Charia by Dale Chihuly
at Aria in Las Vegas
photo by Amy Calistri
Gaia is Green
treehugger.com
green snake
green eggs & ham
green aurora over Greenland
it ain't easy being green
Medical Marijuana (3): Human Experimentation
This really is human experimentation. The human being would be me and the experimentation being necessary because the self-serving medical establishment coupled with reactionary social policies have prevented responsible investigation into the medical uses of cannabis. But I did say earlier that I was going to avoid the politics of pot, at least until later; so let's get back to experimentation.
Each morning my baseline medical question is:
"How am I feeling today?"
The start of the day's data collection has many variables to be considered:
-levels of pain, stiffness, inflammation, range of motion;
-what medications, if any, do I plan to use?
-what exercise do I undertake both directly and indirectly aimed at my aching back?
-what exercise did I do yesterday?
-how was the night's sleep?
Then I need to observe how the day goes and over time hopefully figure out why. Prior knowledge informs me that how I feel in the evening is not always dependent on the above variables or how I felt upon arising. Sometimes x = y and other times not so much. All of which goes to say that this is tricky. And with the medical marijuana even more so because the effects are not consistent.
Let me illustrate with my first product review.
A professionally packaged powdered product consisting of: Pure Cane Sugar, Dry Whole Milk, Dry Nonfat Milk, Ground Chocolate, Unsweetened Cocoa, Mini Marshmellows, Salt, Cannabis Extract (each package contains the equivalent of 1/2g-2/3g dried cannabis flowers). The package instructions state one serving but does not suggest dosage. Powder can be mixed with hot water, milk or coffee. Like all instant cocoa mixes, it's better with milk than water.
My first experiment was to drink a 1/8 serving on an empty stomach. As I have previously disclosed, I am a lightweight when it comes to the effects of cannabis. So I start slow and increase the dosage as I go along. A one-eighth dose did not cause any of the effects associated with being high but I also felt no discernible pain relief. At noon I took another 1/8 and noticed some pain relief (or it was just a good day and around midday my back had loosened up). A final 1/4 dose around 6 pm with some clear pain relief.
Two days later I took the entire remaining 1/2 dose from the first packet; some mild pain alleviation over six hours. No marijuana buzz noticed. End of first packet/full dose of Sweet Relief, notice I had no "high" effects at all.
The second does of Sweet Relief, was divided in a 1/2 dose on day one; and 1/4 on days two and three. In days one and three, I got a pot high; on day three (1/4 dose) it was what I consider too much for normal functioning. There was a good deal of pain relief with the 1/2 dose but none on the following two days. However, days two and three were very stiff and sore days on awakening.
So you see the problems with good data collection. Plus I have now tried this one product in combination with both smoked product and a topical spray. So I really have some combination reports to write up. Yes, this is indeed going to be tricky.
Previous articles in this series:
Medical Marijuana (1): An Inquiry
Medical Marijuana (2): The Dispensary
Two days later I took the entire remaining 1/2 dose from the first packet; some mild pain alleviation over six hours. No marijuana buzz noticed. End of first packet/full dose of Sweet Relief, notice I had no "high" effects at all.
The second does of Sweet Relief, was divided in a 1/2 dose on day one; and 1/4 on days two and three. In days one and three, I got a pot high; on day three (1/4 dose) it was what I consider too much for normal functioning. There was a good deal of pain relief with the 1/2 dose but none on the following two days. However, days two and three were very stiff and sore days on awakening.
So you see the problems with good data collection. Plus I have now tried this one product in combination with both smoked product and a topical spray. So I really have some combination reports to write up. Yes, this is indeed going to be tricky.
Previous articles in this series:
Medical Marijuana (1): An Inquiry
Medical Marijuana (2): The Dispensary
All Those (42) Years Ago
If you are over 47 or 48 years old, you know exactly where you were 42 years ago today.
If you would like to lightly reminisce, here is a unique point of view. The First Lunar Landing as told by the astronauts.
One small step.
Reflecting Your Life
Twenty plus years ago I made a series of continuing education tapes for real estate license renewal in California. I got studio time only after the "big names" in real estate got their shot. The problem was simply that none of them had ever done live to video before and they sucked at it. The studio tech staff went crazy dealing with the prima donnas and incompetent speakers. Then they decided to give others a shot. I was one of the "others."
I brought coffee and pot for the crew and told them just to turn on the cameras, I would start talking and we would put in all the graphics and low-lines in post-production. In other words, we would shoot the tapes they way they were meant to be shot.
After my first day of shooting I took 150 raw minutes of tape home to watch over the weekend and dream up appropriate visuals to edit into the final product. You see unlike those "real estate professionals" I had actually taught before; so I knew that all the notes in the world only meant confusion on the screen. My system was to just talk for 50 minutes (end of tape); then talk for another 50 minutes and repeat. Then I would watch the footage to see what I said and write an outline to fit what was on the screen. Seemed like a good plan and it worked but there is one more part of the story I wanted to tell today.
The next day I popped the first tape into the VHS player and sat down with a pad of paper. A couple of minutes into the lecture I thought: "Now that's a really good point, I should write that down, so I don't forget it." About half way through my note taking I stopped, looked up at the screen and realized I was taking notes on myself. I had impressed me! Talk about a mutual admiration society.
The other story comes from the writing of Check Raising the Devil. Our process was to get all of the interviews and research done on a chapter, then to rough draft it and then to read it out loud to Mike to get his comments and corrections. I have mentioned before that some of the best scenes in the book came from Mike adding some juicy tidbits during this reading of the drafts.
This one time, Mike had wanted his manager and another person to sit in on a reading to get their take on how the project was coming along. My co-author Amy was in town for this session, it was really a litmus test of whether or not we had captured Mike's authentic voice. This chapter was about a particularly dark and difficult time in Mike's life, it had taken several interviews sessions and a few different approaches to get all the painful details out of him.
I was reading the pages out loud and about mid chapter I began to feel the gravity of what we were disclosing. I paused and glanced over at Amy, I could see on her face she was feeling it as well. She nodded towards Mike as if directing my attention. I looked at him and saw he was in tears, not the only tears in the room as it turned out.
Imagine the darkest time of your life, then imagine having those scenes, those dark times you lived through, having them read to you with professional setting, timing, scene structure and dialogue. Imagine having your life reflected back to you in word, deed, voice or videotape. I can tell you it's a surreal and profound experience no matter which side of the screen you occupy.
I brought coffee and pot for the crew and told them just to turn on the cameras, I would start talking and we would put in all the graphics and low-lines in post-production. In other words, we would shoot the tapes they way they were meant to be shot.
After my first day of shooting I took 150 raw minutes of tape home to watch over the weekend and dream up appropriate visuals to edit into the final product. You see unlike those "real estate professionals" I had actually taught before; so I knew that all the notes in the world only meant confusion on the screen. My system was to just talk for 50 minutes (end of tape); then talk for another 50 minutes and repeat. Then I would watch the footage to see what I said and write an outline to fit what was on the screen. Seemed like a good plan and it worked but there is one more part of the story I wanted to tell today.
The next day I popped the first tape into the VHS player and sat down with a pad of paper. A couple of minutes into the lecture I thought: "Now that's a really good point, I should write that down, so I don't forget it." About half way through my note taking I stopped, looked up at the screen and realized I was taking notes on myself. I had impressed me! Talk about a mutual admiration society.
The other story comes from the writing of Check Raising the Devil. Our process was to get all of the interviews and research done on a chapter, then to rough draft it and then to read it out loud to Mike to get his comments and corrections. I have mentioned before that some of the best scenes in the book came from Mike adding some juicy tidbits during this reading of the drafts.
This one time, Mike had wanted his manager and another person to sit in on a reading to get their take on how the project was coming along. My co-author Amy was in town for this session, it was really a litmus test of whether or not we had captured Mike's authentic voice. This chapter was about a particularly dark and difficult time in Mike's life, it had taken several interviews sessions and a few different approaches to get all the painful details out of him.
I was reading the pages out loud and about mid chapter I began to feel the gravity of what we were disclosing. I paused and glanced over at Amy, I could see on her face she was feeling it as well. She nodded towards Mike as if directing my attention. I looked at him and saw he was in tears, not the only tears in the room as it turned out.
Imagine the darkest time of your life, then imagine having those scenes, those dark times you lived through, having them read to you with professional setting, timing, scene structure and dialogue. Imagine having your life reflected back to you in word, deed, voice or videotape. I can tell you it's a surreal and profound experience no matter which side of the screen you occupy.
Apartment with a View
A regular reader pointed out that I have not shared any window gazing from my high perch here in Berkeley; at least not recently. So today a few peeks or peaks from my windows on the San Francisco Bay. The first shot above will be familiar to many Bay Area residents and summer visitors - the fog.
For those who haven't read my previous ruminations on my view, the City of San Francisco is out there about ten miles, that's Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge in the middle ground halfway across the Bay.
[on most computers you can click on the picture to get a bigger & better view]
Just to the right/north of the city picture are the twin spires of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Here's a shot of the City on a bluer day.
...and then there is the ever changing light from the western sky, here giving the Golden Gate some backlighting.
To the north, further right, are the Marin Headlands and Mt. Tamalpais; in the summer months the sun sets around the peaks.
Sometimes gold.
other times...
Saturation Saturday: Brown
brown roses
brownies
brown bear
turtle brownie
brown pelican
mint brownie
Chocolate Fountain at
Bellagio in Las Vegas
extra happy brownie
Charlie Brown
Medical Marijuana (2): The Dispensary
Non-Californian residents might be surprised how many little towns and crossroads here in the Golden State now support a medical marijuana dispensary. Being that I live in the great San Francisco Bay area, I have many choices of which facility to use. So naturally, being a researcher, I needed to survey the possibilities. Thus far I have visited eight dispensaries in Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco. They range from the back of a coffee shop to a a highly professional, one-on-one exclusive operation with very knowledgeable sales staff.
When I say 'back of the coffee shop' I mean walking past the big steel and copper steamer and the cases of pastries to a back room which could only have been a store room before its conversion and speaking to the owner/operator/clerk through a double pained glass shield; he in the storeroom section and me in the 5'x10' anteroom.
At the other end of the spectrum is the wonderful Vapor Room in the Lower Haight district of San Francisco. A few of the dispensaries have a cabaret licenses, which means they can allow customers to light up on the premises. After purchasing some product there, we sat down and lite up a bowl of a particular strain we had been searching for. The three of us on that day's excursion shared the product and I collected notes for my experiment from three rather than just myself.
When we emerged from the Vapor Room, one of my companions said: "Wouldn't it be great if adults could do exactly what we just did? No fear, no hassles."
My response was: "We just did."
While I intend to check out several more dispensaries over the course of this experiment, I will say now that they are going to need to go a long way to top the Harborside Health Center in Oakland. A true co-op, they prefer to obtain their product from patient-members. They offer free classes and services including yoga, reiki, chiropractic and more. They also do more analysis of their product than is required by state statutes. More on the details of that in-depth analysis in my next post.
My current available options (personal stash) now include: four varieties for smoking, one beverage, a two-part tincture/cream topical product, a lollipop (lollipot?), several cookies and some hybrid hash. Starting next week, I will begin my clinical reports, observations and product reviews.
Brazilian Skunk
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