There are fifty or sixty different active components in cannabis. THC is the famous one. It’s also the most mentally stimulating one. Other components are muscle relaxants and pain relaxants. They don’t stimulate your mind that much. You don’t take them to get high. You want a more productive day. Different varieties of cannabis have different components and different effects.
I have scoliosis. It can be managed with prescription drugs or it can be managed with cannabis with far fewer side effects. I do a combination of both. I make a real effort to minimize prescription drugs because they’re toxic.
I started using cannabis medically when I became more educated about it. The more I learned about it, the more I thought, “This just really makes sense.” I’m a nurse, I have some idea of how medications work. It’s about the safest drug you can take.
Credit: Steve LaBadessa
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Steve LaBadessaPhotographer Steve LaBadessa lives in Oakland, California. For 10 years he was a contributing photographer to People magazine. His work has also appeared in Time magazine, TV Guide and The New York Times Magazine among other publications. He has shot advertising projects for Discovery Communications, Johnson & Johnson and Lexus. His work can be seen at stevelabadessa.com.