Hydrolife Magazine August/September 2017 [USA Edition]
One of the best parts about a budding industry like the marijuana industry is the personalities that emerge. For more than a year in these pages, we’ve worked hard to bring you the latest information, history, how-to methods, and products surrounding cannabis. In this issue, we’re focusing a little more on people, including Jim McAlpine, founder of the 420 Games and Power Plant Fitness. He graces our cover after working with San Francisco-based photographer Mark Rutherford.
One of the best parts about a budding industry like the marijuana industry is the personalities that emerge. For more than a year in these pages, we’ve worked hard to bring you the latest information, history, how-to methods, and products surrounding cannabis. In this issue, we’re focusing a little more on people, including Jim McAlpine, founder of the 420 Games and Power Plant Fitness. He graces our cover after working with San Francisco-based photographer Mark Rutherford.
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In a society where painkillers<br />
are the answer to the slightest feeling<br />
of pain, the situation is reaching<br />
unbearable levels, as opioid painkillers<br />
are highly addictive and responsible<br />
for other negative effects.”<br />
Even if the root cause of the problem appears to be, amongst<br />
other things, the excessive prescription of opioid drugs, their<br />
high price coupled with a country in financial crisis has led<br />
many patients to resort to heroin. It’s the perfect substitute, as<br />
it provides a stronger effect at a considerably lower price. This<br />
has led to cities becoming drug meccas, home to a population<br />
with extremely high addiction rates and an economic network<br />
based on drug-trafficking.<br />
CANNABIS AND<br />
OPIOID ADDICTION<br />
The government has tried to tackle the opioid epidemic<br />
in different ways, including detox programs in which<br />
patients are administered with aggressive, unhealthy<br />
heroin substitutes. In states such as California,<br />
however, there are detoxification programs in which<br />
cannabis is regarded as a substance that can help<br />
heroin addicts fight the intense symptoms associated<br />
with drug withdrawal. Let’s look a bit closer<br />
at this method to see how it works exactly and if it<br />
really is as effective as some people claim.<br />
We interviewed Ryan, a young New Yorker<br />
that was prescribed opioid painkillers at<br />
the age of 15. The opioid in question was<br />
hydrocodone, which was prescribed to him<br />
to treat his backache. He never thought that<br />
taking those pills would imply an addiction;<br />
he actually found the effect amusing. When<br />
he was 19, some friends offered him heroin.<br />
For eight years, his life revolved around this<br />
drug. He had five overdoses that almost killed<br />
him. After several failed rehab attempts,<br />
Ryan asked an acquaintance who owned<br />
a cannabis farm in California and was<br />
familiar with the plant’s medicinal use for<br />
help. This is how he joined a cannabis-based<br />
detoxification program that has helped him<br />
overcome his heroin addiction.<br />
Before being addicted to heroin, you used prescription<br />
opioid painkillers on a regular basis. Do<br />
you think these drugs are prescribed too lightly<br />
and that they can originate addiction problems?<br />
When I started to use hydrocodone, I was not<br />
aware of the problems this drug could cause me.<br />
So, my answer is yes, some doctors prescribe this<br />
kind of drug as if they were candy and they can create<br />
addiction problems indeed.<br />
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. learn. enjoy. 65