High-Solation During lockdown, By Dee Mani-Mitchell
Undeniably Covid-19 lockdowns have plahyed a major part in people's mental health...
When people were given strict orders to stay at home most of the population had a very hard time coping, in the UK - the British Journal of Psychiatry compiled a survey of 3000 adults, the study found that 14% had suicidal thoughts from March to May, this was when the lockdowns first hit, if a follow-up study was taken out now, I’m pretty certain that percentage would be doubled. This is an alarming number, 1 in 7 people have considered ending their lives which is incredibly sad and an interesting fact of these figures is that 14% of 3000 is 420! What a poignant number to be writing this article which will be based around cannabis use.
I’ve personally noticed that many people are turning to alcohol to get them through such unprecedented times, however, alcohol damages the body tenfold as it compromises the immune system and increases the risk of adverse health outcomes, alcohol is also a psychoactive substance that is associated with mental disorders, people at risk or who have an alcohol-use disorder are particularly vulnerable, especially when in self-isolation.
Cannabis is the complete opposite of alcohol as it boosts our immune systems thanks to the high antioxidants the plant contains. I decided to gather as many different people’s experiences with dealing with their time spent in lockdown as to present the fact that people from all walks of life are turning more and more to the medical benefits of our sacred plant. These individual stories have proven that cannabinoids are necessary for optimal mental health.
Kerry Downing
Kerry lives in Stoke in the West Midlands (UK) which she describes as depressing with rarely any activities happening regularly. Kerry’s health first started to affect her many years ago following a back injury which left her with degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis. At the time the doctors prescribed her a concoction of toxic pharma medication which she refused to take; she did opt for physiotherapy however that only helped with alleviating the stiffness without actually healing the root cause.
Besides having to deal with the lack of mobility, Kerry noticed that her mental health was also affected, her low mood brought on heavy depression and anxiety. Kerry decided to take her health into her own hands and started to consume natural smoothies to repair inside out by fuelling her cells with nutrition, she also started to make her cannabis-based cream to use as a topical analgesic and also started to take CBD and CBG oral drops. This natural combination healed Kerry with ease, her anxiety and stress levels subsided and flare-ups were at a minimum and she began to understand how the composition of the cannabinoids helped with different aspects of healing.
Now fast forward to the lockdowns and Kerry admits they have played havoc with her mental health, explaining that she feels the actual fear portrayed is worse than the actual virus. To get her through these isolated times she’s increased her dose of CBD which is helping with her coping mechanisms, alongside this Kerry has also felt the need to stop watching the news channels and has decided to pay no attention to the media as a whole as she feels it’s playing a part in her mental health. Kerry believes a spiritual path is vital to her healing, recognising that spirituality has taught her that she needs to understand her journey from scratch as I’m sure we all do.
Suzanne Foskett
Welsh residing Businesswoman Suzanne, owns a family foodservice company, supplying busy hotels, cafe’s, restaurants, hospitals, and schools. Of course, the lockdowns have undoubtedly had a knock-on effect in Suzanne’s business which has naturally brought on an increased amount of anxiety.
With no previous health issues, Suzanne is controlling her mental health issues by using hemp oil, without it she admits she doesn’t feel she would have been able to cope during such challenging times. Suzanne feels these lockdowns are criminal and detrimental to the health and wellbeing of so many people and I couldn’t agree with her more.
Michele Curtis
Michele was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, she graciously put all her faith into the oncologist's advice of a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation - aka cut, poison and burn. A lot of people don’t understand the detrimental effects on the body these toxic cancer drugs have, hence why I purposely wrote my book (My Way) to raise awareness of the pharmaceutical and medical industry.
Chemotherapy is the biggest carcinogen on the planet, hence why Michele then went onto develop a recurrence in 2017 (most recurrences happen within 5 years) and was given the devastating news that she only had months left to live, this is when she first came across the healing benefits of cannabis.
Faced with such devastating news Michele decided to turn her back on the palliative care offered and instead opted to self-medicate with cannabis after doing her research, starting with CBD oil, then increasing to full extract cannabis oil (FECO) once understanding that the THC is the main driver in healing due to the entourage effect of encouraging the cannabinoids to work together in unison.
Still alive and fighting fit 3 years after doctors proclaimed Michele's life to be over, she now takes her FECO and CBD oil daily. During the isolated lockdowns, Michele has stated that she feels it necessary to boost her daily doses with additional joints to help to balance and calm her mood, which she describes that her anxiety would be through the roof without. Also, in between lockdown Michele has felt trapped in her thoughts and she understands it must be a horrendous time for others who aren't self-medicating.
As a parent, she’s worried about our younger generation, understandably too; as what’s happening around the world today will have a massive negative effect on their evolution. Michele is looking forward to the days that growing your own medicine is no longer frowned upon in society - I’m 100% behind her!
Katherine Tucker
Nutritional therapist and herbal medicine student Katherine has decided that she will not be participating in the latest set of lockdowns as being a key worker, she will still be working. Katherine’s plant method of choice is smoking and she dabbles with a mixture of Sativa and Indica buds, she admits that if she was more clued up on the strains, she would probably use them more to her advantage especially with the creative flow that a good Sativa can bring, however, Katherine does at times, feels too overwhelmed with life to be able to fully enjoy the euphoric state our sacred plants have to offer, often opting instead for using them to wind down and take a break from the demands of being employed, self-employed and a student.
Whilst Katherine is not dependent on daily doses of cannabis, she unapologetically states that she does enjoy having a smoke, fortunately now she has no serious health issues that she relies upon the plant to self-heal; which is a slightly different story to how things were almost 20 years ago when Katherine was diagnosed with cannabis psychosis. This disorder is quite common when youths start smoking cannabis before their brains have fully developed and scientists have discovered that our brains aren’t fully mature until we’re at least 25, therefore young regular cannabis smokers can suffer such implications.
Katherine’s disarray affected her life so drastically that she was unable to complete her GCSEs at the school she was attending, which in hindsight, may have been a blessing as she was able to achieve 7 A* - B grades elsewhere. Her school environment was (as she describes) heavily toxic with so much stigma at the time, surrounding child mental health issues.
Luckily Katherine was able to discern between reality and paranoid delusion which thankfully she used to pull herself out from the darkness, with the support of her parents who were both mental health nurses. Now at 33, Katherine understands that the legislation laws are hypocritical and solely believes the rationale behind such prohibition is quite frankly ridiculous, especially as everyday life can find us in much darker places than cannabis use can ever spiral us into.
Tracy Whitaker
Beauty therapist Tracy, understands only too well how powerful our divine plant is after she began to self-medicate with full extract cannabis oil (FECO) back in 2018; following a life-changing cancer diagnosis.
Sadly, during her illness, Tracy felt pressured into having a mastectomy followed by copious amounts of toxic and torturous chemotherapy and radiotherapy, otherwise known as cut, poison, and burn! However, using FECO helped to repair the damage caused by conventional medicine and now also assists in keeping her cancer at bay to avoid any recurrences which are often present in a cancer diagnosis. Thankfully, her cannabis has kept her grounded and calm during the lockdowns and she fears nothing while she’s self-medicating, feeling that her body is happy and healthier for it.
Fortunately, the regular dose she takes is potent enough for her to be able to cope with isolation without the need to increase. Cancer warrior Tracy believes that cannabis can heal every illness and I have to agree with a point that she made, which is that the world seems to have gotten carried away with man-made synthetics and forgotten about our natural world and Mother Nature.
Francine
Francine has been battling cancer for a while, during her diagnosis she never thought she’d go down the cannabis heal route as she admits she was programmed to believe that cannabis is a gateway drug that ruins users lives, she confesses that she bought into “the lie” portrayed upon us from our governments, however after much research she understood the rationale behind the legalities surrounding cannabis and knows the pharmaceutical industry would struggle should the sacred plant become fully legalised worldwide.
Francine has no idea what type of cannabis bud she buys as the state she lives in it’s illegal, so she procures an ounce and produces her oil which she takes nightly however during the lockdowns she has admitted to micro-dosing during the day.
Francine confesses that at the start of these isolations she felt like she was getting “cancer all over again”! Francine quite rightfully admits that if you have cancer you NEED cannabis, however that necessity has now fuelled into her everyday life as she understands it’s part of our biological make-up, we all have an endocannabinoid system, so we’re simply just topping up as we would any deficient nutrie
Parveen
Businesswoman Parveen from Yorkshire was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer which resulted in the toxic conventional treatment of surgery and radiotherapy. She started self-medicating with a tiny amount of full extract cannabis oil to help alleviate the pain. During the lockdowns, Parveen feels the cannabis oil has been helping her with the stress and anxiety that these unprecedented times have prevailed.
The sleepless nights from the uneasiness were beginning to affect not only her state of mind but her family’s too. She felt even normal routines were playing havoc with her sense of normality which became a detrimental effect on her mental health. Without self-medicating she knew she wouldn’t be able to carry on working, which would have in turn manipulated her financial situation. Parveen explains of her frustration that there are billions of pounds plowed into pharmaceutical drugs, but never anything into alternative medicine.
Going on to explain that Government health advisors have stated the link between the immune system and recovery from COVID19, yet the health experts and dieticians who are all over the media don’t advertise such benefits.
She also feels universities who train the next generation of doctors, nurses, clinicians, etc only teach the pharmaceutical way, which benefits the benefactors of societies, we all must start searching, teaching, working, and understanding our bodies. The ending quote from Parveen is the one which I’ve chosen to end this article on - “The safest and productive cures are the ones that are banned!”
Written and Published By Dee Mani-Mitchell in Weed World Magazine issue 150
Validate your login