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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom