Thousands of people use marijuana for medical issues. One Seattle woman shares her story.
Author:
Greg Copeland
It's been almost 20 years since Washingtonians could legally light
up. It was 1998 voters approved the state's medical marijuana law
protecting patients and their prescribing doctors from prosecution, as
long as they followed a few strict rules.
Over the years those rules relaxed a bit as more doctors became more comfortable prescribing for more ailments where marijuana, or at least some of its ingredients, seemed to provide patients relief with fewer side-effects than pharmaceuticals.
But that success could now be the industry's undoing. The growing tolerance among more liberal states has popularized the recreational use of the drug. And just days after its legalization in California, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions could be ready to swat the states with the long arm of the federal law.
For recreational users, that could mean the party's over. For medical users, it could be painful.
"The cancer is harder. But the auto-immune is hard too, at the same time, because my skin sometimes burns because of the psoriasis," said Christine Gray.
Her colon cancer diagnosis came in 2016, along with chemo and radiation. That would be a hard enough diagnosis if she hadn't already been living in pain.
Five years ago she was told she had an auto-immune disease called psoriatic arthritis. Her psoriasis covers her body. The dry, itchy, irritated skin can feel like it's on fire at times. What's not visible is her inflamed joints.
"I feel it's worse at night. It keeps me awake," she said. "My knees hurt, my hips hurt. This last fall has been brutal."
Over the years she has learned she is allergic to Percocet, codeine, and most recently Dilaudid, all opioids. So she looked into cannabis for pain management.
"I was just desperate. I was in pain and I've heard people talk about it on Facebook and I decided to give it a try," said Gray.
She settled on CBD oil drops which subdue the psoriasis and a topical cream for her joints. It has not been a life changer, but it has made her day-to-day life more bearable.
As Gray hobbles across the living room floor with the aid of a walker, it's hard to believe she's just 47. She doesn't know how much time she has left before cancer claims her life - two maybe, three years. But she plans to live it to the fullest, and she doesn't know how she'd do that without cannabis.
Over the years those rules relaxed a bit as more doctors became more comfortable prescribing for more ailments where marijuana, or at least some of its ingredients, seemed to provide patients relief with fewer side-effects than pharmaceuticals.
But that success could now be the industry's undoing. The growing tolerance among more liberal states has popularized the recreational use of the drug. And just days after its legalization in California, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions could be ready to swat the states with the long arm of the federal law.
For recreational users, that could mean the party's over. For medical users, it could be painful.
"The cancer is harder. But the auto-immune is hard too, at the same time, because my skin sometimes burns because of the psoriasis," said Christine Gray.
Her colon cancer diagnosis came in 2016, along with chemo and radiation. That would be a hard enough diagnosis if she hadn't already been living in pain.
Five years ago she was told she had an auto-immune disease called psoriatic arthritis. Her psoriasis covers her body. The dry, itchy, irritated skin can feel like it's on fire at times. What's not visible is her inflamed joints.
"I feel it's worse at night. It keeps me awake," she said. "My knees hurt, my hips hurt. This last fall has been brutal."
Over the years she has learned she is allergic to Percocet, codeine, and most recently Dilaudid, all opioids. So she looked into cannabis for pain management.
"I was just desperate. I was in pain and I've heard people talk about it on Facebook and I decided to give it a try," said Gray.
She settled on CBD oil drops which subdue the psoriasis and a topical cream for her joints. It has not been a life changer, but it has made her day-to-day life more bearable.
As Gray hobbles across the living room floor with the aid of a walker, it's hard to believe she's just 47. She doesn't know how much time she has left before cancer claims her life - two maybe, three years. But she plans to live it to the fullest, and she doesn't know how she'd do that without cannabis.
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