I mentioned briefly in a post a few weeks ago that I am a medically-prescribed cannabis user. Many people in my personal life don’t know this unless for some reason it comes up in conversation. I love to have the conversation, but I’m rarely the one to bring it up because the use of cannabis is still surrounded by a lot of stigma.

Many people hold their opinions against it tightly and in their eyes it can cast a bit of a shadow over those who use it. This stigma is a product of racial, religious and political dogma that unfortunately has bundled weed with many other gnarly substances that can cause a lot of damage. Cannabis usage needs advocacy from individuals that are knowledgeable and experienced with it in order to educate others and shift the tide for Mary Jane.

The reality is that cannabis, just like tobacco or alcohol, is just another substance that humans are perfectly capable of handling in moderation. A substance that not only provides an enjoyable recreational experience for some, but also brings significant medicinal relief for patients that would much prefer to treat themselves with a plant that grows out of Mother Earth than some pill cooked up in a lab by corporations with insane vested interest in you being ill and addicted.

Weed! What is it good for?

Absolutely something! Cannabis has used by humans for a looooong time, as far back as 12,000 years ago with some evidence suggesting even pre-alcohol! It’s been so tightly bonded with humanity for so many reasons, across so many cultures.

Medicine

Cannabis was recorded in one of the earliest pharmacopoeias named the “Shennong Ben Cao Jing,” from ~2700BCE China where it was documented as a treatment for rheumatism, gout, and malaria. In India, it was included in Ayurvedic medicine.

Moving to the Middle Ages, cannabis was used by the Romans for ear pain, inflammation and various other conditions, while Islamic scholars were studying its use for pain relief and appetite stimulant.

Jumping to the modern day, cannabis is prolific across Europe, America and Australia and is widely used as a painkiller, sedative, a treatment for epilepsy and convulsive conditions, PTSD, stress, depression and anxiety. Labs exist all over the world specifically targeting the research and understanding of why it is so effective as a medicinal treatment.

Material

Hemp is a SUPER material, it beats cotton’s ass all day, every day, in every way. Hemp grows quicker, uses significantly less water, it’s drought resistant, naturally pest resistant, it acts as a bioremediator and improves soil quality and it produces more fibre per acre than cotton.

The fibre and derivative products it produces have far more applications than cotton too, from durable and sustainable clothing, to ropes, sails, biodegradable plastics, building materials, hemp seeds, flour, oil and protein food products, even biomass and biofuel. Why we built an industry off cotton I have no idea, if we had invested into the equipment required to process hemp we would have saved serious drought issues and arable land loss, while achieving more with the produced material. #fuckcotton

Religious Use

The religious history of cannabis is a long one, with almost too many datapoints to note without turning this blog into an essay (maybe that’s what is required to do it justice, but another day). I do think it’s an important one to talk about, as its usage across so many cultures reflects the significant importance of weed to the people, but I’ll keep it brief.

Whether it was smoked, brewed into a drink, infused into an oil or eaten, cannabis has been a staple across virtually all major religions. Christianity, Taoism, Hindu, Judaism, Islam and not to mention the obvious brothers and sisters of the Rastafari movement, all of these ideologies have recorded history (or speculative assumption) of the use of cannabis in their ritualistic practice. If not for healing and purification, then likely for the altered state of consciousness and connection to divinity.

It’s not all sunshine and weed flowers.

At this point my bias towards being pro-cannabis is quite obvious, but being on this detox journey has given me ample time for reflection on its usage, especially in the current climate of mass legalisation either medically or recreationally. Many loud voices have been touting cannabis as a miracle substance: It’s “not addictive”, “less dangerous than alcohol” and “can do no wrong!”. To be fair I see where their stance comes from, I’ve never seen a violent stoner in my personal experience, unless you’re a bag of potato chips or other tasty snack, then you better watch out.

However, I do think our attitude towards it can be slightly naive. Any substance that alters your brain chemistry can be detrimental to a user if it’s being consumed for the wrong reasons. Escapism can turn anything into a vicious habit, and as we see more relaxation of regulation around cannabis, it’s important that we educate the people on what healthy consumption looks like. As more research and study comes out, we begin to see the real possibility of cannabis use dependency and withdrawal syndromes. For a select few, those dealing with seriously critical conditions, maybe this is the preferred option, but for many it requires us to take a step back and really assess what use of cannabis means for us, and where the line is before it turns away from beneficial.

If you haven’t in a while and have the capacity, take a mindful break, I challenge you to 2+ weeks to get over the hump and see how your body reacts. It might be bad, it could be good. Use this experience to understand where cannabis fits into your life and whether or not it serves you.

The Sad State of Legislation

The title of this post is rooted in this section. In my home country (specifically my home state, known for its archaic attitude towards any progressive issues), the usage of cannabis is still an enormous legal grey area. While I use it medicinally to great effect, on one hand I’m a legal patient, yet by many caveats of the law I am a criminal. Unlike alcohol or tobacco, both known to be mind altering substances, any presence of THC detected in your system is enough to get you severely reprimanded if you’re in the wrong situation. For a country that runs on automobiles (Australia is fucking huge if you didn’t know), what this means is that unless you’re comfy risking a criminal record, huge fines and loss of license, any medicinal cannabis patient cannot operate a vehicle until all detectable THC has left your system.

This is not advocacy for blazing up and jumping in the driver seat, frankly that’s ridiculous; the problem lies in the fact that regular cannabis users can have trace amounts of THC detected in their system for days after the last time they consumed. If a long-term cannabis patient medicates on a saturday night, like any regular person would get on the piss with their mates at the pub, if they drive to work on monday and get tested on the road there are good odds they would test positive and be in serious trouble, even though by that point they could be virtually stone cold sober.

This sparks a lot of emotion in the people who use cannabis to treat their conditions, as now they have to choose between their health and wellbeing or being able to function in a society where using a car can be critical to their livelihood. Unless you’re privileged enough to live and work in a highly urbanised area with half-decent public transport like myself, you’re sort of fucked! This leads to really awful ultimatums, with some patients seriously considering falling back to benzos and opiate options just to lower the legal risk in getting behind the wheel, even though those drugs shouldn’t be used while operating vehicles or machinery either and can be significantly more dangerous for the user.

Australia is in desperate need of reform around cannabis and determining impairment of users. Much like a legal blood-alcohol limit exists for fully licensed drivers, we need a new system of assessing cannabis users that doesn’t throw them straight in the criminal bin. Frankly I quite like my life, job, relationships and, despite its flaws, the convenience of modern society; so I’d prefer not to rack up a criminal record over my sovereign right to medicate with cannabis.

I hope my passion about this subject translates and that this article comes across as a balanced viewpoint. I completely respect every individuals right to consume or abstain and I’m always open to conversation about it, sober or not. #freetheweed

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