I dont feel high ... I feel better: 98-year-old tries pot, then cuts back on morphine

[TexasTowelie]

NEW YORK -- Ruth Brunn finally said yes to marijuana. She is 98.

She pops a green pill filled with cannabis oil into her mouth with a sip of vitamin water. Then Brunn, who has neuropathy, settles back in her wheelchair and waits for the jabbing pain in her shoulders, arms and hands to ebb.

“I don’t feel high or stoned,” she said. “All I know is I feel better when I take this.”

Brunn will soon have company. The nursing home in New York City where she lives, the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, is taking the unusual step of helping its residents use medical marijuana under a new program to treat various illnesses with an alternative to prescription drugs. While the staff will not store or administer pot, residents are allowed to buy it from a dispensary, keep it in locked boxes in their rooms and take it on their own.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/news/nation-world/national/article133816674.html

[WheelWalker]

1. Well, after morphine... I wouldn't expect much of a high from weed, LOL.

[procon]

3. When I was in pain my body assimilated pain meds to deal with the discomport

without making me high. The incremental dosage is regulated by a programmable IV pump that the patient can control, but the amount is controlled so there is no way to get enough morphine to get high. Speaking just from my own experience, morphine relieved the pain to the degree that I could relax and be comfortable enough to sleep or sit up. The was no sense of euphoria or other pleasurable sensation, just the escape from pain which was a blessing. I can understand why medical marijuana would work the same way, but with fewer side effects and it would be cheaper to dispense.

[DesertFlower]

4. i've been on hydrocodone 325-10 for 5 years.

i don't get high. it just helps with the pain. one day while waiting to see my doc i took a pill. another woman said "you're going to drive"?

many years ago when i was prescribed this drug for dental work and/or surgery i did feel it and i didn't like the way i felt. had a root canal last month and the dentist prescribed 800 mg of ibuprofen. i did need a prescription. i said "i'm taking hydrocodone". he said "they work well together".

i've also heard that these drugs are not addicting if you're taking them for pain, but i don't believe it.

[bravenak]

2. This is great new for people in chronic pain