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How do you feel about marijuana?

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Retired Community Manager

How do you feel about marijuana?

Would you use it to relieve pain or for other medical issues? Would you use it recreationally? Have you used it? If so, what has your experience been--did it help with your issue? 

 

Find out all about medical marijuana here:

https://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-2019/basics-on-medical-marijuana.html

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Periodic Contributor

 

 

 

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Honored Social Butterfly

The article is very interesting. I didn't know that there were so many types or strains of marijuana being developed for medicinal purposes, and that the strengths varied so greatly from product to product. So without some medical guidance, it would be difficult to know what product might be right for a particular condition. At least, that's the way I understood it.

 

I am okay with legalizing and regulating it. But it seems the FDA is needing more research to understand exactly how to regulate it or give guidance to physicians on usage / dosage, etc. I suspect if the research doors were opened, there would be any number of voluteers!

 

As for recreational purposes, I think it's fine for those who want to use it. I assume that states that have legalized it have some legal definition for what qualifies as recreational strength marijuana. I think that would be necessary.

 

I never used it, but knew people who did. That was back in the 70's. It was used openly on campus, and no one complained or really paid any attention. 

 

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix
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Newbie

I have observed how much it can help as a pain helper on a friend who has had cancer multi-times.  I have also oberserved how it helped with hypertension and panic attacks in another friend of mine.   

 

I approve of the legalization of marijuana with legal guidelines..  

 

 

 

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Contributor

It's very useful. It's finally legalized here in CA!! At 80 it's the easy way to smoke a bit in the evening with high CBD content for my arthritis, get the happy THC edge to relax and sleep well. Way better than pharmaceuticals. Doesn't take much, not addictive, natural. 

     Smoked it for most of 60 years with 5 or 10 years off here and there. Good social grease, too, making it easy to be truthful and loving. The bad part is all the lives that were wrecked by legal interactions and the creation of wrong information instead of education.

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Newbie

Here in Massachusetts it’s been declared to be legal to possess marijuana for individuals to use. 

 It was voted in a couple of years of years ago with retail ‘pot shops’ opening within the last year or so.

  Initial fears aside (along with all of the doom and gloom that never came to fruition) the process has been relatively uneventful. 

   Although I suppose that all the numbers haven't been taken into account yet, from a dollars and cents point of view it’s been a good thing. 

   Citizens of Massachusetts over the age of 18 can use (and purchase) marijuana without fear of legal  consequences. It also carries a 20% tax on retail purchases (but anyone with a ‘medical marijuana’ card can purchase the product with no applicable taxes. 

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Contributor

I want to buy some right away. I' ve been a smoker since I was 17. Only now since I moved into suburbia into a neighborhood where I don't know anyone, I have no source.

  I am applying for medical marijuana at a doctor's appointment later this month.

 

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Contributor

What I never hear discussed are the social benefits of smoking marijuana within the family. I have had deep and meaningful and fun conversations with my kids, now that we get high together, that I never had when I was “straight.”

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Newbie

I am all for medical marijuana no one should be in pain and if marijuana solve that problem I say go for it.

But, smoking marijuana with your children so that you can have a deep conversation with your children I can't go for that. IMO Just saying.

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Newbie

Better than alcohol

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Periodic Contributor

It can still damage your lungs. The lungs are not made for any kind of smoke. Will eventually damage the lungs.

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Newbie

I love it, have been smoking it for close to 50 years. In the beginning when young I will admit it was to experience the high, now I use it for pain relief.

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Contributor

Jury is still out for me. My thoughts:

  -Didn’t we just spend millions proving smoking was deleterious to our health?

  -It is my understanding that current marijuana products are vastly more potent that what I tried in college.

  -Do we need yet another widely accepted intoxicant on our highways.

  -In my brief exposure to marijuana, I found that it greatly enhanced my appetite. Upon having increased use 

of marijuana it appears to me that we will have increased obesity. Do we really need this additional burden on our health system?

 

 

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Contributor

Smoking is not the only route. Medical marijuana is thoughtfully cultivated for specific purposes. Ergo, the strain Charlotte's Web for intractable seizures. Please take time to educate yourself before responding. It sounds like your perspective is based on recreational experiences in 1976.

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Contributor

Better than alcohol . Relieves pain and reduces anxiety. Helps with insomnea.

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Periodic Contributor

I'm 74 years old and have never used it.  Would like to have the opportunity to see if it is beneficial for pain relief and also as a sleep aid.  I live in a state where it isn't legal at all.  But when Illinois gets up and running in January 2020 I might drive the short distance and give it a try.

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Periodic Contributor

Why do you act like such a frenzied child about Marijuhana ? It isn't a secret neuropoison invented by the communists in the 50's. It is an ancient plant used for thousands of years by humanity. Stop listening to the govrenment and its lies about "The assassin of youth".

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Newbie

My dad is 84, full of all sorts of pains, and he wouldbe willing to try it if it was legal.  He's just afraid of getting arrested.  LA Held

Lee Ann Held
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Regular Social Butterfly

Great topic, @VickiM68 !

 

As a flower child, I was one who did not actively use mj; first experience, in a car load of friends, brought on my first migraine, so never again (although hubby and friends enjoyed).

 

I have recently investigated arthritis relief but most advise not beneficial for the cost involved.

 

My thought is if legal it's okay. I regret it took so long to be legal as it seems to be another industry like alchohol or tobacco, so best to regulate (ensure safety).

 

Now, on the other side of the story, pharmaceutical companies have been using and abusing consumers for decades (e.g., pain med for arthritis would cost me $100s / month, if I were willing to go that route) but until recently, that hasn't been questioned.

 

I believe the mj question should be relegated to the sidelines while the pharma issue needs to be escalated and addressed.

 

#VegasStrong

 


#VegasStrong
Phil Harris, actor and showman, to John Fogerty of CCR: “If I’d known I’d live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.”
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Contributor

Discussing marijuana should not be sidelined at all for any reason. If you are experiencing physical and/or emotional pain and you are age 50 plus, you need not continue suffering. I speak from experience (not at all theoretically) and I have answers for people (like me) who are age 50 plus.

There is no purchase necessary, no cost, and no obligation if you simply watch a YouTube video I wrote and produced to cover best practices for people age 50 plus who want to mitigate their physical and emotional pain using legal cannabis products.

 

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Newbie

As a tail-end boomer (1950) I didn't discover maijuana until right before my 21st birthday.  I'd already been drinking-discoverd hangovers SUCK really big time-so was pleased with the THC high.  I've experimented with just about everything; no heroin-friend said it was worse than tobacco-which already made me turn green and throw up both times I tried it at age 6 and age 20. 

 

I've been patiently waiting for more than 50 years for pot to become legal.  Had figured that, when polititians discoved how much tax money they could get for their shoeboxes (I've been in Chicagoland over 20 years), that it would be legalized.  Illinois joins the 21st centuring Jan 1, 2020!!!  I am sure the politians are ecstatic. 

 

I use marijuana to control the symptoms/side effects of rheumatoid arthritits, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, along with glaucoma. More research needs to be done to see what all that TCH and CBDs cam do.  I've traveled out of state to purchase what I can and am looking forward to being able to do it legally.  It generally keeps the pain away, or I just don't care :).  However, if it costs more than what I can get off the street, I'll still have to buy it that way. 

 

One cannot legislate morality and I laugh every time some fool government official thinks it's possible.

 

I also don't think that young adults (i.e. teenagers) should use it.  By personally observing my 15 and 16 year old stepsons getting high, I discovered that it made them act and behave like they were 9 or 10 years old with one or two puffs from stuff from the late 70's; I would hate to see how they would have done with today's stuff. 

 

However, if you are old enough to serve in the military (18yo) you should be able to vote, buy liquor and pot and own a personal firearm; but otherwise, no way. 

 

Keep on Thinking Free!

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Newbie

I agree with the actor to John Fogerty, "If I'd known I'd live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself". That is so true!
Lee Ann Held
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Gold Conversationalist

WebWiseWoman,

What treatment are you using for arthritis?  Is it helping?

Does the desert climate make your symptoms less painful?

 


@WebWiseWoman wrote:

Great topic, @VickiM68 !

 

As a flower child, I was one who did not actively use mj; first experience, in a car load of friends, brought on my first migraine, so never again (although hubby and friends enjoyed).

 

I have recently investigated arthritis relief but most advise not beneficial for the cost involved.

 

My thought is if legal it's okay. I regret it took so long to be legal as it seems to be another industry like alchohol or tobacco, so best to regulate (ensure safety).

 

Now, on the other side of the story, pharmaceutical companies have been using and abusing consumers for decades (e.g., pain med for arthritis would cost me $100s / month, if I were willing to go that route) but until recently, that hasn't been questioned.

 

I believe the mj question should be relegated to the sidelines while the pharma issue needs to be escalated and addressed.

 

#VegasStrong

 


 

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Newbie

I find it ironic that marijuana is a Class 1 drug, the same catagory as heroin, and LSD.  Class 1 is defined as:

  • The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
  • The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical treatment use in the U.S.
  • It has a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.
  • Other countries, such as Isreal, have been testing it for years.  It's not physically addictive and it has been proven the good effects of marijuana.  Cigarettes and alcohol are legal and they are addictive, and they have proven without a doubt, that cigarettes cause cancer.  Yet not a Class 1 drug.  That's thanks to thje lobbyists who control the government.  Vaping, on the other hand, is killing people yet it is legal?  Go figure.  We went to Belgium and they had "coffee bars" which sells pot and the best  cocoa I've ever had,  People would stop in, have a coffee and a little weed, and then go about theirday.  No crazy people, no wild frenzies, just people getting through the day.  I smoke a little because I have 2 diseases that cause cronic pain.  I swear I now take less Oxy and smoke a little bit here and there.  It works.  At least we should have testing legal in U.S.  As usual we are falling behind other countries on this advancement.  Plus the states are coming along.  I think there's 13 states where it's legal and 4 more are on the ballot.  It's not the evil weed your parents used to be shown in the movies.  Wake up and get with the times.  Look how great Colorado is doing.  Just flying under the radar and raking the money in.  What a great example for balancing budgets.  We need to pass legislation that allows people to use credit cards to make a marijuana purchase.  LA Held
Lee Ann Held
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