I've been using medically prescribed THC now for about a year. I won't totally rehash my initial thoughts about it, because they haven't changed much.
The great news is that it definitely helps me sleep. My only delivery mechanism is gummies, as I have no interest in smoking it. For one thing, in Florida at least, every lot of product is tested, and the actual amount of THC and CBD is measured and printed on your label. Our favorite dispensary sells the Wana brand (get it?), and the actual tested amount of THC in the "flavor" that I get tends to be between 8.5 and 9.5 mg. That's kind of annoying, because it's sold as "10 mg," when it isn't. I mostly use the indica strain, or "blueberry," which is apparently well suited for helping with insomnia. I don't entirely understand this when it comes to gummies, because at the end of the day, THC has one chemical definition (C21H30O2, if you're curious). I'll get back to chemistry in a minute. Whatever. I also keep some of the 1:1 THC:CBD formulation, "strawberry lemonade," as something to use when I have the rare panic attack or serious anxiety. I've used this in place of lorazepam, which is potentially dangerous and addictive, though when prescribed, it has taken in excess of a year to even use 30 doses. I'm pretty paranoid about using it, given the history of addiction in my family.
So my routine is to use half of a gummy, which is less than 5 mg of THC, every night before bed. Generally speaking, it does help unless my brain is so wound up, in which case, if I'm still awake at 1 a.m., I take another 5 mg. The problem, and I'm guessing given the lack of scientific research, is that regardless of dosage, its ability to make me tired is limited to five or six hours. What is clear, in most every case, is that it also seems to address my restless leg problem, which wasn't on my bingo card of possible side effects. This isn't a huge problem for me, except when it is, and it's awful.
I have not attempted to use the stuff in a recreational manner, even though I could (the allowed purchase amounts far exceed what I need for sleep). The reason is that I have rarely been up in the middle of the night, after 10 mg, to go to the bathroom, and I don't like the feeling. It's not like being drunk, and it's hard to even qualify. If I'm sitting, sure, I'm chill, a little hungry, all of the stereotypes. But moving around just feels weird. And that's not even a lot of THC. The super-potent strains that folks might smoke will deliver way more THC, and a lot faster via smoke, too. Maybe I'm missing out on something, but that's where I am.
My issue with weed is political. If it was reclassified, I would know more about whether or not it actually helps with the restless leg. But marijuana is still caught up in the silly Reagan-era "just say no" nonsense. If it was possible to have more widespread research, we would know instead of relying on anecdotes like mine. I'm not suggesting that it should be totally deregulated, because we don't know if that's reasonable. But as folks often point out, we know that alcohol likely has zero health benefit, and we let people get fucked up on it and they kill people driving. Legalizing THC is way overdue.
And yeah, part of it is that I still can't travel with it. I can't take it on a plane, with dogs sniffing my crotch at the airport. Just last week, on the cruise, my legs were in bad shape and I could not sleep. If I had the gummies, problem solved.
Where I'm at is that THC likely has real potential benefits, but I'm uneasy about what those are because we can't do real research. Smoking it I'm sure is more harmful than good, much like smoking tobacco (which we also allow), but we don't know. That needs to change. It's obviously not going to happen with the asshats occupying Washington right now.
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