Can Cannabis cure Arthritis?

Can Cannabis cure Arthritis?

You can see the humour in writing about Cannabis Medicine and a joint condition but seriously there is nothing funny about arthritis especially if you have it.

So just to be very clear a joint is that part of the body space where two bones meet for example the knees, ankles, hips, fingers and so on. Arthritis is then a debilitating joint disorder characterised by swelling of the joints.

The pain and swelling sets in when the cartilage breaks down and the bones start to rub against one another.

To this day there are no proven medications or treatments which can stop cartilage damage or in fact completely repair damaged cartilage. So the focus is therefore on reducing pain, swelling and stiffness with oral pain medications, pain relieving topical treatments, cortisone joint injections and also Hyaluronic acid joint injections.

There are also surgical options from arthroscopy which is cartilage repair, osteotomy which is bone removal and then you can also have a joint fusion or a total joint replacement for example a knee or hip replacement. Wow ii have seen people suffer immensely with these procedures and the recovery period is long and often unbearable.

How does Cannabis affect our joints?

At the age of 12 ii was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and when ii started using Cannabis to treat my cancer at age 28 ii noticed a remarkable improvement in my joint problems.  My knee and hip are still a concern but ii can honestly say that ii have very little joint pain or swelling and this ii attribute only to 20 years of Cannabis use.

It is tempting to use the other bone pun but because of the ‘funny’ side of arthritis and all the talk about stiff joints ii became interested in studying the healing effects of Cannabis on joint healing.

Cannabis produces its healing effects by stimulating the Cannabinoid receptors which respond to the chemical compounds within the plant known as Phyto-Cannabinoids. So these Cannabinoids ii am speaking about are plant derived and not synthetic as ii do not condone any synthetic Cannabis compound or medicine as yet and this is because of the very simple fact that ii do not believe that our natural Cannabinoid receptors would even recognize these synthetic compounds and ii wait to see what science will produce in this regard to prove me wrong.

So we all have Cannabinoid receptors in our bodies as well as naturally produced Cannabinoids known as Endocannabinoids. These receptors and Endocannabinoids form make up our Endocannabinoid system, the ‘new’ physiological system only discovered in the 1990’s. So yes definitely we are all supposed to consume Cannabis to stimulate our Endocannabinoid systems in the same way as we take other supplements to stimulate other systems for example vitamins and personally ii like to refer to Cannabis as a vital vitamin.

We already know that Cannabis assists in bone formation and this has paved the way for new studies in the treatment of osteoporosis.

Dr Yankel Gabet is a bone researcher at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and ii have been a fan of his studies for many years now.

Gabet and his team discovered that the Cannabinoid  now famously known as CBD in fact enhances bone healing by strengthening the cartilage ‘bridge’ that forms when a bone is repairing.  This bridge is known as the ‘fracture callus’ and it is made of collagen which then gradually mineralizes and hardens into new bone.

This new bone formation occurs around the old damaged bone thus automatically strengthening the joints as well.

Their results also revealed that this new strengthened collagen tissue was stronger than the older tissue (30 to 50% in most research studies) which means that bones treated with Cannabis are less likely to break in the future. You can read about my personal experience with my broken ankle in Can Cannabis cure Menopause. 

 Is it possible to isolate CBD from THC?

What is even more interesting and fascinating to me is that these and other Israeli studies have proven that these results were achieved through the isolation of the CBD Cannabinoid which means that there was no THC present in the medicine. 

As ii have written many times ii have never believed that there is such a thing as a zero THC medication and this is based on our studies of the ‘entourage effect’ of whole herbal Cannabis where all the compounds are required to work together. 

So ii have always believed that Cannabinoids simply do not work in isolation and often cease to even exist in the absence of THC the main pharmacological component of the Cannabis plant.

Times do change and science will always be my ultimate motivating factor in my research and my questions need convincing answers. If science can prove that they can successfully isolate CBD from the Cannabis plant and produce the exact same if not better results than were achieved in the presence of THC then you would say that ii am convinced.

Israel does have the correct facilities to perform such Cannabinoid isolation techniques and ii do believe that this is true and the results speak for themselves.

In my opinion pure raw natural Cannabis straight off the tree or juiced if you like is the best solution for a high CBD dose or raw Cannabis infused in olive oil just like the Holy Anointing oil described in the biblical book of Exodus especially for people with low tolerance to the psychedelic properties of THC.

In nature where there is a low THC count, for example in the leaves then there is naturally a high CBD count.  It is only the lack of testing facilities which prevents people from believing this so ii am pretty certain that if we tested buds which are THC high when heated that the buds from the same plant would then be high in CBD when consumed raw.

Looking to the future…

Please believe me when ii say to you that absolutely NO ONE needs to let arthritis stop them from living a ‘normal’ life.  In fact getting out there and exercising or even just walking is the very first step to managing this condition. Things like looking at diet and lifestyle are also obvious.

Let me tell you a story about a 66 year old woman who came to me with crippling arthritis as you can see in this picture below. To be honest if they were giving prizes for pictures which give credit to arthritis these pictures wouldn’t feature because honestly this lady could not even open her fingers when ii placed my hands on hers so she must have really struggled to get these shots.  Personally ii did not think that ii could help her and that is very rare for me to say.

This lady is a true angel she spends her life in the servitude of others like herself, the aged.  She works humbly in the kitchen at an old age home and the first time ii met her she told me that she especially loved peeling potatoes for her friends and with her hands in this condition it was impossible so she was desperate to find a cure so she could continue peeling potatoes.  This really appealed to the Irish in me and so ii started her on an extra strong dose of oral CBD drops.

After one month she sent me a pic which sadly ii lost and no one has now of her knitting…well ii truly could not believe my eyes and as ii always say even after years of working with this medicine every day ii am amazed and blown away at what this medicine can actually do.

So it is coming up to her 90 days of treatment at the end of April and as you can see below there is a dramatic improvement in the condition of her joints on both hands.

Clearly you can see the reduction of inflammation brought about by the formation of new cartilage around the bones thus building up the joints with stronger material than before. This is the power of Cannabis Medicine.

She states that she is able to use both her hands almost to full extent and that she is virtually pain free and is no longer taking her prescription meds. She is also deeply religious with an extremely positive outlook to life.

This is my favourite picture above and it brought tears to my eyes and ii asked her if she was clicking her fingers and she admitted that she had not quite got to that point yet but could well assume the position and was practicing daily.  Wow what a beautiful success story Praise JAH!

In this day and age of texting and typing we give thanks now for voice notes as the stress on the fingers and wrists and shoulders are easily manifested as arthritic conditions in young and old people. 

Please don’t wait until you are struggling to use your hands if you suspect you might have arthritis start preventative Cannabis treatment immediately to avoid suffering later in life.  A lot of the time in my work, people come to me as a last resort when nothing else has helped or they are on their death beds looking for a miracle in Cannabis.  

No plant can cure absolutely everything and so no one should expect this of Cannabis but yet in this plant we have the most amazing healing potential especially in respect of preventative medicine and this is because of the way our Endocannabinoid system works. And your system needs Phyto Cannabinoids to perform its vital functions.

SOURCES:

 www.xhosastyles.blogspot.com

Can Cannabis cure Osteoporosis?

Can Cannabis cure Menopause?

What can Cannabis do for you?

One Patient One Plant

Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine

Hebrew University Jerusalem Israel

www.leafly.com

IS CANNABIS LEGAL?

IS CANNABIS LEGAL?

My praises as always goes to the Most High JAH Rastafari who no man can deny was not visibly active throughout the legal process which led up to the new Constitutional Court ruling pertaining to Cannabis.

In fact at the Battle of Adwa march in Cape Town earlier last month ii told Jeremy that ii believed that JAH had sent him to help the plight of Rastafari especially with regards to the Holy Herb.  Jeremy is the leader of the future ruling party of South Africa, The Dagga Party and truly is such a humble soul and for this very reason ii do believe that JAH did indeed send him, and this is evident by the outcome of the Constitutional Court ruling by Judge Dennis Davis. 

The South African Constitution…the little book with big power…

Praise JAH! Even we give big UP Praises to Ras Garreth Prince for his truly tireless efforts and his ability to remain humble with Babylon over the years.  One of the hardest things about following Rastafari is to be prohibited from following your life calling because of an unfair law and so for me personally ii give massive thanks to the I because now ii too may proceed with my own calling. It is most refreshing that South Africa no longer has an oppressed minority group.

This picture speaks a million words of humble emotions if you cannot see the holiness in this man you are spiritually blind ii tell you…

WHAT DOES THE NEW RULING MEAN?

So now before we all get ahead of ourselves and start leading people to the prison gates let us look at exactly what this ruling means to the average person.

Firstly, it is a ruling, and not a new law which has been passed, a little knowledge of how SA law works will greatly help you to understand the system we are dealing with. Law is complicated to say the least but the way Jeremy explained it to me is nice and simple “It’s a process…” and from personal experience ii can tell you many of my own cases for trivial amounts of Cannabis dragged on in the courts for over 2 years at a time. 

So the law is a process and changing the law is an even bigger process as we are witnessing.

The new Constitutional Court ruling says that it is unconstitutional to arrest an adult for ‘cultivating and consuming Cannabis in the privacy of their homes.’  Since the news ii have seen various versions of the 66 page ruling and some documents include ‘purchase’ in the rights of using Cannabis in the privacy of one’s home but this needs clarification in my mind. Because for sure it is an issue as to where people will get their Cannabis because it is not growing time now and obviously a growth period whether indoor or outdoor is required.

Can I still be arrested?

This does not mean that you cannot be arrested on this basis for the next two years while the government relooks these laws which were ruled upon. It is obvious that there will be certain restrictions to the new laws for instance how many plants a person may grow in their back yards and ii see this as the most important consideration because logic has to prevail. You need a lot of plant material to make just a small amount of medicine. So there are many factors…factors which are unique to South Africa which need to be considered.

The Weekend Argus carried the story on their front page today:

“Green light as dagga ban goes up in smoke by Noloyiso Mtembu

In a cheery ending to an otherwise bleak week – for dagga aficionados – users of the intoxicating plant may now legally grow and consume it in the privacy of their homes, without fear of arrest.”

Currently there are already millions of South Africans who consume Cannabis in their homes, so to arrest one household we would effectively have to arrest everyone and this is just ludicrous which is exactly why we are changing these laws. 

So in other words if you do happen to get arrested in the privacy of your home then you will  have to apply for a ‘stay of prosecution’ for the  balance of the two year period and further that you may use this ruling as a defence in your hearing.

Let me give you another example.  Last year in a Cape Town drug dealer Ms Grace Kunjana took the state on in the Constitutional Court and won.  The ruling granted that it was unconstitutional to raid a drug dealer’s private home without a search warrant and this led to the positive precedent being set in terms of search warrants being a requirement for a domestic raid. It was ruled that drug dealers are also entitled to privacy in the home.

As a matter of interest there was NO Cannabis involved in this case and the nearly half a ton of hard drugs confiscated by the police was not to be used as evidence because there was no search warrant in place, but this ruling greatly benefited the Cannabis consumer and again we respect our Constitution in this regard.

This new ruling is also still being considered by the government and as far as ii know at this time no new law has actually been gazetted as yet. To date this ruling has not yet been challenged in court.  To me this means that no one has been arrested following a raid without a search warrant. So as you can see the police do honour court rulings and we respect this way of reasoning. So respect does work both ways with the government.

RESPECT THE LAW…

So our laws are to be respected in terms of privacy rights under the constitution and indeed we should be proud of our Constitution because the reality is that the majority of people do not even realise the true benefits of this ruling for our nation.

In Rastafari we passionately believe that Cannabis is the tree of life referred to in many parts of the biblical scriptures but in particular in The Revelation which speaks of “The Tree of Life of which the leaves will heal the nations” because this is the truth and this is why we always say that “the herb will heal the nations”.

People always ask me why ii follow Rastafari and ii always give the same reason “JAH is freedom” and truly this court ruling is testament to the freedom which JAH promises because ii know that Cannabis can free us from the dreaded diseases which plague the people of our nation physically mentally and spiritually.

The next two years will really be about our behaviour and how we respect this ruling and most of all how we respect the herb and therefore ourselves.

For instance ii am telling you NOW for free, that the only antagonist for Cannabis is alcohol and ii completely and utterly discourage you from consuming these two together.  Other narcotic recreational drugs which are not natural ii also do not recommend using with Cannabis. This ii am saying not because ii think cocaine for example is bad it’s because of the reality of how the different chemicals from different plants work on various neural pathways in your brain which can be dangerous and often disastrous. This is exactly how ‘Cannabis induced psychosis’ is developed which is actually alcohol induced psychosis most of the time in my personal experience. If you can respect the herb then you can respect yourself and then you can respect your fellow man.

So always remember to keep things tidy and don’t start driving around with your bong in your car’s cup holder just yet since you never know where the next road block is or whether those police have search warrants even to body search.

Many people who have suffered under the old laws which were now ruled upon may feel the desire to ‘pull a zap sign’ at the police as they may pass your house…yes this is tempting but completely uncalled for…and will almost certainly result in arrest. What is necessary in our behaviour is to be humble and grateful and this is how we will effect positive change in this country.

YOU MAY NOT:

Consume Cannabis in public places, only in the privacy of your home

Grow Cannabis to sell…only for personal use

Grow Cannabis to make any medicine to sell

Sell any Cannabis from your home…only for blessings

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE…

Our country is about to become the most amazing place on earth because truly our government has shown us that there is hope to sit down and reason about freedom and about what is right and wrong.  As far as ii am aware this ruling of our Constitution represents a Cannabis first in this new age, where the private individual is given their rights before the corporations have their day in court with the MCC guidelines.  This is next level consciousness in my humble opinion and truly demonstrates a spirit of compassion for the healing of our people.

You will immediately start seeing a massive difference in people’s behaviour and their relations with each other and especially towards our Earth.  This ii can guarantee you…this is the start to the transformation and shift in human consciousness we have been waiting for.

It is my personal choice to not even write about the possible negative behavioural traits which could arise and which ii have personally experienced in times of intense prohibition and ii truly believe with my entire essence that this too will change so ii will not give it any power other than to acknowledge it as a possible reality. In my work of teaching medicine gardens ii do caution people not to advertise their Cannabis plants. The past 99 years of prohibition has taught people what the true value of Cannabis is and you could quite literally say that money does grow on trees so ii do caution you to think in this light.

Through the consciousness of the Cannabis plant our own consciousness is expanded.

You will also now start to see a massive new interest in Cannabis and all the amazing benefits. People you would never have suspected will now start to come out of the Cannabis closet and some will even surprise you and reveal a stash of Cannabis seeds they have been collecting.

Do not be surprised if the Rand starts to climb because this is the most positive thing to happen ever in our history and will no doubt attract much foreign interest especially in the Cannabis Industry which again our government has reasoned to allow us to experience albeit with extremely tight restrictions. But we give thanks that we live under a Constitution which gives us the parameters to engage in rational reasoning with our leaders. 

This is the positivity investors would no doubt be looking at when considering investing in our land.

Let us also not forget that we have a lot of activity coming up this year starting with the Bongalong Cannabis march on 6 May.  Everyone who believes in freedom should attend this gathering to show the nation how many people are interested in this freedom.

We also have other High Court (love this pun) hearings coming up with The Dagga Couple in Gauteng during the month of August this year ….. as well as various S.A.C.C.R.A. legal initiatives in KZN which we need to support in order to achieve our freedom.  Praise JAH!

Respect the Herb Respect thy Self…