Chronic pain and medical marijuana

Dear Mr. McLanahan,

Please add me to the discussion. The one time that I used MM, I was beset by whoever was on line that day. I use opiods + MM. The opiods generally help with the pain. The MM helps distance me from the pain. Some people at the dispensary fear that Jeff Sessions will take away our medicine - and it is medicine. Then, he'll take away the opiods. I'm too old to find street dealers. Thank you.

i am very tempted to grow my own mm. (don't tell on me) better watch out for the helicopters.

Hello @ayankeeinnm,

By responding to me in this discussion you will be automatically subscribed to the discussion. You should now receive notifications from the discussion. I know there is a lot of unease regarding Jeff Sessions' statements on marijuana and the overall attitude towards opioids right now, but the best thing we can do as patients is flood our representatives with phone calls urging them to vote on our behalf. I have learned recently, that it is one thing to talk to our friends, peers, and Connect members about it, but taking the next step and reaching out to representatives is important.

Justin, you are so right! I have never made so many phone calls to Congresspersons in my life about so many issues--and MM is definitely one of them. Our representatives MUST hear from us. I make phone calls, I leave voicemail, I send postcards. Whether Congress--and our state legislators--remember it or not, we voted for them, we are taxpayers, we are their bosses. We can be firm AND polite. Get the phone numbers of your representatives, both in your state and in DC; they're readily findable on the web. And call them. It takes very little time. I do this on breaks from work or in the evenings. Our voices must be heard. And I truly believe that the vast majority of Americans is pro-MM. One never knows when one will be afflicted by pain. It can happen at any time in one's life.

Thanks, Justin, for talking about this.

Hazel

Our two dispensaries received cease and desist orders on Tuesday. I watched the county, state and Federal officials do that. The reason: land use codes. This is an unincorporated area and MM dispensaries are not permitted to exist except in cities. And so we are taking our message to county supervisors to change the code.

Cease-and-desist orders??!!!!!! Honestly, WHY is there this utter hysteria about MM? They accuse us of being "opioid addicts" if we take pain meds, and they make it close to impossible to get those. Then, if we can get MM, they accuse us of using "gateway drugs" that will turn us into cocaine addicts! Truly: do the lawmakers just want us to curl up and die so that we don't cost BigInsurance any money? NO ONE knows when he or she will end up with severe, intractable pain. My disgust just grows daily.

Hazel

Amen!

Absolutely correct for me as well! Scary times since those of us who need meds for chronic pain will be in huge trouble! I take a low dose and it assists me in functioning better..able to do most things I can not without pain help!
Also found this in an article
Although opioid pain medication is routinely blamed by politicians, federal agencies and the media for the nation’s so-called opioid epidemic, recent studies in several states have found that most drug overdoses are actually caused by illegal opioids such as heroin and bootleg fentanyl. There are also increasing signs that pain patients unable to get opioids legally are turning to pain medication sold on the streets, some of it counterfeit and laced with fentanyl.

dear hazel. again, you have taken this ashkanazi to the same beliefs as you have.. i think the same way you do. and i am sure there are many more people who see the truth as well. and to think they are paid for these decisions, their decisions, not ours. we know why we have voted for them and are usually dissapointed.

Greetings unto you, O fellow Ashkenazi! I was raised Jewish, but I left the faith long ago. I was an agnostic for years, but I've tumbled over the wall into atheism. I've tried a lot of different religions--Episcopalianism, Baha'i, Unitarian Universalist are the ones that occur to me at the moment--but none are a good fit for me. Two of my grandparents came to the US as refugees in around 1912, speaking no English, fleeing pogroms in their native Lithuania. My other two grandparents were born in the US. One of my cousins is very involved in genealogy and has done a lot of hunting around. One thing I've learned is that "Blumberg" (and variant spellings thereof) is the "Smith" or "Jones" of Judaism! I peek in on a Wiki Genealogy site now and then, and there's a whole group for "Blumberg"s alone!

It is, I think, also the underlying Puritan ethic in the US that makes so many people think that MM is Evil. It is NOT. Friends of mine rely on it to be as pain free as possible and find that they can reduce or eliminate their pain meds. Geeeeeeez.

Hazel