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.
