There are so many diseases and ailments nowadays. There are the ones that are an annoyance, others that are a pain, and even still there are some that are just so shitty, all rules in treatment must be burned. I have personally had gut issues my whole life. I missed so much high school because of stomach aches. I had over active stomach acid, what they thought was an ulcer, and medications and 'worry dolls' to try to treat them all. During an unhappy relationship, I began to lose the ability for normal bowel movements ... going once every two weeks sometimes. Had it checked out too ... was the first person in that hospital to have ever asked for a colonoscopy!
Our gut is the first part of our bodies to be formed in utero. There's a reason for this. They don't just hold digestion in all it's many stages and processes, but they also hold many emotional receptors that produce hormones and chemicals that we need to feel right. The gut is the emotional center of the body and is why some people get cramps and diarrhea when they're nervous. It is also said that more Serotonin is produced in the gut than in the brain.
Our gut controls our emotions; or do our emotions control our gut?
Or are they a team?
Yikes ... we're in trouble then aren't we?
The really awful diseases of the gut of which I speak are the ones involving elimination and fall under the label Irritable Bowel Disease. One such disease is Crohn's. Is there a more humbling condition? Chronic constipation or chronic diarrhea ... and experimental sulfa meds or steroids to treat it.
There's a man in Nova Scotia named James MacDonald with severe Crohn's disease. It used to be controlled like so many with diet and medications. But the Crohn's soon progressed into almost constant abdominal pain that keeps James from living a normal life.
James is a legal Medical Marijuana patient that grew his own medicine too. But like so many other patients in Canada, when James began the process of renewal, it all went awry. Many of my legal Cannabis using and growing friends experienced this, where almost every single one of them had their forms returned by snail mail because of allegedly missing paperwork or information. As though they can just turn off their pain while the bureaucratic bullshit takes it's sweet time. And the whole time the clock was ticking. Knocking the countdown til the conservative government changed things.
James didn't get his license renewed in time. But guess what? He still has the Crohn's. He still has the constant pain. He still has all of the other painful and humiliating complications from this intestinal disease that sees the meters of one's intestinal tract inflame with sores and ulcers.
I wonder how much faster that bureaucratic bullshit would move, if it were THEIR intestines inflamed suffering from one of the many ailments of Irritable Bowel Disease?
James is in jail for 60 days because he continued to grow the plant that eases his pain even though his renewal didn't make it in time. He is there without Cannabis to treat his painful Crohn's. You see, Cannabinoids heal intestinal wounds. I'll post some links at the bottom for you to check out. The steroids and the sulfa drugs don't.... and for many sufferers they bring on daily bouts of painful diarrhea and weight gain! C'mon ... can't we do better than this? Isn't the medical motto to "do no harm"? My buddy was on those sulfa meds and when he finally got tired of being perpetually sore and raw, he stopped taking them completely.
Everyday I hear of Judges doing great things like ignoring mandatory minimum laws that would see every single crime in black and white. But we don't live in black and white do we? There's a lot of grey extenuating circumstances that need to be considered in every single case.
Now, wouldn't you think, that considering James had a license to use and grow Cannabis for his disease, and he still has that disease, then his need still exists? Even insurance companies give you an overlap time during which you can change vehicles yet still be covered. A Canadian citizen's health doesn't get the same respect? Not enough profit involved? Are we really going to let "proper paperwork" decide how we're treated, what rights we have, and what we can do with our own bodies?
I for one, am not.
How about you?
Whatever country you're in right now . . . .
Your body ~ your rights!
Read HERE where the local media in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia covered the story about James.
Read HERE to read an article written by Arielle Girard, a future doctor and one of my internet friends who lives and breathes the "do no harm" motto. Arielle studies Medicine in New York and is a wonderful balance for my writing, as I can be all about 'feelings' and Arielle is all about facts and science. You can read her bio HERE.
Read HERE about a small study of eleven patients with Crohn's and smoked cannabis where 45% of them went into full remission. Not only that, but ten of the eleven patients had a positive clinical response, three of whom were able to completely wean themselves off of steroids. All participants reported an improvement in appetite and sleep with no significant side effects.
If it gets in your bloodstream, it gets in your organs right?
Read HERE where a woman describes her life with Crohn's and how Cannabis helps her.
I personally have several friends and know of people in my city who smoke Cannabis daily to relieve their Irritable Bowel Disease. Now why can't those people grow a few small plants in their garage? They could grow Tobacco if they lived in Ontario ... up to 15 kgs per year! One of those friends is now weaning herself off of methadone, after becoming addicted to the Oxycontin that her doctor prescribed for her ongoing and debilitating gut pain. That's lots of fun.
And finally click HERE to read more about James' ordeal and/or donate to the fundraising efforts being raised for him. As you will read, James also lost some of his personal property all of which hold value to him. They've taken his grow equipment which could cost thousands to replace.
I don't personally know James, but when I read about his experience, I felt the outrage rise in my gut~the emotional center of my body.
I knew right then that I had to do something to show James that he's not alone, and that we're all in this together.
Lastly, James if you're reading this, I'm sorry this happened to you.
Know that you are supported by thousands of nameless, faceless humans who care and who fight daily to legalize this plant.
Peace, Pot, and Prosperity to you my friend.
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