Cannabis usage??

[Sempafidelis1970]

Though this may be a touchy question to ask, I'll ask it anyway....

Been suffering with joint pain and bad Skin flares for years now. Steroids seem to be the only thing that seems to help.... But really don't want to be taking those all the time. I'm seriously thinking about using Cannabis, just at night times... To see if it will help... X Has anyone else tried it....? I'm a great believer in the fact that, every cure can come from the fields.! And it can't be any worse than the drugs I'm on now surely????

My oppogise to admin if this is not allowed....! Xx

[carotopgal]

My sister has Lupus (I have RA) and she lives in Colorado (where pot is legal). She uses it regularly and says it helps tremendously for her pain. She buys the edibles and just takes a nibble off a piece through the day. It doesn't make her high, it just helps to control the pain. I live in Tennessee, and SO wish it were legal here. I'd use it in a heart beat.

[lupus-support1 Administrator]

It is only because of the misuse of cannabis and drug abuse that cannabis has not been taken seriously enough. In other words, a "moral judgement" is being made, rather than looking at the possibility of helping human beings in pain and immobility.

Nevertheless, there is medical evidence that taking/smoking cannabis can lead to mental deterioration, psychiatric conditions including psychosis.

There is research into the medical use of cannabis which is still early but it is being used for certain conditions which includes MS. MS is related to lupus. In MS the myelin sheath becomes inflamed. In lupus, potentially every organ, including the myelin sheath can become inflamed.

Scientists are looking at the benefits and in particular without the "high" as a way to provide pain relief.

One country that is researching this area is Israel, where medical marijuana. Israel is the marijuana research capital of the world. The man who started it all, the grandfather of the marijuana research, is Professor Raphael Mechoulam. He is a chemist and he became interested in marijuana in the 1960s. Morphine had been isolated from opium in the early 19th century, cocaine had been isolated from coca leaves in the mid 19th century and yet in the mid 20th century the chemistry of the cannabis was not known.

It looked like an interesting project but not an easy one because in Israel, like almost everywhere else, marijuana was illegal. So how did Professor Raphael Mechoulam get the marijuana for his work? He went to the police and took five kilos of hashish. He didn't have a car at that time so he used public transport for carrying the hashish, while people were complaining of the strange smell. They tested the "merchandize" on few volunteers including themselves.

It might seem like a simple experiment but the results were revolutionary. They were the first to isolate THC and CBD decades ago - two ingredients in marijuana that might have powerful abilities to treat disease. In Israel today marijuana is an accepted part of medical care - for pain, for cancer patients, for sleep problems, epilepsy, and digestive problems. They're even looking at Parkinson's and Tourette's. The list is expanding but there hasn't been too much research in patients because it's very difficult to do that... especially in the United States which classifies marijuana as a dangerous Schedule 1 drug.

In the US researchers have to jump through extra hoops to work with it. It's expensive and time consuming but the grandfather of this science says he is proof it can be done. Over the last forty years his work has been supported by the National Institute of Health. And now the country's ministry of health licensed 10,000 patients to use marijuana medicinally and has approved more than a dozen studies to treat illnesses like PTSD, pain, Crohn's disease, and even cancer.

Watch the full documentary here: topdocumentaryfilms.com/can...

See: israel21c.org/headlines/isr...

tikun-olam.info/What-is-Med...?

It must be understood that the Israeli government has regulated the use of medical marijuana and has strict regulations. Unlike certain US states, people cannot simply go and buy!

Be well!

Ros