Post-traumatic Pain by Cliff Miller

Well, it all started like this. I started smoking cannabis when I was 15. At first it was fun, but then when I was 20, I had a motorcycle accident and broke my back in two places (T-7 & T-9). I had surgery.  They chopped out some hip and added some steel rods to fuse it all back together. That means the rest of your life in constant back pain. I found that smoking pot coupled with manual labor (steel stud framer/drywaller) to keep the muscles stretched released a lot of the tension and eliminated the pain. Then when I turned 32, I had to have another surgery and the doctor told me to change my line of work or quit walking. Then he cut me completely off of my meds two weeks after my surgery. I am not a pill person but it helped. I now work with computers and no longer have the ability for manual labor, (not that I mind).  I still smoke pot to keep the pain down. I use no prescription drugs for this. I have smoked pot for pain I would now say almost half my life and have found:

1. It is the best painkiller out there short of morphine.

2. It keeps me level. This means I have the ability to think without anger—a very bad emotion to add into the thought process.

3. I like me a lot better. That is important in life.

4. I prefer weed over alcohol (and kill less people by smoking it)

5. God mad the plant and it should be free to grow.

Downsides:

1. I always thought memory was a factor.  Then one day my mother (who would “never touch the stuff”) was standing in the kitchen and all of a sudden just paused. I asked her what she was doing, and she replied, I forgot what I was doing. We laughed and then she stated that this happened all the time. I then informed her that I had always blamed that on the pot. She said no, I have always done that.

2. Paranoia—By My Definition, Fear Without a Cause

Well, if you are driving down the road after picking up some grass to take home from a friend (which should be legal) and a cop pulls out behind you, you have reason to fear. In Texas, if you get pulled over with anything at all, you go to jail and might get a $350 fine. That is a legitimate fear. To take the life of a functioning piece of society, and make him lose everything for being at peace with himself, physically, mentally, and spiritually?

I am now 36 years old and I am still living virtually free from pain. Unless I get arrested. That will also hurt.

What is wrong with this Picture?

Thank you for listening.  I hope it helped.

I love my country but I fear my government.