Spread the Truth, Not Scare Tactics

Yesterday I suffered from a fibromyalgia flare, where suddenly I had lost all energy, felt like I was going to pass out, and my entire being screamed in agony. The only thing that helped was sleep. Because I’m down to a measly few pills, I have to mete them out carefully. I knew if yesterday was bad, there would be another day it would be worse. Remember, I’ve been suffering from this for well over 20 years. I know what to expect, unfortunately.

So I did without any pain relief. (And cried several times, although crying doesn’t make the situation any better, it just makes it worse.) So today I’m using that sadness and frustration and turning it into the proverbial “squeaky wheel.” Alas, I’m still testing positive for THC although it’s been several weeks I even used marijuana. This wouldn’t be an issue if medical marijuana was legal in Florida.

How can a plant be illegal? And furthermore, how can the drug test for marijuana be legal if it’s not accurate? Because it certainly isn’t. Even if you test positive today, it doesn’t mean you’ve used marijuana recently! Or even within the last several weeks!

It’s just not right, and making a chronic pain user pee in a cup in order to obtain medically-needed prescriptions is just downright wrong. Stop treating us like drug addicts and treat us like patients. That means TREAT us, don’t just dope us up on whatever the latest pharmaceutical company is pushing on you, to push on us.

Currently, my real frustration is with the politicians and wanna-be second-term governors or even president, that spout out untruths about marijuana and what would happen if marijuana was legalized for medical use. A recent Reuters poll shows that 88% of Floridians support legalization of medical marijuana while only 10% oppose it. Like Eric Shapiro asked, “Should the 10% dictate policy?” It seems like only the politicians have these extremely outdated views (for example, Jeb Bush recently used scare tactics in Florida, urging against medical marijuana because it would ruin tourism and businesses in Florida). Hmmmm. How’s that recreational pot working out in Colorado?

Six months after the legalization of marijuana, Colorado’s tax revenue skyrocketed as crime fell. In the first four months, marijuana sales were more than $202 million, about a third of them recreational. Taxes from recreational sales were almost $11 million.

That is $213 million dollars in the first four months! From a plant! That is natural! And costs nothing to grow! Tourism has gone up, crime has gone down, new businesses are open, and the sky has not fallen. Nor will it. And now Colorado has $213 million dollars it didn’t have before. Imagine the good that can do. And how about tourism?

Colorado store owners Chuck Reynolds and Lee Olesen said they had recorded visitors from all 50 states since opening in April. There regular customers? Senior citizens and veterans who didn’t sign up for medical marijuana cards for fear of losing their federal health benefits. … “I think it should be legal everywhere,” said Mike, a former National Transportation Safety Board employee.

There’s real incentives – proven incentives – to legalize and tax marijuana. Since the debate in Florida is for medical marijuana, I’ll continue to spread the truth about the benefits of a natural plant called, “cannabis,” a.k.a. “marijuana.” Let’s check out the following graphic. Therapeutic uses listed are for gliomas, alzheimers, fibromyalgia, dystonia, hepatitis C, diabetes, osteoporosis, MRSA, multiple sclerosis, ALS, chronic pain, tourette’s syndrome, HIV, hypertension, sleep apnea, GI disorders, incontinence, and rheumatoid arthritis. Our ancestors figured this out thousands of years ago. So why again is this plant illegal?

(by marijuanaedibles.)

This isn’t a comprehensive list of what all marijuana can treat, but I can personally attest that it DOES help with fibromyalgia, it DOES help with chronic pain, it DOES help with hypertension, and one that isn’t listed, it’s a natural sleep aid. Since I stopped using marijuana, I have suffered more pain, a fibromyalgia flare (that I hadn’t had in three months because of the combination of pain medication and marijuana), and I have terrible insomnia. I can no longer fall asleep soon after I go to bed. Sometimes it’s after 3:00 a.m. before I fall asleep. Do you know what that does to a person with fibromyalgia? It turns me into a walking zombie.

I’m not a drug addict. But I’m treated like one, and that’s just not fair. But that’s another post, and that one will be about hypocrisy at its worst.

Meanwhile, I want to thank everyone who has joined this blog, all of you that have commented, given me hope, and provided me facts about the medications I’m currently taking. And the comment from namenews, “Keep Rocking, Activist!” made my day. It’s people like you who keep me going.

It’s people like us that make change. So help me be the change. Help me be the squeaky wheel!