I find it funny, how fundamentally opposed to marijuana I used to be when I was younger. i grew up the son of a forensic police officer. The part of marijuana that I grew up knowing was the heavy gang influence. the shootings, the break and enters, the grow-ops that would burn down houses. I knew the criminal element of marijuana fairly well. I also saw the “stoners”, the Cheech and Chong’s of this world.. I never believed in the gateway drug propoganda, but I did know that smoking pot was bad for your health. I read the stats that x amount of brain cells per puff, or that one joint was the equivalent of smoking 3 cigarettes (although I the chain pot smokers I knew where the minority, compared to the, 3 packs a day smokers, that I knew.) So when I heard that they were allowing marijuana to be used to treat Glaucoma patients I scoffed at the idea. All you needed now was a dirty Dr. to get your hands on some Legal pot, or a licence to grow it.
Now I am a different place in my life. I am in constant pain, and have seizures as a result ( I have real seizures, that I never would have known were seizures if it wasn’t for my pain induced sudo-siezures). I never would have considered talking about medical marijuana if it weren’t for knowing someone in a similar boat to me. but looking further into it I found out some more things about marijuana that I just didn’t know before, I actually don’t think anyone in the medical community knew about when I was growing up.
I found out that there was more than one active ingredient in marijuana. Most people familiar with the drug know about THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). THC is the active ingredient that makes you high. Recreational smokers, usually, want this part of the plant to be higher. but there is also CBD (Cannabidiol) which unlike its partner, THC, is a non-psychotic ingredient that will actually counter the effects of THC . Up until now only high THC stains of marijuana were available, but since the discovery of CBD, more stains are coming out that have different percentages of each ingredient, allowing it to treat multiple different pain, and other, problems. CBD, has in recent research, been thought to have anti seizure properties. A mixture of 1% THC to 24% CBD, has been found to have reduced seizure activity in people with epilepsy.
THC isn’t all bad, however. We all, I assume, know about marijuana causing the munchies, and how that trait alone can be a life saver for Cancer patients who have a hard time eating, let alone keeping the food they do manage to eat down for very long. THC is also responsible for the drowsy feeling someone would get while smoking, or eating, marijuana. In someone that can’t sleep for many debilitating medical problems, THC again would come to the rescue.
The issue of weather marijuana should be legal as a recreational drug will be up for debate for years to come I am sure, and protests like the 4/20 won’t do a whole lot to help that fight. To be honest I care a lot less about that aspect of pot right now. sure, it would be nice to get some taxes from the drug, much like we do with alcohol and cigarettes, to help pay for the medical bills of those heavy users out there when they have lung issues (although pot has not been linked to cancer, it has been linked to respiratory issues with users that smoke over the course of their life, due to the tar that is produced when smoking, and the fact that to smoke pot you hold it in your lungs for longer than cigarettes). I would love, if they do legalize it, to make similar rules for smoking pot as they do for smoking cigarettes (no smoking with in a certain distance from public doors, and other such rules to make sure those that choose not to smoke aren’t exposed to as much second hand smoke) . But that is again, not what I am talking about.
I never thought I would be on the marijuana band wagon, so to speak, but here I am, realizing that this could be the only thing that could help people, much like myself. It frusterates me now, seeing people like the Harper government trying to put medical marijuana out of business by holding up seeds from licensed growers, and drowning dispensaries in red tape. If they were brought up like me, and never had to experience pain and discomfort like I, and many others have, I would understand their position. It is hard, to impossible, to describe what I am feeling. This is a sensation unlike any I have ever had before. I probably would still be against marijuana if it wasn’t for the way my life is now. So, I get it. I also get this side of the fence much better, and realize what these new strands of Cannabis means for people like us.
I can’t tell you if marijuana works for me yet. I still have a few hoops to jump through before my doctor, and I, are fully committed to this course of action (my Dr’s comment was…”if it was for anyone else, I would say no right away. but if nothing else works and you push for it, I would prescribe it for you.”). All I can tell you is that I now see how useful it can be. every drug will be abused. Just look at T3’s, morphine, alcohol, but this can be one of those drugs that has the potential to do more good than bad, just like the pain killers most of us have been on multiple times in our life
Ninhydren's thoughts 