Comfortably Numb, by Garrett Sax

Filed under: Themes, Potanical Garden, The Attention Defistress

Comfortably Numb: Marijuana and Hyperactivity Disorder

“There is no doubt in my mind that this plant was destined to be a part of my life…”

Comfortably Numb: Marijuana and Hyperactivity Disorder 

by Garrett Sax

I can’t sit still, I can’t concentrate, I can’t think straight, I can’t I can’t I can’t.

I suddenly remember my stash and, wow, I’m already in the sky. My life with hyperactivity disorder got way better when Mary Jane, so fair, entered the picture.

I remember the day my roommate first brought home this insanely powerful stuff he dubbed “purple-tailed pot,” for the little threads of maroon that emerged and straddled the buds. We broke it up and rolled a not-so modest joint. My friends, I would be lying if I purported to remember what happened next. But many years later, long after we got through the various laughing fits and the craziness of our prolonged adolescences, I realised that after smoking cannabis I could sit still longer and calm down from my various impulsivities.

I couldn’t yet concentrate better, but they were among the first moments of calmness I had ever really known. It wasn’t a calm laziness-and it wasn’t boredom-but the simple calmness of being, devoid of the pressures of time and energy. Over the years of smoking pot, I began to experience what hyperactivity disorder had always prevented: my existence. I could finally sit down and experience the curious state of being that defined the human condition. It was ironic that it was only at the end of my philosophy degree that I was finally able to understand some of the things I had been pretending to study.

Smoking pot became a very regular part of my life, and I discovered a variety of effects that could be drawn out of the experience. Very small doses served to take the edge off the day, to calm me down and relax my muscles and bones and joints, to enjoy a good book. Larger doses were for movie-watching and rock concerts, providing both the heightened awareness and euphoric numbness that complement entertainment so well. Even larger doses still were for those utterly depleting, never-ending bouts of insomnia. Over the years I got to know myself and my usage so well that there was nary a friend nor foe who could tell when I was “stoned.” 

There is no doubt in my mind that this plant was destined to be a part of my life, given the condition I had. It has kept me grounded on so many occasions, and when the Liberals proposed redefining it as a “medication” it was a no-brainer for me. In my work as a healthcare professional, I occasionally deal with palliative care patients who seek prescriptions for the alleviation of their suffering. The medical authorities do not encourage doctors to do this, but I would defy any physician to prescribe a pharmaceutical product that can simultaneously stimulate appetite, calm nausea, quell anxiety, relieve pain, reduce the risk of seizures, relax muscles, reduce insomnia, and have no other side-effects.

They can’t, because only the all-natural cannabis can fit that bill.

Doctors are loath to take steps off the path beaten for them by Big Pharma. But you are the boss of you. Solutions exist in the alternatives, be they more exercise, more fish in the diet, more natural remedies, etc. Mental health is a field of medicine that should be expanded to become a field of choices, some complementing medicine, some avoiding it altogether. When I was a kid, my choices were Ritalin, Ritalin, and more Ritalin (methylphenidate). That offered me the possibility of the following “side effects”: difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, irritability, nervousness, stomach aches, headaches, dry mouth, blurry vision, nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, and tics. (Say, aren’t some of those caused by hyperactivity disorder in the first place?) If that wasn’t enough, I could have gotten the following “conditions”: hypersensitivity, heart palpitations, blood pressure and pulse changes, cardiac arrhythmia, anemia, scalp hair loss, and (holy shit!) psychosis. Much less common but still entirely possible? Abnormal liver function, cerebral arteritis, leucopenia, and finally, (holy fucking shit!) death. Yes, death.

Well, the research thus far conducted seems to agree that smoking pot relieves at least eight of the twelve “side-effects” listed above. But my approach is even better. Rather than smoke pot to relieve the side-effects of methylphenidate, I stopped the methylphenidate altogether, and smoke the pot when I need it. I feel a whole lot better knowing no potentially harmful chemicals are swirling in my veins. And death isn’t even a remote possibility.

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