Me and marijuana

As a college student in the late 1960’s, I was exposed to a variety of pills, alcohol, psychedelics such as LSD, and marijuana.  The Vietnam war protests were a regular occurrence, and distrust of the government was high among my generation.  In spite of all that, I did not partake in any of it!  I had been raised to trust the establishment and to follow the law..  As a mother, teacher and then guidance counselor, I believed in the “experts” who proclaimed marijuana as a “gateway drug” and I held firm in my conviction that there would be no place for drugs in my life!

Decades later, as states were beginning to allow medical and then recreational use,  I slowly began to reconsider my position.  When I moved to New Mexico in May 2016, I acquired both my medical marijuana and personal production licenses.  My first attempts to grow from seed were not very successful, but I kept at it and learned many tips and tricks along the way.  I was not willing to smoke it, in large part because my dad had died of lung cancer, though there is no proven link between smoking marijuana and lung cancer.  

My very first use was with tincture made from bud.  Having had five major joints replaced due to degenerative arthritis, I had constant inflammation and joint pain.  While the tincture helped alleviate some of the pain, I still had inflammation which caused pain in my back, shoulders, hands and knees.  Masking the pain by taking tincture was helping, but I wanted to dig deeper and see if there was a way to address the root cause of the pain.

My son encouraged me to follow Shango Los’ YouTube channel, “Shaping Fire.”   The September 6, 2017, 26th episode changed my life.  The guest for that episode was Dr. Natasha Ryz and she shared her knowledge on the topic of “Cannabis Root Ball Medicine.”  Here’s the summary:  The cannabis root ball is usually discarded in modern cultivation, but that was not always the case. Healers throughout history have used the root ball for preparations, relieving a wide range of ailments. Podcast host Shango Los talked with health researcher Dr. Natasha Ryz. about her new paper, co-authored by renowned cannabis neurologists Dr. Ethan Russo and David Remillard. It illustrated the remarkable healing abilities of the cannabis root ball beyond phytocannabinoids.  Link to Dr. Ryz's paper

I was fascinated by the idea that marijuana was not the evil temptation leading to drug abuse and the gutter as I had been led to believe.   It had been used for centuries as medicine, particularly for inflammation and as an analgesic.  Although Dr. Ryz did not have specific recipes or instructions on how to extract and apply the medicinal parts of the root, she encouraged listeners to experiment with different methods.  My various attempts with the salve are documented in this blog for you to read. You can purchase her products and read more about her on her website.  You can also try my salve recipe to make your own!