Why do you use cannabis?

[Diggy Smalls]

So even buying a vape im a hypocrite.

There are several vapes made by community members right here on the forums. A middle man would not be benefitting from the purchase, just the person who made your vape. Others might be a bigger operation than one man, but still small and GOOD companies. You should not be feeling guilty about your vape purchases.

For me, I went with Firewood, Vapcap, Heat Island, and Underdog.

 

[seaofgreens]

Hey @rodders83

If you are without resources to do it on your own, and yet are serious about finding said ludite lifestyle, why not try and start finding it here: http://wwoof.net/

I've heard that it isn't so uncommon as well to get involved, and end up partnering with an old rancher or farmer that has no children to pass on the land/farm/ranch to, so if you were helping them and learning how the operation works, if the fit was right for both parties, it is an excellent way to "inherit," your dream. Just a thought.

Then again, many people have idealistic visions of desiring said lifestyle, only to live it for a time and find it really isn't right for them after all. Which is also ok, and also worth discovering.

As far as why I use cannabis?

It is a balm against the world... against the noise and the fury, its like that burbling stream, peacefully meandering beside my life, murmuring that everything is going to be alright. It also opens my eyes, makes me question instead of accept, and challenges me to live, instead of simply exist. I feel like discovering marijuana is kind of like finding a pair of sunglasses that lets you see the world has been taken over by aliens, just like in that one movie, "They Live."

 

[sanfranciscosadhu]

I've been using cannabis for over 45 years now. Wow I can't even believe I'm writing this! Yet I'm still young at heart and even body and cannabis is an important component in this.
I like to pair cannabis with my yoga practice and the two are very intertwined. I feel like it's easier to let go, stretch leisurely and open up when I vape modestly. Back in the day I used to smoke myself into oblivion, that doesn't rock my boat anymore. I like to use cannabis rather than being overwhelmed by it.
I teach yoga classes and am always making new and interesting playlists. I spend a lot of time doing this and cannabis is a helpful enhancer.
Finally, as mentioned before, it does enhance sexual play and helps me to slow down and not be so goal oriented.

 

[rodders83]

@Diggy Smalls At least giving them money moves the industry forward and kills more tobacco sales. I dislike S&B but im glad Sebastien of Herborizer can keep doing his thing along with these others makers. I just dislike it when they have no other choice. If they chose to make vapes fine! I have nothing against people doing capitalism in a bubble of which i delve into now and again. But i feel some men like me need to live outside of that not inside it.

@seaofgreens I think that site of more for people fit and able though, Someone who just survives the day and needs MJ would not be able to help them out much it compared to dedicated volunteer labourers. I do not think farming is for me either not field farming there is no future in that. In my opinion overcrowding means most farming will be done on concrete in baskets and buckets in residential places or just outside. Thats the kind of farming i would do cheap and easy. Leave the real veg to those guys the only solution i thought of was to seek a donor/sponsor who sees the potential for the enviroment or start saving quick. But when they take all the inital outlay on the food because you begin landless it becomes a trap. It aint as if you can starve and save for a few years

Also by overcrowding this probably only would apply to Europeans like the UK for example 40m acres of farming land and a population heading to 70m. It will probably settle around 80m so people better start getting used to living off 1/2 acre. America well, The great plains alone is 400m acres and America has something like 310m? Really America should be a nation of 400 million self sufficent farmers at least! Where the hell did all the land go!?

 

[skaav]

Helps me keep a handle on my depression in a way AD's never could, even with their horrible Side Effects.

If i don't use, i just cant stop worrying/thinking about stuff, too much noise to stay concentrated and somewhat functional. Before using regularly, I couldnt hold a job because after some time, I would just have to call in sick for weeks because i was having another Epsiode, same for University, nowadays I work a very demanding part time job, study full time and dont even feel to stressed out about that most of the time

I would get these insane stomach cramps and backpains (psychosomatic) when i was having bad episodes with little to no sleep and lots of suicide thoughts, all of these symptoms are GONE when smoking, and not just for an hour, they STAY gone.

Other Stuff still gets to me though, and especially Winters are hard, but Spring is just around the corner and I managed to get through the Winter without any major bumps, just the usual fucked up schedule but that par for the course haha.

Now, Weed is defo no cure for Depressions, but its the best remedy i could find, and also I enjoy being high xD

P.S. Its weird how indicas seem to help much better with depression, at leaast for me, one would think that the high of sativas is better for that, but maybe its about the full body experience indicas offer, since a lot of my problems came from the psychosomatic symptoms, the "mind" part nowadays is a lot easier to handle.

 

[dgmulf]

goal oriented

LOL. Yeah, that's not exactly a descriptor I'd want to use for my sex.


@skaav, I'm happy to hear you've gotten such a handle on your depression. Sounds like cannabis was a godsend for you.


Sorry if my last post came off sounding kind of condescending or something. It was poorly worded. I was trying to say, you all should have more faith in the strength of the human spirit. People can find happiness in the most trying circumstances -- even in extreme poverty and hunger under draconian regimes like North Korea. If you lost the luxury of being able to use cannabis, yeah it would suck, but you would learn to carry on.

TL;DR Weed makes life more awesome... not less shitty!

 

[seaofgreens]

@rodders83

Field farming has no future? Well, I sure hope that nightmare never comes true. Even if all the food could be grown inside, sterile, fed a nutrient sludge and nestled in some inert medium for the roots... All that would do imo is create vast industries polluting the environment to create the coco fiber or hydroton, the supplemental lighting, the nutrient solutions, the electricity to power fans, pumps, heating, cooling, etc.

Above all, it would fundamentally separate us from nature. Part of, and one of the most important reasons you can't claim hydroponic is organic at the moment is because a large part of being organic is being a steward of the land; that you are enriching the organism known as Earth, as you take what you need.

This will probably change in the future due to a misconception that simply providing an OMRI approved nutrient sludge is all that should be required, but the idea now is more than just sentiment, and there is a reason we should fight to stay tethered to the Earth. I don't know what dystopian future puts a concrete foundation over the worlds farmlands, but it's not one I'd care to envision.

As well, neighborhood/rooftop veggies, while nice, will never provide a large % of needed crops to sustain an even larger population than we have now. More access to seasonally fresh veggies? Yes. Large staple production (grain, rice, soy, corn etc.) for the long haul? Pasture land for animals?

No.

There really is something profound in but a handful of dirt... of which you are part of its story, as it is a part of you. Never forget!

 

[dgmulf]

I don't know what dystopian future puts a concrete foundation over the worlds farmlands, but it's not one I'd care to envision.

I'd like to think farmers enjoy the fresh air too much to let that happen.

My grandma used to have a little artwork framed on her wall which read, "Gardening tills the soul."

 

[Krazy]

Moved around a LOT as a kid. Spent about 2 years living on a hobby farm in N IL. It was the remains of an old timee farm with all the out buildings and barns; 150 acres and 1-2 still tillable. We farmed the tillable simply because it came with an old working tractor when me moved in. Farming is a &^%$ load of hard work, lol. Especially small scale and chemical free.

The thing that boggles my mind as far as medicinal applications goes is the idea that patients can't and shouldn't be trusted to self monitor, self administer, and self RX the appropriate strain. My primary care doc at the VA has a case load over 1,000 patients. The different applications available by trying different strains is amazing. And not something an "I am god" doctor can check in a reference manual.

At the local VA they have a "drug interaction information window" directly across form the pharmacy. I chatted up some of the people there. While they do in fact provide drug interaction info a large part of their mission statement is to warn guys of the dangers of the devils weed. No joke.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/co-occurring/marijuana_use_ptsd_veterans.asp

"Marijuana use for medical conditions is an issue of growing concern...

there is no evidence at this time that marijuana is an effective treatment for PTSD. In fact, research suggests that marijuana can be harmful to individuals with PTSD...

Marijuana use is associated with medical and psychiatric problems."

 

[Hwy420]

Someone who is not me used cannabis to treat alcohol addiction. It has helped.

 

[C No Ego]

I inhaled cannabis smoke slip streams as a teenager... I then stopped and became a prick about it and thought bad of others etc.... I then tried it like 15 years later and cried from the medical relief! my feet were feeling very F- ing good after smoking a joint for the first time in 15 years... I experienced a fall that left my heels broken and hurting and I work carpentry whenever I can like a mad man.. Give me more of that healing herb! LOL. east coast too, so I've examined quite a few aspects of accepted reality, illegal cannabis etc, only to be more confused than when I started...

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

I want to thank everyone for sharing, and @dgmulf for creating this thread!

The easy answer is that I use cannabis for pain relief. I use it to avoid a lifetime of opiate addiction and surgery because of chronic pain.

But it's so much more than that too. I can't even begin to describe the ways it's made my life better. In the past I've felt guilty about it, especially before I became legal a few years ago. I quit a few times out of guilt when I was an illicit user, shit, I quit several times after I became legal. Every time my pain returned quickly, as well as other problems. Even now that I'm legal I feel guilty sometimes, even though I know it does nothing but improve my quality of life.

The last time I was going to quit I decided instead to quit burning my sacred herb and start vaporizing it. Ever since then it's been nothing but positives. Fuck feeling guilty, and fuck combustion!

 

[CarolKing]

I feel like @Vapor_Eyes says about the good herb but when I feel that it can be taken away that easy by the whim of a president. With legal cannabis struggling to be thought of as live and let live depending on where you live. I felt so confident just a week ago. Now I'm feeling worried about legal and wondering if our medical cannabis could be messed with as well.

I remember back in the 1980s and 1990s where I would feel that even calling my black market friend to get my cannabis was a risk. What if his phone was tapped? My friend was always careful but he did get busted once and someone stole all of his product at one point.

For months after him getting busted I was worried every time I would order from him. I would be looking in my rearview mirror making sure I wasn't being followed on way way to his house. It was an anxiety filled experience. I never did get over the fact that he had been busted. He did lay low for a month or so but he always took care of me.

I remember having dreams that I would get busted. Or I would have a dream that I would keep calling my BM friend and the phone would keep ringing and he wouldn't answer.

I hope our legal cannabis will be left alone. We have a lot at stake and we aren't getting any answers.
I worry because the west coast didn't vote for Trump maybe he will try to get even? My brother said that early on to me. He's so damn vindictive. What about the stupidity of putting folks in jail for growing a plant? I hope we aren't put back in time by about 30 years. "The just say no era". This is probably for the activism thread for cannabis. Sorry I got carried away. One of the most freeing experiences I've had in my life was buying at the medical dispensary for the first time.

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

@CarolKing: I agree, recent political events have me a little nervous. At least it seems to be focused on recreational for now, but that is still inexcusable. The people have spoken and voted, and their will should stand, whether the administration likes it or not. This is a democracy after all.

As crazy as it sounds I think cannabis rights might be the crucial issue for this administration. Trump is between a rock and a hard place. He needs to support state's rights to appease his party, while legalization is largely seen as a liberal/Democratic cause. If he goes against the will of the people on this there might be a huge backlash.

I find it somewhat ironic that states might be suing the Trump administration if he goes after their legal recreational cannabis infrastructure. It used to be political suicide to support cannabis use but the opposite may now be true. If cannabis can help the political landscape in the United States right now it will be one more miracle the plant is capable of.

 

[ander]

I am depressed and so I use cannabis, or am I addicted to cannabis and without it I'm depressed? This was the problem... before fucking combustion (and that demon called tobacco...)! Now I simply enjoy and LOVE it. All the other possible benefits are welcome. And I consider the use a right, and I'm not alone... right?!

 

[Squiby]

Sweet Mary Jane has been in my life in one way or another, my whole life.

As a child, sick with a cold or flu, my grandmother would serve me tea made from the plants they grew on their prairie farm. It was a medicine, a wind break between the crops, a soil stabalizer and its deep roots protected the land from errosion. As far as I know, they did not use it for recreational purposes. It was a working plant.

As a young adult, age 18 to maybe 30, I smoked for recreational purposes. Party hardy. My husband and I took a page from my grandparents and grew plants in a halogen fitted cellar from seeds separated from finger bags of leaf, flower and stems. This freed us from relying on the underground market. Alcohol did not agree with me and I stuck to smoking joints exclusively.

From then on until retirement, I only indulged on weekends at parties. The harsh smoke always irritated my lungs and limited my indulgence. There was always a price to pay the next morning, for taking a toke, coughing and hacking.

But sweet retirement and sweet Mary Jane merged into a beautiful thing. I discovered vaporizing and the sore throats and chest congestion are a thing of the past. I discovered that a microdose can provide a more satisfying and productive high than the joints from my younger years. I discovered that a nice siatica can carry me through the day, giving me the energy I need to get things done. I discovered that it is a true medicine and has got me through some really tough, physically challenging times, when my health was compromised. I discovered that I never want to be without sweet Mary Jane. She will be in my life always.

That's why I use cannabis. Plus, I really really love being high.

 

[throwawaytre3s]

I have seizures of some kind in my sleep, causing me to wake up feeling horrible, usually like I've just been rowing for the past 6-8 hours. Cannabis use for me began recreational, but it's become a hybrid of recreational and medical for me at this point. It's the only thing I've found that really helps the muscle pain go away in the morning, and it let's me get into my day feeling good. Once mid day comes around and I come down, the muscle pain has pretty much subsided for the day until I go to bed again.