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my grandmother wants to try pot...

wesmdow

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Joined
Dec 13, 2004
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ill start by saying she has terminal cancer. my grandmother is one of the strongest women i know.

she also has SEVERE anxiety problems. she has had them all her life, but after being told she had a terminal illness, she had a psychotic break. her entire personality changed and she gave up on life.

she got VERY sick, refusing to eat or drink and ended up in a hospice, essentially on her death bed. but like i said, my grandmother is a strong woman, and quickly got too well to live in a hospice and has been moved to a nursing home.

the food there is TERRIBLE, so either my dad or i bring her at least one GOOD meal a day. (we arent supermen, and cannot manage 3 meals a day, but we do our best).

so today i brought her some really nice mashed potatoes and some roast pork with corn, a badass meal if i do say so myself. when i showed it to her she cried because it smelled good but she was just too anxious to eat.

i went and asked the nurse if she could have adose of xanax, and the nurse was happy to oblidge. this calmed her down enough to take a few bites, and again have conversation with me.

half jokingly i suggested that she get stoned. i said that they give it to cancer patients for this VERY reason. her response was, "well, i cant smoke in here now can i?" i asked if she really wanted to try it and she smiled and said, "why not?"

so i explained that i could make her some cookies, if she wanted. the nursing staff wouldnt know about it, and she could just have 5-6 pot cookies by her bedside to take before bed and meals. she actually liked the idea, more than i thought she would--almost as if shed been waiting for someone to ask.

anyway, im wondering 2 things:

1) is this ethical? i think it is because she has directly expressed interest in it, and she doesnt have much more time here on earth.

2)how should i dose each cookie? use shwag or chronic? a few things about my grandmothers tolerance... she is 89 and on absolutely no medication whatsoever. the xanax is a VERY recent prescription, and you can count that i fyou want... but for the most part she is absolutely medication free. she has a very low tolerance to drugs.
 
I say it is on ethical safegrounds in my books. I'd say give them to her. At least she's not smoking it so it can't really be having any bad health effects.
 
I would tell her about the possible amount of time it kicks in as she might eat one - not feel anything and then eat them all...resulting in one crazy trip a couple of hours down the line.
 
we can't tell you whether or not its ethical but keep in mind oral marijuana can be a lot more potent than smoked marijuana. its possible she could have a strong psychedelic experience from it, possibly even a heart attack (marijuana is contraindicated in the elderly because of the increased risk of heart attack). she could also end up quite noticeably stoned for a long period of time and the doctors could become concerned about the drastic change in her vital signs. basically a lot of things could go wrong so if you decide to it, start with as low a dose as possible.
 
be careful with pot and anxiety. some people it helps, and others it makes much worse. i'd just hate for you to have that on your mind if things turned for the worse because of this.

to clear your mind, tell her the complete facts. if she's had a psychotic break, then this could cause another. if she has bad anxiety, this could cause a panic attack. her heart rate will increase...etc let her know what to expect, not just the pros, but the cons as well.
 
^^ I agree, if she has such bad anxietey and has a mild to strong experience from the cookies she could definitely start panicing. Ecspecially since she has never experienced the high before.

However, I'd definitely try it....it could really help her!
 
Bit of a double edged sword here. Up to you to decide, bit risky with the anxiety.. I dunno if you should even tell her that it might induce anxiety, as that alone could set it off. At least don't let her take oral weed. Smoked weed is better to gauge a good dosage, orally you'd always have to wait 2 hours to know if the dose was good or not, and if it's not good, then she's in for a rogh ride..

Good luck anyways.
 
Try vaporization. Get her to pull slowly from a tube, it won't hurt her lungs as much. Make sure she's not at risk for a heart attack - it shouldn't give her one but the risk IS increased.

I read an article recently about a 120+ year old woman who attributes her long life to her daily smoking of cannabis. I'll look for the article.
 
I think it would be ok. Look at what this gramma does

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Id advise against oral cannabis use, at least for the first time.

Id say roll up a joint. Bring her outside with you on the patio with you. Let her take a couple drags, i cant stress enough only a few drags though. Dont want to push it with the possibility of an attack.

I think it would be crucial for you to stay with her though. See how she reacts. she can talk to you, and hopefully feel more comfortable this way as well.

You may even want to let her have some xanax before hand though, this would most likely reduce any risk of anxiety or an attack. Although if its a large dose, it could create a lot of synergy and be overwhelming.

Tough choice man. But i think oral for first time is a bad idea. I think you being there would also be crucial.
 
I'd get her to smoke it. Surely there must be a smoking area somewhere outside of the nursing home where the residents smoke. Take her out there and let her puff on a spliff.

if you Look at the side effects of cancer therapy, marijuana seams to be the perfect medicine. Cancer paitents do not like to eat or cant eat. marijuana helps. Marijuana can also help pain relief. If used in low doses it can also lower your blood pressure.

Marijuana is known to be the safest herbal medicine known to man.
 
pr0ficient said:
^^ I agree, if she has such bad anxietey and has a mild to strong experience from the cookies she could definitely start panicing. Ecspecially since she has never experienced the high before.

However, I'd definitely try it....it could really help her!

I tend to agree.

Maybe a light oral dosage would be best in this regards, as it comes on alot softer.
 
An interesting question!

I think that whatever you two decide, you should definitely plan on hanging out with her while she's stoned for the first time, just in case she needs to be reassured or something. So you'll probably need to plan a weekend day-trip to the nursing home for that.

Also, oral cannabis *can* be very strong, but if you only put a small amount of mid-grade stuff into some cookies, it won't necessarily be very strong; a light buzz is possible. If you make firecrackers instead of cookies, you can more carefully titrate the dose on an individual serving. (A good idea might be to make firecrackers of varying amounts of weed and try them on yourself first, until you find one that is only mildly stoning, then go with that amount or maybe a little less for your grandmother.)

Let us know how it goes! Good luck to you and your grandmother.
 
It could cause heart problems. If she's going to have them. Don't make them too strong obviously, and make sure she has xanax or valium on hand to help out a bit with heart problems.
 
My advice is to sit with her for the duration of the trip and basically just watch over her and see what goes down.

Worse comes to worse, you can calm her down instead of calling the nurse which could bust your ass.
 
You are a good and honorable grandson, help your grandmother out. She is old and it sounds like it would benefit here. Definitely sit with her through the initial experience, and if it helps her then that is great. Not many people have this kind of opportunity to help someone. Now that i'm older and my grandmother has passed I really wish I had this kind of opportunity to help and bond at the same time. Not to mention you will be surrounded by medical professionals in case anything goes wrong.
 
On a more lighthearted and positive note, I'm sure she'll chow DOWN on that food, even if it is hospital grade :P
 
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