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Read what I have to say about mental illness and pot. Read the personal stories from fellow crackwalkers
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THC CAFE
Crackwalker.ca - THC Cafe a place to exchange thoughts over a toke and a coffee. A "Bring Yer Own" atmosphere. C'mon light one up and stay for a visit. We'd love to hear from you.!! Come for a soft shoulder, come to give strength, come to take about your meds, tokes, the weather... what ever grabs you at the time. We'll be here waiting. Feel free to join us anytime.
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Medicinal Benefits
What I think
Speak with Crack. Tell her what you think at the THC Cafe!
The "symptoms" that are common among the mentally ill are as with everyone- depression, aggitation, anxiety, and stress as the most common. But, and it's a big BUT, unlike the average Joe - those suffering from mental illness have major problems trying to regulate these symptoms very well and tend to go off the deep end when experiencing them. We take heavy meds to help us. These meds have serious side-effects and can be extremely addictive. The side-effects of the drugs and the illness itself can be very distressing. I have found that many will self-medicate to ease their minds. many drink, many take hard drugs and still many more use weed.
We are told by our doctors (who have bought into Harry Anslinger's propoganda) that by smoking pot that we are in some way harming our chances of recovery and that we will slip into a great dependance on weed. I have been smoking since I was a teenager. 16 I think. I have always used it as a way to relieve stress, anxiety, saddness, depression and hurts. When I get so stressed out I cannot unwind a toke is about the only thing that will set things right. Pills don't work fast enough. I am instantly put at ease by a small toke and one or two will do me.
Try explaining that to your doctor or therapist. They have been trained that self-medicating is bad. Sure I agree, if you do it with harsh chemicals or alcohol. But pot is non-addictive and it doesn't fuck with your brain like pain-killers, benzos and who knows what else - crack, meth, opium, heroine??? Pot doesn't even compare to that calibur of medication. They give it too much credit.
I am way over the first induction to pot. Remember when you started it? You'd giggle, get the munchies, macrame your ass to the couch and have a few nice hours of fun then fall asleep. Peace was on your mind. I still get the peace part. I still enjoy the high and have fun. I still get the munchies. But the most beneficial part for me is relief from the stress and anxiety I feel every day. I have tried "their" medications. Those things came with so many side-effects it was unreal. They made me slow and dull-witted. I gained weight and kept getting told to lose it. I didn't understand that. I had physical symtoms that were very uncomfortable: nausea, dry mouth, strange tastes, and bowel problems to name a few. never mind the dangers that came in the warnings for the drug. Those could be potentially deadly. I am not going to deny their meds helped - because some of them did. What I do want to say is that pot helped just as much. I used it as a medication. I didn't wake and bake every day. I used it as needed. If I was feeling all wound up I had a toke. If I needed help sleeping on a particular night. I'd toke. I didn't abuse it as some do. I used it medicinally.
I am in theray and have been on a weekly basis for the last 4 yrs. Through this method I credit my recovery. That and the trusted weed. Without the two of these therpaies I would still be lost in that maze of craziness. I now understand where I was, where I am now and where I want to be in the future. Did I say that? Yeah, the future. I have a will to live. I am much better at recognizing when I am in fragile mood. I can see the beginning of an uncomfortable period and take a toke to ease the way. It helps so much to keep me sane. I don't think I'll ever stop smoking pot. It really does help me to live a normal life - or as much of a normal life that one afflicted with mental illness can live.
I firmly believe there are medicinal benefits that can solely be contributed to the use of marijuana. These benefits can be seen throughout the broad medical society. Benefits are reported from AIDS patients, MS sufferers, Cancer victims, and the Mentally Ill to name just a few. Marijuana is known to ease pain, improve the introverted's socialbility, ease nausea, improve appetite and relax the nervous.
In spite of government warnings about health risks, many people see pot as a harmless substance that helps you to relax and ‘chill’, reduce nausea to the point of being able to eat a few mouthfuls, – a drug that, unlike alcohol and cigarettes, might even be good for your physical and mental health.
There have been arguments that there are "man-made" drugs that produce the same medicinal effect of marijuana so why should we consider adding it to the list? Well, my answer to that is - why mess with mother nature at her best. Instead of consuming a natural substance we are expected to take "chemicals" that have gawd-knows-how-many side-effects. We are told to rely on drugs such as vallium and drugs of its nature to alleviate the same symptoms a toke or two of pot can do just as well. There are hundreds of "cold remedies" none cure the cold, just alleviate the symptoms. Just so with pot. It alleviates symptoms.
But why is pot not allowed on the list of drugs that can be used to allviate symptoms of various illnesses?
Why?
1. Because there is money to be made in copycat drugs.
2. Because one drug does not suit a certain percentage of the ill.
Why? Because our bodies all react differently to the same dosage of the same medication, what helps one, might kill the other.
Those who oppose marijuana are usually ignorant of its benefits. They have been spoon-fed over the last 40 decades to believe it is dangerous and should be grouped into the *evil drug* category. Years and years of brainwashing by the government and police forces has frightened an easily persuaded group into believing marijuana is a gateway drug to harder and much more dangerous drugs such as cocaine, crack and heroine.
I personally believe that one who favours marijuana is in an entirely different class of people who use harder drugs and as such the *gateway* theroy doesn't hold water. There are going to be those who prefer harder drugs and become addicted and also smoke marijuana. It has been my experience (dating back to the sixties) that not one of the people I knew who smoked marijuana has ever gone onto harder drugs. I can't say they didn't dabble, but no one got hooked and all returned to marijuana.
I am not advocating that marijuana is beneficial to all people, there are those who will have adverse reactions to marijuana. Not everyone recieves the same benefits from the same drug - not just marijuana. There are those who are deadly allergic to penicillian and how many death's have been reported from that one * miracle * drug alone. On the other hand, we cannot assume that just because someone has an adverse reaction to a product that it should be banned by all who could potentionally benefit from its use. There have been no death's reported from marijuana use. For those who do derive medicinal benefits from marijuana they should be allowed to have access to it just as any other medicinal drug that is available either over-the-counter or prescribed.
With the wide spread availability of alcohol and other drugs, people with severe mental illness are highly likely to use illegal substances to cope with their symptoms. Most will abuse or be dependent on alcohol and/or marijuana. The others that use drugs to self-medicate will use heavy narcotics along with the alcohol and marijuana. According to recent studies, approximately 50% of people with a diagnosis of severe mental illness also meet life time criteria for a diagnosis of substance use disorder. Mentally ill individuals are prone to use alcohol and other drugs in an attempt to alleviate symptoms of their illnesses or side effects from their medications.
Mental Illness can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. It is a brain illness and is not the result of personal weakness, lack of character, or poor upbringing. Those with mental illness are usually of normal intelligence although they may have difficulty performing at a normal level due to their illness. Mental illnesses are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood or behaviour (or some combination thereof) associated with significant distress and impaired functioning over an extended period of time. The symptoms of mental illness vary from mild to severe, depending on the type of mental illness, the individual, the family and the socio-economic environment.
We are told now that certain types of mental illness could be caused by smoking marijuana. I just don't believe this. I think the idividual was already undiagnosed (because the illness had not yet presented itself) and that could have been experiencing un-noticed symptoms and was already self-medicating for relief. The illness then presented and pot was blamed.
There are so many psychiatric diagnoses out there it isn't funny. There is no room on this site to cover each diagnosis and explain it's idiocincracies. There are dedicated sites for that. I have found that the symptoms of the illness that I'd really like to address and how I use pot to alleviate my symptoms.
What are my belief's?? Well, let's ask Crack...
"Crack, have you ever felt your drug useage has caused you to believe your mental illness was self-induced?"
Picking herself up from the floor where the question had thrown her, amidst muffled giggles she responds "Not too fuckin' likely. Me mum and dad had a hand in that one. I am sure my mental illness is a combination of warped brain genetics, upbringing and circumstance. Nothing more. I was ill before I began my use of substances. I used them to self-medicate to relieve the pain I was in. I needed my reality altered so that I could function in day-to-day life. LOL." "Did that answer you're question?"
My site is dedicated to those- like me - who are fighting mental illness, those who consider themselves a crackwalker, those who know a crackwalker or those who use pot medicinally.
I have no professional medical background but I have been a mental person my entire adult life. I have done a fair amount of research and as I find updated relevant info I post what I can. On this site I just wish to tell you what I have learned during my journey so far and would like to give you food for thought, quick answers and a point in the right direction for accurate information. You can challenge or agree with me by leaving a message at the THC cafe.
THC Cafe
http://www.crackwalker.ca
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