By Jay Jay O'Brien Certified Cannabis Wellness Coach and Educator

Have You Ever Met A Unicorn?

I’m a unicorn. In the Cannabis world, you won’t meet many people like me. I’m a stigma-free baby.

What exactly does that mean? That means I grew up in a world where Cannabis was normalized and accepted. It means I grew up around people who regularly utilized and enjoyed Cannabis and made a point of making sure I knew that there was nothing wrong with consuming this plant.

In my house, the “this is your brain on drugs” commercial, the one with the frying egg in the pan was often ridiculed and the butt of jokes. “Who wants eggs?” my mom would holler in jest when it came on. We knew the truth, and we were not swayed by our television “programming.”

But I’m a rarity and just because I didn’t grow up with Cannabis stigma in my house, doesn’t mean I’m not faced with it out in the world.

Being a medical Cannabis cancer patient raises a lot of eyebrows. Many people don’t take my use of Cannabis seriously. In particular, my oncologist. I’ve mentioned my usage of Cannabis at every appointment, yet it was only written in my chart after the fourth time. The nurse was new.

Taking The ‘Uni By The Horn’

I began ingesting high doses of concentrated Cannabis oil (aka FECO) (1), after receiving a Stage-4 terminal lung cancer diagnosis (2). I immediately noticed tremendous healing taking place in my body. My 10 out of 10 pain dropped to a 0, and the metastasis in my bones began to heal as the tumors in my lungs shrank rapidly!

This happened before I began the targeted therapy my oncologist prescribed. The targeted therapy they told me would only stop the cancer from spreading any further, yet, it received all the credit as my healing ensued. This has been extremely frustrating for me as a patient.

On many occasions, I’ve walked into the hospital with my copy of “Cannabis is Medicine” by Dr. Bonni Goldstein under my arm. I place it on the oncologist's desk, the title facing out so that they see it. I always hope it will spark conversation. It never does.

Not feeling seen or heard by the people responsible for not just my health, but my life, has led me to this new place where I’ve had to become a researcher, prescribing physician, and specialist, not by choice, but through necessity, as I navigate a life for myself rather than just submit to an impending death.

This Isn't A Fantasy

After a recent recurrence of cancer, 11 metastatic tumors in my brain became 9 and shrank to a quarter of the size after just 3 weeks of FECO and targeted therapy. After 2 months, as I write this, the tumors are “almost completely resolved.” When my oncologist delivered the good news, guess where all the credit went? To the prescription pills of course. 

This is the stigma I face from the medical community. The stigma is widespread as rules and regulations prevent the medical community from learning or speaking anything about plant medicine. That is not their practice. I haven’t met a doctor yet who's eager to make themselves look unintelligent by engaging in a conversation on a subject they know nothing about, yet should. Have you?

In my oncologist's eyes, Cannabis is of no beneficial use. The scheduling of Cannabis saw to that.
“It won’t interact with your medication, so it’s fine for you to use” was the only acknowledgment I got from them. Where does that leave me? It leaves me feeling gaslit and alone as I navigate my body back from a terminal diagnosis to good health.

Wishful Thinking

I wonder sometimes what it would be like if things were different. If Cannabis didn’t have this looming stigma of being this hazardous, gateway drug that makes you lazy and crazy. (Which couldn’t be further from the truth.)

Let’s say we live in a world without Cannabis stigma. A world similar to the one I grew up in as a child. What do you imagine would be different?

For starters, I imagine there would be a lot less lonely people in the world. Being alienated by the medical community for not following their protocols, but rather moving outside the norm, has been a source of undue stress, anxiety, and depression for me. Not beneficial to my healing. Without Cannabis stigma, the medical community would see the value of this medicine and unite in promoting its benefit.

Another thing that would change is the attitude towards the choice to prefer plant medicine over harsh alternatives. Between family, friends, and medical teams, Cannabis use would be normalized, and wouldn’t seem like such an “out of the ordinary” alternative or even an alternative at all. It may even be considered a first-line treatment as opposed to a last-ditch effort by patients.

Having had a support system in place with people who believed in and encouraged me on my healing journey made it all that much easier to restore my body to a place of balance. In a world without Cannabis stigma, we would be free to benefit from the healing qualities of this plant making the world a much happier and healthier place.

Believing In Magic

In November of 2019, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. I started Cannabis oil 1 month later and felt an immediate transformation in my symptoms. Within a month I had shrunk the tumors significantly and healed most of the metastasis in my bones. 

A month after the Cannabis oil, I began the targeted therapy prescribed by my oncologist. I remained “stable and unremarkable” for 3 years. Against the doctors' recommendation, I stopped the targeted therapy in December of 2022 and received an ‘all clear’ in April of 2023.

After the all clear, I’ll admit, I got lazy, comfortable, and complacent in my healing. An obvious mistake. I didn’t maintain my protocols, including a massive decline in my Cannabis oil consumption, which led to my more recent recurrence of cancer that metastasized to my brain.

I was diagnosed with 11 brain tumors in August of 2023 and as I write this now in October 2023, those 11 tumors are “almost completely resolved.” This was after just 2 months back on the targeted therapy and on high doses of Cannabis oil. 

It’s hard to say for sure what exactly is doing what in my body. The pills get a lot of the credit, but what about Cannabis? I’m not here to give Cannabis all the credit either, but I’m certain it’s had a significant impact on my healing.

Happily Ever After

In my role as researcher, I’ve come across a lot of evidence that Cannabis use can actually improve the efficacy of many cancer therapy drugs.

According to the study (3) by Velasco et al, the combined administration of Cannabis and some cytotoxic (cancer-killing) drugs “can reduce the viability of cancer cells and work synergistically to reduce tumor growth.” Cannabinoids are also known to impair tumor progression at many levels.

In the study (4) by Go et al, “remarkable inhibitions of tumor growth and weight were observed in mice that received combination therapy with both CBD and Cisplatin, which means that CBD can be used in combination with general anti-cancer drugs.”

We’re seeing these interactions in leukemia, glioma, head and neck, breast, melanoma, and prostate cancer cell lines in combination with drugs like Cisplatin, Paclitaxel, and Taxol, and this is just where the research has scratched the surface.

Whether it’s the Cannabis, the targeted therapy, or the combination of them both, I continue to be “stable and unremarkable.” I continue to feel healthy and happy so whatever I’m doing must be working, and that’s all that matters to me.

References 

1. “Good Cannabis Medicine Starts with Good Terminology: Feco versus RSO.” Good Cannabis Medicine Starts with Good Terminology: FECO Versus RSO, Effective Cannabis Newsletter, 6 June 2023, www.effectivenewsletter.com/blog/good-medicine-starts-with-good-terminology.

2. O’Brien, Jay Jay. “Waging a New War: My Cancer Manifesto with Stage 4 Lung Cancer.” Waging a New War: My Cancer Manifesto with Stage 4 Lung Cancer, Effective cannabis Newsletter, 6 June 2023, www.effectivenewsletter.com/blog/my-cancer-manifesto?cid=a4cc4c0a-6178-4f36-b7ce-41a14d5ef8d7. 

3. Velasco, G et al. “Anticancer mechanisms of cannabinoids.” Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) vol. 23,2 (2016): S23-32. doi:10.3747/co.23.3080

4. Go, Yoon Young, et al. “Cannabidiol Enhances Cytotoxicity of Anti-Cancer Drugs in Human Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 26 Nov. 2020, www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-77674-y.

About Jay Jay O’Brien:

Jay Jay is the founder and creator of naturalisticallynow and the Canecdotal Collective, where she educates and assists people with cancer, implementing Cannabis into their protocols. As a stage 4 lung cancer survivor and caregiver to her type 1 diabetic son, Jay Jay has learned that you truly do "get what you give", and with Cannabis, she believes we have the opportunity to give our bodies the opportunity to truly heal rather than just masking our symptoms. Through her own experience of healing, she has now made it her mission to share the capabilities of Cannabis with all who will listen.

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Effective Cannabis Newsletter is a platform to educate on the vital role of the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) in one's health. The information is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information contained in or available through this newsletter is for general information purposes only. It is not medical advice; it is health awareness.