I get kidney stones pretty often (6 times in the last 8 years). I vomit from the pain, convulse on the floor, lose all sense of self as I just struggle to survive the sensation. It is intense. Usually I have to go to the emergency room for IV opioids. Then they give you some to take home after you pass the peak of the pain.
Last time it happened to me, I went home at around 6pm after going into the hospital that morning. At 3am, the pain was again intolerable. I had already taken the maximum dosage of the opioids. I knew taking more was dangerous, and was keenly afraid of getting addicted. But the pain was too much, so I went to get the bottle of pills.
As I stood up to go get the pills, it occurred to me that people say weed is good for pain and that I should try it before taking more opioids. I had weed (in cali, have a "medical" card) so I took some out and smoked.
I cannot describe to you how much more effective it was than the opioids. The pain wasn't gone, but it was just an interesting sensation now. Genuinely didn't bother me. I did yoga. I read. I enjoyed the night. And I was flabbergasted that no one I touched in the medical establishment had ever recommended it.
It feels like a genuinely corrupt world where something so clearly damaging to people and society is recommended before something relatively harmless and widely available.
I am still in awe of how effectively it handled my pain.
I wonder if certain professions have a lower incidence of kidney stones, which can be linked to exposure to G forces or vibrational forces applied (Pilot, truck driver, etc.). That'd be an interesting occupational health study (When controlling for all other occupational factors).
I would bet rollercoasters could be as or more effective as tylenol for milder pain too, at least while you're distracted and pumped full of endorphins.
> I cannot describe to you how much more effective it was than the opioids. The pain wasn't gone, but it was just an interesting sensation now
I had that experience too when I dropped something heavy on my toe, which sounds a lot funnier than it felt when the pressure under my toe went up (which I should have relieved by puncturing the nail, which I was not capable of doing to myself at that point)! But weed didn't make the pain go away, it just made it tolerable somehow. And I managed to puncture the nail after all.
I also saw someone with chronic pain get prescribed oxycontin, which isn't only very addictive, it also didn't work for her the way weed did. And with the latter being not-so-addictive, it would only make sense to me to use it more often for pain relief. It can be such a relief for so many people.
Cannabis doesn't actually kill pain. It detaches us from our emotional response to pain. Which in my opinion is a much more effective tool for healing than removing the pain entirely.
I have a friend who lost a bunch of weight (and was very overweight) in a relatively short period. He then developed gout, which is apparently agonizing. He did the same things as you, and like you, is "in awe". Just having seen the difference in him I'm prettied impressed too. I'm glad that you've found something that works for you.
Pain from gout is excruciating. It is incredibly painful, and you can't put pressure on it, you can't even cover it with a light sheet, you can't sleep... and it goes on for days, sometimes weeks. My longest attack was 2 months long.
Standard opioids didn't touch. Should have tried MJ instead.
for you or others reading -- you need to find a rheumatologist. go to urgent care if you need to, and get a recommendation. there is absolutely no reason for you to suffer for weeks on end. it's fucking awful. stop doing this to yourself. it's 2017, these problems were solved decades ago.
an acute attack can be stopped with prednisone (a steroid) and toridol (a super strong nsaid) these injections are like $20 each without insurance. and long-term care with allopurinol or alternative is extremely cheap, like $10 a month without insurance. under a doctor's care the prednisone and toridol are very safe. these are extremely common, cheap, widely available drugs.
when i say 'stopped', i mean it's fucking GONE within a day, and then you can be given long-term care. gout has a huge genetic component and can flare up while you're living the healthiest of healthy lifestyles.
if you have it bad, it will get worse and worse and more and more frequent, until you get to absurd, comical levels of pain in both sides of your body, to the point of complete functional shutdown of your life, you are NOT going to fix this yourself, or with anything over the counter like naproxen sodium (aleve) or smoking some weed.
my doctor said gout is the worst pain and debilitation you can experience short of physical trauma. the only thing that compares is the worst types of migraines. i let it get to the point where i ruined a 2-week vacation before i snapped out of it and went to see a doctor.
Havent heard of those here in the Nordics (edit: cortisol being destructive it is not a good long term solution, hence avoided). Naproxen worked for me, but took days.
It took me two years to realize what is the source of gout. D/RNA molecules. They are 50% purines which humans dont metabolize, just excrete (other animals can metab them). None of the "what to eat with gout guides" stated this clearly, which stymies me. Anyhow, now i know to avoid eating DNA rich stuff - go milk!
Thank you for your comments... I am on meds and have had the prednisone shots and whatnot, still have attacks that last weeks on end. Was told by my doctors that unfortunately it comes with the territory.
I also have gout. Weed does help somewhat during intense flare-ups. However, NSAIDs inhibit cannabis reuptake (or something), so you can't effectively use both weed and an NSAID. And given the choice between the two, NSAIDs are much more effective for me.
Given the incredibly low toxicity of cannabis, "more cannabis" should be a working strategy here. 2x, 5x, 20x the dose until you get past the new threshold caused by NSAIDs?
> And I was flabbergasted that no one I touched in the medical establishment had ever recommended it.
A very American problem. Speaking with some of my Canadian colleagues, recommendations for cannabis usage in managing pain and other conditions is much more frequent.
As someone who suffered kidney stones at 16 and is closing in on age 30 without the benefits of health coverage... an account like this is promising and semi-comforting to me.
I don't know if they'll strike again but when they did last I lived a month on percocets, a day on morphine, and had to have a stint installed and removed to stay functional in high school while also undergoing ultrasonic stone blasting.(this was when I had my parent's coverage).
You should look in to what kinds of food are least likely to increase your risk for kidney stones. Apparently, some foods just build kidney stones like crazy in some people.
To be honest with you, maybe it's my part of the country (northeast, now southwest) - I don't know of many colleagues who are comfortable with opioid use or prescribing. Most of us won't prescribe it and will refer to a pain management specialist who knows what they're doing. Most of us are also aware that there have been few long-term studies that show any sort of toxicity or dangers of cannabinoid use other than at ultra high doses, so personally, I think it's probably safer than using something like Xanax or clonazepam. Certainly safer than opiates.
The limiting factor - you cannot just write a prescription to the local CVS, so if patients want it, I can only recommend that they and their family seek out a reputable dispensary...the limiting factor, I would say, would be getting the medicine in a form with the tolerances and safety of a typical FDA approved med.
My understanding is that opioids also constrict the ureter and make it more difficult to pass the stone. Whereas since weed is an anti-inflammatory it may even have some benefits.
Opioids can also cause extreme constipation, which can also result in extreme agony when you're coming off of them. That's what happened to me when I was coming off morphine and oxycodone given me in the ER to treat kidney stone pain. It was hell, and that experience alone makes me seriously contemplate refusing all pain killing medication if I'm ever offered it again.
I'm not suggesting you use opioids again but, if you need to, I recommend Lactulose for the constipado. It's a sugar that can't be digested and pushes things along nicely. That's a little better than going though agonising pain or needing to overdose on a laxative with an LD50.
I would just like to point out that cannabis is not a cure-all or even effective sometimes.
Here's my anecdotal story:
I personally have constant extreme pain (the joys of Ehlers-Danlos) and when I tried cannabis for my pain it not only was entirely ineffective, it greatly amplified my pain. So not only was I stoned, I was also in way more pain than usual. So I had a pretty bad time.
I think issue was that a lot of my pain comes from muscle overuse because when my muscles relax too much my joints stretch or pinch the nerves passing through them (which is super painful). So cannabis most likely made me too relaxed to not hurt myself constantly.
The reason no one in the medicine has even mentioned cannabis to you is because it is a schedule 1 drug. The DEA does not allow doctors to prescribe or administer schedule 1 drugs for any reason. You can read more about their guidelines here https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/manuals/pract/pract_...
Thanks for that advice, I'll have to try that next time. I too have had kidney stones that hurt to the point of vomiting and being unable to even speak. Same thing, given opioids that barely helped with the pain. And in my case, they ended up triggering a light panic attack sensation. Not to mention the $4,000 hospital bill for getting a scan and prescription, of which my insurance only covered $2,300 of it.
Yeah, the cost is crazy. This attack was extremely unfortunate in timing re: cost. I had signed up for better insurance in case I kept having stones, and this one happened the day before that insurance started. So I got a $5K bill, which would have been ~$0 24 hours later :(
Know that there are whole lineages of yoga associated with the use of this power plant. I recommend exploring the combination while remaining open to being led (as in moves and timing) by the plant and by the enhanced awareness of what needs attention/release in the body.
It may be helpful to commit the mind prior to the session and create a distraction- and thinking- free environment.
My wife had an acute, severe medical issue that resulted in a hospital admission.
I don't know if cannabis would have been appropriate, but the heavy opiod doses given to her weren't exactly amazing at managing her pain, but their side effects were almost worse than the pain and likely extended her stay.
Have you tried chanca piedra? It's an herb, but has been run through medical trials in Germany with great success. I use it and it seems to have lessened my kidney stone issues.
My mom has benefited from cannabis to help treat chrohns. While nothing has cured, it's been the most effective with no known side effects. Plus it's cheaper than the meds she has been buying for years (spending out of pocket upwards $10k a year with $500 a pill just for flare ups even with medicare in Canada).
She has been in hell for 30 years. They wanted to remove her small intestine ~20 years ago and she didn't want to make that sacrifice and lived with the pain.
Nothing honestly helped long term till I convinced her to try cannabis 3 years ago that so far has been more effective.
She is now on low daily dose with no flare-ups in atleast a year.
From personal experience as a 15 year recreational user and 10 years actual therapy/medicinal use:For chronic pain and intestinal issues it works wonders, but it's not any immediate relief with severe pain.
That may change with higher concentrations and improvements in delivery methods.
Crohn's Disease is one of those things where, if you do not suffer from it personally, you have absolutely no business telling someone who does what they may or may not do to treat it - or rather its symptoms. I have a friend with Crohn's, and based on his reserved description (not far past PG-13) as to what he goes through on a daily basis, I would not DARE tell him that he cannot use marijuana, opioids, or anything else. I don't care what he needs to help him get through his day; he deserves quite literally anything that chemistry has to offer that he is willing to take. Nobody - absolutely nobody - has the right tell him differently.
People are ignorant and frankly downright... disgusting/pathetic/opinionated (I can't find the words to describe how far beyond unacceptable some people's positions are)... with their attempts to regulate others, when it comes to issues that do not affect them personally. If you don't have a clue, shut your mouth and let those who have to deal with the situation dictate for themselves how they will manage or cope.
But letting people do what they want with their own body is an attack on those opinions and so they must be stopped.
Psychology, with differing opinions and such you react the same way as if it were a physical attack. The brain simply can't tell the difference. Hence people do this. People can't just agree to disagree and move on. People will pick at the differing opinions like a chicken. Doesn't matter how many people they hurt as long as they get what they want. Whine, nag, violence, etc. Suddenly I started thinking of feminism.
Human is a disgusting egoistical selfish animal. Expecting any kind of standard is naive and foolish.
Related but off topic:
The legal-system is filled with laws that reflect certain peoples opinion.
The government act as if they own our bodies yet we don't see a penny for the rental and when we try and say "no" they use brute force to enforce its will. Quite barbaric. If you don't have brute force backing you up than you aren't recognized as a country for example. I can say I own the moon but if I don't have brute force backing me up then I'm just a joke. Hence as a person you have no say what so ever, you're irrelevant. So why do we have a comment section? Just to distract us from actually doing something productive and affect the world? Conspiracy?
Sorry my mind wanders. Never could get the leash to work.
> Nobody - absolutely nobody - has the right tell him differently.
> People are ignorant and frankly downright... disgusting/pathetic/opinionated
Those are some very strong claims. You can be sympathetic without being hyperbolic, or assuming that the reason that other don't share your views is that they're bad people who don't share your perfect reasoning.
They are strong claims because current drug laws cost people their lives in large numbers. If there wasn't plenty of evidence to support that, I could accept that it might be excusable, but the evidence is there to the point that I have taken to at the very least consider politicians that oppose drug reform (who we should be able to expect to inform themselves) to be morally no better than murderers.
In fact, for the most part they are worse - most murderers do not cause further harm after a single death (it is exceedingly rare for people to commit more than one murder); most politicians who oppose drug law reforms continue to cause harm.
Sometimes we reach inflection points where certain views become so outdated by the availability of evidence that they become repugnant. Consider slavery (yes, I am making that comparison).
Our eras drug laws will come to be remembered as the same kind of barbaric oppression of - and violence against - weaker members of society.
You'll find people get heated about the subject. When strangers & governments stop normal people taking a herb or whatever for their chronically painful & destructive illness it can be frustrating. His friend could end up with cancer due to increased inflammation of the intestinal tract.
Certain groups & governments ignore science for their own agenda. Or they just don't like the sound of it. I mean, when that's the case, fuck them! Really. They're disgusting.
While I understand your sentiment, unmitigated access to treatment modalities is generally not a good thing. People, often children with no real informed consent, die every year because they forsake science-based medicine for quackery.
The efficacy and safety of a treatment are not something we want left to personal anecdote.
The efficacy and safety of the treatments are not the issue. The issue is when government uses the threat of violence to prevent people from accessing substances that cause no harm to others.
I agree that people should not use it as treatment without seeking help, but there are far more dangerous substances you can buy over the counter.
E.g. acetaminophen/paracetamol causes a range of deaths via liver failure every year, yet not only do we allow it to be sold, in many countries it is now allowed to be sold mixed with codeine - a highly addictive opoid, creating an incentive for addicts to push the limits of their intake of highly toxic compound.
And yet people worry about cannabis - a substance where the LD50 is so high we don't know what it is, or if there is one (short of choking on it...)
Attack quackery, sure. But if you are to go after quackery, then go after current drug laws too, because they are not based on a concern over science, efficacy or safety.
It makes you wonder what The Goverment's agenda is, does it not? I mean, either you base you actions on science or you base it on something other than science. It's a shame politics so often lead to uninformed decisions. To me, these days, politics seems like a grown-up version of the high-school game you used to play when you wanted to become popular. But of course, the real issue here money. Everyone wants it. Need it. Live for it.
Bingo. Just follow the money and see who profits from cannabis being illegal.
1. Can't put a patent on it and can literally grow it in your backyard - pharmaceutical industry is going to lose a large chunk of cash inflow from anti-nausea and opioids. Not to mention the fact a large portion of opioid/herion addicts started out on prescription medicine, which leads into my other points.
2. The entire law enforcement procedures will have to rethink the status quo. Smelling cannabis was a great way to have "reasonable suspicion" for violating privacy, and going after cannabis dealers were incredibly easy targets to bust. Don't forget RICO that gives LE a nice cash bonus from drug dealer assets.
3. Prison industry will have a hard time filling in the since a large majority of the prisoners are nonviolent drug offenders. Perhaps with less opioid addicts that sought cannabis instead would cause some extra vacancy as well.
4. The Cartel and several other underground organizations that I have a hard time believing would not have ties to politicians and decision makers on the subject.
Is the government the ultimate arbiter of science? Is it not possible to have access to medicines and have relevant scientific information without being subjugated by bureaucratic proxies for big pharma[1]?
>People, often children with no real informed consent, die every year because they forsake science-based medicine for quackery.
People, often children, die every year due to "science-based medicine" as well. Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, and so have sales of these prescription drugs[2].
Smoking doesn't relieve pain for me, helps provide some relief via relaxation or just super high.(kush or straight indica).
Edibles I have to eat alot and time to kick in long, not too big fan of edibles.
indica, hybrid and sativa shatter/bidder)oil, live resin etc I never felt much pain relief (more to the head).
A gram in a couple of hours I still didn't feel significant immediate pain relief
Vaporizers (got a volcano for 15 years), provides a nice body relief and head high depending on strains.
More for relaxation.
CBD/mix as a Eliquids/juice in a ecig- I don't think I have had strong enough to fully comment.
Pills- I need to have atleast 400mg before I feel anything.
You also incidentally hit upon the reason why it's been marginalized by industry for so long -- it represents a huge dent in profits. Whenever something seems awry, a good question to ask is, cui bono (who benefits)?
I understand the viewpoint; but what about a pragmatic peaceful solution: let the persons in need organize and spread the knowledge. We probably could setup an open statistical sufferers sharing platform to avoid rumor/placebo effects without resorting to trust a big industry.
> let the persons in need organize and spread the knowledge
That's lobbying. In todays world, lobbying is a dispicable act, at least if you are into science or if you like stuff that has been proven by scientific measures. In today's world, lobbying VETOes science.
Spreading knowledge isn't blocking science if done with scientists and people with conflicts if interests (unlike grabbing public projects or impeding legal change in your favor).
Yeah, I didn't intend a value judgment on lobbying in general, so much as to highlight how unfair/unreasonable it is to put that obligation on sick people. Why can't we fix what's obvious? Any of us could end up sick in the future.
and who loses? Drug industry can't patent it and own it and restrict it to cause demand and price increase. Alcohol and tobacco industry will lose customers. The governments, politicians and industries will loose face for example over the fact they have told lies for decades for profits.
> Alcohol and tobacco industry will lose customers
Tobacco is already losing customers, and this is partly b/c of the fact that second hand smoke has been attacked so directly. It's not just YOU that's smoking, it's everyone around you (marijuana, depending on it's consumption method will suffer a similar stigma).
Alcohol companies on the other hand are just being paranoid. I suspect that alcohol consumption will maintain it's current usage, or potentially even go up. In fact, if marijuana was fully legalized, it's oil being very similar to hops (and in the same family, Cannabaceae), could be used in some beverages. The beer industry could in fact have an entirely "new" product line.
Fwiw, I am for legalization, but the second hand smoking of MJ bothers me quite a bit. I don't like the smell and, worse, get a queasy stomach (even though I otherwise don't have such issues). Living in places where people frequently smoke outside (Berlin, now SF) that's quite annoying.
That becomes more of a case of common courtesy, really. Same could be said of people who wear too much perfume or don't wear deodorant. I also am not a fan of the smell, raw, burnt, or vaped, and the whole culture of "weed sommeliers" wafting different scents with this one being "fruity" and this one being "musty" is a bit silly to me.
What is your mom taking exactly? I have Crohn's disease but unfortunately my attempts to treat with MMJ haven't been quite as successful. Since the research is so lacking, you sort of have to come up with a custom protocol. I'd be interested to know what hers is.
I have a friend who uses it to treat Chron's. Before, he was somewhat straight-edge, as I still am.
He learned that cannabis comes under two general categories; one mostly hits "the head", e.g. Makes you really high and behave silly. Another hits the body.
If I remember correctly, the former didn't really help with pain or comfort much; the latter is less popular with recreational users for obvious reasons. At any rate, there's a huge catalog of varieties out there; I would suggest going to forums frequented by other Chrons sufferers or cancer patients and get some specific recommendations.
They research it because the doctors can't be bothered with that even though it's their job. Why doctors aren't fired in masses is bewildering.
Got this issue with my doctors. They just don't care about me. They want to do as little work as possible. They refuse to read the papers I give them. They refuse to use effective medicines according to the research. They refuse to listen to me period. They're lazy sadistic assholes.
Finding a doctor that actually cares, works and fight to heal you is very difficult. As rare as unicorns.
Here here. Cancer patient. I've met a LOT of doctors... only two of whom I trust more than my own research. I had to diagnose myself (!!!) after two doctors gave me the old "it's nothing", took months while it spread, demanded biopsy. Am now stage IV while they're still raking in the cash, coasting through their half-assed careers.
It's bewildering to me that I'm expected to put more effort and research into building some stupid web app than they do for being responsible for a human life, for a fraction of the money.
People who've not been through the system have NO idea just how dysfunctional it is. It's sickening and criminal, at every corner -- and NOTHING is being done.
I'm kind of surprised that the alcohol and tobacco industries don't lobby for legalization. They could potentially diversify in to marijuana manufacture and sale, and leverage their brands and experience in selling other recreational drugs. The pharmaceutical industry could similarly profit from manufacturing and selling medical marijuana.
The problem from the pharma companies point of view is that they have patents on a lot of their drugs, granting exclusivity on production. Marijuana is a plant which anyone can grow (and thus compete with them).
I don't think most marijuana smokers are going to want to bother growing their own marijuana any more than cigarette smokers bother to grow their own tobacco.
People are also very attracted to brands and swayed by marketing.
I don't doubt for an instant that the marijuana industry is going to be gigantic if it ever becomes fully legal in the US.
I don't think the economics are comparable at all. Given that cannabis is literally an invasive weed, getting started is really easy and takes very little (horizontal) space. A past neighbor in Northern California just randomly stuck a few seeds from a dispensary in the middle of her backyard garden, did a little research on how to take care of it, and four months later had more cannabis than the entire block could smoke before the next harvest was ready.
A single tobacco plant won't yield much more than 2 ounces and that would last a pack-a-day smoker less than a week, saving them about $40 (not including labor of actually making the class A cigarettes). 2 ounces for a single cannabis plant is a relatively poor yield but would still last an 8th-a-day smoker 2 weeks and save them at least $400 and there is up to a 10x difference between a poor yield and an excellent yield. The reward/effort ratio for these two plants is worlds apart so I don't think the comparison to tobacco is particularly helpful.
I think you really underestimate how lazy some people (like me) area. I live in New York, have no access to a garden, and the only room that gets much light in my apartment is my bedroom. Even if cannabis were legal, I would never bother to grow my own, because the plants smell quite strongly.
I also enjoy trying a wide variety strains, which wouldn't work out so well if I was cultivating only a few plants.
I think you underestimate how poor poor people are. Poor people also need pain relief. They also need to get high. Most non-poor people get high on opiates or alcohol. That's expensive. Growing a plant, in relative terms, is not.
So is tobacco and while I've known the occasional person who grew it, it's pretty uncommon. I've also been surprised that tobacco companies don't get in on the legalise marijuana thing. Possibly they are suffering so much from bad press they don't think they could withstand the backlash...
It is also a new market for them. They can sit on their current market share or help open up a new market and risk it cannibalising their existing market while they potentially may fail to get sufficient market share in the new market to offset the losses.
It seems like basically an industry on the defensive that see it as safer to just hole up and try to maintain status quo as much as possible.
I don't know why people attack Blockbuster's business model.
Blockbuster had a phenomenal business model, and effective leadership, that lasted 25 years and went through several re-conceptualizations. What happened to it wasn't a human failing.
The market simply got disrupted by Netflix. Businesses aren't people, they can't just turn the ship around at a moment's notice. What would you have had them do? Not have ever been in the video rental business in the first place and leave all that money on the table? Have the foresight to see Netflix coming?
I can understand why non-techies would use Blockbuster as a symbol for all things tech-disruption-related, but we can do a little better than that I hope.
As I understand it, growing tobacco takes a lot of time and effort. You need to bury it and store for some time before it gets good. If growing good quality tobacco was as easy as growing good quality marijuana, I suspect a lot more smokers would do so.
Growing your own MJ and have it taste like it does when you by from a pro, is a feat though. When you curate cannabis the right way, the flavors of cheese, berry, fruit, pine or other, comes through.
I think botanists or people who can read and have a habit of, you know, Google up on stuff, will do pretty good at growing their own stuff.
Why Big Cig is dodging this must purely be because of potential bad-will. I bet they feel like I do whenever I raise my voice on a cannabis-related topic at work: will this give me cred or back-lash like a MF?
If they tarnish themselves with yet another vice, the virtue zealots will descend on them. Too much risk. If they'll try to be heroes, sure, but I can't see it justified as a business decision. They seem big and powerful, but governments are more of both.
While trying to be vague, I can say the tobacco industry is ready to profit off of marijuana legalization. They have lots of stuff ready to go, but not public. In the meantime, however, they are more than happy to continue raking in their current profits and not rocking the boat.
They've made pretty clear that they are going to reverse the policy of deprioritizing prosecutions for at least recreational use in states that have legalized, medical use is less clear.
There are also other substances (such as psilocybin and LSD) which have the potential to massively reduce the cashflow of big pharma (specifically: in the case of anti-depressants).
And now you understand the importance of the War on Drugs for billionaires in our society.
It seems people are slowly beginning to understand to what degree our society and its systems are corrupted by "economic forces" and not built with the interest of the citizens' wellbeing at heart.
I see people say this, and I disagree. And just for clarity, I'm definitely pro-drug legalisation - even of drugs I never want to be in the same room with.
I think drug companies are precisely the sort of place to produce medical-grade LSD (and other therapudic "recreational" drugs) that has predictable dosages. Same goes for cannabinoids in pill form - especially the sorts meant for folks that would rather skip the high. Someone will need to supply mental health & addiction centers with this. And I think the sale of which will be basically on-par with at least generic anti-depressants. It won't replace anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds, however. While some folks find improvements in such treatments, it can also make the symptoms worse. It isn't a cure-all, but rather an important alternative and/or addition to current drug treatments. Of course, this is all assuming folks have a clinical setting and that "big pharma" enters this section of the market.
This isn't saying that the war on drugs isn't something about money, but I highly doubt it is big pharma. In fact, considering some of the horror stories about medical treatment in prisons, it might actually be a positive for them even if they don't enter the market as those folks would theoretically get "normal" medical treatment. In contrast, private and public prisons have a huge network of suppliers. Companies and the government hire inmates to do work at very low labor costs. These folks have much more to lose from the end of the drug war.
LSD cannot be patented, so Big Pharma cannot make money on it - they'd have to compete on price, which would lead to really slim margins. If LSD is kept illegal, they can sell patented "alternatives" at huge margins.
Sandoz patented LSD in 1948, actually. The way patent laws work these days, if there is any pharmaceutical value in LSD, I bet current owner Novartis would fire up their team of lawyers. :/
The medical industry considers the hallucinations recreational LSD users enjoy a nasty side effect. If this wasn't the case, such would possibly be on the market specific known treatments that LSD / psilocybin might help (eg cluster headaches), versus the industry trying to look at similar non-hallucinogenic compounds (eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-Bromo-LSD) or other completely different alternatives.
They can patent a process that gives them very reliable dosages, though. And like the other reply said, the Generic companies aren't relying on the patent protection anyway.
They might find different sorts of chemical structures that are theraputically superior than LSD itself as well, but this stuff wont' happen without minimally having LSD medically legal.
They can still sell the patented "alternatives" : LSD isn't a cure-all and isn't necessarily ideal for everyone. Besides, these patents will eventually run out, so they'll have to think up new ideas nevertheless.
You're right that they can't use LSD straight. But they can develop a nearly identical molecule with identical effects, shepherd that molecule through the FDA approval process, and then have a profitable monopoly. Which on one level sucks but on another level means that if we really can benefit from LSD as a drug then we should expect Big Pharma to let us get it through our doctors once the regulatory/legal barriers to using it go away.
As much as I believe that psychedelic experiences should be available to those who seek them, and pro rec mj, LSD can't be legalized. Enough dumbasses out there will drink a vial and then try to drive their car to the moon. Penalties should be much less extreme though.
Maybe designated psychedelic theme parks where it's legal and quality controlled with no access to motor vehicles? (with music too?)
How is that different from drinking a fifth of vodka and doing the same? The difference is that in the years of people drinking, and the years of people dropping LSD, we have good stats on which is deadlier.
Like I said I think it should be readily available to those who seek it out, without the threat of substantial punishment, it would just be a shit show if Johny H.S. Senior is able to pick up a sheet at 7-11.
How many "Johny turned the school cafeteria into an acid test" news stories is this LSD legalization experiment gonna last for? It pains me to have to say that because I'd love to be able to pick some up at 7-11, just not sure if it's the best idea.
> LSD cannot be patented, so Big Pharma cannot make money on it
This doesn't entirely track. Certainly brand-name pharma that do drug research might not be interested, but generic pharma that simply copy drugs from the brands and sell them at steep discounts certainly would.
For folks looking for more information regarding published studies on the topic, we supply an index of over 800 cannabis studies organized by almost 170 conditions, and summarized with a weighted average by our contributing PhD:
Maybe you can shed some light: there are lots of different kinds of pain, right? Is cannabis most effective for any particular type? Is it probably the wrong choice for any particular type?
> there are lots of different kinds of pain, right?
Yes, we have 7 or 8 different types of categorical pains listed for this reason.
> Is cannabis most effective for any particular type?
To my knowledge, there is not a specific type of pain that cannabis has been shown to be "most effective" for. Cannabis acts on important receptors as an agonist or antagonist throughout our bodies.
> Is it probably the wrong choice for any particular type?
There is no evidence, that I'm aware of, that would indicate cannabis would exacerbate or otherwise extend pain for any type of treatment. On the contrary, we discovered our endocannabinoid system[1], which is a strong regulator of pain and discomfort signals, through research and treatment with cannabis.
That's.... fantastic. Coming from a PhD who understands how hard it is to organize and evaluate research, I appreciate that you organized and evaluated the research.
The original article and this post have a very poor headline. The study covered pain relievers, anti-depressants, and sedatives. The people were not just suffering from pain. Some had mental health issues. Some has gastrointestinal issues. I suspect the reason why cannabis was so popular is because it helps with a lot of conditions instead of just one.
Also, cannabis has a much milder effect than prescription drugs and fewer negative side effects. It's not much of a stretch to imagine someone using it in place of a prescription drug when their symptoms are not as strong.
A "friend of mine" who suffers in excruciating pain for days from the occasional kidney stone smokes weed and takes ibuprofen rather than go through bottles of prescription pain killers. They have tremendously negative side effects if taken over a long period of time that he would rather not experience on top of the pain. After seeing his sister get addicted to them after having surgery, he doesn't want to risk them destroying his life.
In many cases, though, cannabis and CBD oil aren't nearly as effective as opioids for relief from severe pain, right? How often is this a viable alternative for patients?
This study only looked at 250 people who already have medical cannabis prescriptions for pain, so this shouldn't be extrapolated too heavily.
similarly, those who have only had opioids for acute pain (injuries, post-op, and such) have a hard time appreciating just how much baggage comes with these drugs when they are taken indefinitely.
Well, they lose effectiveness. The body adjusts to the constant input. Which is what addiction is. What many people don't understand is that addiction isn't drug abuse. We should fight to remove the negativity the word addiction have.
Very annoying that the body do this. If you could figure out a drug that prevents this you could make billions!
For example and something everyone can try:
My body is addicted to coffee. If I don't take it for a few days I'll become very tired, headaches, etc. It's lasts for about two weeks. While addicted I don't abuse it. I've even switched to tea a few times.
Could you recommend what products specifically help you the most? I've had chronic neck and back pain for years. Smoking marijuana actually tends to make it worse, but I haven't experimented with specific strains, ingestion methods, etc.
It's important to note that, unlike opioids, cannabis doesn't make the sensation of pain less strong, it makes it less urgent. This means that if you won't necessarily feel a direct effect on the pain, but that its subsequent effects aren't as strong - the pain is not as exhausting, distracting, or debilitating. In fact, the initial 'come-on' of cannabis tends to make me more aware of my pain for a few seconds.
Moreover, my pain is neuropathic, rather than physiological in nature, and so what works for me, may not work for other forms of pain. That said, I had the best effect managing pain with high CBD low THC strains - meaning strains with over 7% CBD and one percent or less THC. For me, the pain relief is so profound and quick acting that I can pinpoint the second it starts to have an effect, and it has the added benefit of leaving me sober enough that I can go about my business.
Unfortunately, while I found CBD strains most effective for pain, I personally have not been able to tolerate them - they cause me memory problems that I have not found any mention of in the literature, not anyone else who experiences them.
So, what do I use, when I need to keep the pain at bay? Usually I reach for a concentrate of a indica-dominant hybrid, or an pure indica. I stay way from Sour Diesels, and the like, as they don't agree with me, but these things tend to be individual in nature.
Sorry not to be much more help: all I can really recommend is low THC/high CBD strains, and smoking/vaping concentrates or hashish rather than eating, at least until you find something that works for you.
I had the best effect managing pain with high CBD low THC strains - meaning strains with over 7% CBD and one percent or less THC. If you vaped or smoked them, I am surprised that they made you stoned - all the pain-free people who have tried it with me have complained that they didn't feel anything at all. For me, the pain relief is so profound and quick acting that I can pinpoint the second it starts to have an effect.
Eating cannabis has very different effects to smoking it, due to liver metabolism. I am not sure what it does to CBD, but the psychoactive metabolite of THC does not have the same effects. Eating cannabis is more than just a different delivery method - it's essentially a different drug entirely.
Unfortunately, while I found CBD strains most effective for pain, I personally have not been able to tolerate them - they cause me memory problems that I have not found any mention of in the literature, not anyone else who experiences them.
It's important to note that, unlike opioids, cannabis doesn't make the sensation of pain less strong, it makes it less urgent.
This means that if you won't necessarily feel a direct effect on the pain, but that its subsequent effects aren't as strong - the pain is not as exhausting, distracting, or debilitating.
I would say try edibles as others have had positive experience and relief, but my body digests it too quickly and usually doesn't do much (tricks to eat high fat food before, but doesn't always work), so I haven't had too much luck.
However,
What I actually recommend, and has helped for many of people, is the Phoenix tears/ Rick Simpson oil regiment.
You can buy premade oil marketed as such or Rick Simpson provides diy on how to do this yourself.
Essentially it is ingesting small amounts of concentrated cannabis oil daily, like taking a prescription.
It vastly helped my mom's Chrons and I know of a few people help with chronic back pain
Treating chronic pain has less to do with pain relief and more to do with mental health. Sometimes people just want to forget or feel different for a while. Also, opiates suck!
Your comment reads condescending to me: "my pain is all in my head." But it's not, and treating my mental heath is treating the symptoms and not the cause. The best thing for my mental health would be an end to my physical pain.
You've said that your mental health is suffering because of the pain you're in.
People offering mental health treatment are not saying the pain is "all in your head"[1]. They're saying you deserve treatment for all your problems, not just a focus on one specific pain problem.
We've known for sometime that treatment for mental illness is more effective if it looks at more than the patient's mental illness - if it looks at all the biological, psychological, and social factors.
This concept is moving into physical health treatment, especially for long term pain.
And it seems that mental health treatment can reduce the amount of pain that people feel.
[1] I'm not sure if you realise just how dismissive this sounds. Mental illness is debilitating and one of the top ten causes of years lost to disability. Those people aren't "making it up", which is the implication many will draw from your "all in my head" comment.
That's the thing though... with chronic pain there is no end to the physical pain, and this fact alone can be mentally taxing. Sometimes taking your mind off your situation is more effective than painkillers. Chronic pain is a life long mental _and_ physical battle.
I think chronic pain is described as anything over 12 months; but more so dealing with it for years or decades (sometimes a person's entire life) tends to wear you down quite a bit, especially when this is accompanied by a reduction in mobility, motor skills, etc.
(Although personally I think while mental health is a large component of chronic pain management I'd say the pain management itself is still the primary issue at hand)
If even 250 people are taking cannabis (not physically addictive, limited health impact, no tolerance buildup) over opiates (highly addictive, rapid tolerance buildup, very risky) then that's a good thing, right?
The lack of side effects should be a key part of the decision. Effectiveness of pain relief is in my perhaps inempathetic opinion less important.
People can handle some pain, and that is fine. 100% pain relief through opiates vs 50% pain relief through less detrimental means is probably worth it.
No, most opioid pain treatments have far more severe side effects than pot, and they tend to have a high risk of serious addiction that limits their dosage.
First, physical addiction is an issue, since the "proper dosage" to mitigate a particular patient's pain can easily be higher (or more frequent) than the "proper dosage" to avoid addiction; so on one hand some patients have to suffer without being able to increase the dose, and on the other hand the statistics show that even if in theory it "shouldn't be much of an issue", in practice addiction does happen.
But for the pure side effects, the most common issues are constipation and nausea. Then there's sedation (which may be comparable to effects of pot), and of course the suppressed breathing which makes accidental overdoses potentially deadly, unlike pot. Especially for chronic pain management, the long term effects add up, then you also risk liver damage, etc.
If you had a choice between taking heroin or pot, which one would you take? Granted prescription opiates are somewhat better than heroin, but not that much better.
Opioids are dramatically more effective than cannabis at relieving acute pain. Arguably, so are ibuprofen and acetaminophen. What cannabis is useful for is chronic pain, especially pain of inflammation. The use of opiods to treat chronic pain is problematic for many reasons, addiction being a big one, but there are also significant side effects. Cannabis is much safer to use long term.
A few queries resulted in this, which is pretty informative as far as cannabioid treatments go. You're right, the benefits and potency aren't very clear cut, but, unlike opioids, THC-based treatments can produce desirable side benefits, which result in overall better outcomes (if we treat patient satisfaction as a major factor)
> , cannabis and CBD oil aren't nearly as effective as opioids for relief from severe pain, right?
Taking opioids for pain relief is a dangerous route as doctors are now more likely to cut your Rx off if they suspect abuse. IF you are addicted and/or still have significant pain, you may have to resort to street drugs with unknown potency and purity.
I'd rather go with the medication that won't lead down a life-threatening path. If the treatment is worse then the symptoms, it's not really worth it.
I think the authors say that the pain relief itself is only part of it:
> Lucas suggests the main reasons for the switch to cannabis from prescribed meds is due to reduced side effects, better symptom management and a feeling that cannabis is safer than prescription drugs.
I don't really have any authority to really add anything but I will say my understanding of chronic is long lasting. Doesn't necessarily have to be severe pain, just long lasting. I have some chronic pains from a bad fall a few years ago. Unfortunately PA is moving like a turtle in it's medical marijuana roll out.
When I think of cannabis, I view it as safer. You don't hear about overdoes like you do with opioids. Add in a few famous celebrity deaths like Prince you quickly get a public image that views opioids with suspicion. In my opinion rightly so. Hopefully medical marijuana can be more accessible to more people sooner.
MS sufferers take it for muscle spasms and neuropathy. Opioids have problems like tolerance and stomach irritation that cannabis does not, and since MS is usually a lifelong affliction this can be bad over the long term.
I was going to comment something similar. I'll add this, however. Some MS patients also suffer with muscle spasticity - basically a muscle that stays contracted. This can be painful and limit mobility: At best it is uncomfortable. Normal treatment includes things like Valium.
In tests with cannabis, patients reported improvements with both mobility and the amount of pain/discomfort. However, when researchers measured the spasticity there was no clinical improvement. Both were true - it seems sometimes all folks need to do is not be so bothered by their daily pains.
It may not be as simple as all or nothing you know. It could be adjunct therapy for people who would normally reach for another pill. Truthfully though, I also wonder which pain cannabis is most effective for, compared to opiates. The truth seems to be that opiates are broadly ineffective at the relief of severe pain in many people too, but they're also toxic. It may be that this is better if only because of the lack of toxicity.
Opioids reduce, but don't block extreme pain so much as make you not care about it. They work really well for short term, less extreme pain, but they become less effective over time and they side effects are nasty.
So my guess is people with long term pain are probably better off with canibis long term even if Opiods work really well for post operation pain for example.
There would probably be a lot of people that legitimately would never be able to leave the hospital -- there really are people out there with legitimate chronic pain.
I say this after having had a C6-C7 spine fusion surgery -- prior to that, the pain was incredible. And two or three years ago I couldn't have even imagined what that kind of pain felt like, until I was actually suffering it. Luckily surgery was incredibly effective, and I hated having to take pain pills (made it difficult to work), but the pre-op alternative (living with constant pain) wasn't very great.
I certainly didn't want to sit in a hospital just to be able to move around a bit -- and I couldn't have immediate surgery, though I did have surgery as soon as I was allowed to (primarily due to insurance).
I'm sure there are people out there with far worse pain, and in many cases likely untreatable causes. Putting all of those people in the hospital certainly isn't going to help with insurance prices, nor is it a particularly humane way to treat people in the general sense.
I was on opiods for a month. At the time it was prohibitive to get out of bed, let alone go to the hospital. I dont remember it much but sleeping on my own bed beats the heck out of the hospital.
People in long term pain need better access to specialist pain management clinics with the full range of interventions - exercise, alternative prescribing, etc. But even with Opioids Aware prescribing, and even if cannabis is legalised, some people will still need opioids.
I wrote my story as a root comment, but I get kidney stones, which are among the most intensely painful things humans experience. I have found getting really high more effective than opioids. I haven't yet used cannabis during the peak pain, because I haven't had kidney stones again since I first tried cannabis instead of opioids, but next time I'm going to.
2. Does taking MMJ for chronic pain make you high all the time?
3. In California, most MMJ dispensaries are oriented towards recreational users. How do you go about this from a legitimately medical path, i.e. finding a doctor able and willing to provide sound medical advice, instead of just collecting the fee for a green card?
With having alot of first hand and 2nd hand knowledge, I am very surprised by questions like these that show how much of the knowledge about this wonder drug have been suppressed and or generally just not known.
1)varies on so many factors to get into.
-Tolerance,strength,variety,form, and how it's taken. What you eat before consumption can affect.
2)no. Lookup THC vs CBD, for pain relief it's more CBD which doesn't make you high at all. Some studies have shown full spectrum/mix of the 2 in concentrates may provide better results.
3)find a naturopath, or just go in and ask the dispensaries. Many dispensary workers are actually very knowledgeable.
Not sure about Cali, but alot of dispensaries here are very knowledgeable and cater alot to medical use rather than recreational, even though their key market is recreational.
Try finding a local compassion club, healing centers etc for support/seminars or information.
Cannabis is not a wonder drug. It treats a few things effectively, like many other drugs. Just because it has been suppressed doesn't mean you should use hyperbole.
Second, naturopaths are quacks. They do not have proper medical training and often recommend nonsense like homeopathy. They are the opposite of what the OP was asking for.
Cannabis has not been fully explored since its supression by pharma/govt. there are many areas which they are discovering it treats effectively, more than a few already known and more being discovered.
i have seen a naturopath who also has a doctorate in science based medicine, and is not some hack pitching homeopathy.
not all are quacks and not all dont have medical training , i downvoted you for this reason, doesnt mean you should use a hyperbole.. :)
who do you recommend to see? you provided no information relevant to what OP was asking.
should they go see a medical doctor who in general (not all) dont believe the effectiveness just due to the stigma of marijuana?
or would you recommend a naturopath who may (not all) who has hands on experience advising and dealing with patients who have tried marijuana to help with various ailments.
I can second this. I suffer badly enough to use strong opioids daily. Up side of them is I can code pretty well on it. I prefer weed for a better sense of self, but find it hard to code(impossible).
As a few others have mentioned, try a CBD concentrate. CBD is another cannabinoid in marijuana, but it doesn't make you high and it seems to be primarily responsible for the pain-relieving effects of marijuana.
They are making it 'more' illegal in the UK. You are drug tested if you are pulled over by their pigs and their companies do urine tests on every single employee regardless of role and fired. Unless you are an exec I bet and for something you could have done legally over a month ago stateside.
My niece has Crohn's. From a lovely vibrant kid she has managed this pain with a smile and nearly died once or twice. She is ill again now. How many of those cunts snort coke before their big hypocritical speeches?
> Employers have to have consent if they want to test for drugs. Usually this is when they have a full contractual health and safety policy, which should be in the contract or staff handbook.
> Employers should:
> limit testing to employees that need to be tested
> ensure the tests are random
> *not single out particular employees for testing unless this is justified by the nature of their jobs
> Workers can’t be made to take a drugs test but if they refuse when the employer has good grounds for testing, they may face disciplinary action.
> Despite claims from drugs-testing companies, there is no real evidence that drug-testing is becoming common-place in British workplaces. It is mainly used, often with union agreement, in safety critical areas such as transport and energy generation or after an incident. There is also increased usage in the construction industry. However generally where wide-scale drug testing has been considered it has been rejected either because of cost, union objections, or doubts over the effectiveness.
Everyone (allegedly) got tested. My buddy got fired. He worked on an IT helpdesk. It is in the small print of his contract. Yes it is construction. UK gov is a ministry of information thing. It says a lot of things that companies here just ignore because they can. Wrongful dismissal laws here were neutered by the tories. More friends tell me it is happening in their companies too. I would show the contract /say more but I do not want to identify myself. But thanks for the downvotes I hope the view is nice from that gilded tower.
LOL Try phoning them. Haven't you noticed that they say if it is in the contract you either put up or shut up. Do you think we want to be tested like some animal because I sit at their desk? They tested EVERYBODY. Not random, not as a result of some clue. It was a blanket company wide purge of anyone they didn't like or desperately need who had smoked pot in the last hundred days. They are legally allowed to do so and even if they weren't legally allowed to do so they would do it anyway because what are you going to do? Fight a huge corporation's legal? Even if you win your award is capped at whatever crappy salary they deigned you were worth and you still have no job because they will just blacklist you. Methinks YOU have some vested interest you are not declaring because most people think this is disgusting fascist behaviour. My buddy worked on fucking helpdesk. They just don't like it and here we have the state saying you can regulate your pain with the drugs of their choice whilst making money off the back of stuff which kills millions. Well screw them.
Not sure what you've seen to evidence this. I've worked for 4 companies (definitely not exec level); I've been pulled over a couple of times and not once been asked to do a drug/urine test.
This isn't true. The tests and legal limits are all about delta9-THC, which disappears in a few hours. CBD and metabolites are not tested at all nor mentioned in the regulations.
I was 8 hours from heading to the airport for a family trip to Amsterdam last summer when I burned the heck out of the fingers of my right (dominant) hand. It was probably the most pain I had ever been in, even including a compound fracture of the clavicle that involved 8 screws and a metal bar to repair. The latter caused me to get addicted (unknowningly) to opioids (hydrocodone) which led to a miserable week of withdrawl symptoms. I didn't take any opioids a year later after the surgery to remove all that hardware.
I told the doctors at the hospital I didn't want to get addicted again, so they gave me Tramadol.
I made it to Amsterdam and, that night, I finally gave in and took one of the Tramadols. It put me through a loop and wringer, but took away the pain and let me sleep through the night mostly.
The next day, my wife came back to our place with a "space muffin", or pot-laced chocolate brownie thing. I had never had any edibles before. That night, I figured, what the heck, they're always talking about medical uses so I ate it.
I have never been so surprised at something anecdotal in my life.
The pain was gone just as well as the night before with Tramadol. Furthermore, although the edible definitely was psychoactive, I was much more functional and less out of it than the single Tramadol I took, and felt much better the next day - not hung over.
I became a strong medical marijuana advocate that night.
Damn shame we don't have this available in my home state in the USA. Damn shame we have a moron of a President who loves states rights except when he doesn't (most of the time?). Damn shame we have a war on drugs. <sigh>
I've got serious neck and shoulder pain from wrestling in high school and college. Currently don't have the time to get proper treatment. Doctors have tried to prescribe opioids and even tranquilizers for the pain to help me sleep but I'm terrified, with good cause, of becoming addicted. I took a run of percocet in high school for my wisdom teeth and enjoyed them too much to ever have that be a regular part of my life. No mater what the pain is like I don't think I'll be able to feel comfortable taking any opioids.
I used to have chronic neck pain, and didn't think that it would ever get better. I was eventually convinced to go to physical therapy at a location near my job.
It took several months of me going in for half an hour, twice a week, but my pain started to subside. I now only occasionally get pain when I have very poor posture. Give PT a try. It really doesn't take very long and is very effective.
^This!!! So much this. I had a similar issue years ago, and beyond the help of the therapy itself, she also pointed out all of things I was doing day in, day out, that caused my problem in the first place. She taught me to moderate the intensity of my typing, to take breaks, good posture, stretches, all of that.
It's valuable stuff to learn, plus the therapy itself.
Someone mentioned physical therapy, which is a good idea. Another one might be going to a chiropractor (if it is an alignment issue).
Given your aversion to taking opioids I would suggest trying to determine the exact nature of the pain (muscular, alignment, etc.) and attempt a suitable non-medicinal treatment (PT, chiropractor, yoga, etc.)
As someone who occasionally gets mild and (easily treatable) shoulder/neck pain I hope you get better, it's not something that is easy to deal with.
I can't help myself but wonder if some of those patients actually went to one of those doctors because they can prescribe MMJ
In that case the study would be a bit biased towards MMJ, wouldn't it?
I skimmed the paper, I can't see what mode of intake they suggest. I suppose users were smoking joints. Wouldn't vaporised THC inhalation be even more effective and less damaging for health ?
The negative health effects of smoking cannabis are relatively low. See the recent NSF report; there is definitely a problem with chronic respiratory issues for extremely heavy smokers, but no risk for cancer except for a type of prostate cancer which is easily treated.
My assumption that burning and inhaling anything would be dangerous has been proven wrong a few times on HN. Users have posted studies that show no real negative effects of smoking cannabis.
Yep! It does seem surprising to a first order, given our previous experience with tobacco. But it turns out that tobacco is terrible in this respect. The current opinion is that smoked cannabis may actually have a pro-health effect. Which would be wonderful to study scientifically, although setting up the clinical trials to get unambiguous results would be challenging.
I disagree with this though. I've been smoking and vaping for years and every time my throat feels weird.
I've been making these oils that is just Hemp or Coconut Oil with the flower infused in it. It lasts a lot longer, but takes much longer to start. Around 2 hours whereas smoking is right away.
I'm not claiming there's no problem. however, in my experience, using a lower vape temperature is key. high vape temps actually do burn the material, which leads to much harsher smoke and coughing.
I have a broken spine from a 10 yo climbing accident, with a smashed vertibrae and splinters sticking into the spinal column. I was prescribed Oxy after surgery, spent a month on them and then went through hell and back to get off the shit. I swore to never, ever touch anything from Big Pharma again. Since then, I've been happily puffing my pain away when needed. The whole 'illegalize to protect the people' is so obviously a scam. It's a sacred, healing plant.
I got hit by a car on a bicycle. Instead of taking pain mess, I used edibles and marijuana for 2 weeks. It was just as effective, if not more because I was functional.
This is hardly proof that it kills. And mixing particular drugs with particular other drugs can always cause issues. This doesn't make marijuana a 'killer'.
The bigger issue with this statement is effectiveness.
It seems that we can't find evidence for the prayer healing. I've caught wind that prayer can sometimes help the individual alongside modern medicine (the same goes for positive thinking). I also assume these folks had a religious leaning before they got sick.
On the other hand, we've actually studied some of the effects of "recreational drugs" on pain and mental health. It has been difficult considering the laws of the land, so we've not done as much as we could have.
If a patient feels that their pain management needs are being met better by a medication that is also safer than the alternative, why would a medical professional second guess that?
Surprising that big pharma is an opponent to a readily-available natural substance outside the purview of patent protections. Quick, better enforce the federal ban. </s>
Been asking myself why drugs that make you feel good is banned like cannabis, mushrooms, LSD, etc. Government got anything against people feeling good? Conspiracy?
Something about people not getting addicted and ruining their lives.
But then you see alcoholics, smokers with cancer, morbidly obese from food, stabbings... basically, follow the money to see why anything is banned, ever.
Independent thinkers, open-minded people were always enemy of the state. Alcohol hampers your thought process and numbs you, but you can still labor the next day. Cannabis, mushrooms, LSD, on the other hand, broadens one's perspective and leads to more why? questions asked. See where it goes?
Last time it happened to me, I went home at around 6pm after going into the hospital that morning. At 3am, the pain was again intolerable. I had already taken the maximum dosage of the opioids. I knew taking more was dangerous, and was keenly afraid of getting addicted. But the pain was too much, so I went to get the bottle of pills.
As I stood up to go get the pills, it occurred to me that people say weed is good for pain and that I should try it before taking more opioids. I had weed (in cali, have a "medical" card) so I took some out and smoked.
I cannot describe to you how much more effective it was than the opioids. The pain wasn't gone, but it was just an interesting sensation now. Genuinely didn't bother me. I did yoga. I read. I enjoyed the night. And I was flabbergasted that no one I touched in the medical establishment had ever recommended it.
It feels like a genuinely corrupt world where something so clearly damaging to people and society is recommended before something relatively harmless and widely available.
I am still in awe of how effectively it handled my pain.