By Michael Pearce
AIDS / HIV
Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The virus weakens a person’s immune system so they are not able to fight infections or cancers as effectively. Having HIV does not always mean you have AIDS, as it can take many years for people with HIV to develop AIDS. Along with the diagnosis are many secondary infections from pneumonia, to Kaposi Sarcoma, to open sores that will not heal. Cannabis oil applied directly on the wound sees the pink hue of new cells growing to the anesthetically properties of Cannabis oil. https://kurplemagazine.com/education/cbd-cannabidiol/
Cannabis was the first organic medicine to be recommended for HIV/AIDS, and is used to treat secondary infections and to deal with the side-effects of the vast array of pharmaceutical-based”Toxic Cocktails” given to patients. Cannabis was the first medicine to stop Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) as cannabinoids cause patients to develop a healthy desire to eat, put on and maintain weight. Giving an HIV/AIDS patient cannabinoid containing foods, results in a smile that translates to up to 10 hours of relief depending on the patient. No pharmaceuticals have been found to give patients similar results, none.
CANCER
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that the medical expenditures for cancer could reach as high as $207 billion in 2013, said researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) — $226.8 billion for direct medical costs (total of all health expenditures) and $123 billion for indirect mortality costs (cost of lost productivity due to premature death). Cancer costs are projected to reach at least $258 billion in 2020.
Cannabis starves cancer cells of the energy they need to replicate themselves. The anti-tumor action of cannabinoids is well known and clinical trials have shown that cannabinoids have the ability to “turn off” the cancer gene that causes breast, lung, prostate and other types of cancers to metastasize. Cancer symptoms also vary widely based on the type of cancer. Current cancer treatment includes chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, but cannabis is increasingly becoming a valid treatment option for those who suffer from this disease. Cannabis has proven to be the one medicine that we can ingest, smoke, or vaporize to combat cancer within our bodies and to alleviate many of the horrendous side effects of “modern” cancer treatments.
CHRONIC PAIN and PEAK PAIN
Cannabis preparations have been used as a remedy for thousands of years in traditional medicine. Clinical use of cannabinoid substances is restricted, due to legal, political and ethical reasons. The pain-reducing effects of cannabis have been well documented, but are limited by their psychoactive side effects. Endocannabinoids within our bodies have an analgesic effect and evidence shows that “chronic states of pain” can alter the endocannabinoid receptor system at the key sites involved in pain processing. Within our bodies we have a newly discovered endonomic system which is run exclusively by cannabinoids which regulates pain messages in our bodies. Peak pain is the pain level above and beyond the patient’s regular pain threshold, leaving many sufferers to develop a dependency on habit forming pharmaceuticals such as vicodin, percocet or morphine.
EPILEPSY and SEIZURES
2.3 million Americans live with epilepsy, a neurological condition that includes recurring seizures. More than 1 million of them live with uncontrolled seizures. Some patients may be helped by surgery or other non-drug treatments, but for many, no answers have been found. People with uncontrolled seizures live with the continual risk of serious to catastrophic injuries. From extreme bruising from blunt trauma, to broken bones & teeth, to bitten tongues & lips, to extreme total body fatigue — as all of the body’s muscles go into spasm. Due to a lack of education cannabis is not used widely enough to treat epilepsy or the various ailments that can also cause seizures, such as multiple sclerosis or diabetes. The overwhelming evidence shows when epileptics and other seizure sufferers are treated with medical marijuana on a daily basis, it can reduce their attacks from hundreds a day to just a handful of times a year. Usage again eliminates many of the tragic side affects associated with current pharmaceutical treatments.
GLAUCOMA
Glaucomas’ exact causes are still unknown, yet it is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. Raised intraocular pressure is a significant risk factor for developing glaucoma. Damage to the optic nerve from glaucoma can result in differing degrees of vision loss to total blindness. Cannabinoids also have a neuro-protective action, which aids in the preservation of neuronal function. Smoked or vaporized cannabis from the very first inhale, effectively and significantly lowers intraocular pressure. However, cannabis’ effect on eye pressure only lasts 3-4 hours, meaning that to lower eye pressure around the clock it would have to be smoked or vaporized 6-8 times a day.
P.T.S.D
In the US, more than 5 million suffer from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder annually, with 22 PTSD suffering war-vet patients committing suicide every hour. PTSD is a severe, debilitating anxiety disorder, in which the individual’s psychological defenses are overwhelmed. It has been recognized in the past as; stress syndrome, shell shock, battle fatigue, traumatic war neurosis, and post-traumatic stress syndrome. Sufferers often continue to reexperience original traumas by means of flashbacks or nightmares, as well as experiencing increased arousal, which can manifest in having difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, hyper-vigilance, nightsweats and night-terrors.
Research suggests that cannabis helps individuals find relief and cannabinoids offer far better results than the current class of drugs commonly used to treat the disorder. Cannabis helps PTSD suffering patients reduce their association between stimuli and the traumatic situations in their past by aiding in memory extinction. Smoking or vaporizing therapeutic cannabis is a reliable and effective means to treat anxiety and the aversive memories formed in PTSD sufferers, while eating cannabinoid-containing foods offers far longer relief.
For more information please contact me at: Michael PEARCE mjmpearce@sympatico.ca
