Gordon Barlow

I thought I'd done a thread on this, but apparently not. It's useful for anybody coming to live here, to know that The Good Oil is readily available with a doctor's prescription. My wife has cancer (lung) and refuses to do the standard chemo and radiation - believing that they can cause more pain than the actual disease. She has been on the Oil for about 18 months now, for the first nine of which she was gulping each dose down because nobody had told her she was supposed to let it linger beneath her tongue for a few minutes. Sigh... She was dragging herself around, as we expected, and suffering various pains from time to time which may or may not have had anything to do with the cancer, but from the day she started keeping it beneath her tongue her energy level shot up. She's not running marathons any more, and the energy may not last, but she is able to spend a couple of hours at a time at social engagements, and drives herself to the shops four or five miles away without suffering in any way. No pain, even at night.

So we strongly recommend it. Importing it is strictly licensed, so visitors can't bring it in - and it can't legally be flown in from Amazon or wherever! The cost is about $100 a month****, imported from Canada by certain licensed pharmacies, and as prescribed by licensed doctors. **** Our insurance company doesn't yet recognise it as a legitimate oral cancer-therapy.

I'll be glad to answer any questions about it.

TandD2017

Sorry to hear about your wife and I assumed it wasn't legal so good to know for the future maybe. Good luck with it.

Gordon Barlow

Thanks T & D. So far so good... Maybe the Oil isn't literally magical after all, but by gosh it's worth a try for anyone in chronic pain. Ask your doctor, or the HSA Pain Management doctor on Hospital Road.

Orangepants

Sorry to hear about your wife Gordon. Great information. Thank you. My younger sister in the UK is in the final stages of MS and CBD has helped her immeasurably over time. Now looking at it for my sweet old boxer dog to help his arthritis. Actually hubbie just bought some gummies from Amazon, they arrived this morning.

Merry Christmas

Gordon Barlow

I wish we could get those gummies from Amazon, but here one has to be a licensed importer. I'll ask our pharmacist about them, but if they're all-THC I don't think they'd be allowed. I guess you've been swotting up on Google, where reports tell of relieving pets' arthritis. A friend of ours is heavily into dogs' care, so she'll be interested to know how yours works.

My wife started on the 5:20 mix (THC:CBD), but switched to the 10:10, in the hope that the THC might retard the cancer. In the absence of medical monitoring we've no idea if it is doing that or not, but she's content not to know as long as there's no pain. I'm so glad your sister has benefitted from this wonderful stuff. It's disgraceful that "They" (the authorities) kept it away from sufferers for so many years, so unnecessarily!

uk_grenada

BuckinghamshireBoy

Gordon, I too am sorry to hear this, I hope that your wife finds a suitable medication for her pain reduction, and soonest.

I've been looking at the potential use of CBD in an attempt to reduce my chronic back pain, and having recently spoken with some Dutch friends here, have decided to try it in medium strength, capsule form, initially for one month.

The two best known Cannabinoids (out of the 113 or so) are THC and CBD. THC is the one with psychoactive properties: any commercially available CBD product should have from 0.0% to max 0.2% THC present - current European regs. In theory European rules state that any CBD product not conforming to the < 0.2% THC ruling could be taken off the commercial market unless it's use was backed by a doctor's prescription.

Hence, not generally commercially available to the general public. CBD in its pure form should have zero psychoactive properties for the majority of people.

Late edit: apologies for omitting this earlier, obviously both your wife and yourself are aware of the differences between CBD and THC, others may not be.

Gordon Barlow

No apologies needed, Bucks. You did well to explain it; I'd forgotten how little is known about the medication. The THC in my wife's dosage has had absolutely no deleterious effect on her mind or body; maybe the dosage is just too small.

Grenada, we actually don't know whether Linda's mixture is suppressing pain or not. All we know is she isn't getting any pain, 18 months after diagnosis, and after being told that the cancer was spreading to the nearby bone. She has been prescribed morphine tablets, and we are of course keeping them in emergency reserve if things get bad. But at that point we will likely use our Dignitas membership. We're both late 70s, after all.

I have no problems with recreational use. I am strongly against its illegality; too many young kids have their lives ruined by a prison record for consumption. I'm probably one of the very few of my friends who never used it as a young man; and I believe it's much safer than alcohol in all kinds of ways.

uk_grenada

Gordon, i guess like alcohol recreationally its safe for the vast majority but theres a clear correlation between cannabis use at at a young age and mental illness requiring hospitalisation. anecdotally i and friends know users who have acquired personality traits that appear lesser versions of the hospitalised few so its not at all trustwrthy / safe and its not well enough researched, but it like heroin has uses.

Gordon Barlow

The comparison with alcohol is very important; it strongly favours the weed, for the following reason. Drunks are (in my observation) much more likely to beat up their wives or girlfriends, because excessive alcohol makes a lot of drinkers aggressive. Stoners, not so much. "Hey, man, stay cool, you know?" As opposed to "You rotten bitch, get up so I can knock you down again!" I don't know how the vehicle-accident rate compares, but I'd be surprised if alcohol were the safer substance of the two.

As for mental-illness anecdotes - well, I don't have any. I don't know any stoners old or young, former or current, who have been hospitalised for any mental problems - or drunks, for that matter. I must have led a sheltered life!

uk_grenada

Gordon Barlow

Thanks for all that, Grenada. I won't argue with a forensic psychologist, but will point out that some people change their personalities under the influence of large quantities of alcohol too. Everything in moderation, I guess!

Gordon Barlow

In recent weeks I've spoken with two people who have found relief from pain by rubbing the oil on their skin - a kind of super Bengay, I guess. Does anybody here use the stuff in that way?

BuckinghamshireBoy

caretaker has just posted an interesting graphic in one of the Canadian sub-fora here.

anuny

Sorry to hear about your wife, Gordon. My understanding (that of a non-medical professional) is the medical benefits of medical marijuana is hotly contested. However, according to one doc who I know, and he's in the frontlines; its better to do MM than opiods for pain management.