“He that never changes his opinions, never corrects his mistakes, will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today”.

I have a good friend, who was an RN back in the early 1980s.  She did a lot of visiting hospice care, and she baked her patients a lot of brownies.  I knew that she liked to have a toke or two off a joint from time-to-time; I knew she had access to pot; when she told me there was weed in the brownies, I did not doubt her.  However, I did doubt her explanation to me of the medicinal qualities that this herb had for her patients.

She was a hippies throwback, she liked to get high, and therefore my belief was ’she’s just trippin’.'  I know many potheads; of course, they all think that it is the coolest thing on the planet.  What could possibly be more fun than to get a sick person high on marijuana?  In addition, I found myself spending decades shaking my head at those who used the words “medical marijuana” in the same sentence.  They just want to get high I said to myself.

I have recently been blessed with a personal experience of the benefits of Cannabis for its pain killing qualities.

Because I live in Washington State, and I meet the criteria set by the state of Washington to qualify, I have a “license” to be in possession of marijuana legally. I am not an attorney, but I interpret the law to be telling me: “ I can grow it, I can cook it, and I can smoke it.”  I am not allowed to buy it.  I am not allowed to buy seeds.  I am only permitted to use my medicinal marijuana within the state of Washington.  I can share my weed with other patients who have a medical marijuana card.  I cannot sell anything that contains marijuana to anyone.  That is the basic gist of our law.

I am a very poor historian of my own medical problems, and I am not a physician.  I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to sit through someone’s laundry list of ailments – specifically for this week, the primary reason that I’ve utilized my medical marijuana was for nerve pain that radiated through my hip and down to my knee.  This has been causing me agonizing pain, waking me from my sleep, and making it very difficult to get out of bed and to walk.  In the past, I have used a variety of over-the-counter medications, as well as prescription drugs, to the point of excess, with no relief of this particular pain.

I do not like to smoke weed.  The major deterrent for me is the coughing.  I have watched people smoking pot, inhaling, turning red trying to hold the smoke in before releasing it in a fit.  Surely that, in and of itself, must cause additional agony right?  I do not want the discomfort, nor do I want anyone to see me in such a state.  God forbid someone should see me choking and continue walking thinking, “eh, she’s just smoking her pot again”.  In this case, it is very easy for me to say “no” to drugs.

Cooking.  Macaroni and cheese and pancakes where the home cooked meals that my mom made.  Kraft and Bisquick made sure to provide the major ingredients, along with my mother’s recipe, on the back of every box.

A good vaporizer is a few hundred dollars, I would like to at least try one before I invest in one.

Therefore, I started by making capsules.  They are easy to ingest and inexpensive to purchase.  No precise measurements are required.

The capsules, (I was recommended to use the 00), are easily available online and can be purchased at herbal shops and pharmacies.

Filling the double zero capsules by hand can be difficult if you have poor dexterity.  There are capsule filling machines, which are cheap.  I have only seen (online) ones that fill 20+ capsules at a time. I have not used one or seen one used, capsule filling machines are also easily accessible online or at an herb store.  I cannot tell you whether these filling machines can fill one at a time.

You will want to be sure that you have a good herb grinder.

I have a nice metal one, similar to the one in the video above.  I have been utilizing the crushed buds.  I’m told that getting it ground to a powder is more effective and potent.  At this point, I haven’t gone that far.  Two tightly packed capsules of crushed bud has alleviated the sharp pains in my legs.  I’m still a little stiff, but I can walk relatively pain free.

I haven’t experienced any drowsiness, dizziness, constipation, dry mouth, or anything that makes me feel like I’m impaired.  Of course, this is my own experience, yours may differ.  I have no idea how to determine the strength of the capsules that I am taking.  It will probably vary from one dose to another.

I notice the pain to be relieved within 20 minutes and it lasts for 4-8 hours!

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