Variation du prix de la monnaie et cycle

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products. You get a recipe and you bring it in. Maybe you’ve got a lot of acid or hardly any THC, and you fig- ure it out through testing.”

Ron Rosenthal, owner/operator of Canyon Creek Caregivers in Helena, Montana, often recommends that older patients who might experience adverse reaction to a psychoactive product benefit from salve. Absorbed through the skin and primarily acting locally, the wonder ointments work on pain and not the brain. He sells a four-ounce jar of Organic Relief salve for $40.

“I have outstanding results with salve,” he said. “It’s very cost effective. We sell them cheap, and they go a long way.”

Rosenthal is caretaker to an 87-year-old patient who suffers from post-herpetic neuralgia in her right thumb. Effective treatment

for the condition, a complication of shingles, is tricky, and the chronic pain can last for years. “We tried all sorts of things, but nothing came close to working like THC-infused salve,” he said. “All she uses is salves. She doesn’t smoke any med- ication or take the capsules. She used to, but I was afraid, quite frankly, that there was a risk that she would fall. We shied away from using capsule or edible applica- tions because we didn’t want to increase the risk of her falling. So she uses strictly the salves, and they work great for her.”

Rosenthal reports that 20 to 30 of his patients use salve regularly. His older patients primarily use lotions, edibles, and salves.

Paul Schmidt, owner/operator of Sleeping Giant Caregivers in Helena, finds that salves are just the ticket for persistent bursitis in his shoulder. A lifelong fan of natural remedies, he reports that his mother used to treat his sore legs with pills containing Arnica montana after skiing. Also known as wolf bane, Arnica montana has long been used medicinally, but can be toxic when large amounts are eaten.

Schmidt reasons that cannabis-infused salve is extremely effective applied in the area of pain because head to toe, the human body is hotwired to respond.

“Do enough research and you’ll understand that the receptors are throughout the body,” he said.

He reports that 150 of Sleeping Giant’s patients use salve regularly.

“It’s a wonderful thing and helps so many people, includ- ing myself,” he said, adding, “I couldn’t live without it. Salve is one of the things that keeps me going.”

Another of Schmidt’s patients is a Vietnam veteran who was left with disfiguring scars on his neck and face from exposure to Agent Orange. Regular applications of Organic Relief’s soap and salve have begun to heal the chemical burns.

“The doctor at the VA asked him what he was doing, because the scars are not only healing, but they look 100 percent better,” he said.

Schmidt gave a sample of the salve to another patient who suffers from arthritis. She rubbed some of it onto her hands and then left for the 30-minute drive to

her home.

“She was barely down the road and called,” he said. “She was excited because all of a sudden, for the first time in 18 or 19 years, she didn’t have the pain in her hands. It was that fast.

She uses it all of the time now.”

Schmidt’s co-partner, his son, has been able to work again, thanks to the nat- ural liniment. Whereas horrible back pain had him laid up, reliant on opi- ates, and unable to function, salve weaned him from pharmaceuticals and allowed him to control his pain. “Salve is an amazing way to treat yourself with something that’s intended for your body to begin with,” said Schmidt. “It is also good for cuts and burns; you wouldn’t believe how fast they heal. It’s just absolutely miraculous. I think that it’s one of the best products that we have in the

store.”

HEALTH

Ellen Lenox Smith finds growing cannabis to be thera- peutic. That’s a good thing, as Smith is in constant pain, and access to medicine is limited in Rhode Island. “Once you find someone who knows how to grow mar- ijuana and who will teach you to grow, it becomes a very pleasant part of life,” she said. “I have to ride a stair lift down to get to the cellar, and then I’m able to take care of these plants. It gives me something to do when I’m not feeling well. I’m enjoying it now, but this is a big part of my life, and it has to be done. This is my medicine.” Smith, a mother of four sons and former middle school teacher and swim coach, wants to share her story. “Medical marijuana needs a face,” she said. “Everyone should see that we are real people who had bum luck with health. We’re fighting a society that is seeing this as a recreational drug. I’m just an everyday person. I’m 5’2”, 96 pounds, and I’m struggling. I’ve tried to live a good life. People who know me and see me suffering and going through this stuff, well, it just helps them to change their attitude. People that know me do not want to see me in pain. And when they hear that this is what I’m on (cannabis), it helps them to not get scared.”

Without dispensaries, the key is to become self-sufficient and to develop a reliable network of advocates, patients, and medical professionals, according Smith. She has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) and sarcoidosis.

EDS is a connective tissue disorder caused by a defect in the development of collagen that shows itself in orthope- dic issues and basically causes bones throughout the

body to become unglued. She likens her body to a rubber band becoming overstretched. If someone accidently knocks into her in passing, ribs can and do pop out. If someone hugs her, the vertebrae supporting her neck occasionally slip out of place. The inherited disorder is difficult to diagnose because those afflicted with fragile ligaments and tendons often look normal. Finally pin- pointed in 2004, her progressive condition has resulted in 19 surgeries throughout her life.

Finding marijuana has been part of her medical journey. She never considered the plant; her pain physician did. One of the many challenges for Smith is that she’s aller- gic to prescription painkillers.

“I’ve been given a body that will experience increased pain for the rest of my life and I cannot tolerate most pain medications,” she said. “I can’t even take aspirin or a Tylenol.”

In constant pain, a tremendous and growing problem for Smith was a lack of sleep. One rare result of Smith’s EDS is a floppy trachea, which means that her trachea might bend and her sternum might slip, and she can stop breathing while sleeping. A home respirator and a very attentive rescue dog were helping, but her two chronic conditions and intolerance of prescription medications were preventing anything close to a good night’s sleep. After having a bad experience with marijuana in college that created anxiety instead of euphoria, she had never given it another thought. When her doctor mentioned that it might help her pain so that she could nod off to sleep, she almost fell off her chair. He suggested that since

HEALTH

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