So things may be slow at the beginning. But hopefully I’ll be able to ramp up later on once things die down and I can restructure my life to progress instead of exist. So, I’ll be doing things on my own time. Sorry if you’re expecting consistency at this point; my body just can’t handle it.
Why Are You Doing It?
Also a good question. I’ve discussed this prior but I love learning and I want a repository of my thoughts. But I also want to bring a voice to the cannabis sphere that, I feel, is under-represented: the medically lost. There is medical cannabis in both states I plan on covering but, from what I’ve seen, people don’t seem willing to talk frankly and honestly about their disabilities and how cannabis affects them. It’s very difficult to be open with people about disability because it’s such a touchy, highly personal topic but I strive to bring another voice to the chorus of the disabled. So that’s another reason why I’m doing it. Lastly, I just think it’ll be fun. When you’re disabled, you got a lot of time. It’s time usually spent managing the day-in/day-out chores that come with being handicapped: managing medicine, scheduling doctor’s appointments, filling out forms, arguing with insurance, hanging out in hospitals/offices, etc. I need something fun in my life to counterbalance that and I think talking about my journey with cannabis will fit the bill perfectly.
So yeah, that’s me in a nutshell. That should give you a pretty good glimpse into my life, my motivations, and my drives for doing this. I hope that I’ve convinced you, in at least some way, of coming with me on this journey. I can’t promise you that it’ll be smooth sailing; nothing with a disability is but I’ll try to update things as best I can with news, reviews, interviews, coverage, and everything in between as I see fit and as I find interesting. If you have anything you want me to cover or review or talk to or WHATEVER, feel free to contact me using the contact form at the top of the page and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Until then, thanks for reading and I hope to see you again.
Sincerely,
CannaBacchus