Surviving the Opioid Pandemic with Cannabis

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It’s been over 3 years now since my own ‘Opioid Exit’ in which Cannabis played its role as the star of the show. As time has gone by it’s becoming a mission to help others who are trying to become free of addiction – and in doing so what’s been discovered is this is not an American problem. The new title for what’s going on as I’m concerned should be the ‘Opioid Pandemic’. The reason why is, as a cannabis guide, this problem is found all over the globe. It is a disease that is causing it known as addiction – humans have found a way to be dependent on substances for thousands of years but more so in the past century.

Australian Author Kelly Heath published a well-read study entitled “The classical definition of a pandemic is not elusive”.

When a search on the word ‘pandemic’ is done on the internet the definition is from that study. “A pandemic is defined as “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people”.² The classical definition includes nothing about population immunity, virology or disease severity.”

Merriam Webster is another great source that’s been used to define words for well over a century now. A ‘Pandemic’ is defined as “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population: a pandemic outbreak of a disease.”

Scholarly articles can be cited by the droves – including “Understanding the Disease of Addiction.”

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued.

“ “Why Addiction is a “Disease”, and Why It’s Important” “

A 4 page document that goes over substance abuse addiction as a disease. The foundation to state that the Opioid Epidemic has turned into a Pandemic is very apparent. We know that we can treat it in the United States simply by anecdotal evidence and now scientific in regards to cannabis patient response to the plant instead of the pharmaceutical.

My own 24 year addiction is a personal testimony to the power of the cannabis plant. But, first, I wanted to be clear that what I’m surviving isn’t a Crisis or Epidemic – it’s a Pandemic and it’s taking lives without an online counter of the moment by moment tally. The vast increase in both addiction and overdose since the start of the Covid Crisis around the globe has been dramatic – and it’s not just in the United States.

The U.K. Government office of National Statistics reports that approximately half of all drug poisoning deaths registered in 2020 involved an opiate (49.6%; 2,263 deaths).

British Columbia, Canada reported a 25% plus increase in overdoses after the onset of Covid with 2,224 deaths in 2020 alone to overdoses. Worldwide, about 500 000 deaths are attributable to drug use. More than 70% of these deaths are related to opioids according to the World Health Organization – showing that although the U.S. was the leader in getting addicted other nations have similar issues.

WHO goes on “Worldwide, about 275 million people (or 5.5% of the global population aged 15-64 years) used drugs at least once in 2019. Among them, about 62 million people used opioids. About 36.3 million people suffered from drug use disorders in 2019. Most people dependent on opioids used illicitly cultivated and manufactured heroin, but the proportion of those using prescription opioids is growing.”

With determination and will and with a reason to no longer want Opioids in my life there was a way out after 2.5 decades through the Cannabis plant. Various extracts from all 3 major plant types, THC CBD and CBG, were necessary to overcome the harsh withdrawal and entrance back into life without strong analgesics for pain management. CBGa became a staple for depression that quickly set in as the daily rituals became so hard to manage and topical preparations with various cannabinoids grew stronger and stronger to fight the soft tissue and skeletal pain.

THC had to be used ingested only for quite some time as any inhalation caused headrushes with dizziness that would last too long or make me sick again. I had to watch out to not get too medicated on that cannabinoid and when I would at night it was really important to take CBGa in the morning and CBD or CBG to offset how I’d feel.

The morning after tired didn’t help the depression that comes with Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS). Other cannabinoids work well to not only boost my spirits but knock out pain, slowly for me what I found was that I had to include topicals and tinctures along with oils and inhalation. I needed it all – and I still do.

Next month we’ll get the numbers that are supposed to once again top last years – which were over 100,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. alone. The statistics keep growing but I made it out – I survived this thing. I made it out and found my way to a new beginning and in doing so decided there had to be a way – a way in which people in droves could find the same answers I did and in detail be able to follow a lead that can change their lives. In many cases it will save lives.

Gratitude must fuel our everyday in recovery as we have only now to be thankful for and live in. We have the past to look back on and learn from and the future is hope, it’s dreams, but it’s not promised. In recovery my life is based on living every moment like it matters. Right now typing this article means that someone might read it and find an answer to their problem – maybe find light in a really dark space.

I fought my demons and it wasn’t easy. When we quit these pills we fight out past as our present fights us and all we need to do is discover that right now is all we have and to make the best of it. My own pain fuels my desire to not use the drugs – it doesn’t make me want them. I have moment when I miss feeling numb to only the pain – but then remember that it also took my personality and turned me into something i don’t want to and simply can’t ever be again.

In my fight… I won.

Opioids Lost.

But across the Globe as numbers increase by double digit percentages every year it’s very apparent that Opioids are winning.

We can change that, we know that we have the opioid solution in cannabis.