Purchasing Legal Medical Cannabis in California As a Cancer Patient

••• today's entry continues here below •••

Back when I lived with the Dog in downtown Waikiki (.. yeah, right below the two strippers) ..

.. we would sometimes, to start the weekend off right by taking a single hit (puff) of Maui Wowwie (..

.. or Kona buds, or Puna buds, or our favorite, this stuff called » Kauai Electric ..

.. which was lime green and so sticky that you had trouble handling it) ..

.. and go for a 4-mile run around the Ala Wai blvd (.. which runs along the Ala Wai canal). The stuff we got in Hawaii was so strong that you only needed the littlest puff and you were good to go.

The dog was always a strong runner. He ran at an easy pace so I could stay with him .. but near the end he would take off .. and I could never keep up.

In Hawaii, we only had a few months off before it was time to go back to sea.

So we tried to make the best of it. And yes, it was pretty sweet.

While it lasted.

» FBM Off-Crews in Hawaii

These 105-day R&R periods there in Hawaii were known as » off-crew.

Off-crews were what made boomer duty so sweet .. because boomer duty did have its sucky parts, yes.

And boomer off-crews in Hawaii .. living downtown Waikiki .. with the Dog .. with the balmy tropical breezes blowing enchanted nothings thru your 21 year-old brain .. well, that was very cool. The Aloha spirit is real.

And when you are done playing fun in the sun and catching waves and throwing the frisbee and smoking your maui wowwie and running your miles ..

.. when you are done there in Waikiki, then it's time to go relieve the blue crew and once again turn matter into energy.

E=mc², baby. Putting Einstein's theory into action. Which is what a nuclear reactor does. They turn matter (mass) into » energy. Let me show you how we do.

» The Dog's Unusual Proposition at Honolulu International

Which reminds me .. how most of the pretty girls in Hawaii were there for either 10 days or two weeks, depending on the specifics of their particular vacation package.

So the Dog would drive down to the airport (Honolulu International, in his tan Chevy Malibu) and, when he would see a pretty girl (or girls) that he liked, who had just stepped off the plane .. he would walk over (looking all tan and fit) and introduce himself as someone who LIVED there ..

.. and ask if they might be interested in spending some time together during their stay. This way he could get a pretty girlfriend of his choosing for the maximum time available. They were always very nice girls. Clearly, the Dog knew how to pick 'em.

[ Which reminds me of » this scene, from the Woody Allen flick » Vicky Cristina Barcelona. ]

No one ever ever turned him down. Nobody is smooth with the ladies like the Dog is smooth.

His approach with the ladies was matter-of-fact, sprinkled with humor. Never a pick-up shtick.

(It worked so well that I adopted it as my own approach.)

I remember that he was complaining how, every time he met a cool girl there in Hawaii, she was always leaving within a day or two.

So a shipmate-friend, this guy who was from Brooklyn or the Bronx (I forget .. it was one of those New York boroughs that begins with a 'B') said, "You should go to the airport and catch them as they come off the plane."

The Dog's Irish eyes began to sparkle like a leprechaun plotting mischief as a smile broke and crept across his face. "That's actually a good idea," he said. [ I think the guy was only kidding about his suggestion. ]

But the Dog quickly grew tired of that technique and preferred to just hang out with the guys who liked to play cards and drink beer. He would host weekly card games at our place on Saturday night.

We were the only ones who lived downtown Waikiki. Most of the guys lived out in the suburbs or in the country.

So everybody liked to come down and hang out in the city .. with the urban sounds of police sirens blaring this way and that.

The strippers would usually stop by .. on their way to work. I was never much of a card player. They played for money. Small stakes .. cuz nobody had very much money.

I remember lots of laughing and joking coming from the table. (The Dog went out and rented a real card table and some folding chairs .. cuz we only had a small kitchen table for two that came with the place.)

Update - people are starting to copy me.

» The Parking Lot was Full Morning to Night

Remind me to tell you what one of my drivers (a Jordanian) told me .. on our way down to Moores .. about a previous job he had in Orange county. At a clothing store in a strip mall ..

.. where the whole lot was full of cars - "morning to night" - with cars there for the medical cannabis place.

He said that he had to talk to the lady that owned it, saying, "Where are my customers supposed to park?"

They tried to set aside certain spaces for his customers, but it took a while to train her patrons.

"If you want to make money," he finally declared, loudly & boldly, over the road-noise of the Ted Williams parkway, the 56 » "Sell marijuana."

So there you have it. Immigrant financial wisdom.

» OG Kush is Ocean Grown

And just in case you were wondering .. yes, it's true » OG Kush is Ocean Grown .. and does not refer to the destination of the river Gihon that flowed out of Eden ..

.. which probably refers to modern day Sudan, where the Blue Nile meets the White Nile.

Rather, the Kush in OG Kush refers to the area around the Hindu Kush mountain range in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan.

And now that we got that bit of business out of the way...

» Removing the Encumbering Restrictions to Conducting Cannabis Research

While we are on the topic of cannabis, I would like to take a moment here to petition our government ..

.. and encourage them to remove the encumbering restrictions associated with conducting cannabis research ..

.. now that the country has moved so far in that direction. Most of the people who are against it will be dead another decade or two.

So we might as well get the show on the road now.

Especially when so many US presidents openly acknowledge cannabis use. And stop being such a hypocrite, Jeb.

Time to bring our laws into the twenty-first century and enact some modern legislation that takes our government out of the dark ages of the paranoid past and into the Third Millennium, where they should be.

So we can get some top quality research done at some top quality universities. Or do we-the-people not deserve such a thing?

We have demonstrated the ability to insert things into people's asses on the other side of the world .. but we somehow can't seem to enact reasonable cannabis laws right here in our own country? Is that what you're telling me?

I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about that doesnt seem right.

If this modern legislation is something you guys cant do, then you should probably just retire now and let some more capable legislators take the reins and show you how it's done.

So we stop wasting any more taxpayer dollars on an incompetent government .. who seem more interested in inserting things into the asses of foreigners located on the other side of the globe.

Update August 10, 2016 » About fucking time. You're only a few decades late. Our government finally peeks out from the social stone age. Welcome to the new age, dawg.

How's your two-week long birthday party going? Sounds totally bitchin'. Hopefully you are livening-up that sleepy, little town.

Was your daughter really caught on camera smoking some Schedule 1 Controlled substance? .. that is, a drug in the same classification as heroin?

Your daughter was caught doing something in the same classification as heroin?

Perhaps you can better appreciate how silly this looks to us-the-people.

If you leave such classifications to people whose jobs and livelihood depend on such classifications .. then this is the kind of silly absurdity that you are going to get.

They are obviously more interested in protecting their jobs than accepting reality. They must be smoking something very strong .. to alter their perception of reality so drastically.

Please fix this silly nonsense before you leave office. It makes America look stupid. And we've had enough of that with George Bush.

Let's try to bring our laws out of the dark ages.

Perhaps you could retrain them to look instead for bankers selling fraudulent financial products. Those things do way more harm to way more people for way longer lengths of time.

Or, maybe you are not interested in uncovering such fraud? A case could be made for that.

Oh, look .. the Times Editorial staff echoes my sentiment. It's embarrassing for us, as citizens, to see our government operating in a land of make-believe. Get a fucking clue .. please.

< end update August 10, 2016 about fucking time >

» The end. ?

You can return to the exact spot from which the text in this entry originated .. see » here.

Einstein says » Experience is the Only Source of Knowledge

Update » Einstein said that » experience is the only source of knowledge. With Einstein in mind, I wanted to conduct some in-depth research.

So I finally got a doctor to write me a script for cannabis, a medical recommendation. Certified with official serial numbers and embossed with a very official-looking seal and even entered into an official database.

Dude, there were people waiting when I got there and there were more people waiting when I left. A constant stream a patients from what I could see. All cash.

One lady works the desk and takes your money, while a doctor sits in a separate room in the back, behind a desk.

The lady was very nice. Downright loving. And the doc was almost too helpful.

The doc basically told me that the herb would not get rid of the effects of my cancer treatment, but that it would merely temporarily relieve some of my symptoms.

He actually went on for quite a while .. telling me about this and that .. to the point that I started thinking » "Dude, I know how to do this shit. Just sign the stupid piece of paper, will ya? So I can get out of of here and go back to bed. Cant ya see that I am feeling like hammered dog krap?"

It was nice that they gave me a cancer patient's discount. Cuz money has been tight, very tight. I didnt even have enough money left to purchase any medicine.

So a friend brought over some medical-grade of ganja .. the kine .. grown by Rastafarian virgins with only the purest and most loving of intentions.

They also brought along a vaporizer called the » Magic Flight Launch Box. (Which can be had for US$85 delivered.) Made locally here in San Diego.

Dude, I had never used one of these vaporizers before. The only vaporizer that I had any experience with .. was always used in conjunction with the slathering of a gob of Vicks VapoRub.

With this vaporizer that I used today, you insert a powerful AA battery into a circular tunnel that is bored into a small block of wood. When the battery makes contact, direct current heats the herb, which sits in a trench made of metal in the form of a fine-mesh screen.

It heats the herb to 350-to-400 degrees Fahrenheit. Which is lower than the 451 degrees required for combustion (Ray Bradbury, 1953).

I actually thought the thing wasnt working .. or that I didnt know how to use it properly.

But then » ka-POW!.

Wow. I am very fucked up. I had no idea that you could get soo fucked up from no smoke at all.

I mean, you could use of of these things in a crowd and nobody would ever know. There is no smell. No smoke. No nothing. Nothing telling .. except your shit-eating grin.

This is why I thought I wouldnt feel anything. So yes, I am surprised.

This is good stuff that I vape'd called » Girl Scout Cookies. An sativa-dominant hybrid.

These are not your sister's girl scout cookies .. no, sir. Let me tell you.

I used to always prefer the sativa's .. for their cerebral effects. But now, after cancer treatment, I want only the indica's .. for their pain-relieving and relaxing effects.

At first, I thought that 'Girl Scout Cookies' was a silly name. I no longer feel that way. Much respect.

I am so blissed-out right now. Wow. This is nice. Very nice .. especially after receiving the diagnosis of » cancer-free, baby!

It definitely enhances the celebratory feelings associated with the diagnosis. Feelings of gratitude. Thankfulness.

» Way Too Much

But I definitely smoked too much. (Smoked is not the right word to use there, because there is really no smoke involved.)

Rastafarians use this stuff as part of their religious ceremonies. I can see how that might be. If you bring the right intention to it.

I would like to speak to this later, but not now.

You cannot really do much of anything while on this stuff. It is that strong.

Nothing on your feet .. nothing involving very much hand-eye coordination.

But it last only 90 minutes, or so.

I took only two medium hits. After the first, when I saw that no smoke came out, I thought I got nothing. So I tried again.

I was actually going to try a third, when I thought » "You should wait a little, first."

A few minutes later the freight train arrived. The freight train of bliss. Youza.

With the sativa's, you can actually function .. rather well. And even with the sativa-dominants. But not with the indica's. Your ass is slowing down and in a hurry. Good night, sweet prince.

Or perhaps it affects me more strongly because of my physically weakened state following radiation / chemo / immuno-therapy.

Eight metrics for my blood are still a good ways from even the bottom of the normal band. Metrics such as hemoglobin, red blood cell count, white blood cell count and things like that.

Even during cancer treatment, I had trouble with the prescribed narcotic pain meds.

» The Effects of Cannabis on the Mind of the Prayerful Spirit

The reason that prayer seems easier while under the influence is because » God is a spirit.

And the cannabis seems to affect your mind in ways (disable?) that make it easier for you to be conscious of the spiritual realm.

Or maybe it just feels that way.

I mean, there's not much you can do except pray and feel grateful to be alive.

Scripture says that the Spirit Himself bears witness » with our spirits (.. not with our minds). Think about that .. but not too much.

Scripture even says that » our spirits (.. again » not our minds) are the WAY WE KNOW that we have (right now, present-tense, not when we die, like I thought growing up as a Catholic) eternal life.

[[ This might be a good place to share about my experience with eternal life.

The eternal, everlasting, resurrection, zoe life of God .. the very life and nature of God Himself ..

.. the thing that makes God God ..

.. is a lot like love and an understanding of calculus.

In that, when you have it, you know it.

And if you dont know it, then I cant see how you could possibly have it.

At least, this has been my experience.

Knowing that you have eternal life is a very cool thing .. which I did not have as a Catholic.

It brings a sense of peace .. a deep-seat, all-prevailing sense of peace .. which seems to go beyond what I can intellectually comprehend.

Peter says that peace is "multiplied" to us thru knowledge. Knowledge is another way to say » knowing something.

So Peter's verse resonates with my own experience. ]]

See what I was trying to say about the effects of cannabis? I rarely write about stuff like this.

My point is that » altho cannabis does indeed affect the mind .. it does not seem to affect the spirit. Or at least, not impair it.

And sometimes our minds can interfere with seeing things clearly, from seeing the light, from seeing the truth, from seeing your way.

So, if you disable the thing that is hindering your understanding .. if you disable the faulty circuit .. sometimes you can see things more clearly.

Particularly things of a spiritual nature. (Notice that I did not use the term religious.)

Homework Assignment » Spirit vs Soul

Here's your homework assignment » take a hit of something kushy [ extra points if you smoke your Kush with Cush ] and determine the difference between your spirit and your soul, as defined by scripture.

I mean, they cant be the same thing (like I used to think) if you can divide and separate them. No?

I would argue that this distinction is important because scripture suggests that God enlightens us (men) and guides us thru our spirits (.. not our souls).

I have found that your soul is the part of you which contains (among other things) » your mind.

And scripture differentiates between the spirit and the mind.

Consider what Dostoevsky said, when he wrote to his brother, Mikhail. Here is the passage, pulled straight from the book (page 56/57 from his bio):

Mikhail had written to his brother that "to know more, one must feel less." Feodor's answer is a vehement assertion to the contrary. "What do you mean by the word to know?" he asked belligerently. "To know nature, the soul, god, love ... These are known by the heart, not the mind."

Does it not seem like Dostoevsky is agreeing with me?

Now, put THAT in your pipe and smoke it. As Lance would say.

» Preserving & Possessing Your Soul

I ask because I have been wondering .. about what is written in the last verse that is found here ..

.. where Paul, quoting Habakkuk, writes to tell the Hebrew believers that they shouldnt "draw back or shrink back in fear" from "living by faith" ..

.. because the result of "living by faith" is » preserving and possessing the soul.

So .. what is it, exactly, that the believer here is supposed to possess and preserve?

(By not shrinking back in fear from living a life of faith.)

A passage by Peter here may provide a clue. (You know Peter.)

Notice the phrase here » ".. which is able to save your souls" and how tightly James ties it (the saving of your soul) to actual corresponding actions .. and not just talking a good game.

Some day you should remind me to talk about the phrase » "all that remains of wickedness."

I am no expert .. but I would wager that some people have more "wickedness remaining" than others. (Just a hunch.)

The phrase 'possess your soul' sounds a lot like the definition of the French word » sangfroid. No? (Calm composure .. especially in ugly, dangerous situations and circumstances.)

» Sex & Cannabis

I also feel that sex on an indica would be better than sex on a sativa .. because you want to feel more than you want to think. No?

You want to be in-the-moment. The moment of bliss. The blissful moment. A nice, long, leisurely moment. Exploring the galaxy together.

Of course, this would naturally require further in-depth research.

They left with me a sample nug of this stuff called Bubba Kush. I think it's supposed to taste like bubble gum.

"Careful. This shit will put even a tweaking crackhead into a coma for a few hours. So you want to get where you're going before sparking this thing. We're talking horizontal here. It would not be a bad idea to have your pajamas on already."

This stuff actually reminds me of cotton candy. Not a densely packed nugget like the other.

So the Kush cloud cometh. I will need to get back to you on that.

Did I mention that I feel really good? Cuz I do. Perhaps because I am feeling » no pain. I am so blissed-out.

You can return to the exact spot from which the text in this entry originated .. see » here.

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