I am definitely one of those people who are not afraid to admit that they have always been around marijuana. Hell, if it weren't for the plant, I think a lot of things could have gone wrong for me, especially throughout my teen years.

    As do a lot of cannabis smokers, I smoked my first bowl as a Freshman in High School with a very close friend whom I still talk to to this day! I never got the stigma that it was a "hard drug" or that it was "dangerous;" I even knew of family members smoking cannabis recreationally. After I turned 18 years old, I came out to my parents that I was using cannabis to help me sleep. As a teenager (and sometimes still as an adult), I suffered from horrible insomnia and night terrors. On most nights, smoking a few bongs and a cigarette afterwards was the only way for me to get a decent amount of sleep before school the next morning. On days when I was puking and shaking before a long school day, I knew that smoking a bowl or toking on the bong would help me relax and make it through. I still say to this day, at 30 years old, that cannabis helped me tremendously through high school. If I didn't understand the benefits, even at 16, 17, and 18 years old, then I don't know how I would have made it through the rest of my teen years.

    I have had PTSD from a very young age, but it wasn't diagnosed until my adult years. Trauma from childhood, teenage years, and sexual abuse just made a huge domino effect. As much as I thought I was a tough kid and could handle a lot of the lemons life would throw at me, I would occasionally seek help, either from my parents or through school. I knew I needed help, especially on nights when I couldn't sleep and hurting myself seemed like a better idea. I always knew my wiring was off, but I never wanted to take pills. Shit, even when I was a small kid, I hated taking pills for allergies or any kind of sickness. My mom always had to crush them up and hide them in my food. However, no matter who I reached out to in those times, everyone wanted to set me up with anti-depressants and coping mechanisms that never worked for me. I was on several medications in my late teen years to help reduce depression and anxiety, but it just made my racing thoughts race with each other and gave me suicidal impulses. After a while, I decided that the anti-depressants were not for me. I just stopped taking them (which I don't recommend, seek guidance first) and self medicated with street weed. At this time, medicinal cannabis was only a dream in places like California and overseas.

    With the help of cannabis, be it schwag weed from 2006, I was able to graduate high school, over come social anxieties and create awesome friendships, and maintain jobs well after high school. Despite the negative connotations kids in high school may get for smoking a bowl here and there, I truly believe it helped me battle a lot of my demons through that time. In knowing that, I never stopped smoking cannabis. And I never picked up another drug after that. Never abused pills, never abused alcohol, nor did I try any other street drug. Cannabis was the only thing for me. I always felt safe and in control of my thoughts and didn't blame any bad decisions I made on cannabis. Because those bad decisions were made by my dumbass, I knew exactly what I was doing when I was doing wrong.

    In my adult years, cannabis helped me quit smoking cigarettes! I started puffing on Newports as a child, and I mean like, 8 years old, maybe 10 years old, a child. I didn't stop well into my 20s and that was all thanks to rolling up a few joints here and there when I felt the craving for a cigarette. I didn't quit smoking cigarettes during the vape hype; I didn't have cool flavors and devices to throw my money on when the nicotine dream was fading. I literally quit smoking cigarettes without the patches, pills, and gum. When shit got really hard and the shakes and mood swings would kicked in, I rolled a joint and it took that edge right off. As time went on, the less joints that I needed. I haven't smoked a cigarette in over 4 years now. The only smoke that touches my lungs is the smoke from cannabis. I believe the smog in the air here in Chicago is much worse than what a little joint paper will do to you.*

    Today, as a Medical Cannabis patient for almost a year now, the plant has done so much more for me than just help me combat my issues related to PTSD and anxiety. I am grateful to be able to spread my knowledge and awareness of how awesome cannabis is and can be for someone! I am always so humbled when someone asks for my advice and it definitely inspires me to continue what I am doing. Research I have done for cannabis and continue to do, is all for my enjoyment. Learning and telling you all about it is what I love best! I hope you will continue to come back and read more as I will be back with reviews on more ways you can medicate aside from just smoking a bowl and hitting a few bongs now and then. In most cases, you can take advantage of Cannabis without even being a card holder for mmj!

*DISCLAIMER: If you have lung or breathing issues, please do not take my advice. Please try vaporizing your cannabis before rolling them in papers. If you must use papers, please use unbleached rice/hemp paper like RAW and OCB.