Cannabis as medicine for real, anyone?

[FarmerDenise]

Here in California it is easy to get a license to use and grow marijuana legally. Although it is still against federal law.
I have been studying the medicinal value of cannabis for a few years. I am not a recreational user of pot.
I know that it works better than many approved drugs for certain medical problems. And it is safer and cheaper.
I believe that cannabis has been vilified (sp?) by the government and the drug companies.

I was helping a friend take care of his plants last summer and noticed that the bad swelling and pain in my left hand had gone way down. I was not consuming the product at all. I was merely removing the dead and dying leaves from the plant. After having the contact with the plant I was able to crochet again, something I had not been able to do for two years. This removed any doubt I had about the pain relieving aspect of this herb, but moreso the problem I had with the ligaments in my hand diminished. I decided to make a tincture with some of the leaves and take a few drops every day. I am carefull with the amount, since I don't like to get high. I have only been using the tincture for a little over a month and noticed that I don't have the debilitating backpains that I usually get at night. I have smooshed discs in my lower back. Most of my life I woke up every night in awfull pain and would have to carefully reposition myself. Some nights I couldn't even move. I wasn't even aware how bad it was until this last month, when I didn't wake up in pain. I have so much more energy and I don't sleep as many hours. I rarely need an afternoon nap anymore.
The doctors never really did anything for me. Vicodin barely made the pain tollerable and besides, I can't take it in the evening because Vicodin keeps me up. I am never going back. Every day is so much better, I am beginning to feel so alive...

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Not surprised.

So, why do you think it is illegal? (Rhetorical question).

Alcohol relieves pain to some degree too. It is legal, but it also has some nasty side effects.

The governor of our state is trying to make alcohol more readily available, such as letting grocery stores sell more than just wine and beer. It seems she's more interested in tax revenue than in the health or welfare of her citizenry. JMO.

 

[the simple life]

Glad you found something that will help your pain.
I really have not given this subject a whole lot of thought in that past but I guess if its used in the right context it can help people.
In Massachusetts its no longer illegal to have some weed ( oops marijuana) if its less than something like an ounce.
So some 18 year old kid who would have been charged with possession for getting caught with a joint will no longer carry the stigma throughout his life of a drug arrest.
So, maybe Mass. is not too far off from legalizing it for medicinal use.
I would have no problem with it and think it should be available for relieving the pain many terminally ill people suffer with.
Other than what I just wrote, I haven't really given it any more in depth thought, such as the legalities and repercussions and who would monitor the use and sale etc.
I am not too informed on the subject of medicinal uses, may learn something from this thread.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Generally it is used for pain relief and for increasing appetite (some people with chronic pain have a hard time eating). I once read that you could buy actual pills made from highly potent plants, but apparently they were a bit too strong for some.

The problem is that it would be very hard to control the sale and use of a plant. Plants are relatively easy to propagate.

 

[k0xxx]

It could be used as an appetite enhancer for anorexia. Bring on the cookies!

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

 

[justusnak]

It could be used as an appetite enhancer for anorexia. Bring on the cookies!

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

On the serious side tho. I say...if it works for you, keep on keepin on! I do not know anything about the stuff...other than its illegal, and THAT in itself makes it desired more by the younger crowd....I think as a " here's to you" sorta thing. I have heard a few times of the medicinal values of it..and I think the government is being payed off by the drug companies to keep it illegal. If enough people found out how to use it "properly" They wouldnt need the chemical drugs. So glad to hear this is working for you.

 

[FarmerDenise]

You can seperate the part of the plant that has the THC and put it in gel caps or you can grind the plant up and put that in gel caps. The problem with injesting it, is that it takes at least 1/2 hour to take affect and then if it is too strong for you you are stuck with it.
Other countries do allow studies on the medicinal use of pot and they are finding out a lot of good information on it. Other countries have found ways to control and check on the potency of various medicinal herbs. But here herbal remedies of any sort have met with much opposition. The DEA won't allow even the study of marijuana, which I think is so ridiculous. We are looking in foreign rainforests for miracle cures, when there is a plant that has been used thousands of years and is easy to grow and harvest right here that has the potential to make the lives of people so much better.
This winter one of my friends was going through cancer treatment. A single pill of an anti-nausea drug that her doctor prescribed cost around $200.00. She had also been prescribed other less effective and less expensive anti-nausea pills. She also got sleeping pills. She didn't buy the $200.00 pill. She couldn't afford it. Another friend gave her some cannabis tincture. My friend found it worked better for her nausea and allowed her to sleep. It also was easier for her to take the tincture. She was throwing up the other pills.
The cost $0.
Oh yeah, and it helped with her appetite. But it hasn't stopped her hair from falling out.

 

[curly_kate]

Personally, I'd rather see someone use a naturally growing product to treat a medical problem than to see someone pay $200 for a pill that is manufactured in a lab. Pot vs. oxycontin - which causes less damage? I agree with justus that there is a definite financial reason that marijuana is kept illegal. Sad but true.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I also believe that the reason for marijuana being illegal has to do with the government being paid off. I think money is also the reason why chinese herbs are being kept out of the country and other herbal remedies that are quite common in other countries.
They'd make it illegal for us to grow our own vegetable if they could. I think that they are trying, what with the whole GE foodstuffs and all.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I live in pot central here- Farmer Denise is not that far away. MY experience is that pot causes more harm the it helps- even with it being essentially legal ( anyone can find a doctor that will prescribe it for any reason ) the amount of violence and mayhem that it causes is amazing.
Stories are endless and are the rationalizations to support it- a guy drove his motorhome into oncoming traffic while intoxicated- he told the police that it was OK, he had a prescription- I personally put a blanket over the body of a little girl who died on my road because her mom was high on pot and missed a curve in the road- while I was following the person carring her away from burning car, her brains fell out of her broken skull on went plop on the ground. I have told this to my pot smoking neighbors about a dozen times but wach time its like the first time they heard the story. While they contiue to drive their kids around not sober.
Another neighbor burn down his house with his overloaded grow lights- that is a fairly common problem- lots of house fires due to pot. Was on a jury where a couple of guys shot someone and his dog who showed up at the door of the house they were breaking into to steal someone else's pot.
Any number of illegals from Mexico are brought up here to grow pot in the natuional forests- lots of diesel spills at these sites causing water pollution. And murders too.
My experience is also that people who spend a lot of time smoking pot, do little else. I have seen the spouses of two friends "medicate" themselves into stupidity- although truthfully, I'm not sure what came first- stupid or pot.
I wouldn't mind so much if these people would stay in their houses but they keep on driving and committing crimes and exhibiting such poor judgement in so many respects.