The other day my son asked me why I decided to grow medicinal marijuana instead of just

buying it, and at the time I didn’t have a good answer for him. He worries about my health; there

are days when I can barely get out of bed and days when I can’t even keep my hands from

shaking. So I can understand why he is concerned, but after having some time to think about why

I chose to grow medicinal marijuana, I thought I would share.

I have been gardening my whole life. When I was a child, my mother grew all kinds of

vegetables in our backyard. She taught me everything I know about gardening. When buying my

first home, the only thing I told the realtor is that there must be room for a garden. That was

many years ago and I have been gardening ever since.

You can imagine how difficult it was when my illness progressed and I could no longer put in

the time and energy needed to maintain my tomato garden. It seemed as though I had exchanged

my identity as a gardener for multiple sclerosis patient. And who wants that?

When my doctor mentioned growing medicinal marijuana, I was in shock, it felt as though I got

part of myself back. I would have never guessed that all my gardening experience would play

such a pivotal role in my medical treatment.

Then, I learned tomato plants have a similar root system to cannabis plants! Not only did I have

PRO-MIX HP (which, as luck would have it, is a wonderful medium for growing cannabis) left

over from gardening, but I now had the confidence to begin growing cannabis indoors.

Home-grown foods have always been very important to me, I am a firm believer in the old

saying “You are what you eat”. I love home-grown foods for the same reason I love home-grown

medicinal marijuana: you know exactly what you’re going to get. From germination to curing,

you can control your growing medium, plant’s diet, supplemental nutrients, etc.

Not only does growing your own cannabis give you quality control, growing yourself gives you

control over the strain as well as quantity. Once you find the strain that works best for your

medicinal needs, there is comfort in knowing you may grow the strain you like, and may grow as

many (as many as your state allows) as you need.

While it may be easier to buy the finished product at a dispensary, I find the growing process to

be very therapeutic. Growing my own medicinal marijuana has been a very liberating

experience; it has allowed me to actively participate in my treatment and given me a sense of

control, which is priceless when battling a disease that is centered around the uncontrollable.