{"id":11746,"date":"2020-11-27T16:06:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-27T16:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/?p=11746"},"modified":"2025-02-24T13:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T18:00:31","slug":"a-disability-advocates-perspective-on-medical-cannabis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/a-disability-advocates-perspective-on-medical-cannabis\/","title":{"rendered":"A Disability Advocate&#8217;s Perspective on Medical Cannabis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While reaching the tail end of 2020, people are looking for tools as we all try to adjust and cope with uncertainty, stress, and anxiety. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/the-pandemic-has-caused-a-surge-in-cannabis-use-for-mental-health\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cannabis industry has seen sales soar as people seek assistance with mental health<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But for some of us living with disability and chronic illness\u2014<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/finding-relief-for-invisible-illnesses-with-medical-cannabis\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">visible or invisible<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the naked eye\u2014we have been figuring it out as we go for years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of our commitments at Veriheal is to raise visibility and awareness of those who use medical cannabis for managing chronic illness and disability. For some, it makes a huge difference each and every day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disability and chronic illness are far from easy to live with. Many people know <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/minors-and-cannabis-why-some-children-need-cannabis\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the story of children like Charlotte Figi<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/epilepsy\/\">epilepsy<\/a> was treated with medical cannabis. As the cannabis movement progresses and the use of medical cannabis becomes more destigmatized, it seems as though epileptic patients and those with combat-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have become synonymous with the words medical marijuana patient. But we are nowhere near done on the journey towards the normalization of medical cannabis treatment. We are also still on the road towards tackling the stigmatization of disability and chronic illness. It\u2019s hard to understand something that you haven\u2019t lived with or you can\u2019t see physical manifestations of, but that doesn\u2019t mean it affects someone\u2019s life any less.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Chronic Disabilities\u00a0Commonly Treated with MMJ<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/neuropathy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nerve pain\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/parkinsons-disease\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/ptsd\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PTSD<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/epilepsy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Epilepsy<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/irritable-bowel-syndrome\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/crohns-disease\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crohn\u2019s disease\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/multiple-sclerosis\/\">Multiple Sclerosis<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/fibromyalgia\/\">Fibromyalgia<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What Options Are There When Traditional Methods Fail?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access to medical cannabis for those who truly need it can be an incredibly difficult struggle, especially if you\u2019ve already tried multiple treatments that don\u2019t work. One person can get stuck desperately looking for help, all while attending endless doctor appointments, ordering lab work, getting diagnoses that are off track, going through repeated failed attempts at treatment, and trying multiple prescriptions. For some living with chronic illness, this can go on for years or even decades at a time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Veriheal, our team is committed to pulling back the curtain and using our platform to raise visibility and awareness as well as eliminating the stigma of medical cannabis treatment for those living with chronic illnesses like multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, PTSD (combat or non-combat related), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/anxiety\/\">anxiety<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/cystic-fibrosis\/\">cystic fibrosis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/endometriosis\/\">endometriosis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/cancer\/\">cancer<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/chronic-pain\/\">chronic pain<\/a>, and more. The need has never been more salient than now when <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/welcoming-5-additional-states-to-the-legal-cannabis-arena\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cannabis legalization is making strides in more states<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To learn more about how patients suffering from chronic illness go about finding medical cannabis as an alternative treatment to improve their quality of life, we sat down with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/karolinakristina\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karolina Kristina<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a writer and chronic illness\/disability advocate living with <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crohn\u2019s disease<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. She is an ambassador for the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crohn\u2019s Colitis Foundation NE<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the author of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Self Care for <\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spoo<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nies<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Karolina uses medical cannabis to manage chronic pain and nausea related to her physical condition as well as for the management of anxiety, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/depression\/\">depression<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/obsessive-compulsive-disorder\/\">obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Video Transcript:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><b>Veriheal: How did you approach finding alternative treatments for your medical conditions?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Karolina: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was very lucky to be living in the state of Massachusetts. The first time I really got into [medical cannabis] was right after I was diagnosed with Crohn\u2019s disease for the second time in 2015. My number one symptom that I just can\u2019t get rid of is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/nausea\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nausea<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I\u2019ve tried every drug on the market\u2014through the IV, through injection, through everything since I was eight, and nothing ever worked for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I had a friend who was in the industry, and they very smartly reminded me, \u201cDon\u2019t you remember munchies from college?\u201d And I was like \u201cOh, yes.\u201d That was kind of how I started getting into it. After that, I got sicker with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/arthritis\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">arthritis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and was in even more pain and really needed to find different ways to manage the pain, because I wasn\u2019t going to get any form of pain medication. Living in Massachusetts, we&#8217;re sort of at the center of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/evolving-research-supports-medical-cannabis-treatment-for-opioid-dependence\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">opioid crisis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so I didn\u2019t want to play with that. I didn\u2019t want to take that chance, because I knew this was going to be an illness I was going to be dealing with for my entire life. This wasn\u2019t going to be a couple of months where I&#8217;m going to use this and then I&#8217;m going to feel better.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was looking for something that was sustainable for me, and that\u2019s how I expanded my understanding of cannabis and started moving more into a 1:1 [ratio of CBD to THC], <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/veriheals-complete-guide-to-cbd-heres-everything-you-need-to-know\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">looking into CBD<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/blog\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-thca-and-its-medicinal-benefits\/\">THCA<\/a>, and other cannabinoids and how those impact me. It\u2019s been five years now, so I have five years of experimenting. It was originally that nausea that had me turn to something else because I had looked forever for some form of relief and that was what really changed for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Veriheal: It\u2019s important to take time for ourselves. What recommendations do you have right now for self-care during COVID do you have?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Karolina: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think the biggest thing that I would recommend is meditation. It\u2019s completely changed my life. I also deal with mental as well as physical illness. It really has me reevaluating my place on this planet; it really helps me come back to the center and source energy, because like you said, right now is an exhausting time for multiple reasons. Whether it\u2019s the election or the rampant racism that is finally getting attention in this country. It\u2019s just important for people to take some time alone to center themselves, to reconnect with what their true values are and what is important to them. So meditation has definitely been the most important thing for me when it comes to self-care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Medical marijuana has also made a huge difference for me. I can\u2019t imagine my life without it honestly at this point&#8230;Any time with nature. Animals. My dog is the best thing that\u2019s ever happened to me. Every time that I start to get overwhelmed and just really depressed and down about everything, she kind of pulls me into the present and has me really focus on what\u2019s happening in the moment. Usually by excessively licking my face. So meditation, marijuana, and puppies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Veriheal: Do you have any medical cannabis-specific meditations that you do?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Karolina: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s definitely a meditative experience for me. Often, I&#8217;ll smoke before I do an hour-long meditation, which really helps me calm down and center and focus on the task at hand, which is to unwind and to re-center.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a time when you stop in your day, and you\u2019re connecting with a natural plant, an herb.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I almost always have my crystals on hand, and I clear the room whether with sage or palo santo. It is a very meditative experience for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And every single time I engage with medical cannabis, I am very aware of how much of a privilege it is to have access to this miracle plant that so many people have had their lives ruined over, because of unfair drug policies and the war on drugs. So I am always overwhelmed with gratitude when I take part in it. Whether it\u2019s the simple access that we have in our state, in Massachusetts, or the fact that I am privileged with my skin tone to be able to engage in it in a less stigmatized way and to now finally have legal access to it. So that\u2019s never lost on me when I\u2019m medicating&#8230;It\u2019s absolutely a meditative experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Veriheal: Have you pinpointed which strains, cannabinoids, or terpenes really help you?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Karolina: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s a great question. Nausea definitely and I believe that because I was on a form of chemotherapy for a couple of years, and I had a greater understanding then of what that class of medication can do in terms of symptoms. I think that\u2019s where cannabis is truly lifesaving in many ways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I love strains for appetite. Black Mamba always is good for me. Afghani Purps. I\u2019m always a real Indica fan because I do have such severe <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veriheal.com\/conditions\/anxiety\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">anxiety<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">depression<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OCD<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so I need something that\u2019s going to chill me out. Indicas are the main thing for me when it comes to fighting nausea&#8230;I love an indica leaning hybrid. That\u2019s where that Black Mamba comes in. It\u2019s also been again for pain management; Indica has just really truly has changed my life. I can\u2019t not get excited about cannabis when I talk about it, because it\u2019s had such a massive impact on my life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Veriheal: How has access to medical cannabis changed your life?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Karolina: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I always say for people who haven\u2019t really experienced medical cannabis before, it\u2019s the difference between me laying in bed all day feeling miserable in pain, nauseous, [and] depressed, because I\u2019m in this state. It\u2019s the difference between that\u2014and now we don\u2019t go places but\u2014going to a museum, or going to dinner with a friend or something. Those activities and things that made me happy I couldn&#8217;t engage in, because I was in so much pain, and to have access to that quality of life is just awesome. It\u2019s an immense privilege&#8230;it\u2019s been a very long, not awesome road but cannabis has changed that for sure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Veriheal: Are you able to speak to how cannabis helps you be more productive?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Karolina: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s where CBD really comes in, like a 1:1. Strains like Critique and Orange Tide and Clementine. Those all happen to be citrusy. Those are strains that are great for me for during the day. When I was in California for a mini-honeymoon, I was able to go to a couple of dispensaries there, and California is far more advanced than Massachusetts when it comes to cannabis. And I was able to try this transdermal patch that was really focused on <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">THCA, which is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that really for me just helped with pain and anxiety, and I had no high whatsoever&#8230;Unfortunately, I wasn\u2019t able to find too many products or really any products at all that are just focused on THCA so far in my area, but I\u2019ve figured out there was actually concentrate, rather wax and shatter, for dabbing that had very high THCA content in it and that has been my go-to for during the day if I need to mellow out and still want my brain to be there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Veriheal: One of our goals is to raise visibility for people who use medical cannabis and people who can say it improves their quality of life each and every day. A question that comes up a lot in our work is how to best talk to people in your life, whether it\u2019s loved ones, family, friends, or even employers, about medical cannabis use, because there\u2019s still a lot of misconceptions and stigma towards it.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Karolina:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> That&#8217;s where I kind of view my privilege as a tool because if I\u2019m out there talking about smoking weed, I&#8217;m the face of being a stoner. This is what weed consumption looks like. I\u2019m going to force it on everyone. I\u2019m going to break the stigma as much as I can because I have that ability to&#8230;And that\u2019s where I think you just have to approach it and approach people with it as medicine&#8230;It\u2019s a medication. It saves people\u2019s lives. I think people who don\u2019t support medical cannabis are unbelievably privileged because they clearly haven\u2019t been put in the position where they are so desperate to feel better. They will do anything to feel better. People who don\u2019t believe in cannabis, lucky you. But also, your loss, because weed is fun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I would love to just wake up and not have this OCD, depression, pain. I don\u2019t have that option. How nice for you that you can take ibuprofen and feel better. I\u2019m happy for you, but that\u2019s not what\u2019s happening in my life. You go on chemotherapy, and you tell me that you don\u2019t need to smoke weed. You have to walk a mile in those shoes first.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We see the tides changing and stigmatization going away with the legalization of recreational and medical marijuana in more states following the 2020 election. Everyone deserves access to medical cannabis. No one should have to be stuck in an endless cycle of failed attempts to better live their lives or continually walk into closed doors because of unmanageable pain, anxiety, and fatigue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While reaching the tail end of 2020, people are looking for tools as we all try to adjust and cope with uncertainty, stress, and anxiety. The cannabis industry has seen sales soar as people seek assistance with mental health. But for some of us living with disability and chronic illness\u2014visible or invisible to the naked&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":11903,"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[5875,5876,4182,5877,5878],"class_list":["post-11746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-chronic-illness","tag-disability","tag-invisible-illness","tag-karolina-kristina","tag-self-care-for-spoonies"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v26.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cannabis Central<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Disability advocate and author Karolina Kristina helps us learn about invisible illnesses and explore how sufferers can improve their 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