I’m a lover of cannabis, but it wasn’t always that way. I grew up being told that cannabis fried my brain like an egg in a skillet. I thought it destroyed lives and divided families, and anyone who smoked cannabis was to be considered a hoodlum and a loser. I avoided trying cannabis all the way through high school and into my early 20s. It was only until smoking cannabis was suggested by my mom that I ever consider it.
From birth, I have suffered from an autoimmune disease that causes periodical high fevers, as high as 106.5ºF. I’m in my early 30s, and I’ve had over 150 fevers. All my episodes lined up would be over two years of my life. Throughout my life, I have been to every type of doctor and specialist I could find. I’ve been prescribed a dozen different painkillers and narcotics. I’ve been prescribed everything from a pint of liquid Vicodin (hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen) to Dilaudid (hydromorphone hydrochloride) aka “drugstore heroin.” I hated the way pain medication affected my body, leaving me feeling no better than before I took them while simultaneously giving me side effects. Most of them didn’t even work.
I had found minor relief from herbal remedies and other forms of natural healing but when, and episode hit almost nothing could stop the pain. I felt fatigue and body ache as if I had spent the weekend playing full-contact pick up football, followed by losing a bar fight. My headaches felt like a lightning storm in my brain. I was willing to try anything to relieve my pain. So when I was 23 I finally tried cannabis for the first time.
It was after work. I shut down the gym I owned at the time. I crafted a smoking apparatus out of a Gatorade bottle and tinfoil. I was so nervous smoking for the first time. I was shaking more than when I lost my virginity, but I was determined because I had a headache that felt like my head was at 100 PSI. I took three or four hits and went back into my office. What happened in the next 5-10 minutes was life changing. It felt like an air valve in my head was slowly being released. Released to the point I had no more pain. From that moment, I was able the get rid of the medication that shut down my nervous system, gave me withdrawals and closely got me addicted.
Almost immediately I fell in love with cannabis. I studied the different strains and started a collection of strains that remedied specific symptoms. When I was really sick, it hurt to smoke, so I started using a vaporizer. Then I began experimenting with making edibles and tinctures. Cannabis is incredibly versatile. It has nuances much like wine. I often speak of cannabis like most wine connoisseur speak of wine.
A little over a month ago I was introduced to Michael Mayes and his company, Quantum 9. He explained to me his grow-room consulting business and how they help medical dispensaries grow and run better businesses. Learning how to grow and run a dispensary was the next aspect of cannabis that I wanted to explore. So I naturally had to be a part of his company. I’m excited to learn from the Quantum 9 staff and our head consultant, Ed Rosenthal.
Over the weeks I will be learning nuances of the cannabis industry, history, grow techniques, laws and politics. Not to mention learning about the plant itself. Cannabis is complex and one of the most useful plants in the world. I’m excited to learn, but more than that, I’m excited to share with you what I learn and discover about this amazing plant that changed my life and is changing our culture.
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I took just 1 pot cookie. They seem to have changed my life forever. I feel a sense of patience when others walk slow now, I understand that I was on hyper drive rushing from point A to point B. I felt like a near death experience, I even told one of my friends on the phone if he could come that would be great because I “feel like I’m gonna die”. I felt like that dizzy feeling like after you drink lots of alcohol. But instead of throwing up and going to sleep and feeling somewhat better in the morning.. I threw up didn’t feel the energy to move so I vomited on the ground…
This was EDIBLE cannabis, as an a lightweight 120 pound guy I had 1 cookie that hit my hard.
I feel more patient when I see others are slow. I feel more appreciation for each moment.For each life. I feel more appreciation for my friend who was there for me on my “dying moment”