Five years ago I would have called the person I am today something snide and demeaning, “stoner” perhaps, or maybe even the all encompassing “Loser.” The fact is, I get called these names each and every day by people just like the old me, those that remain blissfully unaware of reality. When you take into account the fact that marijuana has become a daily medication for me, Im sure you can think of all the rude things people say in judgement. For those of you who may not understand why I do what I do, Id like to shed a little light on the subject.

I grew up in a staunchly religious community, one where talk about marijuana was absolutely avoided. Lucky for me, a child of a broken home, I had the opportunity to witness two worlds coinciding next door to each other. My mother enrolled me in private christian boarding school, while my father took me to rock concerts and let me hit the joint before everyone else. The two lifestyles brought an interesting perspective on society and drug use, one that I carry with me to this day. I experimented, lightly, with marijuana in my teen years. I remember sitting in a circle behind the gym with three of my closest friends, punching holes in the tops of pop cans and snickering uncontrollably.

Marijuana was an intoxicant back then, as it can still be for me to this day. It wasnt until four years ago when I was re-introduced to the substance that I started to explore and eventually understand its traditional use as a medicine.

When I was fourteen and puberty came full swing, I started a downward spiral into the hazy and sinister world of chronic pain. Prior to my re-introduction to marijuana, I spent seven entire years of my life in a drug-induced stupor trying to quell that pain. Diagnosed with everything under the sun, from fibromyalgia to severe depression, I bounced from specialist to specialist. I spent years in treatment for syndromes I didn’t have. I lost weeks of time between the pain pills and the sleeping pills. I was a monster, to my family and to my friends and most apparently, to my children. I did unspeakable things in the name of narcotics, treating my intense pain with the overflow of medication my doctors prescribed. I took uppers and downers. I took sedatives and stimulants. I took anything and everything they recommended. I drugged my body with any pill I could get my hands on. As my dive into doctor-approved addiction worsened, so did my life. I faced a failed marriage and eventually divorce. I went through custody battles, where my parenting was publicly scrutinized. I lost family and friends to the relentless pursuit to just for one minute, relieve the pain I felt. The pain that only increased as my doctors prescribed more.

This cycle is a hard one to break, and I cannot say that I will ever be without the dark and heavy chain around my neck. During one of the good times, when my pain had subsided enough to function, I applied and received a rather prestigious job at a local internet company. Empowered by the possibilities, I kept myself clean for nearly five months. In the light of sobriety, however daunting it might have been, I entered a relationship with a coworker. Immediately, he let me in on the secret. He smoked marijuana, and he wasnt going to stop, for anyone, ever.

I watched his lifestyle carefully in the following weeks, and noted that the stereotypical “stoner” I had always envisioned, was nowhere to be found. This guy was motivated, intelligent and successful at his job. He had a seemingly good relationship with his family and had intelligent conversations with his friends. He had flaws, mostly a raging case of alcoholism, but that seemed flexible enough. After our first few dates, we went to his house and did what in the eyes of the law, we shouldn’t have done.

Now Ill tell you, this was unlike anything I ever smoked with my father. It was much stronger than I had ever thought marijuana could be and left me feeling overtly drowsy. So drowsy in fact that I questioned the integrity of the person smoking across from me. At this point, it was purely recreational. We would smoke after work, to unwind from the day. We would smoke on the weekends, when we had nothing better to do. But before I knew it, I didnt need the sleeping pills anymore. In a matter of weeks, I had stopped calling my doctors for refills on most of my medications. Within three months, I could wake up and sleep on my own schedule, no longer at the will of the little white pills.

Within a year, I was finally given the correct diagnoses of Rheumatoid’s Arthritis. With all of the pain out of the way, my doctor was able to perform one simple blood test to diagnose what hundreds of ER trips and CT Scans could not. After much discussion with my doctor, he suggested I “try out marijuana” for my pain relief, knowing full well that was what I had been doing for much longer. The good news was I no longer required any narcotic pain relief, I was simply treating myself with marijuana. The bad news was, the choice I was making was currently illegal.

I understand now the position many people take, that all use is medicinal. I didn’t know it then, sitting in my boyfriends room smoking blunts and talking politics, that I was healing myself, but I was. I was healing my mind, and my body as well, while I relaxed from the day. I didnt drink, after ten surgeries I couldn’t seem to process alcohol and suffered intensely draining and increasingly painful hangovers. The boyfriend quit drinking at my first request, and has since been sober nearly four years. We smoke together now, to protect our bodies from the onslaught of daily life. To relieve stress we feel as people, and to relieve the pain we feel as patients.

You see, the information I was given all those years of my life was just plain wrong. There were lies told by so many people, people that didnt even understand the repercussions of their dishonesty. The truth is much easier to understand, when you get right down to it. Marijuana is medicine, it has been medicine for thousands of years and it will continue to grow as a medicine as our knowledge about it’s wonderful properties is further explored. Marijuana has psychoactive properties which, given a chance to get out of hand, will only allow you to sleep one hell of a good sleep. Chronic pain sufferers lack many things in life that are necessary for comfort, and for me, sleep was the first thing I lost when illness would strike. Now, with a simple and painless cure, I sleep like a baby while waking up refreshed and energized.

I am a 27 year old mother of three, with a full time auto-immune disease. Currently, I take a grand total of zero pharmaceuticals, for someone with RA, Id say that is pretty damn good. I no longer require 6 Klonapin a day, 20 Vicodin and countless xanax and Ibuprofens. I no longer need the anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications. I no longer need a pill to lull myself to sleep. I can think clearly, for the first time in my adult life. My body is slowly healing from the damage I have done to it, for all of those years, and I have but one substance to thank for this transformation.

Most importantly, my life has been slowly rebuilt. My relationships with family are slowly rebounding to normality and my social life is restored. My children have been my greatest cheerleaders as we are finally able to enjoy each others company and do things we couldn’t previously do together, like a simple walk around the block as a family. I no longer feel lost at sea, six feet underwater, swimming through the drab colors of life without actually experiencing them.

So when I hear the names or get those nasty emails, stating that I am just a drug addict, that marijuana is just another excuse to get high, I cant help but smile. Maybe I am, just an addict. Maybe while getting rid of my pain, I actually enjoy how I feel and maybe that makes me a bad person in your eyes. Maybe my life has been one long education on what ‘not’ to do, but for me and my family, we have made the right choice.

© 2010, AntiSoccermom. All rights reserved to the original author unless stated otherwise.

10 Things Every Parent, Teenager & Teacher Should Know About Marijuana

[ Reprinted in the public interest without permission from a flyer by the Family Council on Drug Awareness. This flyer is being distributed at public functions such as concerts, school gatherings, trade shows, and craft shows. Any typographic errors, unless noted, are mine. The author of this post has no affiliation with any agency or persons related to this document, and refrains from editorial comment. ]

1 Q. What is Marijuana?

A. “Marijuana” refers to the dried leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant [1], which contain the non-narcotic chemical THC at various potencies. It is smoked or eaten to produce the feeling of being “high.” The different strains of this herb produce different sensual effects, ranging from sedative to stimulant.

2 Q. Who Uses Marijuana?

A. There is no simple profile of a typical marijuana user. It has been used for 1000s of years for medical, social, and religious reasons and for relaxation [2]. Several of our Presidents [3] are believed to have smoked it. One out of every five Americans say they have tried it. And it is still popular among artists, writers, musicians, activists, lawyers, inventors, working people, etc.

3 Q. How Long Have People Been Using Marijuana?

A. Marijuana has been used since ancient times [4]. While field hands and working people have often smoked the raw plant, aristocrats historically prefer hashish [5] made from the cured flowers of the plant. It was not seen as a problem until a calculated disinformation [sic] campaign was launched in the 1930s [6], and the first American laws against using it were passed [7].

4 Q. Is Marijuana Addictive?

A. No, it is not [8]. Most users are moderate consumers who smoke it socially to relax. We now know that 10% of our population have “addictive personalities” and they are neither more nor less likely to overindulge in cannabis than in anything else. On a relative scale, marijuana is less habit forming than either sugar or chocolate but more so than anchovies. Sociologists report a general pattern of marijuana use that peaks in the early adult years, followed by a period of levelling off and then a gradual reduction in use [9].

5 Q. Has Anyone Ever Died From Smoking Marijuana?

A. No; not one single case, not ever. THC is one of the few chemicals for which there is no known toxic amount [10]. The federal agency NIDA says that autopsies reveal that 75 people per year are high on marijuana when they die: this does not mean that marijuana caused or was even a factor in their deaths. The chart below compares the number of deaths attributable to selected substances in a typical year:

Tobacco………………………….340,000 – 395,000
Alcohol (excluding crime/accidents)………….125,000+
Drug Overdose (prescription)…………24,000 – 27,000
Drug Overdose (illegal)……………….3,800 – 5,200
Marijuana………………………………………0


*Source: U.S. Government Bureau of Mortality Statistics, 1987

6 Q. Does Marijuana Lead to Crime and/or Hard Drugs?
A. No [11]. The only crime most marijuana users commit is that they use marijuana. And, while many people who abuse dangerous drugs also smoke marijuana, the old “stepping stone” theory is now discredited, since virtually all of them started out “using” legal drugs like sugar, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, etc.

7 Q. Does Marijuana Make People Violent?

A. No. In fact, Federal Bureau of Narcotics director Harry Anslinger once told Congress just the opposite – that it leads to non-violence and pacifism [12]. If he was telling the truth (which he and key federal agencies have not often done regarding marijuana), then re-legalizing marijuana should be considered as one way to curb violence in our cities. The simple fact is that marijuana does not change your basic personality. The government says that over 20 million Americans still smoke it, probably including some of the nicest people you know.

8 Q. How Does Marijuana Affect Your Health?

A. Smoking anything is not healthy, but marijuana is less dangerous than tobacco and people smoke less of it at a time. This health risk can be avoided by eating the plant instead of smoking it [13], or can be reduced by smoking smaller amounts of stronger marijuana. There is no proof that marijuana causes serious health or sexual problems [14] but, like alcohol, its use by children or adolescents is discouraged. Cannabis is a medicinal herb that has hundreds of proven, valuable theraputic uses – from stress reduction to glaucoma to asthma to cancer therapy, etc. [15].

9 Q. What About All Those Scary Statistics and Studies?

A. Most were prepared as scare tactics for the government by Dr. Gabriel Nahas, and were so biased and unscientific that Nahas was fired by the National Institute of Health [16] and finally renounced his own studies as meaningless [17]. For one experiment, he suffocated monkeys for five minutes at a time, using proportionately more smoke than the average user inhales in an entire lifetime [18]. The other studies that claim sensational health risks are also suspect, since they lack controls and produce results which cannot be replicated or independently verified [19].

10 Q. What Can I Do About Marijuana?

A. No independent government panel that has studied marijuana has ever recommended jail for users [20]. Concerned persons should therefore ask their legislators to re-legalize and tax this plant, subject to age limits and regulations similar to those on alcohol and tobacco.

For More Information, Write:
Family Coucil on Drug Awareness
P.O. Box 71093, LA CA 90071-0093


FOOTNOTES TO THE TEXT:

1. The same plant, known as hemp, has an estimated 50,000 non-drug commercial uses including paper, textiles, fuels, food and sealants, but these uses are also banned by existing laws. Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, federal documents and historical records.

2. Coptic Christians, Rhastafarnians [sic], Shintos, Hinus, Buddhists, Sufis, Essenes, Zoroastrians, Bantus, and many other sects have traditions that consider the plant to have religious value.

3. Their personal correspondence and records reveal that U.S. Presidents Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and others smoked hashish, as did Benjamin Franklin and Mary Todd Lincoln. President John F. Kennedy is also reported to have smoked marijuana to relieve his back pain. Many of America’s greatest leaders and Founding Fathers (including George Washington) were hemp farmers. Sources: National Archives, published reports.

4. Archeologists report that cannabis was possibly the first plant cultivated by humans – about 8000 B.C. – and was used for linen, paper, and garments. Source: Columbia University, _History of the World_. It was being smoked in China and India as early as 2700 B.C.

5. Turkish smoking parlors were popular in both Europe and America. as well as the Middle and Far East, as recently as the turn of the Century.

6. The exhaustive Indian Hemp “Raj” Commission report (1986) by British authorities found no reason to restrict its use. But the notorious yellow journalist William Randolph Hearst fabricated and published horror stories about marijuana that were eventually investigated and shown to be lies, but not until long after the marijuana prohibition was enacted in 1938. Source: Larry Sloman, _Reefer Madness_.

7. Laws against marijuana were passed a year after the invention of a machine to harvest and process hemp so it could compete commercially against businesses owned by Hearst, the DuPonts and other powerful families. Source: Jack Herer, _The Emporor Wears No Clothes_.

8. Marijuana does not lead to physical dependency. Costa Rican Study, 1980; Jamaican Study, 1975; Nixon Blue Ribbon Report, 1972, et. al.

9. Source: Psychology Today, Newsweek, et.al.

10. Source: All univerity medical studies: UCLA, Harvard, Temple, etc.

11. Costa Rican Study, 1980; Jamaican Study, 1975; “The legal drugs for adults, such as alcohol and tobacco…precede the use of all illicit drugs.” Source: National Academy of Sciences.

12. The FBI reports that 65-75% of criminal violence is alcohol related. “Pacifist syndrome” testimony was given by Federal Bureau of Narcotics Director Harry Anslinger before Congress (1948). However, the “Siler” Study conducted by the U.S in Panama (1931) reported “no impairment” in military personnel who smoked marijuana while off duty.

13. “The only clinically significant medical problem is that scientifically linked to marijuana is bronchitis. Like smoking tobacco, the treatment is the same: stop smoking.” Source: Dr. Fred Oerther, M.D.

14. Coptic study (UCLA), 1981; “There is not yet any conclusive evidence as to whether prolonged use of marijuana causes permanent changes in the nervous system or sustained impairment of brain function and behavior in human beings.” Source: National Academy of Sciences.

15. Source: Dr. Tod Mikuriya, _Marijuana Medical Papers_. Marijuana could replace at least 10-20% of prescribed drugs now in use. Source: Dr. Raphael Mechoulam. Marijuana was a major active ingredient in 40-50% of patent medicines before its ban.

16. 1976

17. 1983

18. The U.S. Government reports that the oral dose of cannabis required to kill a mouse is about 40,000 times the dose required to produce symptoms of intoxication in man. Source: Lowe, _Journal of Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics_, Oct. 1946.

19. In another famous study, Heath/Tulane (1974), wild monkeys were brutally captured, then virtually suffocated in marijuana smoke over a period of 90 days. Source: National Institute of Health.

20. Examples: the “LaGuardia” Committee Report (New York, 1944) and President Richard Nixon’s Blue Ribbon “Shafer” Commission (1972).

“Prohibition…goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.”

– Abraham Lincoln December, 1840

This pamphlet was researched and produced as a public service by the Family Council on Drug Awareness P.O. Box 71093, LA CA 90071-0093

Additional copies available from:
BACH, PO Box 71093, L.A., CA 90071-0093 35 cents apiece, Ten for $2.00, 100 for $10

© 2010, AntiSoccermom. All rights reserved to the original author unless stated otherwise.