Hello fellow cannabis users/growers from Michigan! To start, a little about me. I have been using marijuana since the age of 17, which started off as I think most of us did. I was young, it was illlegal and taboo(I live in a small conservative community) and something fun to try. I quickly realized when I used it my severe anxiety and fear were muted. After using it 2-3 times a week for around a year, and seeing how much better my quality of life got, I finally approached my mother trying to somehow convince her I wanted to see a doctor and get a medical card. Needless to say, it fell on deaf ears. There is not 1 person in my family that is okay with cannabis. I have argued and tried to point to studies and scientific research to no avail.....eventually just giving up and tired of being judged and ridiculed by "family". This is something I am sure others have dealt with, but I digress. My time with cannabis ended there, and I turned to alcohol for almost 10 years to deal with anxiety, stress and pain flair up I have due to multiple crashes and accidents throughout my life. I have suffered major digestion problems that alcohol only makes much worse, as well as everything else bad that comes with it. Fast forward to now, Michigan legalizes cannabis, I then decided that now being middle aged, now was the time I decided to give everyone the middle finger and take my life back. Since legalization I started growing my own cannabis, and using it medically daily and somewhat recreational on weekends, my drinking has gone from a 12 pack of beer a night, to a craft 6 pack for the weekend. I have lost 50 pounds and am back to my healthy weight, and for the first time in 9 years actually can feel my health coming back. It has impacted my life so greatly, I refuse to be without it again after putting myself through hell for so long. The kicker? My family( not my wife or her family) is still totally against it and refuses to believe this plant has any benefit. I just use it because I want to get high is what they think. No amount of evidence will change their minds. To give you an idea of the conservative community I live in, after legalization, the local hospital had to put out a big article in the newspaper to squash local rumors that since MI legalization there have been overdose cases at the local hospital daily. Which is ironic because the hospital came out and and publicly stated that there have been not one recorded overdose case of marijuana(which we all know already). My wife clearly can tell how much it helps and is fully supportive as well as her entire family. My work still refuses to allow a positive test result even if I were to obtain a medical card. I have ways around a drug test, but am always being backed into a corner for using a plant! With that being said, I do not condone being high at work in a manufacturing environment like me, nor would I do that. This has turned into a long rant paragraph so I apologize for that, but do any of you find yourself in a similar situation as mine? How do you deal with it? I'm here to connect with like-minded people and become part of a community instead of living my life as an outcast in my community! Anyways, that is a brief summary of where I came from with cannabis and where I am now. I absolutely love growing my own medicine and look forward to connecting with like minded people!
That is exactly what I currently do, just expressing my frustration that my medicine is viewed as a joyride by immediate family is all.