EXCLUSIVE: After Big Pharma Failed, Parents Risked All to Save Daughter's Life with Cannabis -- It Worked!

“She will look at me, smile and say ‘mama.’ And that is a gift that gives me a feeling I will never be able to describe.“

In the age of medical cannabis enlightenment, Colorado is becoming a place where miracles happen. The story of ‘Super Nova’ represents the hope, challenges and lives transformed of parents desperately seeking to heal their suffering children – in a state where nascent freedom battles the entrenched forces of oppression.

The Free Thought Project obtained an exclusive interview with the mother of Nova, a beautiful 5-year-old girl born with a very rare condition called Schizencephaly. Nova’s mother, whom we will refer to as Barbara, told us about her journey from Texas to Colorado to save her daughter’s life, and even give her the gift of laughter.

Barbara is documenting Nova’s incredible story on Facebook, where she has gained more than 61,000 adoring, supportive fans. As she describes on her website, sweetsupernova.weebly.com:

“When Nova was four months old, we got the phone call on a Saturday night, from an endocrinologist, asking us if we had a minute to sit down and talk.
My world was flipped upside down when she told me more than half of my child’s brain hadn’t developed during pregnancy. Born without a pituitary gland, legally blind, and with a large unilateral cleft consisting of almost the whole right side of her brain.
She would never sit, walk, talk, and she would most likely suffer from epilepsy. She would have to take growth hormone shots every night in her stomach back and legs, she would have to take thyroid pills and steroids to keep her alive, and while there was a chance she wouldn’t have seizures, they were more likely to happen than not.”

At five months old, the first seizure happened, while Nova’s dad was giving her a bath. It only got worse from there.

“For the next two years, on top of all of her other medical complications, she would suffer from endless seizures of all kinds. She spent many of those days in status epilepticus. Status means that you are in a constant seizure and this is extremely life threatening. If she wasn’t in status, the breaks from having a seizure were few and far in between.
If there was ever a moment I got to see her smile, it was so short lived that it was becoming a challenge to remember what it was like to ever see my daughter happy. By the time she was one, Novaleigh was having over 100 seizures a day.”

The outlook for children with schizencephaly is grim. Some patients are stillborn, others are “not compatible with life” and others succumb to medication-induced organ failure. Barbara has connected with parents of children suffering from this condition, and many have lost the battle.

By the time Nova was two years old, she was having all types of seizures and was taking six anti-seizure medications. But they weren’t working. Doctors had turned to simply trying to sedate her, including the use of benzodiazepines – potent psychoactive drugs known through names such as Xanax and Valium.

If Nova wasn’t in a state of seizure, Barbara says the cocktail of drugs kept her in an immobilized, completely unresponsive state, with no apparent awareness of her surroundings. Barbara tearfully described a moment when she tried to get Nova to play with some small bells, lifting Nova’s hand to touch them. But Nova, eyes rolled to the back of her head, just let her hand drop.

Barbara began to “question how [Nova] could ever have a quality of life.” After several MRI and EEG scans, the Texas neurologist said Nova was a good candidate for brain surgery called lesionectomy, which would remove most of the brain she had left. There is no guarantee it would work, and the extreme procedure could result in Nova’s death.

Barbara initially agreed to the surgery, feeling hopeless about her daughter’s continued existence or the possibility to have any quality of life.

However, the year was 2014, and Colorado was making big news with its legalization of recreational cannabis. This enormous step for freedom was also helping to galvanize awareness about medical cannabis, especially in the field of childhood epilepsy.

Barbara had the strength and the intellect to perform her own research, reading peer-reviewed scientific studies on PubMed and elsewhere. She connected with people who were finding success in medical cannabis where other drugs failed.

Barbara came to the conclusion that she could not allow the surgery until she tried this plant-based medicine. It was working wonders for many children suffering with unrelenting seizures – without the debilitating effects of pharmaceutical drugs.

One day, in a pivotal moment, Barbara’s friend said, “What are you waiting for?” Barbara and Nova’s father packed up their belongings, left everything else behind, and moved to Colorado Springs.

“We had to try cannabis oil first. You heard the stories everywhere, on the news and on the internet. Parents claiming that their children were saved from oil made from cannabis plants. To some it sounded far-fetched. Some didn’t believe we would actually have the guts to go. But more people had our backs completely, and supported our decision ten-fold.
We packed our house, put Nova in her car seat, and we left our home in Austin Texas, the place we had lived our entire lives and swore we would never leave. We left our families, had to break our leases, and say goodbye to the place we were born and where we grew up, the only place we ever knew.”

After three days, Barbara procured CBD oil, which is high in the cannabidiol (CBD) compound. (tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the other major compound). It was a whole plant extract, so it contained some THC as well.

Nova had a bad reaction to the high-CBD oil, which made her seizures even worse the next day. Barbara’s hopes were almost crushed. But she found some parents treating epileptic seizures with THC oil, which she then tried on Nova.

The results were immediate and miraculous.

The very first time Nova got a 10 milligram dose of THC oil, she “lit up almost immediately.” She smiled and laughed. After a day, the seizures stopped. Barbara announced on Facebook that Nova had, for the first time since diagnosis, gone 24 hours without a seizure. Amazingly, this little girl – who was having 100 seizures a day – went to having one seizure episode every 3-4 weeks.

“My daughter has experienced a 99 percent reduction in seizures. She is happy, she is sitting up, she is trying to STAND up, she is saying “mama,” and she even looks up at me with her big blue eyes. She will look at me, smile and say “mama.” And that is a gift that gives me a feeling I will never be able to describe.”

For one and a half years Nova received a high-THC, low-CBD whole plant extract. During this time Nova’s mother weened her off the anti-seizure pharmaceutical meds, beginning with the milder ones. Nova was making gains in speech and movement, but with every seizure at the 3-4 week mark, most of those gains were virtually lost.

About eight months after starting cannabis treatment, Nova had to go to the hospital, but the reason was nothing short of miraculous. Nova’s pituitary gland actually started working on its own, producing endocrine hormones necessary for life. Nova had a secondary condition related to schizencephaly known as Panhypopituitarism, described as “a condition of inadequate or absent production of the anterior pituitary hormones.”

“The growth hormone injections, sodium pills, and other steroids are life-long therapies and the doses increase with age. We have gotten no explanation, but Novaleigh began making growth hormone on her own after being on cannabis for eight months and was taken off of the growth hormone shots. We were shocked…
It’s safe to say she is safe from ever needing hormone replacements again. It goes against everything that her endocrinologist has ever been taught. On several occasions, she’s thrown her hands up in the air and just told me… ‘I don’t know. I don’t know, I don’t know.’ She isn’t allowed to give the credit to cannabis.”

Around this time, Barbara was approached by Bob Eschino, founder and president of Incredibles, a Colorado company “recognized as the number one infused edible in Colorado.” Mr. Eschino asked Barbara, ‘if you could have any cannabis oil you wanted, what would you give Nova?’

She responded with, ‘as little CBD as possible.’ Weeks later, Derek — a partner at Incredibles and their “lab genius” — produced a distillate of pure THC infused in oil. They called it Supernova.

From the time of the first dose, Nova went five and a half months without a seizure. This was the answer to Barbara’s prayers.

Barbara tearfully described how Nova underwent a steady progress in movement and speech. She can go from laying to sitting, now says ‘dada’ and ‘mama,’ has learned to clap, identifies her toys and is looking around with the curiosity of a happy child.

For the past four months, Nova has not had to take a single pharmaceutical anti-seizure medication. She no longer has to get nightly growth hormone shots or take Desmopressin sodium medication or Levothyroxine thyroid hormone.

“Since her seizures are gone she is learning to play. Her favorite things to do are practice standing with her daddy, getting dressed, playing with her rattle, and dancing while I hold her upright in my arms. She also likes to have long talks- babbling at me with such a happy tone and disposition that you can’t help but to laugh from the warm feeling in your chest.

I finally know who she is because of her cannabis oil. She is a spunky, fun, happy little toddler full of energy and love and light and when you look at her now, you would never be able to imagine the horrible things she used to endure every day.”

Nova receives 30 milligrams three times a day, which is a relatively high dose of THC oil. But the alternative – Nova having constant seizures, living in a virtually paralyzed state through pharma meds, or undergoing the high-risk brain surgery – is unthinkable.

Since beginning the Supernova THC oil, Nova has experienced one seizure episode which was due to complications from an misdiagnosed infection. After treating the infection, Nova is back on track and has been seizure free for more than a month, as of this writing.

Barbara has big dreams for Nova and sees a long life ahead of her, as long as she has access to the miracle of cannabis oil.

“This is something that should be available to all children- and my child is living proof that cannabis oil DOES work. Better than anything I could have expected.

Our lives have been changed forever, and every other child that is suffering so unfairly deserves nothing but the same. I hope that Nova’s story can somehow make a difference.”

“I don’t live in fear anymore that Nova will die when I go to sleep.”

But even in Colorado, there is no guarantee Barbara will always be able to access cannabis oil through “proper channels,” as the forces of oppression and irrationality haunt the lives of those seeking to heal their children.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regularly threatens doctors who dare help parents access medical cannabis for their suffering child. Shockingly, doctors cannot even mention medical cannabis or acknowledge that it helps a child, for fear of losing their license. Even Nova’s neurologist, having witnessed her improvement from 100 seizures a day to zero seizures, must remain silent on medical cannabis.

To legally treat Nova, Barbara must acquire a “red card” which has to be signed by two doctors and renewed every year. Her main physician is proud to sign the red card, but one co-signer has already dropped out due to government threats, leaving Barbara to search for another who can challenge the tyrannical federal agency.

The DEA and prohibitionist cheerleaders would rather see kids like Nova in a paralyzed state punctuated by constant seizures, or die from the toxicity of pharma meds, than accept that a child can live, smile and laugh thanks to the cannabis plant.

Adding to the absurdity of DEA’s position that cannabis has “no medical value” is the fact that the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services holds a medical patent (#6,630,507) on cannabis compounds as neuroprotectants. Apparently, this didn’t get around to the DEA when it had an opportunity to reschedule cannabis in 2016.

Barbara believes about 200 families have moved to Colorado for their epileptic children, and that number is growing. There are currently 349 minors on the state’s Medical Marijuana Registry; most have epilepsy but some are taking medical cannabis for cancer, pain and autism.

Barbara knows one other family who moved to Colorado about three weeks ago to treat their child’s schizencephaly. After the third day of low-THC treatment, their 1-year-old is already experiencing improvements.

Not all families are so lucky. According to Barbara, some parents who want to move from prohibitionist states to Colorado for their epileptic children are actually intimidated by their doctors. They threaten to turn parents in to “authorities,” as they happily pump the kids full of debilitating psychoactive pharma drugs.

Indeed, the cannabis plant – used medicinally and recreationally for thousands of years – represents a threat to the corporate oligarchy. Big Pharma, knowing medical cannabis is a threat to their profits, actively works against cannabis legalization at the state level – donating hundreds of thousands to disinformation campaigns. Their efforts failed in all but one state in the 2016 election cycle, but they have a strong ally in the DEA.

In a world connected like never before, the power of knowledge is proving to be a potent force against the drug war establishment. Prohibitionist myths are crumbling. Doctors are embracing the potential for medical cannabis to treat ailments where other medications fail or cause harm. Politicians are defying the law to bring help to suffering children.

Please visit Super Nova’s Facebook page and share the amazing story of 5-year-old Nova, so others can learn there is hope for their children. The more knowledge spreads, the more power builds in the people to overcome those who stand in the way of health and freedom.

Author: Justin Gardner

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Cannabis Relieves Nerve Pain From Lyme Disease, Fibromyalgia, & Associated Conditions

Nerve pain is a common symptom of Lyme disease, Lyme co-infections and associated  conditions. One of the main associated conditions of which I speak is that of Fibromyalgia, which is considered a condition as opposed to a disease as it has no known root cause.

Originally, Fibromyalgia was characterized by severe, debilitating nerve pain. However, over the past 3 years, the list of symptoms embodying the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia has grown to include other ailments such as brain fog, chronic fatigue, depression and muscle stiffness, just to name a few.

Legitimate evidence as to what exactly causes Fibromyalgia continues to flat line as spikes in the number of symptoms Fibromyalgia causes continue to surge. In order to avoid further scattering your brain or thickening what, if any, brain fog you may currently be enduring through, we will focus on addressing nerve pain in this section.

The Role of the Endocannabinoid System in Nerve Pain

The endocannabinoid system’s importance as a neuromodulatory system in the brain has recently began to surface in research. Neuromodulatory systems are made of several neurotransmitters that are not reabsorbed by the presynaptic neuron, and therefore spend excess time in the cerebrospinal fluid modulating overall brain activity. Neuromodulators include neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, both of which play significant roles in pain perception. The brain’s endocannabinoid neuromodulatory system is involved in a plethora of physiological functions related to pain, leading scientists to hypothesize that individuals with Fibromyalgia pain have dysfunctional endocannabinoid neuromodulatory systems, thus lending to their grand hypothesis that the cannabinoids in cannabis can bind with malfunctioning CB1 (cannabinoid receptor type 1) and CB2 (cannabinoid receptor type 2) receptors in the brain’s endocannabinoid neuromodulatory system to repair the malfunction and relieve the patient of pain.

Studies Find Cannabis to Be More Effective at Relieving Nerve Pain Than Mainstream Drugs Cymbalta, Lyrica, and Savella

After conducting a study based partly on this hypothesis, the National Pain Foundation concluded medicinal cannabis may be far more effective at treating pain from Fibromyalgia than pharmaceuticals. The study compared Savella, Lyrica and Cymbalta, the top 3 FDA approved drugs currently prescribed by physicians for Fibromyalgia pain. Out of 1,300 patients only ten percent felt Lyrica or Savella were effective in any way, and only eight percent reported receiving any pain relieving benefits from Cymbalta. Even more disheartening is the fact that over sixty percent of the thirteen hundred patients who participated in the study did not receive any pain relief at all from the medications. However, sixty-two percent of the patients reported cannabis was “very effective” at relieving their pain and thirty-three percent reported that cannabis offered them mild to moderate pain relief, while only five percent reported cannabis did not help at all.

Vaporized Cannabis for Neuropathic Pain

The problematic nerve pain of neuropathy occurs when the peripheral nerves, spinal cord, or brain are injured or when the sensory system malfunctions due to the manifestation of an underlying pathological condition, such as Lyme disease, or a serious injury from a catastrophic event such as a stroke or severe spinal cord damage. Pain management with the use of pharmaceuticals has proven quite difficult, pushing some scientists to consider the use of unconventional analgesics such as cannabis as possible effective alternatives for neuropathic pain relief. It turns out that cannabis may indeed be an effective alternative for neuropathic pain relief.

According to data from a clinical trial conducted by researchers from the Davis Medical Center at the University of California, vaporized cannabis containing low amounts of THC effectively reduced neuropathic pain even in test subjects who failed to respond to conventional methods of neuropathic pain relief. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, researchers administered cannabis with a medium dose of THC (3.53%), cannabis with a low dose of THC (1.29%), or placebo cannabis to test subjects. Subjects were ordered to hold the vaporizer bag with one hand, hold the vaporizer mouthpiece in their mouth with their other hand, inhale for five seconds, hold the vapor in their lungs for ten seconds, and then exhale and wait for forty seconds before inhaling again. The subjects inhaled four times over the course of sixty minutes. Of the thirty-seven test subjects who were administered cannabis with low dose THC, twenty-one individuals reported that they received pain relief as a result of vaporizing cannabis. Out of the thirty-six test subjects who were administered cannabis with medium dose THC, twenty-two reported a reduction in their pain levels as a result of cannabis use. From this data, it was concluded that vaporizing cannabis with low doses of the psychoactive ingredient THC can offer pain relief from neuropathy while minimizing the cognitive effects otherwise seen in individuals using cannabis with high doses of THC.

References

• Science, Leaf (2014, April 21). Cannabis May Be Best Treatment For Fibromyalgia, Survey Finds.  Retrieved from http://www.leafscience.com/2014/04/21/cannabis-best-treatment-fibromyalgia/
• Jimena, F., M. Durán, D. Capella, Et. al., “Cannabis Use in Patients with Fibromyalgia: Effect on Symptoms Relief and Health-Related Quality of Life”. PLoS One: A Peer-Reviewed, Open Access Journal. 2011; 6(4): e18440. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018440
• Wilsey, B., T.D. Marcotte, R. Deutsch, et. Al. (2012). “Low Dose Vaporized Cannabis Significantly Improves Neuropathic Pain.” The Journal of Pain, 14(2); 136-148. doi: 10.1016/j/pain.2012.10.009
• Armentano, P. (2013, January 3). Study: Vaporized, Low-Potency Cannabis Reduces Problematic Nerve Pain. Retrieved from

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Morgan Freeman Calls For Marijuana To Be Legalised

Freeman, 77, enthused about marijuana in an interview with The Daily Beast, where he praised more recent calls for it to be legalised for focusing on its medicinal value.

This movement is really a long time coming, and it’s getting legs – longer legs,” he said.

Now, the thrust is understanding that alcohol has no real medicinal use. Maybe if you have one drink it’ll quiet you down, but two or three and you’re f***ed.”

The actor says his relationship with cannabis began “many years ago”. Asked how he would consume it, he replied: “However it comes! I’ll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it!”

Freeman said cannabis is the only thing that can help him manage fibromyalgia pain in his arm after it was shattered in a car crash in 1977. “They’re talking about kids who have grand mal seizures, and they’ve discovered that marijuana eases that down to where these children can have a life,” he added. “That right there, to me, says, ‘Legalise it across the board!’”

Freeman’s reasoning for legalising the drug were much more coherent than the arguments put forward in March by one US politician. David Simpson, a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, who is backed by the Tea Party,introduced a bill calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis on the basis that it was created by God, and “God did not make a mistake”.

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"Medicinal Cannabis Has Changed My Daughter's Life"

The mother of "Paloma", a girl who began treatment with Dr. Carlos Laje, said it’s a month since its treatment and her improvement is remarkable. 

Paloma is a 10 year old girl who lives in the city of Deán Funes, who has down syndrome and has only one lung due to an operation that she underwent as a baby. In addition Paloma was diagnosed 3 years ago celiac disease and that was added respiratory disease of asthma. 

During the year 2016 she became ill three times of pneumonia, which his mother said "were very strong".

As a result of the asthma that was detected in the month of April last year, the girl was given three bronco dilators per day, which did not produce any improvement, but on the contrary, Paloma had episodes of vomiting, decay and loss of weight. 

Blue, Paloma's mom noted "since she was born, until a month ago, at least once a day she vomited what she ate, which after her hospitalizations in 2016 became acute and she vomited everything she ate. she did not assimilate food." 

Faced with the serious state of her daughter’s health she consulted with a friend, the one who already knew about the treatment of medical cannabis. After consultation she decided to see Dr. Carlos Slab; to get information and then approached the office for a treatment for her daughter. 

"I contacted Dr. Laje and he gave me information about the diseases that can be treated with cannabis oil, I told him what Paloma was suffering and he told me that the treatment could be done.

The mother said that now Paloma, no longer takes more medication, since little by little the bronco dilators were removed and now only ingest the drops prescribed by the doctor Laje. "Since December 5 that Paloma has started with this treatment, she did not have any more vomiting, she gained weight and her mood is different, she has more desire for everything." 

The treatment 10 years old girl received based on cannabis oil, which is extracted from flowers and is administered to patients as oral drops.
At present there are many controversies with treatment, social prejudices and a law that is not yet clear. On this, Paloma's mother said, "It's not that my daughter smokes marijuana, I already explained it ... they are drops of an oil, extracted from marijuana." 

"Cannabis medicicinal has changed my daughter's life remarkably, I think there is a lot of misinformation and that the prejudices that exist are due to ignorance." Blue concluded, who also said she was very grateful to Dr. Laje, whom she described as "a very human and open doctor". 

Azul is today a mother who can testify because she is seeing the results of this treatment in her daughter and by her initiative and with the greatness of Dr. Carlos Laje, in the month of February, the doctor would come to Deán Funes to give a Informative talk about this treatment, since according to the reports he gives, there are many pathologies that can be treated. 

While we were interviewing her mother, we could see Paloma playing with her dog, talking to her mother, with us and kissing us, watching an active babe with no apparent difficulties. 

From Deán Funes News we wish the best to the family and we thank Azul for receiving us at his house. 

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The Top 4 Medical Studies That Prove Cannabis Can Cure Brain Cancer

For years, an unnecessary label has been attached to this plant, and the fact that it is classified as an illegal drug for no reason is obscure.  Furthermore, the studies that prove cannabis can cure brain cancer are done so by safe cannabinoid delivery with zero psychoactive effects.

It’s becoming more clear that multiple substances labelled as “drugs” by the government as harmful  are most likely illegal due to the fact that they threaten multiple corporate interests. Prescription drugs alone kill over 100, 000 people every year. Our governments and the corporations that run them don’t have the best interests of the human race at hand. It seems that we should be more concerned about the drugs that are legal, as much as we are concerned about the ones that are not. Instead of constantly relying on them for information (corporations and governments), it’s up to us to do our own research and find out the truth for ourselves.

Cannabis has been proven to be effective for a wide range of ailments, this article will focus mainly on brain cancer. Cannabinoids refer to any group of related compounds that include Cannabinol and the active constituents of Cannabis. They activate Cannabinoid receptors in the body. The body itself produces compounds called endocannabinoids and they play a key role in many processes throughout the body that help to create a healthy environment. They also play an important role in immune system generation and re-generation.

Cannabinoids have been proven to reduce cancer cells as they have a great impact on the rebuilding of the immune system. While not every strain of cannabis has the same effect, more and more patients are seeing success in cancer reduction in a short period of time by using cannabis. I’ve provided one of many examples of this at the bottom of the article.

Brain Cancer

1.  A study published in the British Journal of Cancer, conducted by the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Complutense University in Madrid, this study determined that Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoids inhibit tumour growth. They were responsible for the first clinical study aimed at assessing cannabinoid antitumoral action. Cannabinoid delivery was safe and was achieved with zero psychoactive effects. THC was found to decrease tumour cells in two out of the nine patients.

2. A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience examined the biochemical events in both acute neuronal damage and in slowly progressive, neurodegenerative diseases. They conducted a magnetic resonance imaging study that looked at THC (the main active compound in marijuana) and found that it reduced neuronal injury in rats. The results of this study provide evidence that the cannabinoid system can serve to protect the brain against neurodegeneration.

3. A study published in The Journal of Pharmacology And Experimental Therapeutics already acknowledged the fact that cannabinoids have been shown to possess antitumor properties. This study examined the effect of cannabidiol (CBD, non psychoactive cannabinoid compound) on human glioma cell lines. The addition of cannabidiol led to a dramatic drop in the viability of glioma cells. Glioma is the word used to describe a brain tumour.  The study concluded that cannabidiol was able to produce a significant antitumor activity.

4. A study published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics outlines how brain tumours are highly resistant to current anticancer treatments, which makes it crucial to find new therapeutic strategies aimed at improving the poor prognosis of patients suffering from this disease. This study also demonstrated the reversal of tumour activity in Glioblastoma multiforme.

Method of Ingestion

Contrary to popular belief, smoking the Cannabis is not the most effective way in treating disease within the body as therapeutic levels cannot be reached through smoking. Creating oil from the plant or eating the plant is the best way to go about getting the necessary ingredients which are the Cannabinoids. Also, when Cannabis is heated and burnt it changes the chemical structure and acidity of the THC. This changes its ability to be therapeutic and anytime you burn something and inhale it, you create oxidation within the body. Oxidation is not healthy for the body and can lead to health issues in itself.

Cannabis- whether Sativa, Indica, Ruderalis, male, female, hermaphrodite, wild, bred for fiber, seeds or medicinal resin – is a vegetable with every dietary essential we can’t synthesize. It has essential amino acids, fatty acids and cannabinoid acids. Apart from that, it has hundreds of anti-cancer compounds.

If you heat the plant, you will decarboxylate THC-acid and you will get high, you’ll get you 10 mg. If you don’t heat it, you can go up to five or six hundred milligrams and use it as a dietary cannabis and push it up to the anti-oxidant and neuro-protective levels which come into play at hundreds of milligrams – Dr William Courtney

The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) maintains our biological systems by regulating each cell tissue. It uses Arachadonic acid/Omega 6 to make Endo-Cannabinoids. These are fatty molecules that communicate harm between cells. Dietary Cannabis mimics the ECS by providing Cannabinoids when there is an Arachadonic acid deficiency or clinical Cannabinoid deficiency.

Sources:

http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v95/n2/abs/6603236a.html

http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/308/3/838.abstract

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/21/17/6475.abstract

http://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/10/1/90.abstract

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/cancer-questions/is-cannabis-treatment-brain-tumours

http://www.rawhemp.tk/
http://www.phoenixtears.ca/
http://cannabisinternational.org/
http://edrv.endojournals.org/content/27/1/73.full
http://cannabisclinicians.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/OS-2011-Terpenes+Minor-CBs.pdf

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Federal Study Finds Marijuana 100X Less Toxic Than Alcohol, Safer Than Tobacco

Science once again catching up with what many already knew – but this is progress: A new scientific study has investigated the toxicity of various drugs and found Marijuana the clear winner. It’s been found significantly less toxic than all the other substances on the list – including not only illegal drugs but the LEGAL alcohol and tobacco. Here’s our full report.

Claims on marijuana’s medicinal values have been widely debated despite support from medical research and study. Federal legislations that govern marijuana use aim to restrict rather than regulate – and this has posed a problem to people seeking the medicinal and recreational effects of the herb, very far from intentions of abusing its effects. What is it about marijuana that scares the government – and the public – so much?

Marijuana Use in the United States
Marijuana, colloquially referred to as weed or pot, is made up of dried leaves and flowers of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. Statistics released by the National Institute of Drug Abuse reveal that in respondents aged 18 to 25, more than half (exactly 51.90 percent) have used marijuana. Percentages are lower in the other two age groups, with 16.40 percent of respondents aged 12 to 17 and 45.70 percent of respondents aged 26 and older reporting marijuana use. ^[1]

Laws in more than half the number of states in the US prohibit marijuana use, whether recreationally or medically. Currently (2015), only 21 states plus the District of Columbia have passed medical marijuana laws (MMLs) that recognize and permit the medicinal use of the herb. ^[2]

Numerous studies have reported the positive medicinal effects of marijuana on pain, sleep, and overall comfort. A survey conducted by Trip, et. al. (2014) revealed that marijuana use was effective in improving mood, pain, muscle spasms, and sleep quality in patient with prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome. ^[3] The data collected from a more recent study in 2015 by Degenhardt, et. al. revealed that marijuana use in conjunction with prescribed opioids were able to induce effective pain relief in respondents experiencing chronic non-cancer pain. ^[4] These studies further support the popularity of marijuana use among people experiencing acute and chronic pain.

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On the other hand, there have also been studies on the adverse effects of marijuana. One of these was published in mid-2014, focusing the negative health effects of smoking marijuana, particularly on the increased risk for lung cancer. ^[5] Of course, the study was only able to reveal how it was smoke(not cannabis itself) that damages lung tissue. This problem could easily be solved by changing the method in which marijuana is administered.

Risk Assessment of Marijuana and Other Substances

But is marijuana use as dangerous as the law makes it out to be? The intoxicating effects of marijuana, although different, are not thought more severe than that of mild to moderate alcohol intake – a substance that is not illegal anywhere in the United States, or most countries all over the world. A study published in January 2015 by Lechenmeier and Rehm ^[6]assessed the comparative risk between different “mind-altering” substances, specifically alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other illicit drugs like heroin. Surprisingly, the study revealed that cannabis was the least risky substance, belonging to the other end of the spectrum. Do you know what substance was revealed the most risky? Alcohol.

How is this possible? The study used an approach called the Margin of Exposure (MOE) which is drastically different from other studies that simply attempted to find causational relationship between two factors – (1) substance use/abuse and (2) mortality. MOE is different; it’s a ratio between the estimated (average) human intake and the benchmark dose (or toxicological threshold). Basically, it’s a ratio between how much humans typically intake and the dose at which the substance becomes dangerous – which is a better judge of how risky a substance can be. The higher the MOE is, the higher its spot on the list.

The results of the study were conclusive: The highest spot belonged to alcohol, while the succeeding spots were filled by heroin, cocaine, nicotine, MDMA, methamphetamine, methadone, amphetamine, diazepam, and THC (or marijuana). With marijuana in the lowest spot (over 100 times less toxic than alcohol), it can be surmised that its effects on health and society have been largely overestimated. If there was a plant that couldn’t be more misunderstood – or was it perhaps intentionally maligned – it has to be marijuana.

It’s important to note that the study measured toxic effects and does not consider any social effects of the use of the drug. However this result is a clear indication that policies on marijuana are outdated and need re-evaluation – which is something that is gradually happening. It’s good news for the herband for the use of herbs in general

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What Does Healing Mean to You, and How Can CBD Help?

What does healing mean to you? Like a zen koan, it’s a question that can unfold and inform. Regardless of one’s individual answer, there’s power in saying “yes” to healing. Opening ourselves to the possibility can bring adjustments that pave the way for physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

When considering the meaning of healing, it’s important to distinguish between healing and a cure. To cure is to make something go away; healing is an expression of greater wholeness. Whether a health challenge, a behavioral change, or a growth point in a relationship, there is always an internal and an external aspect of healing. When we get the internal attitude and the external support right, power to heal is released.

Healing is often about discovering what is holding us back in the first place. We all get in our own way at times; whether it’s constantly staying tied to work via cell phone or sacrificing sleep in favor of getting more done, it’s easy to be resistant and persistent in patterns that aren’t serving us. The internal component of healing is often an allowing, a relaxing, and a willingness to see things differently. The external component can entail many things, one of which is plant medicine.

Plant Medicine and Integrated Healing

If we take into account the amount of stress that most of us are under in a normal day, as well as the lack of good nutrition in the average diet, it’s no wonder that we are experiencing unprecedented levels of diabetes, obesity, autism, anxiety, cancer, autoimmune conditions, and other expressions of imbalance. Medicinal plants could play a much larger role in most people’s lives by helping them maintain a balanced, healthy state.

Plant medicine works through the introduction of nutrients that bind with many sites in the body. These nutrients support proper biochemical processes, many of which increase physical, mental, and emotional resiliency. Plants differ from pharmaceuticals in that they are supportive and therapeutic without being dictatorial. They don’t force a particular function on the body; instead, they offer support in ways that allow greater adaptability and capacity for homeostasis. The body can often use the same medicinal plant to address either a hyper or a hypo state of imbalance, frequently making these plants more effective agents for healing than pharmaceuticals. The same is true of the potential of medicinal plants in helping the body maintain an existing state of wellness.

Of all medicinal plants, cannabis is recognized as one of the most important. It is unique because it is the only plant to contain significant amounts of different cannabinoids. Many doctors and nutritionists claim that cannabinoids should be listed as essential nutrients: whereas deficiencies of certain vitamins can beget specific conditions (vitamin C and scurvy, vitamin D and rickets), a diet low in cannabinoids leaves a person more susceptible to imbalances. Cannabinoids are a big deal.

The Role of Cannabinoids in Maintaining Health

Most people reading this article are familiar with the role cannabinoids play in supporting the endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS is a modulating system that resets the nervous system and helps to protect it from a host of stressors. It also balances the immune system and increases cell-to-cell communication. Cannabis is the closest thing to a panacea of all the plants available: it lowers blood sugar levels, reduces muscle spasms, relieves anxiety, is used to manage psychosis, and features anti-inflammatory, pain relieving, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties. We are still in the infancy of reaching our full potential with this plant.

Products like Irie’s aim to capture the unique healing properties of cannabis with extracts high in one of its primary cannabinoids, cannabidiol (CBD). In each extract blend, CBD delivers a wide range of benefits of its own, which can figure into maintaining an existing state of wellness as well as addressing a state of imbalance. To augment these benefits, other medicinal plant extracts are added to create specialized blends like Irie’s CBD Calm, CBD Stress Support, CBD Lifeline, and CBD Flex. Each one is meant to accentuate a particular healing quality of CBD.

For example, CBD Calm includes the essential oils of lavender and peppermint, which potentiate and magnify the calming effects of CBD to help soothe the nervous system. CBD Stress Support adds extracts of four adaptogenic herbs: maca, mucuna, ashwaganda, and holy basil, which together are meant to help balance hormones, blood sugar levels, energy levels, and the stress response itself. CBD Lifeline, designed to address more serious health issues, includes frankincense, ginger, and sandalwood – powerful oils chosen based on their long history of helping people with medical conditions. CBD Flex incorporates Celadrin, whose esterified fatty acids create a sort of “fish oil on steroids” intended not only to relieve pain but to address joint healing directly. The same process of blending CBD with complementary medicinal plant extracts and herbs is used in the creation of specialty chocolates, honey sticks, and coconut sticks in Irie’s product line.

True healing often starts with a shift in how one relates to oneself – a willingness to pinpoint where our issues are stemming from, and to address them at their source. This shift is not always easy. CBD products like Irie’s are meant to help provide support at the most fundamental level, when our normal way of operating is not getting it. They are, in a sense, a “yes” to healing.

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3 Facts About Cannabis, Obesity, and Diabetes

When we picture the stereotypical cannabis consumer, we don’t tend to picture health, fitness, and a trim waistline. Yet, a number of new studies are finding that cannabis users are less likely to be obese—seemingly regardless of how much Domino’s pizza you order while marathon-watching Cosmos.

Before you get too excited, consuming cannabis probably isn’t the best weight loss plan. However, new studies are finding that cannabis may be key to controlling diabetes. We’ve known for a decade that Type 2 diabetes and obesity go hand in hand, and now multiple studies have found a correlation between cannabis, weight control, and potential diabetes treatments.

Given that an estimated 25.8 million people have diabetes in the United States, and another 79 million people are thought to be pre-diabetic, we thought we’d give patients the low-down on the current conversations surrounding this miracle plant and your health.

Here are three things you should know about cannabis, obesity, and diabetes:

Cannabis Consumers Weigh Less

An examination of two studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology has found that, on average, cannabis consumers are less likely to be overweight. While it may be hard to believe, people who consume cannabis at least three times a week have cut their chances of being obese by one third.

In fact, the prevalence of obesity was significantly lower in cannabis consumers than in non-consumers. For example, the first study reviewed in the journal found that cannabis consumers had a 16.1% obesity rate compared to 22.0% in non-consumers. The second study findings were 17.2% vs. 25.3%.

Cannabis Affects the Way You Metabolize Carbohydrates

Last May, CNN discussed the recent developments of cannabis and diabetes research. In his discussion of the studies, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Murray Mittleman, told reporters that “current users of marijuana appeared to have a better carbohydrate metabolism than nonusers.”

This metabolic boost has something to do with the way cannabinoids (the compounds in cannabis that bind to special receptors in your body) interact with insulin. While much more research needs to be done to fully understand this relationship, Mittleman articulated that in cannabis consumers, “fasting insulin levels were lower, and they appeared to be less resistant to the insulin produced by their body to maintain a normal blood-sugar level.”

Cannabis-Based Medicines are on Their Way

GW Pharmaceuticals, an England-based big pharma company, is hoping to use cannabis to develop a drug that will eliminate insulin injections for diabetes patients. GW Pharmaceuticals has already created an oral spray, Sativex, as a treatment for muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis. Sativex is the only prescription medication on the market that is cannabis-based. Sativex has already been approved in over 20 countries.

GW is currently working on another cannabis-based drug, utilizing canabidiol (CBD) and the less-researched tetrahydrocannabivarin-9 (THCV). This new drug has shown promise in lab trials, lowering test patients’ blood-sugar levels between meals and also improved insulin production.

While GW’s diabetes research is still far from complete, all of these findings seem to hint towards a more hopeful future for diabetes patients.

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How Cannabis Is Curing Serious Stomach And Bowel Diseases That Are Considered Incurable

There have been several anecdotal reports of cannabis curing cancer. But less discussion has been publicized about cannabis curing Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel and gut diseases that are considered incurable by mainstream medicine.

Perhaps the most dramatic story has a woman named Shona Banda at its center. Shona was severely stricken with Crohn’s. She was bedridden, and whatever she managed to eat didn’t provide nutrition because her gastrointestinal tract simply wouldn’t absorb nutrients.

She was losing weight and began suffering from cachexia, a wasting away that accompanies chronic disease. Told after several surgeries and stacks of pharmaceutical medications there was nothing more that could be done for her, she was waiting to die.

She managed to see Rick Simpson’s “Run from the Cure,” an online video documentary, and was motivated at first but quickly became despondent. Although she had been smoking marijuana to ease pain and help her sleep and eat, she had no way of making that particular oil, which required a pound of marijuana to produce the cannabis oil she would need to heal.

She had been inhaling marijuana from a vaporizer, known as “vaping,” which is less irritating to the lungs and throat while still being effective. And it produces less tell-tale pot aromas. At the time, Shona lived in the medical marijuana-unfriendly state of Kansas with her husband and two young children.

Shona was in a dilemma about the impossibility of getting enough hemp to make her own oil when her husband noticed specks of oil residue in the inside of the vaporizer’s glass globe cover. So she took the inhalation tube out of the vaporizer and sealed it, then simply collected those little blobs of oil from the inside of the glass globe with a spatula.

She did this three times a day, putting the collected oil residues into capsules and taking it. After a few days, Shona could walk without a cane. Soon she began eating and sleeping better and putting on weight. It wasn’t long before she was able to discontinue all her pharmaceuticals.

Soon she crossed over the Kansas border into Colorado and worked in a cannabis dispensary. She also wrote a book called Live Free or Die, dedicated to the cause of health freedom. She became a medical cannabis advocate and activist.

Video healing testimony from Shona Banda:

But her Colorado stay was short lived. Due to undisclosed “circumstances,” possibly marital and child custody issues, she moved back to Garden City, Kansas, only 50 miles from the Colorado border.

When her 11 year old son innocently tried to explain that cannabis saved his mother’s life after a school class session warning of marijuana’s evils, Shona’s house was raided and the paraphernalia and marijuana she used to create small batches of cannabis oil were confiscated.

CPS agents took her son and awarded custody to her ex-husband in town. She was charged with several felonies and misdemeanors and was released on bail money raised by other medical cannabis activists and users. Now she has filed a lawsuit against city and county officials.

An Official Confirmation of Cannabis’ Efficacy for Crohn’s

In 2013 at Israel’s Meir Medical Center, 21 Crohn’s patients who were getting little or no results from orthodox medical treatments were separated into two groups for a double-blind control study with cannabis.

The half who inhaled the real stuff did much better than those who were deprived in the blind placebo group, some even achieved total remissions over the short eight week trial. Keep in mind that cannabis oil is a more potent approach than smoking or vaporizing for Crohn’s.

Holistic Cannabis Summit: Doctor Discusses Cannabis for Leaky Gut Syndrome

Joe Cohen, D.O., director of the Holos Health Center in Boulder, Colorado, discusses cannabis healing with other gut maladies, including “leaky gut.” on day three of the four day Cannabis Summit. D.O. stands for Doctor of Osteopathy. Osteopathic doctors often pursue natural healing tangents from allopathic medicine, but they also can prescribe pharmaceutical drugs and practice surgery. Dr. Joseph Mercola is an example of a D.O.

Dr. Cohen explains complex details in lucid layman’s language during his 59 minute and 30 second interview to easily inform listeners about several gut malady issues, cannabis, and chronic autoimmune disease.

For example, he explains how excess gluten and other triggers among those gluten sensitive create a substance called zonulin. It eats away the “grout” binding the “tiles” or cells in the gut, creating open spaces between the cells that allow food particle leaks to occur. This allows undigested tiny food particles to enter the bloodstream and create infections that can lead to sepsis or blood poisoning.

This creates an overly stimulated immune system attacking the human host instead of protecting it. The overzealous immune reaction causes chronic inflammation and autoimmune disease in different parts of the body. There are many disease symptoms under what Dr. Cohen calls the large umbrella called autoimmune disease.

Dr. Cohen further explains how cannabis heals leaky gut syndrome. Sepsis can ultimately lead to death in some cases, as mainstream medicine’s only “solution” is antibiotics that can worsen this condition. Conventional medicines do not seal up the small intestinal leaks.

But cannabis can. It gets to the cause of sepsis and the less life threatening but debilitating symptoms of leaky gut such as: Colitis; food allergies; arthritis; asthma; hay fever; eczema; chronic fatigue; lupus; MS; fibromyalgia; brain fog; and other autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Cohen explains how the gut microbiome connects to and monitors other immune system factors as well as the brain and central nervous system. Antibiotics do not heal the gut and can disturb the microbiome further by wiping out probiotic bacteria, those good guys, thus creating more problems with various chronic autoimmune disease symptoms throughout the body.

Mainstream medicine’s allopathic attempts at handling these various autoimmune symptoms leads to further misdiagnosis and more damage from medical procedures. Disease and death caused by medical interventions are considered iatrogenic. Iatrogenic disease and death is very high in America

Dr. Cohen expressed awe over how nature has provided all of us with an endocannabinoid receptor system throughout the body that accepts cannabinioids from the cannabis plant. THC, the highly medicinal psychoactive agent, and CBD or cannabidiol, also medicinal but not psychoactive, are the two major cannabinoids that seek entry into receptors of the human endocannabinoid system.

Dr. Cohen is also impressed with how many other relatively unexplored cannabinoids exist in cannabis along with various combinations of turpenes, compounds that give specific colors and aromas to different strains of cannabis.

He explains the we are on the threshold of understanding how different combinations of cannabinoids and turpenes create different entourage synergistic effects, implying there is much more to discover about medical cannabis’ applications.

Both Dr. Cohen and his interviewer, Cannabis Summit co-host nutritionist Laura Lagano, agree that cannabis is an adaptogenic herb. As the name implies, it adapts to whatever is occurring within organs and nervous systems to adjust it toward homeostasis, or proper balance. Adaptogenic herbs can increase or decrease immune functions according to what’s needed for homeostasis.

Cannabis, along with dietary adjustments, strikes at the root of all those various autoimmune symptoms instead of hacking at the branches of several symptoms with toxic pharmaceuticals. Progressive holistic Western medicine has begun to discover what Chinese and Ayurveda medicine have known for centuries: All health begins or ends in the gut.

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Source(s):

healthimpactnews.com

whynocure.com

reason.com

projects.propublica.org

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