The Leaf THE LEAF Nov-Dec 2018 | Page 18

One reason for that is the hassle of having to buy it from Canada. But it goes deeper. “They have been scared all of their life thinking that this is marijuana and it’s not,” Lee said. “There is a difference.” Smoking marijuana will make the user intoxicated and smoking hemp will not, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service’s Administration’s National Clearinghouse for alcohol and drug information. Hemp contains less than one percent of the active ingredient THC, the substance that gives marijuana smokers a high. Marijuana plants contain 10 to 20 percent THC. Marijuana plants and hemp plants have different appearances and are harvested differently. Marijuana plants tend to be short and bushy while hemp plants can have stalks that are 25 feet high. Currently, hemp is grown in Canada, China, Russia, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, England, Poland and many other eastern European countries. It continues to be an illegal crop in the United States but that will eventually change, according to Lee. “Maybe not in my lifetime but in our children’s lifetime,” he said. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Personal Story Punkin’s Story (Adenocarcinoma) He's a big boy at over 18 pounds, so I started with a hefty pin-head sized dot of oil in .3ml of melted coconut oil that I split in half and administered both in his ear and orally in equal amounts. My 9+ year old cat, Punkin, was diagnosed with Adenocarcinoma in his left ear canal on June 26, 2016. Our vet sent us to the MSU vet school where they intended to do a biopsy, but ended up removing the majority of the mass. When we got the call with his results a week later, the doctors were confident the tumour would return quickly and aggressively. We were told to expect he may live 4-8 months without extensive, very invasive surgery. After giving him a month to heal from his surgery, I came up with a cannabis oil regimen and began his treatment. Initially, it was twice a day and I very gradually increased the size of the dot of cannabis oil. By the second week, he had stopped shaking his head (his only observed symptom) and I was very encouraged. Punkin, however, was not thrilled with being restrained and subjected to such an objectionable protocol, but we kept it up through the summer and brought Punkin with us when we travelled each weekend, so we wouldn't interrupt his treatment. By Halloween 2016, I started tapering down his dose gradually, until he was on a weekly maintenance dose of cannabis oil...a dot the size of a 1/2 grain of rice. This has gone from what was surely going to be quickly terminal, to what I think of as a chronic, treatable illness. I'm so glad to still enjoy this special guy far longer than anyone thought.