[jamesakirk]

> I don't think I could survive an amputation on modern cannabis alone, however.

It's not an all-or-nothing proposition.

My dad was a cancer patient with severe chronic pain. Cannabis did not eliminate the need for opiates for chronic pain, but reduced the amount of opiates he needed by about half. Using cannabis actually allowed him to be MORE lucid.

[ulizzle]

I had a motorcycle accident a few years back that left me hooked on opiates for a while, so I have some first-hand experience there. You can cut your use about 50% pretty nicely a couple of times at first, but the lower you go the more that hurts, and I couldn't mask it with cannabis. At that point, you're going to have to get some medical help or go through pure hell.

I think in your father's case, it was cutting the opiates by half, but cannabis does help smooth anxiety and helps with nausea, it's just not as strong as getting some xanax, for instance, which would explain why medicinally cannabis wasn't and isn't used (like at hospitals).

The more meds you take, the more it can give you side effects, so it does make sense for people to switch to cannabis to help out

[asveikau]

Off topic but that sounds like a stressful ordeal you went through, and I'm sorry to hear it. Hope things are well now.