Maximum Yield Cannabis USA February/March 2018 | Page 39

“I had a friend whose father was a Vietnam veteran who
was using cannabis to treat pain and post-traumatic stress
disorder,” she says. Whenever he overheard her complaining
about her pain, her friend’s father insisted that she try
cannabis as a way of dealing with it. Edgar, however,
always refused because of the stigma attached to pot.
“I would get kicked out of my house, kicked out of my
school, kicked out of the choir that was ever so important
to me—no, I wasn’t going to do that,” she says.
Later, as Edgar tackled the daunting process of weening
herself off the cocktail of pharmaceuticals, her friend and
confidant noticed her discomfort and pleaded with the
suffering teenager to “at least try one toke.” So, just “to
shut her up,” Edgar took that one toke.
“I could feel my body relax,” she says. “I could feel the
control over my muscles coming back instead of the
spasms I was used to.” Edgar walked unassisted up some
stairs she previously couldn’t tackle without a cane and
“walked across an uneven field with what seemed to be
grace for the first time.”
“It didn’t last long, but it was there; it was definitely there.”
After that initial experience, Edgar took a toke whenever
cannabis was shared. She began to utilize cannabis as a
way of managing her pain.
Then, in 1988, she was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis (MS).
By this point, however, Edgar was well-versed in the
benefits of medicinal marijuana. She says she believes that
her ability to deal with the symptoms of her MS came easier
to her because of what she had learned from treating her
motorcycle accident injuries with cannabis.
“I know the difference between nerve pain, bone pain, and
soft tissue pain. I know what a ligament feels like when it’s
too tight or too loose. I know what a muscle spasm is. I know
the difference between muscle fatigue and muscle strain.
What can I rest, what I have recovered from, and now what
actually needs recovery,” she says.
She says opioids made her feel numb, but cannabis worked
differently. For her, using cannabis helped isolate the pain,
which then allowed her to self-manage it.
“I will smoke indica first thing in the morning because
my muscles are tight when I wake up. So, I like to say
that I walk my way into my day. When my muscles have
relaxed and have allowed me to feel more pliable and
more fluid in my motions, then I will smoke some sativa to
increase that sensation. But I want to be out of that realm
of pain first,” she says.
“Some people think that it’s sativa that helps with pain.
It’s the THC that helps with pain. There’s a difference
between sativa THC and indica THC to me. Sativa is
a stimulant. I don’t want to stimulate what my body is
experiencing. I want it to calm down.”
Edgar also says she used cannabis for nausea.
“One of the things that cannabis does—and I think it’s
the only drug that successfully does this without side
effects—is that it treats nausea,” she says. “Pain causes
nausea for me, MS causes motion sickness. That’s two
times normal nausea for me.”
myhydrolife.com
“ Whenever he
overheard
her complaining
about her pain,
her friend’s father
insisted that she
try cannabis as a
way of dealing with
it. Edgar, however,
always refused because
of the stigma attached to pot.”
Having spent the past 40 years learning to navigate the
harsh realities of living with extreme trauma, pain, and
chronic illness, Edgar felt she had to share her knowledge.
For 10 years, she produced and hosted a weekly talk show
called Living for the Health of It on a regional community
radio station. Dedicating one show a month to the “cannabis
question,” Edgar worked passionately to educate her
community about the power of conscious self-management
and the broad-spectrum benefits of cannabis therapy.
Edgar just recently retired her talk show. She says she is
proud of the decade-long investment, but she’s ready to
explore other avenues of cannabis education and she feels
she’s well-qualified for the role of consultant.
“Now it’s time for me to get more involved with cannabis
care—talking to health care professionals, helping them
understand the benefit of cannabis for someone who is in
physiotherapy, for someone who is dealing with PTSD. For me,
I’m able to do all this and remain as active in my community—
and engage with the community that I live in—and it’s all
because I have access to cannabis.”
Dave Owen Rama is a writer, broadcaster, journalist, artist, DJ,
curator, cinephile, and musicologist. He is a regular reviewer for
B.C. Musician Magazine and has hosted the popular Lovecast
radio show on CHLY 101.7 FM for more than 10 years. Dave is
passionate about art, culture, music, film, media, travel, food,
festivals, social justice, community, stewardship, and the health
of this incredible planet we call Earth.
grow. heal. learn. enjoy.
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