Juicing Cannabis Healed My Rheumatoid Arthritis
About a year ago I could barely move. Doing everyday activities such as walking, dressing myself, and even using a toilet was extremely difficult and painful. I was suffering from a severe autoimmune disease known as rheumatoid arthritis. Like most diseases, it was progressively getting worse. I kept seeking a natural solution while simultaneously taking prescription drugs just to survive.
After a while, I considered getting a medical marijuana card so that I could smoke cannabis in hopes of alleviating some of my pain and, in turn, cut down on the number of pharmaceuticals I was taking. That’s when a friend told me about juicing cannabis. She told me that if you juice the leaf and/or bud of the raw, unheated plant, it can eliminate chronic pain and even put many diseases into long-term remission.
I did some research and learned that there is a doctor in Northern California who started the burgeoning juicing movement in 2007. Dr. William Courtney, M.D., and his wife Kristen Courtney have founded Cannabis International (see the video at the bottom of the home page of www.cannabisinternational.org). After seeing Dr. Courtney myself, it took a while for me to actually obtain a large enough bag of leaf to give the juicing experiment a try. Once I finally did, I had enough to juice for about a month.
After just a few days of drinking the juice mixed in a smoothie, I was able to eliminate all of my pharmaceuticals. Today, ten months later, I’m still pharmaceutical-free and almost in complete remission from RA. I drink cannabis juice smoothies daily and because the plant hasn’t been heated up or dried out, it does not get me high. I have written a book called Juicing Cannabis for Healing: How I Achieved Almost Complete Remission of Chronic Pain by Juicing Fresh, Raw Marijuana Leaf (www.juicingpot.com).
The biggest obstacles to patients who wish to try juicing are:
1) where to obtain the leaf to juice and
2) how to do it without getting into legal trouble.
In my book, I talk about how to obtain the leaf, which is not very easy to do at the moment. But ultimately I encourage patients to learn how to grow their own medicine. And the reason for this is that is it best to juice high CBD strains and also you need to know if your leaf has touched a grow light or if it has been sprayed with pesticides. People with compromised immune systems do not need to be ingesting carcinogenic chemicals with their medicine. When you grow it yourself, you control these factors. Plus, other people, as well meaning as they may be, can let you down. Maybe they will give or sell their leaf to someone else when you are counting on it. Or maybe their crop will get spider mites. If you learn how to become a master grower, you’ll have a much better chance of always having the medicine when you need it.
In my opinion, there is not a more medicinally healing plant on our earth. Marijuana is being called a panacea by some top people in the industry. It has evolved with us for about 34 million years. Before the prohibition, cannabis was prescribed regularly by doctors. Terpenes and cannabinoids are the main constituents of cannabis which are responsible for its unparalleled healing abilities. Cannabinoids are also found in breast milk but other than cannabis they are only found in limited quantities in a few places in the plant kingdom such as in Echinacea and flax.
As the revolution towards full legalization continues, my hope is that policymakers:
1) allow citizens to grow their own medicine and
2) allow for a generous number of plants per patient in order to make juicing possible.
If our voices and votes count, the power is in our hands. Spread the word and educate your friends and politicians. One day there will be no need to fear disease because there is a plant that has been put here on this earth for our healing, our enlightenment, and our pleasure.
Hi there, I can barely type this as my hands are so swollen from . arthritis… I wondered if a particular variety of plant is best? How many leaves to juice daily? And how to store them for over winter? Thanks so much xxx
Hi:
I’m walking without a cane and without shrieking in pain from “horrible” rheumatoid arthritis in my left hip, which I only got diagnosed with in January. In the early spring, I started drinking smoothies with raw juice. (I get them from a man in Santa Cruz: emeraldnectar.com is his company, and I get the cubes from Kind People’s Collective here in Santa Cruz, California.) Within about six weeks, the disease has almost disappeared.
My understanding is that it is the THC-A (which is not THC: you have to heat the plant to activate the psychoactive properties) in the juice that is the good stuff. CBDs are more for cancer—everything I’ve read says it’s the THC-A.
My guy is going to be growing AC/DC (a cannabis strain high in THC-A) along with his other strains to blend into the cubes: he’s going to put the kief (the resin from cannabis trichomes) into the mix for optimum benefits. I will be growing my own cannabis to augment it, as I also understand that the raw flowers (the expensive part we smoke) should go into the mix, as well.
I am in the middle of writing three emails to women about my age, sharing this information with them. It is nothing less than a miracle for me. I did not want to be on pain medications or anything like that. I am free of them. (Every couple of weeks I might have a couple of Alleves—but that’s hardly affecting my quality of life.)
To Lucy: I made blenders full of cannabis juice myself. You need to add some juice or water and some banana. The banana is for consistency: if you don’t add it, the pulp separates from the liquid and it’s not pretty. After I fill the blender (a Kitchen-Aid works fine, but of course a Nutri-Bullet would be fabulous) with leaves and some apple juice, I get them as finely puréed as possible, then pour them into an ice cube tray. You can’t keep fresh leaves for any length of time at all: not even more than a few days in the fridge. Juice and freeze.
I experimented with the dosage and settled on three good-sized cubes per full smoothie. A smoothie = one or two bananas, some frozen berries or mango, three-four ice cubes, sometimes chai, sometimes vanilla yogurt…very easy to drink and so very delicious.
I hope that helps. High THC-A is what you want to grow. (CBDs are great, and certainly cannot hurt!)
Peace.
(I get nothing from my referrals: this stuff is a miracle and I consider it an honor to help people get over their pain and diseases. A MIRACLE!)
Hi I’m trying a juicing experiment for my wife who has rymatoid arthritis, though I have a few questions;
1/Is it ok to try the juice while she’s on med’s?
2/I can only get dried leaves is this ok? Or do they have to be fresh ?
3/The link to purchase your book does not work !
Great knowledge thanks for passing on !
Hi Duncan, please read the introduction to our recipes and guides section before attempting this. Dried cannabis is psychoactive and although still potentially useful may not be as good for juicing as the raw plant: http://medicalmarijuana.co.uk/recipes-and-guides/
We are very interested to know how you get on so don’t forget to check in once you’ve conducted your experiment. Your experiences are very helpful to other users on the site.
Dried cannabis is NOT psychoactive unless it’s been heated. You can only juice raw leave, though—fresh ones.
Please trust me that drying cannabis is NOT what makes you high. How foolish a claim!
Hi, I have both RA and FMS and use cannabis based cream to relieve my pain, which is incredible and has cut down my use of Tramadol and other painkillers. However, I would now like to try the oil but am unsure which I need to get. Any hints, please?
Will cannabis juicing help with my Osteoarthritis pain? or is this limited to rheumatoid?