Marijuana Substitute

[BarkingDog]

I am a MM user for chronic back pain. I will be drug tested sometime in the near future so I havenâ??t been smoking. When I donâ??t smoke my back hurts, I canâ??t sleep, and my sex life stops (wife tells me I am an ass when my back hurts, no love).

I â??heardâ?� there is a pill for people who donâ??t smoke. Is this true and does it work/feel the same as smoking? When I smoke, I relax and there is an instant mood change as the pain goes away. And if I am using the pill form will I be able to get through the UA?

And
Are there any side affects from taking the pill?

[StickyfingahZ]

I have chronic Back pain also and iNsonia,I got my medical MJ card for my back pain though.
I havent been able to get any weed for about 3 weeks now,its dry out here and cant seem to find anything,I was taking my left over meds from before,but they have run out,So I just been drinking kava again,it does the job,but you gotta drink alot.I drink about 2 gallons a day.I sit in my back yard with some reggae adnd just mix.....its not as easy as weed,but it's legal and it works.

[stinkyattic]

Any THC pill will still make you fail a drug test, since it's just a different delivery method of the same chemicals.
There's a related plant, Humulus lupulus, that is the active ingredient in several herbal anti-insomnia meds, and it is the close cousin of cannabis. I actually use hops to help with sleep sometimes.
Try to get your drug test over with ASAP (as soon as you think you're clean, and don't have to risk a re-take because of dilution) so you can go back to what works for you, without worry that you'll lose your job over it.

[BarkingDog]

Bummer. I was hoping there was a legal way to get around this. I have tried the holistic methods and it offered only temp relief.

I did some reading last night about Marinol, sounds like an experimental drug. I dodn't want to be a guinea pig.

[Barrelhse]

My brother-in-law was given Marinol many years ago, thus I wouldn't say it's experimental. If I recall correctly the pills were oil-base, like a vitamin E pill. They were ineffective for his Aids-related symptoms, and I failed to get a buzz from them...only my limited personal experience , but that's what determines my bias!

[GreenDestiny]

mmmm... hops. that's another of those many herbs that does nothing for me, not even a placebo effect.

To people like me, every other herbal "substitute" I've tried does absolutely nothing... in tea or concentrated pill form. Cannabis is the only real non-placebo herb for me, and it's illegal; how ironic.

I know what ya mean, I don't wanna feel like a test subject for pharmaceutical drugs... I personally wouldn't take Marinol. heck, I've even read that a person can overdose on it! With my metabolism and extra dosage requirements, that's scary to think about.

[birdgirl73]

Bummer. I was hoping there was a legal way to get around this. I have tried the holistic methods and it offered only temp relief.

I did some reading last night about Marinol, sounds like an experimental drug. I dodn't want to be a guinea pig.
Marinol's definitely not experimental. It's been around a long time and is used fairly widely, although it is labeled for anti-nausea/anti-vomiting use, not analgesia (pain relief). It's simply a synthetic, non-psychoactive version of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. In other words, it's made in a lab instead of grown from a plant. Its chemical name is dronabinol. Marinol is its made-up brand name.

I have fairly chronic back pain, too, as a result of some surgery I had and more that I need to have in the future in a different area of my spine. I'm not able to smoke cannabis legally where I live and can't do so illegally because of school. I don't know how committed you are to the idea that you must have something that's herbal or plant-based, but I have good luck with a prescription muscle-relaxant called tizanidine that is used for folks with neuro-orthopedic back spasms. It doesn't have a lengthy period during which it's effective, but it does work well. Something to think about asking your doctor for. . . .