Doctors Bridging the Gap

I took part in attending our local Health City event on Tuesday.  It was a bit of a rally, a call to action to members of the Healthcare industry in Ontario.  Our single-payer healthcare system in Ontario is at risk.  Privatization of all kinds of industries is always edging at us, and now the Ontario Government has put forth  Bill 41.

Please sign this online petition #CareNotCuts.  I listened as a black-suited bureacrat used words like "targets" and "corporate model" to explain how less administration will mean better patient care. Let's be real here.  None of us are fooled.  I think the patients would agree that letting valuable healthcare workers go in the process is not acceptable.  Cut costs from above, not below.

My main motivation for attendance was an info session on Medical Cannabis with Psychotherapist Dr. Janet McCulloch.  As you can read by her bio Dr. McCulloch specializes in Neurofeedback and has much experience with trauma and PTSD.  According to google, neurofeedback is defined as "a computer-aided training method in which selected parameters of the patient´s own brain activity, which can normally not be perceived, are made visible to the patient. Via monitor and loudspeaker the brain is shown what it is doing at the moment (feedback)."

Dr. McCulloch gave me great hope on Tuesday.  She held up her fingers in the peace sign and asked us if we knew what that meant.  There was silence so I said, "Peace!".  Without missing a beat she explained that without peace in your life, in your outlook, in your thoughts ... you can never be mentally healthy. She gave us a list of things that do help PTSD, and Doctors are not on the list. Nor are SSRI's or other pharmaceuticals.  The list included exercise, healthy relationships, pets, nature, and Cannabis.

If you were to begin today to learn about Medical Cannabis, you'd think that the 30+ Licensed Producers growing our medicine started things.  But you'd be wrong.  This plant dates back to pyramids and mummies and has stayed with humanity until today.  For some the plant is taboo; while for others it's a way of life.  Dr. McCulloch gave credit where credit is due.  She feels that it is thanks to the grassroots movement of patients that we realize today that Cannabis is medicine. These are patients who took their health into their own hands after being prescribed too many pills.  She said that she feels immense guilt for prescribing so many neuroleptics and benzos.  This Doctor and others like her could bridge the gap between we the patient and the medical industry.  As one Veteran in attendance stated, there is a massive need for a team of Doctors to teach other Doctors about Cannabis.  As one local Doctor stated simply, "it's just another medicine.  Once you understand it, it's just prescribing."

PTSD, trauma, and depression need treatment.  The conventional therapies for these conditions vary in action, none of which are successful for everyone.  For some of us, none work.  In my own words, I'd say that those medicines are gut-sterilizing, orgasm-stealing, zombifyers.  I know from experience. So, in the absence of safe and effective conventional meds, the grassroots movement of cannabis ingesting humans have proven time and time again that this plant is medicine.  It's amazing the ways patients are using Cannabis to heal themselves.  Corrie Yellend cured her anal and skin cancer with Cannabis oil infused suppositories that she made in her kitchen and stored in her freezer.  Tommy Chong uses them, countless others too.  Brave Mykayla is now in remission from Leukemia because Cannabis oil was used in conjunction with conventional treatments.  Coltyn Turner is in remission from debilitating Crohn's disease. And the three Veterans who were also in attendance at this talk prove to themselves, their families, and their Doctors that Cannabis treats PTSD every day.

A separation and a growing animosity exists between many patients and Doctors.  There is a gap that needs to be bridged.  In speaking to fellow Cannabis patients, I sometimes feel like they're stuck in fight mode.  They don't realize we've won and are winning.  Some go to well-meaning Cannabis clinics and berate the very Doctors who have put their licenses on the line for us.  We need to work like Cannabinoids ... that is better as a team!

CAA & Modern-Day Reefer Madness

**This piece was featured here on the cannabis life network site.

We live within days of denial.  It's everywhere that it shouldn't be, like in the making of regulation.
One topic where evidence appears elusive, is the attempt to prove or disprove that recreational Cannabis legalization will lead to more impaired driving.  Now, you'll never hear me say that driving while under the influence of anything is wise.  But as someone who was a recreational cannabis user who doesn't have a driver's license, I shudder to think that this kind of fear tactic will influence future regulation for me and the millions of others who don't even drive.  What are these deniers trying to gain here?  Is their end-game to slow or stop legalization of this safe plant?

The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has decided to be the latest to raise the red flag of fear where this is concerned, and just in time as our legalization task force readies itself to present a committee report at month's end.  Thing is, the CAA may have opened up a can o' worms it didn't expect.  Kind of like when Dr. Lester Grinspoon attempted to prove cannabis was a danger to health and kind of like when Sanjay Gupta looked closer at Cannabis and seizures.  They all realized that the evidence proves them wrong.  In 1971 Grinspoon wrote the much praised "Marihuana Reconsidered", and in 2013 Gupta began the first of three amazing documentaries titled Weed, Weed 2, and Weed 3. And still bureaucrats and governments say, "evidence?  what evidence?".

Out of this can of worms climbs a 2015 study that has been called "the most precisely controlled study of its kind yet conducted".  Organized by the National U.S. Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this 20 month, 10,000 participant study found no "significant increased risk of crash involvement from cannabis use".  And another wiggles out, this one from 2010 deemed "the largest population-based study involving nine European Union countries" where the risk for Cannabis impairment was deemed "not statistically significant".

When I speak on this topic, I am all about questions with few answers.  However, it is a fact that new users feel stronger impairment than regular and experienced users.  This is one way that I dare say the CPSO's recommendation to cap thc levels of new users, may help us out.  With thc being the only psychoactive compound in the plant, it goes to reason that controlling its levels will deter impairment from the source.

When Irvin Rosenfeld gets his tin of pre-rolled doobies from the U.S. Federal Government each month, it has no driving impairment warnings on it.  In the documentary "In Pot We Trust", you can see Irven smoking a doobie like a cigarette as he drives down the road.  He doesn't feel impaired, he feels medicated.  The stresses and stiffness, the pain and traumatic memories aren't clawing him when he's medicated.  Similarly I look at patients with Parkinson's, any form of Palsy, Tourettes, or stutters ... when medicated they are most definitely better drivers because they have no tremors or spasms! Anxiety meds are fine to drive on, but CBD only strains impair me?  CBD is an anxiolytic drug that is replacing all kinds of antidepressants and benzos on the daily with few to no negative side effects.

In the end, I pray that we be real about this or we're going to effectively ground thousands of people from driving and living active lives.  Is this what CAA wants?  Don't they profit from insuring drivers?  Fewer drivers means fewer insured subjects and that's bad for their bottom line.  Of course if their motivation is to keep legalization from happening, they can simply take a seat.  The train to Legalizationville has lost its breaks.

Canadians Are Re-Claiming Their Health

Depression of the central nervous system is a risk of prescription opioid pain killers and many other commonly prescribed medications.  Breathing and heart rate slows, consciousness is lost, death or coma results.  That's a serious side effect.

There are no cannabinoid receptors in the brain stem so Cannabis doesn't do this and yet we're still trying to decide if it's safe enough to legalize.

Opioid pain killers are killing people.  Ironic isn't that?  They were so good at killing the pain and now they're killing everyone.  The problem is so big that the CPSO is investigating 86 doctors who were found to be major over-prescribers.  Those same doctors likely refuse to refer their pain patients to Cannabis clinics every day.

And of course the problem is multi-faceted.  Many chronic pain-sufferers are now stressed that this and any other push to reprimand over-prescribers would result in them being cut off.  These are people who's pain rules their lives.  These are people who would not be able to function without pain medication.  And they are people who would be forced to look elsewhere were they to be cut-off.

The problem starts somewhere though, and that's where it must be curbed.  No one having dental surgery requires an opioid medication though many are told even before the surgery date that they'll get Percocet for the pain.  I myself was given Tramadol for a gall bladder surgery that for many others required mere Ibuprofen.  It blows my mind that the medical industry can't see the great dangers in introducing opioids to the young and growing mind.  Yet no care is really given to that.
What a sad irony when you think about the fact that Ottawa's health agency is recommending that the minimum age for recreational cannabis will be 25.  That's six years after one is allowed to legally ingest alcohol, from which 75,000 Canadians die every year.

Introducing opioids to the growing mind is a recipe for addiction if you ask me.  Opioids can feel good. Opioids can numb feelings and emotions and traumas. Opioids are reverse-engineered morphine.  This is serious shit and yet many over-prescribers only see opioids as pain killing medicine, as though none other exist.  Those doctors need to read a book!  I see crystal clearly how dangerous it would be to allow any youth to feel something that can do so much.  Are doctors afraid to say no?  Are they so soft to pressure?  From a very early age, kids learn from older kids how good opioids feel.  Curiosity kills.

Thousands and thousands of chronic pain sufferers all over Canada are singing the same tune. They're tired of opioids and other harmful meds.  They're tired of risking their health.  They're tired of trading pain relief for nausea or constipation or the inability to fully function!  To these people, the term "natural" is a positive. They've tried the pills, and they are now convinced that their biology can't accept only pills anymore.

Canadians are finding their voices and many are stopping at nothing to learn about Cannabinoid therapy and the ACMPR.  If we keep up the push and keep on educating, the medical industry and the doctors therein will have no choice than to comply with patient referral requests.  Every new patient starts with the hope of one day using only this natural medicine to ease many of their ills.  And our nation's highest court backs the desire to do this.

Death: The Side Effect to Top Them All

Depression of the central nervous system is a risk of prescription opioid pain killers and many other commonly prescribed medications.  Breathing slows, heart rate slows, consciousness is lost, death or coma results.  That's a serious side effect.

Cannabis doesn't do this and yet we're still trying to decide if it's safe enough to legalize.

Opioid pain killers are killing people.  Ironic isn't that?  They were so good at killing the pain and now they're killing everyone.  The problem is so big that the CPSO is investigating 86 doctors who were found to be major over-prescribers.  Those same doctors likely refuse to refer their pain patients to Cannabis clinics every day.

And of course the problem is multi-faceted.  Many chronic pain-sufferers are now stressed that this and any other push to reprimand over-prescribers would result in them being cut off.  These are people who's pain rules their lives.  These are people who would not be able to function without pain medication.  And they are people who would be forced to look elsewhere were they to be cut-off.

The problem starts somewhere though, and that's where it must be curbed.  No one having dental surgery requires an opioid medication though many are told even before the surgery date that they'll get Percocet for the pain.  I myself was given Tramadol for a gall bladder surgery that for many others required mere Ibuprofen.  It blows my mind that the medical industry can't see the great dangers in introducing opioids to the young and growing mind.  Yet no care is really given to that.
What a sad irony when you think about the fact that Ottawa's health agency is recommending that the minimum age for recreational cannabis will be 25.  That's six years after one is allowed to legally ingest alcohol, from which 75,000 Canadians die every year.

Introducing opioids to the growing mind is a recipe for addiction if you ask me.  Opioids can feel good. Opioids can numb feelings and emotions and traumas. Opioids are reverse-engineered morphine.  This is serious shit and yet many over-prescribers only see opioids as pain killing medicine, as though none other exist.  Those doctors need to read a book!  I see crystal clearly how dangerous it would be to allow any youth to feel something that can do so much.  Are doctors afraid to say no?  Are they so soft to pressure?  From a very early age, kids learn from older kids how good opioids feel.  Curiosity kills.

Thousands and thousands of chronic pain sufferers all over Canada are singing the same tune. They're tired of opioids and other harmful meds.  They're tired of risking their health.  They're tired of trading pain relief for nausea or constipation or the inability to fully function!  To these people, the term "natural" is a positive. They've tried the pills, and they are now convinced that their biology can't accept only pills anymore.

Canadians are finding their voices and many are stopping at nothing to learn about Cannabinoid therapy and the ACMPR.  If we keep up the push and keep on educating, the medical industry and the doctors therein will have no choice than to comply with patient referral requests.  Every new patient starts with the hope of one day losing their fear of that one last side effect:  death.

What Pill Is the Pot Replacing?

"Back in my day if you wanted to be with the pretty girls, ya stayed away from the drugs", says my buddy Art.  He's explaining to me how crazy it is that today he uses Cannabis and Cannabis alone for his chronic pain.  After the accident and the subsequent leg amputation, Art took whatever pain pills the Doctors would give him.  The pain was unbearable.  When finally, after almost ten long years of killing the pain with opioids, Art found out there was something else he could try if he was willing. Some people may call him a druggie.  But at this point with the addiction to the nauseatingly zombifying pills, he didn't much care what anyone thought.

One night he was at a buddy's house when it came time to take his meds but he'd forgotten them at home.  With much hesitation Art agreed to eat half a Cannabis infused ginger-snap cookie.  He breathed deeply as the Cannabis smoke his friends exhaled lingered in the room, and sat amazed. For hours.  Pain-free.

Unfortunately, the health care industries worldwide, don't see what Art sees or what I see or what millions of Cannabis users worldwide know.  Health Care industries are heavily influenced by the makers of those zombifying pills.  They think Art should just keep on taking those pills day after day after day.  There's a very good reason why a huge portion of patients who are taking opioid pain medications will do anything to stop taking them.

I'm a call-taker at a cannabis clinic and I speak to patients every day who's main motivation for calling me, is to stop taking so many pills.  And not just one kind of pill.  With the average senior on at least six different prescriptions, it's a full time job trying to organize them all.  Each with their own long list of side effects.  Swallowing that many pills alone can be an ordeal!  And they go down into our stomachs wreaking pain and havoc, sterilizing gut microbiome hindering proper digestion and nutrient absorption.

The side effect from the one pill soon requires that you take another, and before long you don't even feel human!  It's no wonder the right to smoke our medicine has been of foremost importance to we patients.  A million bleeding stomach ulcers challenge the theory that pills are the best mode of ingestion every day.

Safe ingestion of cannabinoids is of huge debate in the medical system and has been for years.  After they deemed smoking unsafe, we came up with vaporization, an inhalation method much like an asthma inhaler.  Vaporization offers no risk or damage to the lungs and yet it too is deemed too risky to be allowed in-hospital.  Ironically, cannabinoid vapor would likely be the only medicinal compound under a hospital roof with a zero death toll.

A new friend of mine has fibromyalgia at the young age of 23.  She recently read about cannabis and how it's helping others with her condition.  The pain is so severe that her GP has prescribed her a 50 mcg and now a 75 mcg Fentanyl patch which she refuses to use.  But getting approved to use medicinal cannabis under the age of 25 is a heavily scrutinized process to say the least.  The theory being that the human brain isn't finished growing until 25 and they fear that cannabis may hinder proper development.  But ... a 75 mcg Fentanyl patch is okay for the growing mind?

What about Benzos for children?  Or Ketamine, a horse tranquilizer!  These are common meds for seizure disorders in children.  Why do we trust that Adderall (amphetamine) or Ritalin (methyphenidate) or Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine), all of which are prescribed to children aged 3 and older, are safe for the growing mind?

I myself was given Lithium at 20 from my pill-pushing doctor, along with the Proz@c he'd talked me into months before.  So, a SSRI whose action is only THEORIZED is safe for my young brain but this unprocessed plant is not?

Do YOU believe that?  We're far too often told what to believe, especially when it comes to pharmaceuticals.  Challenge that whenever you can!

Another new friend aged 74 with severe arthritis has also been easing her pains with cannabis oil. She remembers the first time she asked her long-time GP about medicinal cannabis.  She was tired of the morphine and how barfy and loopy it made her feel.  It hindered her ability to be active in her community as she didn't feel safe driving on it though there were no driving precautions on the bottle. She asked her doctor and he simply stared at her quietly, and then making a notation in her file, he dismissively said, "No, you're fine with the morphine."  End of discussion.  Too many discussions end this way.  Too many of us are ignored or intimidated into prescription compliance. The patient-doctor relationship should not be akin to bullying!

We're seeing a real shift in healthcare right now, especially where cannabis is concerned. This plant and the personal freedoms its use requires is shaking the very foundations of Western medicine. Humans everywhere are weaning themselves off of their pills and choosing cannabinoid therapy instead.  Who says safe medicine only comes in a pill?

I personally medicate myself in many ways.  I take oil I make myself out of my legal cannabis.  I smoke doobies and bongs too.  I use a discreet portable vaporizer when I'm on break at work.  And every day I'm learning more ways to get it in and get it workin'!

So before any of us judge the legitimacy of anyone else's cannabis use, we need to ask one question:

What pill is the pot replacing?

You're Legal, Now Let's Save You Some Money!

Becoming legal to use medicinal cannabis in the ACMPR is gaining in popularity and all kinds of clinics are opening to aid in the process.  Canadian Cannabis Clinics is one that will complete the entire process free of charge, payment via your valid provincial health card.  Now that's single payer healthcare!

Unfortunately though, the legality of Cannabis doesn't change the price.  Legal or not, you're paying a lot for something that insurers refuse to cover.  Patients trying medicinal cannabis are shocked to learn they'll pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket each month when they used to have full coverage for their meds.  I advise all patients to keep proof of all Cannabis purchases and all equipment purchases to be claimed on their taxes as a healthcare expense.  For many, getting legal is a step towards relief but in the meantime, how do you afford to pay for your mail order cannabis?

So many Canadians were prescribed pills and now they're taking pills for the side effects of the other pills and it's effecting their overall quality of life.  Our country's disability, pensions, and assistance programs will cover all other medications including addictive opioids but they balk when asked to cover this doctor-prescribed medicine, quoting the lack of a DIN (drug identification number) as a reason to refuse.  I'm grateful that Veteran's Affairs is covering the Veterans' cannabis but what about the rest of us?  Is VAC not governed by the same need for a DIN??

Yet I hear there are patients getting coverage.  The persistent, daily-calling patients who refuse to give up-- can you be one of those?  All it will take is one ... one insurance company to say yes to everyone thus treating Cannabis like the legitimate medicine that it is.  That one company will be the new world leader of insurance coverage.

For Ontarians on ODSP, there is a form called "Request for an Unlisted Drug Product" that some
people have used to get their Cannabis covered.  If you know anyone on ODSP, please share this form with them.  In addition to this, many patients on ODSP have gotten coverage for a vaporizer by asking their doctor to write them a recommendation to use one.  And lastly, if you have health coverage through work, ask if you have an "Health Spending Account".  These are offered through most major insurance companies and are one more opportunity for coverage.

In September, the government announced the new ACMPR and with it, the ability for patients to grow their own Cannabis.  I have friends who grow legally now and they boast a price per gram of .35 to .50 cents when grown outdoors. Perhaps a bit higher for indoor, but in reality, the best way to save money in this program is to grow your own cannabis.  Or in other words, practice some Horticultural Therapy!

This process to get legal to grow your own is as simple as 1-2-3:

1). Get an original Medical Document aka Prescription from a Doctor.
2). Complete and print the online application.
3). Mail these two to Health Canada.

It's important to note here that many Cannabis clinics are refusing to write grow-your-own prescriptions citing quality concerns even though the Supreme Court of Canada deems it safe.
Rest assured, other clinics are here for you.  For example, Canadian Cannabis Clinics respects your right to grow your own medicine.

In the meantime, many of the producers of our medical cannabis have stepped up with compassionate pricing discounts for we patients.  Depending on your provider, you could get from 10 to 30% off when you provide a NOA showing between $24k and $30k, but others are judging discounts on an individual basis.  Many offer discounts for anyone on government pension or assistance.  It's in your best interest to discuss these discounts with your producer's customer service people.  Discounts mean a happy and satisfied customer, the producers want this in you.

Here are links to the sites for the producers who offer compassionate pricing at this time:

ABcann - Aurora - Bedrocan - Broken Coast - Canna Farms - CanniMed - CannTrust - Delta 9 Bio Tech - Emerald - Maricann - MedReleaf - Mettrum - Organigram - Tweed

Let's switch now to how you can make your medicine last, thus saving money.  Whether they're paying $5 or $15 a gram, a lot of patients try to ration their medication by adding tobacco to it. Please don't do this.  What's the sense of saving money if you're harming your lungs?  This study from 1973 in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that cannabinoids dilate the bronchial by almost 40%.  If you're mixing tobacco with your cannabis, all of that nicotine and tar goes deep into the alveoli allowing for further damage and impairment.  What you can do though, is purchase trim from your producer.  Not all sell their trim, but some producers sell theirs for as little as $2.50 a gram!  No more mixing tobacco;  use trim instead.

For those of you non-smoking and non-vaping patients, the oil provided by the producers is a great choice but can be costly.  A one gram per day prescription allows you 3 bottles of this oil per month. Ranging from $95 to $185, that can add up fast.  It's much much more economical to make your own oil infusions.  All this means is that instead of buying the oil, you'll buy the desired strains of dried cannabis with the cannabinoid profile best suited to your health condition and with as much skill as it takes to bake cookies and make stew in a crock pot, you can have your very own cannabis infused oil. For those of us with mild pain levels, the trim mentioned above is a very affordable way to make butter or oil infusions to be used in cooking.  I've been making oil infusions for many years starting with stocks and stems.  It's all medicinal!  Here is a blogpost I wrote showing one of many simple ways to infuse the oil of your choice with Cannabis.

Another invention very worthy of mention here is the Magical Butter machine:  the bread-maker of cannabis infusions.  You literally toss it all in together and choose the appropriate setting and in 2 to 8 hours your medicine is infused.  Strain and medicate.

I have a friend with a lot of chronic pain that she legally treats with medicinal cannabis.  She went home one day in between errands with a friend so she could medicate.  As she stood in the kitchen munching on a muffin, her friend asked if she was going to medicate so they could get going.  She said, "yep ... I'm almost done."  She eats her medicine.  Every single day.  That's right, it's Canada circa 2016, we have a balanced parliament and we like to eat our cannabis!

I'm a legal medicinal cannabis patient and I struggle with the cost of my medicine every single month like so many of you.  I truly believe that the prices will soon begin to lower.  This industry of 35 players is growing fast and the bar for reasonable affordability is currently being decided as more and more of these producers routinely run out of $5 grams.  I say the patient has spoken, we need more $5 grams!

In the meantime, call your producer!  Ask them about their compassionate pricing discounts.  Ask questions of those in the know, read blogs and forums too.  To make sure you're buying the right strains for your condition, check out the Canvasrx site to see what the producers have to offer.  And finally, keep receipts of all things Cannabis so you can claim them on your taxes.

This transition will be costly, but taking back your own health is priceless.

Change Your Default Thinking

I had another CBT session today and wow ... incredible sometimes.

When we think of ourselves, or when our self-esteem is considered, we all have sort
of a "default" way of seeing ourselves.

It's in the thoughts we have when we don't know we're thinking.

Most of us are now hyper critical of ourselves, so these thoughts
aren't often kind or encouraging.

My default is and has always been that....

I am wrong
I am stupid
I am less than
I am not enough

I don't show that here and that's why I love writing, but when
I'm told I've made an error, my default is that I'm a stupid
idiot who doesn't deserve the job.

And it happens in a fraction of a second, but no matter, the
corresponding emotion is now there and making me
FEEL.....

wrong
stupid
less than
not enough

How do we fix the default?

That was the topic today.

Even if it takes writing love notes on the mirror with our old
lipstick, we have to tell ourselves that we are worthy and
love-able and knowledgeable and good.

We live in a world that shuns self love as bragging or narcissism
or pride.

We've made it a negative to be prideful.

Who ever thought that would be a good message?

And most of us will defend others long before we'll defend
ourselves, but I say stop that and be a cat.

You ever see a cat defend themselves?

It's quick
It's sure
It's immediate

Defend yourself and love yourself.
Congratulate yourself for being!

On paper I am this;  but in my mind I am that.

Get it on paper every single day then.