Many people see the medical cannabis card as a license to legally obtain and consume cannabis for medical reasons. It is that. But it’s so much more. It is also a tool for helping restore quality of life. If you use medical cannabis yourself, you know what I mean.
I am not a medical cannabis user. But I am partially disabled. I know firsthand how chronic health conditions can destroy a person’s quality of life. And I also know that anything capable of helping restore quality of life is seen as a godsend. So I am not one to stand in the way of a person wishing to use medical cannabis.
Medical Cannabis and Symptom Relief
The first thing to understand about medical cannabis is its purpose. Cannabis does not cure anything. It’s recommended as a treatment for certain conditions because of its ability to relieve symptoms. Chronic pain is the perfect example because, according to Salt Lake City’s BeehiveMed, it is the most often cited medical condition on medical cannabis card applications.
Patients report meaningful pain relief from cannabis. Any chronic pain patient will tell you that even the slightest relief is welcome. But what if relief were significant? For so many chronic pain patients, adequate relief is the most important factor in getting back to normal life.
Imagine a person with chronic back pain so bad that she isn’t able to go on walks with her husband, spend time with her grandchildren, or even do basic household chores. The best she can manage is to sit in a chair and watch TV. Her quality of life would diminish over time. But if medical cannabis would allow her to get out of that chair and start doing things again, her quality of life would improve.
Better Physical and Emotional Function
Nearly all medical cannabis patients live with some sort of chronic condition. Whether it’s pain, PTSD, chronic nausea, or even the symptoms of cancer and its treatments, we are not talking about one-off problems that can be treated with other medications. The chronic nature of these conditions makes them both physically and emotionally devastating.
Quality of life issues come into play when a patient is physically limited to the point that such limitations are taking an emotional toll. People struggling with quality of life tend to lose purpose and focus. They are less socially engaged. They gradually become more isolated.
None of this is good. A person who loses social connections and purpose is a person who has no reason to get out of bed in the morning. At some point, is there even a reason to continue living?
Medical cannabis changes the game for so many patients. Significant symptom relief allows them to gut out of the house. It allows them to reengage with those social interactions that are so crucial to life. And in so many cases, patients find a new purpose: sharing with other chronically ill people how medical cannabis has given them their lives back.
Don’t Underestimate Quality of Life
If you don’t live with any chronic conditions, consider yourself fortunate. But don’t underestimate quality of life and how it is negatively affected by chronic illness. Quality of life is one of the biggest struggles patients with chronic conditions deal with. In many cases, it’s a bigger issue than the health condition itself.
Medical cannabis can help restore quality of life by relieving symptoms enough to allow patients to do what they used to do before chronic illness set in. Getting back to normal life does wonders for a person’s body, mind, and emotions.
