Understanding Immediacy, aka Free the Plant

Sanjay Gupta’s third program in a series on cannabis aired tonight. Watching the previous two Weed episodes again right before it provided some continuity, along with tears and a little yelling at the TV. All three illustrated both how far we’ve come, and how far we’ve yet to go in bringing the truth about cannabis to light.

It strikes me as odd that the immediacy we as patients all feel for a treatment option gets pushed aside as the government tries to figure out which specific strain treats this ailment or that condition. For the love of all that is holy, Just Grow Some Plants. Then do your over complicated research. And why on earth do they need to restrict the cannabis available to researchers to the crappy looking weed I saw on the special? Why wouldn’t they show their best plants? And why on earth would they grow it outside? If they’re really concerned about controlling conditions, they should be growing inside in clean rooms, where everything can be closely controlled. I grow better looking cannabis in my house than they appear to grow at a research facility. Even my worst plants look better than those did. Let the medical growers and patients supply the researchers. We grow the best stuff anyway, particularly here in Oregon ♥. Never mind that patients have been doing the research all this time. Never mind that we are a wealth of information on the plant and how it works. Never mind us. We’re just the ones who took the risk to heal ourselves when nothing else worked. We’re just the ones who saved our own lives, thank you very much.

If the government needs research to understand what patients already know, and they don’t want to take our word for it, look at what Israel is doing. They’ve been doing it for years and even allow patients to medicate in the hospital as part of their treatment. The segment on the nursing home residents was heartwarming. Imagine that. Compassion from one’s government.

I’m grateful for the current legislation in Congress, though, because it looks really promising. The lawmakers supporting our movement into sanity provide such a necessary voice, and patients everywhere appreciate their efforts more than we can ever adequately convey. But if I had my way, all that’s needed is for the government to let go of this ridiculous belief that there’s something wrong with this plant. Don’t reschedule it to 2, take it out completely. Let research happen unrestricted. Cannabis should have never been illegal in the first place. We need immediacy. We need action now. We need legalization now.

Patients don’t understand why no one is listening to the truth. Why, after being instructed to leave medical patients alone, are patients still being prosecuted in legal medical cannabis states? I read recently some irritated folks in Congress are asking that same question. What do families with children who can benefit from cannabis do when they live in states like New Jersey who have a medical cannabis program but doesn’t provide help, or live in states where there isn’t a program to begin with? They understand the immediacy and risk everything moving to states where it’s legal..medical marijuana refugees they’re called. All to save their children. All because no one listens; no one understands the immediacy. To see the answer right there, just beyond your reach, you’ll uproot your life to save your child..or yourself.

How can anyone turn their backs on these children? How can anyone turn their backs on the soldiers with PTSD who risked everything defending our country in war? It takes time to change laws, they always say. We’re out of time, we say. They’re preventing our ability to heal..to live..to survive..and that’s beyond the pale. Just ask the parents of all the kids with Dravet syndrome who watch helplessly as their children are in an endless cycle of managing one side effect, then another. But when oxygen has to be part of the process, can’t we agree that this nightmare must end?

Those of us who can medicate the way we need to are lucky. I’m one of those lucky patients. My RA has been in clinical remission for around four years now. I’ve never had to worry about having enough to process into tincture, capsules, salve, or oil, because our limits here in Oregon are adequate for my needs. I can’t imagine going through what the people in Sanjay’s documentaries have experienced. When you’re out of options, as I was, you’ll try anything. Even if it means simply easing your transition when things have progressed too far. In my case, cannabis saved my life, just as it has for countless others.

Ending cannabis prohibition in all ways on the federal level would solve everything. No more passing the buck, letting the states decide. That’s just NIMBY code. No one would be having this issue if the laws had never been enacted in the first place and we all know why they were.

Integrity has to begin somewhere. How about it begins with freeing a plant?