Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire US Marijuana laws

We should be debating decriminalization v. full the legalization of pot in my opinion, there is a big difference between the two.

I can just imagine the Super Bowl commercials.

When I joined this list - back in 03, I was a confirmed "anti-marijuana" guy. I wrote against it's use. I was a drinker - and thought I was using a safer drug. I have changed since then - actually the change came about half a year ago.

Now - it's time for me to fess up.

At 54 - I rolled my first joint (actually it's a "reefer") I learned that's what it is called - when it has no tobacco in it.

I have been plagued with severe back-pain since childhood. I have scoliosis, spinal bifida, and now - ankylosing spodolitus. I also was found to have had an undiagnosed broken back that healed poorly - a reminant of my rougher and wilder days. I have had decades worth of MRI's, X-Rays, therapy and drugs. My pain kept getting worse.

You name the prescription drug - I have tried it! The last one had four pages of warnings attached to it! I have had two kidney/liver function tests due to the amount of pain-killers I took in order to stay functional and working. Most of my (daily) drinking was for pain-relief - not pleasure. Getting drunk helped the pain - but ruined my sleep.

In April, I talked with a spinal-cord patient who changed my life. She told me about a drug that enabled her to work again. It is called Cesamet - and is a synthetic cannabis pill. It is regularly prescribed in Canada to chronic pain patients. She gave me a few pills to try.

After doing my due diligence on the risks of that particular prescription drug, I tried the pills and found they were better for my own back - than anything I had tried to date - including far more dangerous opiates. When I told her about my own pain relief from the pills - she offered me the rest of the bottle - saying "I won't be using these anymore - so you can have them."

I asked her why she wouldn't be using them considering how they worked so well for her, and how the pills enabled her to go back to full-time work again. Her answer? "Now I just take the real stuff!" "It works even better for me!" "It's much cheaper than the pills too."

She told me she was now a legal medical-marijuana patient - one who even has legal permission to grow her own. I have hunted with her husband for years - and knew nothing of this. You could have pushed me over with a feather! I had never met a person who used marijuana so they could continue to work! It was this realization that began my paradigm shift on cannabis and it's use.

So, as I mentioned earlier, after having a bad pain day - at 54 - I rolled my first reefer!

That was in April. Since that day I have never taken a single pain-killing pill. Not one! I was taking ibuprofen and acetaminophen - together - three times a day - and that was on the days I didn't need the stronger, more dangerous stuff. I've only drank a handful of time since April too. I no longer need my daily stiff drinks to ease the pain in my back the way I used to.

I still hated smoking it though. It was a visible activity. It made me cough, my eyes redden - and it stank. I had to find a better way to get my relief. I found it.

Now, I break up a bud, put it in my Iolite vaporizer, suck back a few draws out of the spout and the foggy mist that comes out of it, and within minutes, the back pain starts to subside. After a short while, all of my back pain, and even the inflammation and the severe muscle spasms along-side my spine become a distant memory (no pun intended - about my memory) and the healing begins. The heat in my back is gone within about a half an hour. My wife used to be able to simply touch my back and feel the burn, when it was bad. No longer. In addition - I now sleep like a baby every night too. I wake-up pain-free and energized now.

My wife says I'm a totally different person - in a good way. She says she now has her "old funny, fun-to-be-around husband" back. I need to take only enough that she can never actually tell if I have "medicated" - or not. We call it that, and I medicate in a manner that I hope will not be found out by my young daughters. I'd prefer they don't learn about my pain (I hide that from them) or my medication (I didn't share my pain-killing prescription drug use with them - because they worry about me) - nor do I want them to know about my medical marijuana use.

About the only side effect I have noticed (other than the remarkable pain relief) is the more-often-than-not accompanying euphoria - but it's a cross I'm willing to bear at this time! My wife notices I'm much nicer to be around - and that has paid great dividends with our sex-life too. I can now do far more yard-work without crippling-up too, and she really likes that too.

In short - for me - vaporizing cannabis is like a miracle! I'm a new man! I'm now, except at work - totally pain-free! But, just knowing I can get relief after I get home - makes tough days at work bearable.

I'm lucky I'm a Canadian.

After seeing a Dr. and having him check my medical records and my x-rays, my MRI's etc. He signed off - allowing me to proceed with my federal health certification. Now, I have my medical card, I can legally possess and use it, and I could even - legally - grow my own, if I should ever choose to. But right now,I prefer to just go down to the dispensary and buy what I need.

I have my life back.

I now feel like a crusader for the cause.

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, this drug has reduced my chance of an early death by a huge degree - over the more dangerous and ineffective prescription medication I was on, it has made me more productive, I no longer take sick-days off curled up in bed, I work better on the job and at home, my wife is happier and much more fulfilled. My kids have their old Dad back, one who is fun to be around now - not the grumpy and gruff individual that I was on far too many days - when I was in pain.

For me - it's like a miracle drug.

I like to drive a hundred miles an hour, lifestyle choice - leave me alone!

day light, dry roads, can see for miles, no harm in it but for myself......

Here's my lifestyle choice.


I have rights too.

I have a right to a drug free school zone, to include faculty.
like to see you get that past the teachers unions, couldnt do it here
I have a right to pothead free roads, elevate testing to booze levels.
ive got no problem with giving someone driving stoned the same penilty as driving drunk
I have a right to keep my children safe; sell, or supply pot to a minor - bye! One strike, you're wayyyyyyy out.
your kid can prolly get ahold of it now quicker than you can imagine.....
I have a right to hire, and fire as I see fit with no recourse for not hiring, or firing a pothead.
institute drug testing, no big deal.....im for legalizing pot but im also for employers having drug testing if they choose......definatly jobs where you dont want someone with any intoxicant in their system
I have a right to my earned income. Not one dime of tax money goes to counseling, rehab, medical costs, or treatment of direct, or indirect malities.
bullchit......you figure out a way to do this let me know cause i dont agree with how my tax dollars are spent now....so far havent found a way to get out of paying my taxes and such