When is medical cannabis use right? Is medical cannabis safe for consumption for Christians? I will discuss the different ways to use cannabis, the different strains and their benefits, THC vs CBD, dosing, and the various conditions that people can benefit from using medical cannabis. There are many medical conditions that people do better with medical cannabis vs medications. Be responsible and reasonable with medical cannabis use. There is a time and place to use medical cannabis, and should be taken into consideration for certain medical conditions. Disclosure: This content is for educational purposes; this is not intended to treat anyone medically. Speak to your doctor for further guidance.
Podcast 44 Transcript
Welcome to Physician Heal Thyself, the podcast empowering you to take a whole-person approach to your well-being, spirit, soul, and body. Join me, your host, Dr. Ana Lara, naturopathic doctor, entrepreneur, and a servant of Jesus Christ. We are not just a body. We are spirit and soul. It’s time to integrate medicine and spirituality into our healing. Let’s get started. Hey, welcome back to Physician Heal by Self Podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Ana Lara. Today’s episode I am doing on a topic that I actually get asked about a lot from many people, but also from the Christian community, and that’s my take on cannabis use for Christians. I am going to be upfront. I have never used cannabis. I don’t like the smell of it. However, I have certified people for medical use of it, so I believe there is a time and place for the use of it.
We’re going to go through a couple of things that I often hear on both sides of this issue as it relates to using cannabis, also known as marijuana. I prefer to use it referred to it as cannabis. God created these plants, which have medicinal benefits and properties that people can use for ailments. However, I don’t believe you should use it as a crutch. It should not be idolized just like anything else that you can idolize. I think that some people, most people, use it as it’s good for everything and I can be on it for the rest of my life. While I have seen people as patients, they may have to use it because of their situation, their constant pain. So, like I said, there’s a time and place for it. God created the plant, but he did not mean for you to abuse it and use it daily. I see a lot of really young people that don’t need it, but they use it.
Whether it’s legal to use in your state or not, I think you should be wise and responsible with that because if you’re saying you need cannabis for anxiety, guess what? So many other natural things that you can do to address anxiety. Really, the most important thing is to get to the root cause of why you have anxiety. Is it because of trauma? Is it your nervous system? Is it hormones? Is it neurotransmitters? It could even be environmental exposures that you have that are causing the anxiety. You need to know why you’re having anxiety and then treat it. I don’t think cannabis should be your first go-to. I think that a majority of people who are using it are just using it because they like the way they feel. I think that there are consequences to your brain, to your body, and also to you spiritually.
There are complications to that, and you might be opening the door to things that you don’t want to do. By that, I mean really demonic possession. I think that not just cannabis but alcohol has the same effect. Anything that alters your state of mind is not a good thing because then you are not able to be logical and make wise decisions. You tend to make foolish decisions when your state of mind is altered. I mean, all of the people that commit crimes or do foolish things are usually on some kind of a substance. I have seen in my clinic that sometimes I have people who are on 10, 15, or 20 medications. I recommend that because of their presentation, their illnesses, and conditions that are not going to go away, cannabis would be a better alternative for them because of many things.
One of them is that cannabis does not have the negative side effects of the medications that they tend to be on, especially if it’s for pain. A lot of these pharmaceutical medications are going to cause issues to the liver, the kidneys, the brain, and other issues. Then, they just keep adding more medications to their list. For those people, I say this one thing can help get rid of all those medications and address all your symptoms, and that’s always a win-win. What kind of cannabis? How you’re taking cannabis and the strengths that are available matters. I know some people are not going to agree with me on this. I already expected that this episode would probably bring some arguments, or not everyone would agree. I don’t believe in smoking anything. I just don’t. I don’t think that this is a good way to deliver medicine.
It’ll make you high, that’s for sure. But if that’s what your goal is, then that’s what you’re going to do and you can do whatever you want to do. But from a medical perspective, there are things, say for example, if you have Celiac’s disease or any digestive inflammatory, serious gut issues that have already been investigated, cannabis like doing an edible would benefit or even a tincture, a herbal extraction, it would be a better benefit to the person to take it orally and make it through the digestive system. There are different types of strains. There’s indica and sativa; they both have different effects. Your indica is going to be great for sleep and pain. So usually, at night, because those tend to have a little bit more of the brain-altering effects of it, it tends to downregulate. Indica tends to downregulate people. If someone has depression, indica is not a good strain.
Sativa is the other strain. That sativa is an upper. It brings you up. So it’s good for daytime use for pain and other things, but it will be more stimulating and awake. The secret to using cannabis and not getting high is that you want to start just like we do with medications, herbs and everything else. You want to start with low concentrations of THC and then find where your tolerance is at. Where does it get to the point that it’s able to help you with pain or help you get to sleep? Because everyone’s tolerance is different. If someone’s never used cannabis, you’re more sensitive to it, you might need less or maybe you metabolize it slower or faster. That’s going to vary from person to person, so you want to start with low. We know CBD does not have a psychoactive effect on people, so it’s not going to make you high if it’s just CBD.
I will warn you, there have been people that even with CBD, they do get a high. They might not like that feeling. Hey, look, I’ve never been high, so I don’t like the idea of not being in control of my mind, not being fully present. If it’s for bedtime use, like I said, I have people who have been in accidents where technically they shouldn’t be living and they survive that, but now their bodies are so damaged, they had a lot of surgeries, and so now they’re having to take opioids or something else for pain management. This is a much better option because it’ll help with the pain and help them sleep. Oftentimes, people who have chronic pain can’t sleep, and if they can’t sleep, then there’s more stress in their body and it creates more pain.
It has this ongoing effect of pain and sleep and they’re not able to sleep because of the pain. It just contributes to more of the pain increasing. Cannabis can be a good substitute for all those other medications. It’s less harmful, and a little goes a long way. It really does. I am not in agreement with all these young people using it for anxiety and depression. They’re just making excuses. I will say I have certified minors that the parents are coming in, and sometimes their children and these children have seizures. Let me tell you, this helps them so much. It helps them by giving them a couple of drops of a low THC and some CBD. There’s sometimes CBD in the daytime. CBD is just a cannabinoid. We have cannabinoid receptors in the brain, and we can also stimulate those receptors in the brain by meditating, breathing exercises, and just relaxing.
Prayer, I’m sure, does the same thing. It’s just that no one’s studied it. There are other ways to reduce pain. But in children who have seizures, it is much safer for them to do cannabis, medical cannabis versus the drugs. Now, the unique thing about cannabis that’s used for medical use here in the state of Arizona, at least that’s what I know, is that if you’re pregnant and you have seizures, your doctor, your neurologist, the OB GYN will provide notice that you do have seizures and you’re pregnant. That is the only time that they will, okay, medical marijuana for treatment in a pregnant woman. Other than that, you should not be using cannabis. The reason that it’s okay in a pregnant woman who has seizures is that the anti-seizure medication is very toxic to the baby, and they feel that it’s safer for them to be on cannabis, but there are not enough studies on a healthy female for them to just use cannabis.
There could be negative effects on the child’s brain development and nervous system. You don’t want to do that at all. I mean, I think it’s very irresponsible, though. I will tell you, I have seen and heard of women who are pregnant or nursing and they’re using cannabis, and I’m not okay with that. I think that’s very irresponsible. It’s just possibly putting your child at risk of not having the mental and neurological resiliency they’ve been without cannabis use. They won’t be addicted to it, but we just don’t understand the impact it has on their nervous system because it is really rapidly developing during that time. I don’t encourage that at all. So like I said, there is a time and place for cannabis. I think you just really need to be responsible for it. I don’t think we should completely slash that off the table as an option.
I’ve worked with patients who are Christian, their pastors maybe at their church or even Mormons. Mormons are very strict about what they’re able to take. They don’t do caffeine. It’s stimulating and so forth. But I have had Mormons that have come, and they’re like, I have to get this approved through my church first. And I’m like, absolutely. I’m willing to provide the medical necessity and how it would be used. I don’t ever encourage smoking it. I just don’t. It’s for topical use. There are creams and oils that you can put on the area for pain to reduce inflammation. There are capsules that are CBD or tinctures that you could do orally, edible stuff, or things like that that you could do orally to reduce inflammation. We know CBD is very anti-inflammatory, but there are a lot of other things that are anti-inflammatory, too. You could take fish oil at high doses.
You can take curcumin, and you can change your diet. There are a lot of things that will help with inflammation. A lot of antioxidants and things like that will help with inflammation. But if someone has done that and they still, because of their condition, they still have a lot of pain, inflammation, then cannabis CBD and the CBD form, which is not psychoactive. Again, you can do this to reduce inflammation. We’ve obviously known that in conditions like with cancer, there’s a lot of people, I am not going to say I might get flagged and video taken down for violent community guidelines or something like that, but just know that there are certain things that cannabis, certain strains, certain concoctions that have been used to help reduce, improve, get rid of the C word, the cancer in people. So I’m not saying that should be your sole approach to treating cancer, but there have been cases where people have used it and have seen successful outcomes.
If you’re Christian, is cannabis okay? Absolutely. Don’t feel guilty for using a plant if you have a true medical need. Just be responsible with it. That’s really it. Do you really need it? Have you tried other options? Have you tried other things to help with your situation and your condition? If you have and it’s not working, you want to start low with maybe just start with CBD, maybe a little bit of teaching CBD for, there’s the dispensaries. They’re the ones who are really more versed on what to take in the morning and daytime. I mean, I’m trained. We actually had part of our botanical training, so we learned over 250 herbs, and that was taught for over a year. But cannabis had its class, of course, all on it. It’s because we had to learn the history and all the science and how it works, the different strains and combinations and concentrations, and so forth.
It is medicine, and it should be looked at that it should not be recreational. I stand, walking into a gym, and it smells like someone was smoking cannabis. It’s disgusting. I don’t like the smell. I think it’s irresponsible for you to smoke and then walk into a building thinking people are not going to smell that. I don’t think that’s a very good idea for you to smoke cannabis and then go work out either. Like I said, I see a lot of foolishness. I see the extremes of people using cannabis who are not Christian. The extremes of cannabis use that they use it for everything. It’s their go-to. They idolize it. There’s, there’s restaurants that they cook all with cannabis, and I’ve seen classes that they do yoga and they get high and they do yoga, and it’s just ridiculous. I think, I know people are going to get mad, but it’s immature.
It’s immature, and you’re abusing a plant. That’s really it to me. If you abuse anything, that’s good. It’s not a good idea. So once again, for people who really need it, this has been a game changer for them. Sometimes I’m having to convince the 70 and 80-year-old person because of the stigma the cannabis has had in their generation and still now the use of it. But once I tell ’em, just start with this little bit. If you don’t like it, stop it. But it’s going to help. Once they ease into that and they do it, I mean, it’s amazing. Can you imagine you’re taking 20 medications and you get on cannabis, medical cannabis, and then slowly you wean yourself off of all those medications and you’re on no medications, but you’re on this. I’m not recommending that you do that on your own, either.
By the way, this episode is just for educational purposes. I’m not telling you what to do. Don’t stop your medications and get on cannabis. If you have high cholesterol, diabetes, or high blood pressure, change your diet and lifestyle. This is not my go-to. Okay? So that’s the other thing, which is there are some conditions. I’m not going to turn to this at all. I’m going to tell people now to do the work that’s really doing the job. If there’s trauma, if there’s anxiety, depression, whatever it is, do the work. But I have known that for seizures, this is a much better option. So, let’s not knock down the benefits of cannabis. I think that in the Christian community, there are people who would really benefit from it, even if it’s that CBD with a little bit of THC., There are people that are going through cancer treatments and there’s a lot of nausea.
They’re not hungry. There’s a lot of pain. They’re not able to sleep. There is a time to integrate cannabis in moderation and the responsibility and right to integrate that into oncology care, and that can better improve their outcomes. I don’t believe you should suffer and struggle alone if there’s such an option, but first and foremost, you pray about it and you must be at peace of using this herb as part of your repertoire or not. That’s the beautiful thing about life. You decide, but if you decide to do it, don’t let anyone make you feel bad for using it for medical reasons, and you’re being responsible. Now, I will say if you are using or you’re going to use it or consider using cannabis, and you have children, lock this stuff away; you don’t want them to have access to it. You don’t want your pets to have access to it.
I’ve heard many people say, oh, my dog got into it and he was all high. I’m like, yeah, that’s not okay. They will eat it all. That’s the thing. There are so many different edibles that are enticing, like gummies; they look like candy or chocolate and things like that. You don’t want to leave around. You want to be responsible for that. But hey, if you have any questions, I mean, I don’t really like to do medical marijuana certifications in my office. I can, but I don’t. But here in Arizona, people can now get a recreational, but do some research and pray about it. If you think it would benefit you, go for it. If not, know that there are a lot of other things that you can do, but in low amounts, it’s okay. Nothing bad is going to happen. It’s when people are doing the high amounts and they’re having these psychoactive effects that I do believe this can possibly give just an entryway to spiritual parasites that you don’t want to deal with.
I think those people tend to overuse and abuse the herb. So I hope this information has served you well and you took something new to know for yourself. If that’s something that’s for you, then go for it. So until next time, everyone, have a blessed day. Thank you for listening to Physician Heal Thyself, the podcast. If you like what you’ve heard, please like, share and subscribe, help this message, reach more people who may need to hear it. Leave your comments. I want to know what you think. If you’re interested in learning more about Raices, visit our website. Until next time, be blessed.