Medical cannabis in the real world
Within the world of cannabis, and medical cannabis more specifically, there are some cases that are just more well known than others. These cases showcase ways that cannabis has truly healed people in ways that other modern medicines have failed. The purpose of this post is to bring to light a few of these examples by providing the following:
- History
- Background
- How modern medicine failed these individuals
- How cannabis helped these individuals
Our hope is that after reading this article, you may feel more informed and educated on just how much cannabis has helped and will continue to help people to a better state of health and comfortability. We want you to not only have an interest in GROW, but the desire to advocate for medical cannabis by seeing and understanding what it really is. In the cannabis industry, we have a big stigma to go up against and the more we can educate our community, the better chance we have of bringing green medicine to the global marketplace.
Coltyn Turner
On June 3rd 2011 Coltyn Turner drowned in a lake during a boy scout event. Luckily his brother and three other scouts found him and saved his life. What initially was a suspected bacterial infection quickly materialized itself as a form of inflammatory bowel disease known as Crohn’s disease. After visiting the mayo clinic for confirmation Coltyn began all types of different treatments beginning with weaker treatments and working up in search of something that would work. Starting with things such as Asacol and Entocort with no success before moving on to Remicade infusions (classified as a chemotherapy drug). These seemed to do the trick until shortly after a flare up occurred which debilitated Coltyn again for a short period of time. Infusions occurred once a month for six months. At that point Coltyn had developed Rheumatoid Arthritis and drug-induced lupus among other things. The doctors then proceeded to change medications and try Methotrexate which caused Coltyn’s face to swell and nose to bleed profusely. At this point large doses of Prednisone were administered and taped off over months which resulted in Coltyn’s remission.
For those who do not know what Prednisone is or does, Prednisone is a cortico-steroid used to treat a wide variety of conditions and disorders.
A quick google search however can turn up a laundry list of side effects caused by prednisone. Some of which are :
- Blurred vision
- Changes in behavior or mood
- Elevated blood pressure
- Elevated blood sugar
- Restlessness and inability to stay still
- Sleep problems
- Vomiting
- Severe weight gain
- Difficulty breathing
- Loss of bone mass which leads to fracturing
- Osteonecrosis — Death of bone tissue caused by loss of blood flow
- Diabetes
- Adrenal insufficiency
- Swelling of the heart and irregular heart beat
This is only to name a few. Prednisone is the worst of the worst when it comes to medications to treat patients with chronic conditions. This is why cannabis needs to replace medications such as this. Compare those side effects to consistent cannabis use and it’s a no brainer!
After having another flare up, trying Humira with no success, multiple ER visits and a lymphoma scare Coltyn began trying cannabis as medicine and saw immediate results. He first experimented with cannabis oil and cannabis edibles and saw better results than any and all medications he had ever tried. Fast forward to a few months later and Coltyn’s doctors visits all return back with results showing no inflammation, him showing no pain, clear biopsies and good blood tests. Cannabis saved this young mans life when no other medical options were available. Coltyn still uses cannabis to maintain his Crohn’s disease.
Rick Simpson Oil (RSO)
Rick Simpson, a former hospital engineer who suffered a bad fall while working, had continuous ringing and dizziness for years following it. After having his doctor reject the idea, Rick took a personal interest in the medical benefits of cannabis and began experimenting. Over time he began to notice significant improvements to his health. In 2003 Rick was diagnosed with skin cancer. Rick began applying a topical form of cannabis oil to his arm which he would then cover for multiple days only to realize that the bumps had receded completely and were no longer there. Today RSO is a widely renowned version of cannabis oil that is very dark, very sappy and not very tasty but it is extremely potent and is full spectrum to include THC, CBD and all of the other cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant.
Charlottes Web
Charlotte Figi, at three months old began having seizures that would occur for around 30 minutes at a time. At first look doctors had no rhyme or reason as to what was wrong with Charlotte. After Charlotte continued having seizures they lengthened from around 30 minutes to sometimes lasting two to four hours at a time. All while the doctors were claiming it was something temporary and that it was something that she would “outgrow”… Once properly diagnosed however it was determined that she had Dravat syndrome. Dravat syndrome otherwise known as Myoclonic Epilepsy is a rare and severe form of seizures which cannot be controlled by any medications. At one point Charlotte was on over seven drugs, some of which were heavy-duty, addictive compounds not suitable for children such as Barbiturates and Benzodiazepines but what other choice did they have? After years of a variety of treatment attempts and a lack of success her parents had noticed that medical cannabis had become legal and that seizures were on the list of qualifying conditions. Being against cannabis prior to this they realized and understood what needed to be done for their daughter. Within the first hour after having given Charlotte cannabis oil she was no longer having her scheduled seizures that were multiple hours long and that had completely debilitated her for her entire life up to this point. The treatment had worked. Eventually Charlotte had a high CBD strain of cannabis named after her known as “Charlottes Web”. Yup that was for her.
Afterthoughts
Having provided a few examples that can easily be researched by anyone, we hope to have shown what cannabis has done for some individuals in the most dire need of their lives. It has completely turned around lives and saved the quality of life for so many people! We believe that this is something that should be available to everyone to treat themselves with and we hope to have brought some inspiration into the minds of our followers. True healing is possible through medical cannabis!
