Cannabis and end of life care

Can Cannabis play a role in palliative care?

In my life ii have been using Cannabis to save people’s lives from some of the most horrific medical conditions even ii have ever seen and while Cannabis has already saved millions of lives in medical miracles over the years Cannabis is also the most effective and safest medicinal option in palliative care. Patients suffering with symptoms of incurable conditions benefit immensely in respect of treating nausea, vomiting, headaches, pain, fatigue, insomnia, lack of appetite, constipation and diarrhoea, muscle wastage, anxiety d depression. Most of the time doctors will prescribe a different drug for each of these symptoms where Cannabis will take care of all of them as a comprehensive treatment with no side effects or organ damage.

With palliative care comes end of life care and this is where Cannabis also serves as an adjuvant medication which means that it offers treatment mostly to suppress any secondary tumour formations and secondly to boost the immune system from the harsh effects of chemotherapy and other radiation treatments. Terminally ill patients and people at the end of their natural lives need care which is designed to make them as comfortable and as clear minded as possible. Today end of life care generally consists of pain killers and more pain killers which only make people more nauseous and more depressed and confused.

On a spiritual level Cannabis can also help us to deal with our questions and fears about death and transcending to the afterlife. It is the psychoactive effects of THC which can induce feelings of euphoria and relaxation in certain people while in others who have heavy hearts it can bring about feelings of paranoia and fear. Death is never easy because we really don’t know much about it but one thing is for sure that death is always going to be part of life and this is why it is so important to address our spiritual health while we live. It is the psychedelic properties of Cannabis which can help us to achieve such enlightment. THC can take us to levels of consciousness we are not able to reach without psychedelics and it is true that Cannabis is not the only plant which can offer end of life assistance many people use magic mushrooms as an example for this same purpose as humans have been doing for spiritual rituals for thousands of years.

It is really difficult to evaluate this type of Cannabis healing other than taking the patient’s own reports into account and a lot of the time patients simply pass on and their families wonder whether they were in pain. Most patients and their families and carers report that Cannabis medicine is very valuable in assisting with the emotional and physical trauma associated with terminal illness and imminent death. And it is not uncommon for patients to gain such incredible healing that they are able to be discharged from hospice and actually go home and do things for themselves like bathing and housework and this sense of independence allows them to pass in peace at home. Many terminal patients have confessed that this is their ultimate dying wish and it is the pleasure of our human companion plant to grant this wish. 

In my work ii have been called to administer Cannabis medicine on the death bed because the patient requested this treatment in order to ‘let go’. It is both heart-breaking and illuminating to witness this type of self-medication at the end of life and patients have told me how they felt that they were ready to pass on and some have given me vivid visions of their experiences and this can only confirm the positive healing effects of Cannabis in our physical life cycle from birth to death. Like abortion euthanasia, assisted dying are controversial subjects and all ii can offer is that each one of us is responsible for our own lives and the quality of life we wish to experience and part of this responsibility is our own deaths and transition to the spiritual realm.