Julie Gardener
New Member
Pain by Jennifer
I am a 31-year-old woman living in the city of Chicago, Illinois. I have been living with chronic back pain for the last 17 years. I have undergone 4 life-threatening spinal surgeries and numerous treatments for pain ranging from spinal block injection, epidural injections, a number of medications from Tylenol 3, Vicodin, Toradol, and even Fluoxetine (Prozac). Through all of these treatments, there has been only one effective treatment for the sciatica, arthritis and spasms...Marijuana.
When I am in excruciating pain and smoke just a small amount (1/8 gram at most), not only is the pain relieved by roughly 75%, but the anxiety caused by being in so much pain is lessened as well. I would liken the effect of the cannabis' pain suppression qualities as the difference between tossing a boulder into a pond from a bridge (before smoking) to skipping a flat stone across the pond from the water's edge (after smoking). I just wish there was another way to ingest the cannabis without having to smoke it and without diminishing the effects by preparing the adequate dosage other ways (i.e., brownies, cookies, tea, etc.) It is an extremely expensive herb, and one must deal with a rather unsavory character element in procuring the much-needed medication.
I would like to find out if any medical research facility in the city or surrounding area is or will be doing any studies about the effectiveness of treating chronic pain with cannabis and/or any derivatives/extracts thereof.
By the way, Illinois has been known in the past as the "pot belt" of the Midwest. It grows everywhere that green things grow-- yards, sidewalks, etc. Several areas outside of the city have been receiving annual herbicidal bombardment and invasive surveillance by the DEA. These are mostly areas of light agriculture and very limited income potential from the surrounding farmland. These people are treated like criminals and exposed to harsh chemicals simply because they are in a particular area in which the soil supports the growth of several different variations of cannabis sativa and a plethora of other medicinal plants.
Source: Comments and Observations
