I am thankful for Cannabis.

[UndertheOcean]

you pick only one ? that's how it works , right ?

But seriously :I am really thankful for cannabis.

Having gone through a severe bout of depression since my teens all the way up to the present. I was mulling about a general long term improvement trend in my mood since I turned 30 (I am 33 now) . Now , with hindsight , I can really see I was gradually improving , mellowing out , balancing some of the exaggerated ecstasies I used to dwell in and softening the horrid soul sucking lows.

I was getting better ! What happened at 30 : I tried cannabis for the first time.

(Kids : I also took an SSRI since 27, so please don't think weed is a panacea.)

[msongs]

1. watch out, you may be droned for using that :-) nt

[Gman]

2. It's not a panacea, but it also works for many things

I'm glad it works for you

[Bluenorthwest]

14. That is true of all medicines, and no one claims any are a

panacea, that is a straw man foisted by smirking jerks with no leg to stand on. Is that the standard any medicine is held to? One must note that while it is not a panacea, insulin can work for diabetics...I just don't get the language. At all. A panacea? Jaysus....

[babydollhead]

3. i wrote it a poem

It reminds me to open my heart
It reminds me to be in the moment
It reminds me to enjoy the ride.
It reminds me that I am alive.

[MrMickeysMom]

30. That's a great poem, babydollhead...

TRUE

[mdmc]

4. r

[Lionessa]

5. Boy, oh, boy do I have your ass beat!

I started smoking it when I was in my late 20s when a woman near me when a cluster headache hit me asked, "have you ever tried pot for that." Of course I hadn't, having been a very goody twoshoe.

So I smoked 3 puffs and poof headache gone. Cluster headaches are really tough to get rid of, at that time I was taking 3 times day during headaches, 2 Vicodin and 2 Darvocet, and that would only dull the pain. The 3 puffs eliminated it altogether. So I've been smoking 6-12 puffs a day ever since (going on 3 decades).

I found it also,... helps me maintain some weight, I'm don't get hungry due to being regularly starved as a child, so I'd get busy and forget to eat for a couple of days. Maintaining 98 pounds was a challenge. With the related munchies that come with a few puffs, I'm guaranteed to eat a few times a day, now easily maintaining 100-110 pounds.

I found it also,... helps me sleep. My father used to rip us out of bed from a sound sleep to beat the crap out of us, so I also never slept well, and it would take me hours to relax enough even to fall asleep. Not so anymore, just make sure one smoke is near bedtime and off I go.

And of course, I may have intermittent depression at this time, but it doesn't feel too bad, probabaly because of the pot.

Sorry, I know you didn't intend a competition, but man have I ever got you beat on the medical benefits of pot.

[lob1]

8. And music is soooooooo much better!

[Lionessa]

9. Sorry, I never get "stoned," with only 3 hits at a time. So no, I don't

notice music being any better.

[roody]

17. You need better pot!! 3 hits of my pot and you will be stoned!

[Lionessa]

18. I'm a control freak, for myself anyway, I hate being stoned or drunk or in any way

not in control of myself.

[RainDog]

25. I've had migraines for years

and, like you, a compassionate friend suggested I try cannabis to help with the pain. and, like you, I found that the pain disappeared immediately.

prior to that, I hadn't inhaled cannabis for decades, even tho I'd been in clubs with friends and had been offered joints that were openly passed around...I would think... oh, people are still getting high? lol. I was a mom and just didn't want to deal with the cognitive dissonance of being outside the law.

but then I had no insurance for a while. couldn't afford medication, but wasn't poor enough to qualify for medical help. welcome to the world of the disappeared...the world of those who don't matter. sometimes, I guess, bad things can lead to good outcomes because it was because I was in this situation that I found the best medication for migraines.

migraines give me nausea that won't stop. I'll dry heave until I think the top of my head is going to explode. cannabis also stopped the nausea. immediately. it was bizarre to me, the first time it happened, because I knew what to expect from a migraine - and all of those physical symptoms simply ceased to exist. gone.

It also made it possible for me to actually get some things done. Before, with a migraine, there was no way I could work on anything, have a light on - I had to pace up and down a hallway until I retched again and then finally fell asleep from exhaustion. I would wake up with a migraine hangover.

with cannabis - no migraine hangover (or any other kind.)

all things considered, even with the best insurance and access to medical care, cannabis would be my first choice to treat a migraine. I've read others here say it gives them migraines. we all respond according to our own biochemistry, it seems. but, overall, cannabis does seem to help more people with severe headaches than cause them, from what I've read.

however, I have got to say... three puffs and no high?

the cannabis I've come across in my totally out-of-the-loop of that whole world experience has been of such quality that one puff has an immediate effect of enhancing colors and sounds and makes me want to stretch my muscles and feel myself relaxing and helps to lift some of my cares and put them into perspective.

[Lionessa]

26. Mainly I just get a short term case of munchies, hence why it helps with the weight

gain or maintenance. So perhaps I just don't notice I'm a bit high because I immediately head into cooking the meal. But, no for the most part, except for about a 20 minute sort of stuffy head feeling, the only noticeable thing is the munchies. Maybe I'm one of the rare individuals that is somewhat insensitive to that aspect of the weed. Also I don't have a card so I'm just getting the cheapest I can find. Perhaps there's more of a difference in qualities than I'm aware, perhaps then a good idea for me to remain in my cheap light-weight stuff, otherwise, I'd probably hate it.

[RainDog]

29. well, I've heard cluster headaches are worse than migraines

...and that the magnitude of pain is many times greater - and since I have experience with migraine pain, I can't imagine how painful cluster headaches are.

but we all really do have different responses to diff. meds/substances.

like I said, I'm totally out-of-the-loop but I've never seen brick irl - I've seen what it looks like in vids. so I know what it is, but the only thing I've ever seen irl is something that's from a bud.

this is why it would be nice if there were regulations to allow people to know levels of THC. someone may not want very much THC and want more CBD and the only place you're going to know about this in the U.S., that I know of, is in a dispensary.

[MrMickeysMom]

31. ...

:hug:

[Kolesar]

6. My twenties were the Reagan era--I can relate

I would describe my condition as anxiety, though. Hang in there.

[K8-EEE]

7. My autistic teenager has really benefitted from medical marijuana

SO thankful that we found a way to help her really scary anxiety attacks and episodes of depression and self-injurious behavior. Also thankful for the doctor who had the courage to write the prescription for a minor.

[Major Nikon]

10. Cartoon

[Leftist Agitator]

12. This is awesome.

Fuckin' saved.

[Major Nikon]

13. I don't smoke the stuff myself

But making it illegal is now officially dumber than making booze illegal back in the 20's. We have more problems making pot illegal today than we did making booze illegal then, and there is not one single good reason why it was made illegal in the first place. The reasons given were almost exclusively racist. Supposedly it made Mexicans go crazy and it made black men rape white women, and the #1 reason was it made white women WANT to be 'raped' by black men.

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.“…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.” Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”Marihuana(sic) leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”

-- Harry J. Anslinger, 1st Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics

[CrispyQ]

19. Frame the debate! Remind people that it was once legal.

[Rowdyboy]

11. I am incredibly thankful for cannabis....

Without it I would never have been able to give up a 17 year, 3 pack a day, cigarette habit. That was twenty years ago and I don't need pot anymore so now its just a guilty pleasure. I can live with that.

[roody]

15. Me too. I've been a regular user for over 30 years.

Not for any medical condition. Just because I love it.

[panader0]

16. 46 years for me now, right up until ten minutes ago..............

I had a coupla years there when I was a single father with four small children, that I'd get very anxious. A few tokes would make me forget what I was worried about.

[Prophet 451]

20. Glad it works for you

It's never worked for me and I've been suffering from depression since my late teens. I always found pot just made me paranoid and anxious.

[ooglymoogly]

21. There are two major strains of Maryjo

Indica and Sativa....within those branches are literally thousands of different strains, each with different subtleties. If it did not work for you, made you paranoid etc...it was the wrong strain for the reasons, (subconscious or otherwise) that you tried it.

Do some research... and I say this not just to you but in general for anyone on the cusp of trying it...good research is all over the net, but you will have to go into the weeds a bit (no pun intended). Pick a need and find the right strain for the job or just look at the effects of a particular strain. Maybe start with Erowid.org

Paranoia is common to some strains...the sativa strains for instance are more cerebral.. some make you want to go out and dance the night away...some make you fall into a wonderful sleep...some make you hungry...some make you horny...many make the music you already love ethereal....Maryjo is a banquet of opportunity for those needing any particular problem fixed or made a whole lot easier to deal with, while adding euphoria to the mix.

A great meal for instance can become ambrosia for those, through whatever illness, lacking the hunger to eat. The strains and their effects are mind boggling.

That is why the fascist Drug corporation, cartels, at our expense, have raised huge jackboot armies and mounted immense and equally bizarre propaganda campaigns to stop it from ever really being studied or, god forbid and for profit sake, ever be legalized. Anyone caught in that web can be crucified along with their family and property...All hail Democracy, yaaaaaaaay and zig heil.

I gave it up long ago because of the dangers and difficulty in obtaining it...In today's insanity and fascism one can lose everything pursuing it. However I remember it with great fondness.

So on that note I do not recommend it to a novice unless your illness ot need is so great, the relief is greater than the risk. But whatever you do research, research, research on all aspects and dangers posed by "law" fascism.

[Uncle Joe]

22. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, UndertheOcean.

[Randypiper]

23. A bit of advice

When I was smoking I found if I smoked too much or too often, afterwards I would feel down for a day or two. Moderation.

[Major Nikon]

24. Maybe you were depressed because you ran out of smoke

Just sayin'

[Faux pas]

27. LOL

[Faux pas]

28. Me too. I use it b/c it it rounds out the sharp corners and

slows my brain down to a reasonable 1000 rpms from 2000. It's a true gift from mother earth and big bro should keep their mitts off it.