Pubdate: Sun, 07 Dec 2014
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
Copyright: 2014 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764
Author: Linden Staciokas
Note: Linden Staciokas is a freelance writer, gardener and cook who 
lives in Fairbanks. She is chronicling her fight with a 
life-threatening illness in a series of columns

MY VISIT TO MARIJUANA LAND

Linden Staciokas Chronicles of a Diagnosis

FAIRBANKS - I have never used any illegal drugs. For one thing, I 
always have been too cheap to spend the money to get stoned. And I 
could never stomach the thought of using a substance that had passed 
through who knew how many grimy hands, adulterating it with who knew 
what. When I go to a restaurant I have to force myself not to think 
about the number of opportunities there are for my food to be sneezed 
on between the kitchen and my table; the idea of using unregulated 
drugs practically makes me break out in hives.

But this was before pain became my daily companion. The doctors 
cannot figure out why I continue to have what some days is mild pain 
and other days is so debilitating that it leaves me unable to do much 
more than writhe around trying to distract myself from the burning 
sensation that affects all of my limbs. One physician said he has 
seen other patients whose pain sensors seem to have gone into 
overdrive after a major trauma to their bodies. No one can tell me if 
this will fade with time or is a permanent residual effect of six 
surgeries in nine months.

I've tried all the conventional pain killers, but either they have 
been ineffective or there are unpleasant side effects. Morphine, for 
example, makes me hallucinate and vomit. Oxycodone results in 
headaches and loss of appetite. Finally, about three months ago, one 
of the doctors said, "I think it is time for you to consider using 
marijuana. Some of my patients have found that it relieves pain when 
no other drug will. While I used to be pretty skeptical of those 
claims, I have come to believe that it really does work for certain 
types of pain." I walked out of his office with a prescription for 
medical marijuana and into a whole new world.

I am receiving treatment in Washington state, where medical marijuana 
has been legal since 1998, and recreational marijuana has been legal 
since 2012. Selling or distributing unlicensed marijuana remains 
illegal, but legal marijuana is easily accessible through one of the 
many pot shops located all over the state. Not every shop, however, 
is licensed to sell medical marijuana, which comes in forms not 
available for those just interested in recreational use.

The medical products are also different from most of the recreational 
versions, as the brochures in medical marijuana dispensaries point 
out, in that some are high in cannabidol, a chemical with analgesic, 
anti-inflammatory, and anti-anxiety properties and low in THC, the 
psychoactive ingredient in pot. (The implication being that 
recreational users are most interested in high THC levels.)

Going into one of the medical marijuana dispensaries is much like 
going into a supersized grocery store - the choices available are 
overwhelming. You can smoke it, drink it, eat it or apply it 
topically. And within each of these alternatives are dozens of 
products. For example, if you prefer your medicine as an edible, you 
can buy it in the form of cookies (including something called 
Platinum Girl Scout cookies), chocolates, brownies, Gummy Bears, malt 
balls, sour balls or ice cream.

All the products display their THC content, their manufacturer and 
often the history on who developed that particular strain.

Medical marijuana is not a cheap undertaking, no matter which way you 
consume it. The marijuana highest in cannabidol apparently is quite 
rare and difficult to grow, which makes it more expensive. A four-day 
supply of marijuana in chocolate bon-bon form cost me $101, and it 
was not covered by insurance. Gummy bears are $4 each and one is not 
sufficient to knock out pain.

All transactions must be in cash or debit cards. Since marijuana is 
still a Schedule I prohibited substance under federal law, banks are 
refusing to honor checks or credit card transactions from 
dispensaries, lest at some future point the banks should be accused 
by the feds of laundering drug money. The problem is that having not 
only so much product but also so much cash on the premises makes 
marijuana stores a target for robbery, so many of the dispensaries 
have security guards on duty and limit the number of people allowed 
in the store at any one time.

I expected that marijuana would leave me silly, pain free and hungry. 
Alas, after having to work hard to overcome my initial reluctance to 
try marijuana this late in my life, it did none of those things. I 
never felt anything at all, so after a few expensive attempts at 
using different varieties, each with varying levels of cannabidol and 
THC, I gave up.

I have met too many people who swear by pot as a pain killer not to 
believe that it is very effective for some folks. I am glad the 
option exists for them. As for me, I am back to experimenting with 
different combinations of pharmaceuticals to try and reduce my pain 
without turning myself into a medicated zombie.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom