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Monday, November 29, 2010

A Personal Journal Entry.

Yes, you read that correctly. I pulled this entry directly from my personal journal, because I thought it was worth sharing. I don't write all that often anymore, but I was feeling the need to pick up a pen. Notations added in parenthesis.

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11/28/10

A lot on my mind today. It is Mike's 29th birthday, or it would have been. In just about a week, it will mark one year since I said my final goodbye to him. Thankfully, my last memory of him was that smiling face. Though I feel like we all got cheated, losing him so young. I'm missing my grandmother quite a bit too. December always makes me a little more blue than usual. It was her favorite holiday...more later....

I JUST HAD THE BEST STONER REVELATION. EVER.
I'm high - listenin' to Christmas Songs while I should be folding laundry. I just got back from the craft store. Bought some decor for an upcoming holiday party at Alex and Adri's. I just realized how amazing, if not hectic (as usual), December is looking this year. Why? It is like it was when Maw Maw(my grandmother, who passed 10 years ago)was here. FESTIVE. I was buying stuff to make some decorative drink favors and some decorations for the party, and now I am high as a fuckin' kite - and it hits me! Sometimes, I feel like the person I have become would disappoint her. I smoke pot, I curse like a sailor (which she hated,) I'm out of shape. Sometimes it feels like she is slipping away. But now I know. She is not. I don't disappoint her, she would love me regardless. She has instilled kindness and cheer into me, and she always stimulated my creative side during the holidays. Christmas was like a mega-festive reason to be cheerful and kind all month long. She is WHY I am the crafty Krapf that I am today.

And so all these parties, and birthdays...I'm gonna relish in them and enjoy it excessively this year. For her. Because she lives on, in me. =)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Puff, puff, pass.

A lot of people have issues with marijuana use. I admit that I use when I have migraines or can't sleep. And sometimes, just because. But the main reason that I keep it around is for migraine relief. Unfortunately we live in a World where people seem to think that all pot smokers are either a waste of time, or perpetually stoned. Damn conservatives - I've got some food for thought for y'all. Now I speak for functioning pot smokers here, when I say that in moderation - marijuana actually has a lot of benefits, and is no more dangerous than drinking hard liquor. Sure, the tars pose cancer risks, and you get high. But the same goes for smoking cigarettes. And drinking alcohol is legal, but also very much a "drug" seeing as it alters your mood, causes many similar effects of a marijuana high. The difference is that it affects your liver.

Let's get into the beneficial uses of marijuana as opposed to the recreational use.

It can be used to ease pain for people suffering from: nausea and vomiting secondary to cancer chemotherapy, AIDS wasting, neuropathic pain, and movement disorders such as the spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, as well as many other types of diseases and pains. What most people DON'T know, is that though the THC gets you 'high' there are 60+ other chemicals in marijuana, called cannabinoids which aid in pain relief, and sometimes symptoms altogether. Now in regards to medical marijuana, there is a pill called Dronabinol. It is a synthetic form of THC available by prescription as a schedule 3 agent and in controlled studies, and it has been shown that it is as effective as smokeable marijuana and with less hazards because it avoids the respiratory effects.

If people would open their minds and take a few moments to hop on the web and look up the pros and cons, they would see that this is a natural source of pain relief. Of course, some people are going to counter with "there are so many cons to this, it's an illegal drug, etc." Well, start looking up the medications that you use daily. Go ahead, I dare you. There are just as many side effects and some that are much worse in the medications we take daily. The fact that medical marijuana can be in a pill form just goes to show that with our support and the right amount of research, these cannabinoids can be broken down and put to use for many ailments. So why is Marijuana illegal? Because it grows from the ground, you can dry it up and smoke it to get a quick and easy high. This is just common sense. You can get high from prescription medication too, but the growing of marijuana makes achieving a high easy to do from your very own back yard. That is why it is still illegal.

...BUT...

Picture this. If you are suffering from cancer, you are either being given radiation, or chemotherapy - which essentially is a poison being pumped through your veins, to attack and kill the cancer. POISON. So, I'm thinking if cannibinoids can ease that pain, what's wrong with that? Doctors are already running poison through your body. Can it get much worse? How about chronic migraine sufferers? When Excedrin, or other massive amounts of chemicals in the form of pain medications no longer work, you are pretty much incapacitated. You lay down, in complete darkness, a cool compress across your head, and no sound. So why not use THC to erase that pain...sure you will be slow moving - but you are going to be down and out anyway-no? So you take a hit, or a pill (which surely with the right research can be created for different types of pain,) nap for an hour, and you get your life back. I know there are times I've had migraines that keep me down for hours. HOURS.

Now remember, if marijuana ever actually makes it onto a bill in Florida and passes - it doesn't mean anyone can grow it and sell it as they do now. That would still be illegal. You would need permits to grow legally, and you would have to be prescribed this medication. People are always going to abuse marijuana, the same way they abuse prescription drugs. The difference is, would you rather suffer from pain, or take MORE medications to help you through treatment, or would you rather use a naturally supplied drug that is grown from our Earth? I don't know, but I think in some cases, I trust natural grown more than hundred of chemicals being mixed to create prescription medications.

After all is said and done, I don't see this passing anytime in the near future. My point with this post, is that there is a wealth of information floating around out there on the internet. Put it to use. You may be surprised what you learn. And I wasn't kidding - look up your prescriptions. Read up on the side effects. You are already using controlled substances that are created in a lab. It is illegal to sell them on the streets, or have possession of them without a prescription. Just sayin' ... open your minds. Someday a drug you are so against, can be just the miracle you always hoped for.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Economy on the rise = Lies.

Funny how we all keep hearing that the economy is on the rise, the recession is almost over. I don't know - it seems to me that people are still out of work, benefits and pay keep getting cut, but our bills climb. Thank you Geico, btw - I have never missed or been late on a payment, and have not been in an accident or received a ticket in years. So why raise my rates? Well fuck you, I'll be hunting for a new insurance company. You suck ballbag.

What gets me though, is here I am - at work everyday, paying my bills, even if it means my savings are struggling a bit, and I can't go out and do as much as I'd like...yet people like my aunt are living off of the government. She's an addict, an alcoholic who has relapsed again(and apparently lost God for about the 8th time now)but makes as much money as me. 50 years old, and my life is in better oder. But I am struggling. Then there's the credit card interest getting raised, limits being lowered, and fraudulent checks being written and cashed. It's happened to a few friends of mine, where checks have been intercepted in the mail and false ones have been forged. It just happened to my grandfather, 70+ years old, and he's become a victim. A victim of our shitty economy.

Something has got to give. Just Sayin'.