Kansas Considers Cannabis

On February 24, proponents of Kansas House Bill 2184 testified before the Federal and State Affairs Committee to advocate for patient access and amendments to the bill. 

Our fearless leader, nurse April, was one of them. During the 3 minutes she was given to speak she shared two stories, the story of her grandmother who suffered due to opiates and the other, a story about a boy diagnosed with autism who has made great progress since he began a high CBD, low THC oil.

April strongly encouraged the committee to allow the sale of dried cannabis flower, home cultivation, to provide patient protections, and to add autism to the list of qualifying conditions.

To read her full testimony and Todd Scattini’s, a veteran and strong supporter of medical cannabis as an alternative to the often ineffective pharmaceuticals prescribed to veterans, visit the state legislature site here.

 Kansas HB 2184 Proponent Testimonies

To read the Kansas Reflector article where both April and Todd are quoted, please follow the link below. 

Read the KS Reflector Article here

Chuck’s Story

Ask Chuck Coburn and he’ll tell you that he’s a hippy.  Born in 1966, Chuck grew up in the south and every Sunday morning you were in church and being reminded vehemently about the importance of walking the straight and narrow path.  More than one pastor delivered the same message – marijuana is bad and will destroy you and your loving family will be heartbroken over your use of the “smoke.”  Like many of his generation, he said that the sad irony was that the plant wasn’t the enemy, nor the devil.  The men of influence and power, like the pastors, abused that power and that abuse took the form of fire and brimstone messaging about cannabis.

 

During the course of his adult years, he kept his use of cannabis a secret, while secretly confident that it kept him from losing his sanity when the terrors of high school were overwhelming him, but more importantly, it had the same calming effect when his father would drink and abuse his mother.  It was later in his life when he was given a diagnosis of Parkinson’s and additional health maladies.  Attempting to be candid with his doctors, he spoke of his severe anxiety and agreed to Klonopin use.  During subsequent visits to his doctor, he expressed his fear at the tolerance he was building to the drug and the increase in dosage he was having to employ in order to get the intended relief.  His doctor advised him to “take them as I said to.”  

 

He lost 102 pounds and nearly lost his life.  His wife, an RN, broached the topic of medical cannabis.  His thoughts returned to the admonitions of his pastors and the “devil’s weed.”  He asked himself, “where were THEY when I shook and cried from withdrawals resultant from the doctor recommended pharmaceuticals?”  

 

Today he uses Rick Simpson oil for tremors and buffers his anxiety.  He jokes that he can “hold a fork and wipe my butt without issue. To those of you out there who are confused, it’s possible to shake so much that cleaning your backside is impossible.”  The RSO gives him back his abilities and his life. 

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“Mr. Z” Gets Back to Work

Cannabis Education | The Cannabis Care Team of Kansas City, MO

I met “Mr. Z” nearly 3 years ago when he was having extreme difficulty with his Parkinson’s symptoms. Although he was in his late 80’s, had been experiencing tremors and difficulty walking for the last 5 years, he wasn’t about to give up on his projects in the garage. His work ethic was unlike any I had seen and he did not accept letting his tools sitting around gathering dust. The list of 20+ medications and supplements weren’t helping with his symptoms. The tremors didn’t allow him to use a drill anymore and being stuck in a wheel chair limited his ability to maneuver between his work stations.

His medications were messing with his circadian rhythm and his days and nights had been completely flipped. He was beginning to suffer from depression because of isolation as well. He had a very understanding and cooperative physician who worked with him and his family to try to get his medications to work more effectively, but that usually meant there were frequent trips to the pharmacy or dosage changes.

A man who had been completely able-bodied for 80 years now felt like he was, in his words, “just an experiment,” his whole life had started to revolve around his condition and medications.

Growing up in a conservative household and avoiding most medications in his adult years he never thought he would consider trying anything related to the cannabis plant, but he was desperate and was willing to try anything.

As with most of my patients it takes times to find the right product, dose, or delivery method, and it definitely took time for him. His family wanted to start with something topical at first, and although topical products can be very effective for localized issues, only specialized gels and patches will reach the blood stream. They then decided to try a sublingual oil, and without seeing immediate effects and him not really liking the taste, they stopped giving it to him on a consistent basis.  It’s hard for anyone of us to continue something we don’t see results from. Especially when it’s something that can cost over a $100 a month. However, after an episode that really had the family worried they decided to take it seriously and made a commitment to giving him the CBD 3 times a day. After increasing his dose from 10 mg 3 times a day to 25 mg twice a day and 50 mg at night they started to notice an improvement.

His tremors never went away, but his chronic pain improved, he was able to get back to a regular sleeping schedule, and he stopped showing signs of depression. “Mr. Z” woke most mornings feeling rested and ready to get to work and although the addition of THC could have possibly provided some additional benefit for the tremors, he was just fine feeling good enough to get back to those projects.

To read an article on medical marijuana for the treatment of Parkinson’s, read the article below.

Micheal J Fox Foundation