Former police captain, Larry Smith, has discovered the amazing benefits of medical marijuana. Mr. Smith suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, a debilitating nerve disease.
After having to take 20 medications per day, he has sought alternative medicine! The results are astonishing and very moving.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive movement disorder, meaning that symptoms continue and worsen over time. Nearly one million people in the US are living with Parkinson’s disease. The cause is unknown, and although there is presently no cure, there are treatment options such as medication and surgery to manage its symptoms. Each person with Parkinson’s will experience symptoms differently. For example, many people experience tremor as their primary symptom, while others may not have tremors, but may have problems with balance. Also, for some people the disease progresses quickly, and in others it does not.
Larry Smith has suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for over 20 years. Amidst his journey through this disease, he was filmed on a documentary ingesting CBD oil. The documentary is called “Ride With Larry”. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a compound found in cannabis that unlike Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) does not produce intoxicating effects.
Researchers began to show enthusiasm to study cannabis in relation to Parkinson’s after people with PD gave anecdotal reports and posted on social media as to how cannabis reduced their tremors. Some researchers think that cannabis might be neuroprotective — saving neurons from damage caused by Parkinson’s. Besides reducing tremors, cannabinoids (the drug molecules in marijuana) have also been studied for use in treating other symptoms, like bradykinesia (slowness caused by PD) and dyskinesia (excess movement caused by levodopa). Despite some promising preclinical findings, researchers have not found any meaningful cannabis benefits for people with Parkinson’s.
While in San Diego, Larry and his wife visit a medical marijuana doctor to obtain a prescription. “These are not the days of Reefer Madness,” Larry observes in the video, referencing a 1936 propaganda film meant to demonize cannabis use. “Yet I and millions of other people can’t have it without facing serious jail time.” Larry currently lives in South Dakota, which does not have a medical marijuana program. According to the description of the video, Larry said: “With a few drops of cannabis oil under his tongue, Larry’s severe dyskinesia (uncontrolled movements), loss of voice, and tremors are calmed within in minutes! We didn’t even edit the footage because the results were so startling.”
The video footage shows Larry putting a drop of cannabis oil under his tongue, before lying down. After only a few minutes, Larry sat up and had a noticeably positive change in behavior. As soon as he sat up, his uncontrolled movements vanished.
This story made me realize that the legality of medical marijuana is literally life impacting for those who not only benefit from it, but depend on it to make it through a regular day. Medical marijuana has been shown to improve effects from many mental disorders including Alzheimer’s. Be sure to check out the video and let us know what you think!