Pain patients everywhere are excited. They are excited for two reasons.

Quality of lives and discomforted symptoms are improving. It’s all thanks to CBD hemp oil, a.k.a. the super herb.

And let me just say from personal experience, this plant is well deserving of its title because of the healing properties found inside. Think of marijuana without the paranoia. You feel calm, relaxed, and less susceptible to pain. It has a strong anti-inflammatory effect without a psychotropic (narcotic) high.

This means you can find pain relief without worrying about addiction —you can feel good and heal better. Going back to the decades of prohibition, cannabis breeders grew strains that had more and more THC (the high causer) and less and less of the sister cannabinoid (CBD) —because that’s what sold on the black market.

People ordinarily wanted to buy something that was pleasantly intoxicating. Except recently, there’s been a shift —a complete reversal, where people who are hurting want serious symptom relief —they want medical benefits, but don’t want to get high.

This is where CBD comes into play.

If you didn’t know, significant medical benefits are attributed to the non-intoxicating sister molecule of THC called CBD, also known as cannabidiol. CBD has been shown to reduce the side effects caused by THC and enhance the benefits of THC.

In animal studies, CBD has been shown to decrease addictive behavior. I say that because medical scientists found that the heroin-seeking behavior of self-administering rats decreased when the animals were given CBD. And I can attest that in humans, it’s no different.

And so, I spoke with a hemp manufacturer and real people with real pain to see how CBD has impacted their lives.

This is what I found.

Real-Life Perspective: The Corporate World

CV Sciences, formerly known as CannaVest, is one of the first companies to grow, extract, import and produce products derived from hemp including CBD. Sarah Syed, director of marketing for CV emphasizes that the company is working with corresponding farmers across the globe to grow cannabidiol —low-THC, high-CBD hemp oil trying to make CBD less controversial and more mainstream.

“As a company, we are positioning ourselves outside of the marijuana discussion because we are in the business of hemp,” Syed replies. CV wants to be seen separate from the marijuana industry because they are, in fact, two separate entities.

I think people forget that and as a result, they almost look down upon CBD.

Except, both really should be praised instead of being lumped in with other narcotics. Unfortunately, marijuana is still stuck in the same drug class as heroin, which honestly is offensive. Unlike marijuana, CBD is 100 percent legal in all 50 states.

According to Endoca, a holistic supplier of all things cannabis, “You can think of hemp and marijuana as distant cousins. Although related, and indeed similar, the two are completely different plants.” Just as cats and lions are related through the feline family, they are different animals. No one expects you to walk up and pet a lion, but on the contrary, there is nothing wrong with stroking a friendly cat.

In this case, CBD is the cat.

The persecution of marijuana started with racism —up until the early 1900’s, marijuana was 100 percent legal in the U.S. Endoca explains that when Mexico had their revolution in 1910, the Western states saw a large influx of Mexicans who were competing for jobs —tensions increased during the Great Depression as the mom and pop farmers could not keep up with larger farms —who relied on cheap labor from immigrants.

Mexicans, who smoked marijuana, actually became quite successful. As a result, jealous and angry farmers began persecuting them. One Texas senator was quoted saying, “All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy.”

The thing is, Mexican pot smokers weren’t the only ones to have hatred blown their way.

Blacks received the brunt of it. In 1934, newspapers published quotes from politicians claiming, “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” All the while, in 1930, head of the newly formed Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger was supposed to tackle cocaine and heroin trafficking. Anslinger capitalized on racism as he began associating cannabis with violence.

These blatantly racist and completely unfounded statements were used to create fear and cement a need for his department —such actions are nothing short of despicable.

And today, we’re still facing the backlash. I think partly because big pharma hasn’t officially found a way to cash in on the cannabis industry, but once they do, chances are, it’ll be the mainstream CV has in mind. Until then, we need to break this mary-jane shame, and CBD (hopefully) will play a prominent role in just that.

“We realized that, although there was a tremendous amount of interest in phytocannabinoids, the market did not really exist,” Syed finishes. And who exactly is the market for CBD products?

Chronic pain patients just like you and I.

Real Life Perspective: Real People (not actors)

“After 23 years of suffering from chronic pain and having surgery September of last year, I still hurt every day,” Cameryn, a degenerative disc disease (DDD) patient from Victoria, Australia mentions. “I want off all medications. I have been looking into CBD to throw my prescription medications away. I really just want off these darn pills!!!”

Yesterday, Cameryn spent the day with her new fitness instructor and physical therapist who ironically also underwent major back surgery. The two worked together in an effort to ease her constant discomfort with physical activity as her instructor began sharing part of his pain journey.

She says that he has at least 18-20 screws in his back.

“I have never seen so much hardware in one person,” Cameryn points out. “He is months out from surgery and has zero pain. I nearly fell off the chair!”

Cameryn, herself, has a cage, two screws, one plate, and sits anywhere from 3-10 hours daily, depending upon what she has to do that day. He started talking about what muscles do and where her pain may be coming from. Sure enough, a few hip flexors in and he could see why she was in so much pain.

First, he told her she has to learn to breathe.

“Seriously we don’t breathe properly, so I am learning this,” Cameryn acknowledges. Her goal is to be off all pain meds by the end of this year, if not sooner. “I don’t want to go to pain management and be on this merry-go-round of painkillers. So, I am going to embrace this with all that I have. I feel like there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. I pray this works. Too many years of pain and I am over it. Wish me luck!” she pleads.

The worst part is, Cameryn is just one example of millions.

Let’s take Georgia, a registered nurse and sciatica patient from Sarasota, Florida as another example. “I’ve been withdrawing from my painkillers too. My goal was to be off of Morphine last month, but I couldn’t stop because the withdrawal hurt too badly,” Georgia recalls. “Then, I injured my back again in December. I thought I’d be looking at another surgery but who knows anymore.”

Georgia wants to stop her opioid merry-go-round just like Cameryn and hopes to follow through on a more holistic approach, but it’s hard. She’s been in this opioid game for far too long. Her body is even more out of whack than when she first started.

“Today, I counted the number of pills from when I first began pain management in 2008 —700 pills a month,” she confesses.

If you are among the millions of Americans living with chronic pain just like Cameryn and Georgia, feeling good is most likely your top priority.

Whether it’s opioid medication or physical therapy, experts suggest that 60 percent of the pain population haven’t found a workable solution to manage and control their chronic pain. Part of it is, what works for one patient may not work for another.

Plus, these painkillers aren’t actually killing our pain; they are merely masking it.

But guess what? Cameryn happily admits that with some help from her general physician, she was able to wean off opiates. She continues to exercise daily with her personal trainer and physical therapist. She’s able to keep up with her treatment plan because she’s feeling better. Why? Because this chick uses CBD every four hours.

“I’m healthier, happier and more hopeful than ever,” Cameryn concludes.

That’s not all though. Georgia also weaned off her opioid medication —slowly but surely. She’s now 30 days clean and is hopeful to that same future because of CBD.

Here’s to finding your green recovery.

For a detailed look at how CBD specifically helps me, take a look at, When We Have Our Health, We Have Everything: How CBD Helps Me Every Day.

xoxo,

macey bee

*sources:

https://www.endoca.com/blog/cannabis-oil-controversy/