Cannabis, the cure all?

elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P · Apr 20, 2015

That being said, my Dad has MS and was addicted to (wrongly prescribed) opiates for 20 years. I feel if he could have smoked a doob or 2 daily he would have been a lot better today.

but dont you know ? smoking weed is a gateway to heavier drugs, risky behavior, and unplanned pregnancies! :roflmao:

Farawyn · Apr 20, 2015

but dont you know ? smoking weed is a gateway to heavier drugs, risky behavior, and unplanned pregnancies!

When you are a 72 year old wheelchair bound male that is highly unlikely. :sarcastic:

klone, MSN, RN · Apr 20, 2015

Um, I'm pretty sure this post by Emergent is tongue in cheek, which leads me to ask, what have yawl been smoking?

Yeah, I got that the OP was being tongue in cheek. But if there wasn't a bit of having the opinion expressed in the post, I have to wonder what was the point of it?

klone, MSN, RN · Apr 20, 2015

After giving 150% of myself for 3 13-hour shifts a week, a toke or two after a long day/week - with the knowledge that I wouldn't be working again for another day or so - truly helped me to just let go.

Are you not concerned about drug testing?

Farawyn · Apr 20, 2015

Yeah, I got that the OP was being tongue in cheek. But if there wasn't a bit of having the opinion expressed in the post, I have to wonder what was the point of it?

Sorry, klone, that wasn't directed towards you, actually.

Guest219794 · Apr 20, 2015

I don't think any rational being believes it ever will cure everything. I would even wager that some pro-cannabis legalization groups are abusing untrustworthy statistics and research to bolster their case. That said, one thing it surely helped me to resolve was the anxiety that followed me home from work. After giving 150% of myself for 3 13-hour shifts a week, a toke or two after a long day/week - with the knowledge that I wouldn't be working again for another day or so - truly helped me to just let go. I do believe I have excelled as a nurse also, although I do sort of still hate this job. Anyway N=1 is not reliable way to make a credible point, but that's my $0.02.

I think smoking weed has degraded your ability to do math.

You can't give 150% of yourself.

Emergent, RN · Apr 20, 2015

The reason for my thread is that, I was just reading on Facebook, once again, all the things cannabis cures. I couldn't help myself but to start a thread at my favorite website!

RNin10 · Apr 20, 2015

I am absolutely against smoking pot to cure everything, but I have been researching CBD oil and if all the claims are true then the whole debate about legalization and blah blah blah could be put to rest.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Apr 20, 2015

No, cod liver oil cures everything.

Seriously, I have no problem with marijuana being legalized for recreation use, but I have serious doubts about medical marijuana. There has been too much woo and not enough science. This blog post provides a solid science-based argument against medical marijuana.

As is the case with so much herbalismâ€”and, make no mistake, medical marijuana is the new, popular herbalism of the momentâ€”claims have far outstripped the evidence. Also, as pointed out in the NYT article, even advocates of medical marijuana admit that the state laws legalizing it did not result from careful reviews of the medical literature.â€
That's the understatement of the year! Reading advocate websites for medical marijuana, I ask myself if there's any disease or condition the holy weed isn't good for? Truly, we are talking belief over science!
Unfortunately, even famous doctors like Sanjay Gupta are getting in on the act with a report, Cannabis Madness,â€ full of a lot of anecdotes and rhetoric about policy against patients.â€ Again, I believe that marijuana should be legalized, regulated, and taxed, just like alcohol and tobacco. If marijuana is going to be approved for use as medicine rather than for recreational use, however, the standards of evidence it must meet should be no different than any other drug, and for the vast majority of indications for which it's touted medical cannabis doesn't even come close to meeting that standard.

tokmom, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2015

Well...my husband drove off the road while coming home from work when he suddenly had a gran mal seizure. That was 10 years and over 6 seizure meds ago, with no relief. My husband can suffer with either gran mal or atypical seizures that our neuro cannot readily identify and treat.

Fast forward to a local news special that mentioned CBD oil. I asked one of my non-mainstream college kids where I could find this stuff and she produced a bottle within a few days and said to take a dropper a day. It didn't work the first month so we went to two droppers a day the following month. I held my breath, but sure enough, we saw some relief. For the first time in years, we started to think we had a handle on the episodes. My husband said his head felt clearer and he felt more focused.

The neuro couldn't explain the difference in the EEG pattern. He still isn't convinced the CBD is working, but the other 4 meds that husband is on were not working. In fact we were about to taper off one and start another.

Is CBD perfect? No, of course not. My husband still has seizures, about 2-3 months apart, but the severity is greatly lessened. It's far better than the 1-2 times a month when he would go into status.

He now has a green card, so we have a more controlled source of CBD.

VANurse2010 · Apr 20, 2015

I don't know, why don't you ask all of the patients it has helped? It's amazing nurses can still be this ignorant.

I didn't get this from the OP at all. If you read some of the pro-MJ propaganda, you'd think it was the cure for every ailment known to man (which even its proponents should recognize as ridiculous). I think that's all that was meant.

noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP · Apr 20, 2015

Weed brownies made with coconut oil is my rec.