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A cookie a day keeps the pain away for Connie McEwan.

Only in this case, the cookies are baked with medical marijuana – and they’ve managed to replace a diet of prescription painkillers.

 

Recovering from a series of surgeries that has her confined to a wheelchair, the 68-year-old Birmingham resident has become a voice for medical marijuana. Last month, she wrote a letter to the Birmingham City Commission on the topic:

 

“It is my understanding that Birmingham is one of the few cities in Michigan reported to be in favor of criminalizing marijuana across the board,” she wrote. “As a long-time resident and current user of medical marijuana, I urge you to reconsider this position.

 

McEwan continued: “Now, understand that I am a retired Birmingham business owner, a grandmother of 10, and an award-winning community volunteer. The marijuana I use every evening has taken the place of many high-powered narcotics and sleeping pills prescribed after many months in the hospital.”

 

 

In 2010, Birmingham adopted an ordinance that “prohibits any activity that violates federal law.” Marijuana, still classified as illegal under the Controlled Substance Act, falls under that umbrella.

 

While other Michigan cities recently passed referendums on legalizing small amounts of marijuana, Birmingham hasn’t dealt with the issue since that ordinance was adopted.

City Manager Robert Bruner said he doubts the top leadership in Oakland County will ever relax their opposition to medical marijuana – especially dispensaries.

 

 

“As long as Mike Bouchard is sheriff and Jessica Cooper is prosecutor, I highly doubt it,” he said. “I was city manager in Ferndale when the medical dispensaries were busted – and Ferndale allowed dispensaries. I’m not agreeing or disagreeing – I’m saying that’s the reality.”

 

A DIFFERENT VOICE

McEwan and her husband have four children and 10 grandchildren between them. A graduate of Michigan State University, she worked as a financial analyst for Mobil Oil and a marketing analyst for General Motors. She also ran her own ad agency in Birmingham for 17 years.

 

 

On top of that, she’s been involved in a number of local organizations, including the Women’s Committee for Hospice Care, Boys & Girls Club, Oakland County Lighthouse and The Community House. She’s also an accomplished oil painter.

So why go public about her marijuana use?

 

“I did have reservations,” McEwan said. “Although a lot of my friends know that I have used medical marijuana, there are a lot of people who I’ve known and met over the years who will undoubtedly be a bit surprised to find this out.

 

“But it’s really important for people to understand you don’t have to be a drug-addled idiot to use medical marijuana. It’s not smoking pot. It’s a medical necessity for a lot of people. And when I say medical necessity, I don’t mean you’re going to die without it. But when you think about what drugs it can replace, just for the overall health of your body, it’s just dumbfounding.”

 

 

LEARNING TO BAKE

In 2012, McEwan underwent a series of complicated surgeries to correct her spine from a deformity that a car accident had caused many years ago.

The surgeries did not work. After spending nearly 12 months in the hospital, she returned home in a wheelchair. For most of the day, she is relatively pain-free.

Evenings are a different story.

 

She first tried taking a combination of Oxycontin, Vicodin and Seroquel to help her at night, but ultimately the painkillers were giving her headaches and leaving her groggy.

“I knew I wanted off those drugs from the get-go,” she said. “I just didn’t know how. I tried cutting back, but the cost was the loss of being pain free.”

That’s when a friend suggested she try medical marijuana. After some initial reluctance, McEwan decided to try it. She saw a doctor, provided the necessary records and was issued a medical marijuana card.

 

Learning how to bake with marijuana was a bit of trial and error. She followed cookie recipes from the Internet until she found one to her liking.

“Baking it into an edible product takes away the ‘high’ you would get from smoking pot and it just causes you to be drowsy,” she said. “So it’s a totally different thing than smoking it.”

 

Today, she deals with her pain by eating one cookie every night before going to bed. And that’s it.

 

SPEAKING UP

McEwan does two hours of therapy every day and is starting to feel some strength in one of her legs. But she doesn’t know if she’ll ever walk again.

 

Her voice is quite strong, however. McEwan said she’s more the type who tends to “go and do” rather than “sit and watch.” Even if it means writing a public letter to the local commission.

 

“Why should I be looked upon as a borderline criminal? I don’t think I deserve that,” she said. “Now, I know the police are not going to arrest me – and I know I could go to a dispensary in Detroit and buy things and not get arrested.

 

“But when I tell that to people, they just look at me in shock. ‘You couldn’t possibly use marijuana.’ People have to understand there’s a whole bunch of people who are using it – and they’re wonderful, sane, normal, productive people.”

 

 

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20131201/NEWS02/312010087/Birmingham-woman-eases-pain-marijuana-cookies-rallies-behind-cause

Edited by bobandtorey
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A cookie a day keeps the pain away for Connie McEwan.

Only in this case, the cookies are baked with medical marijuana – and they’ve managed to replace a diet of prescription painkillers.

 

Recovering from a series of surgeries that has her confined to a wheelchair, the 68-year-old Birmingham resident has become a voice for medical marijuana. Last month, she wrote a letter to the Birmingham City Commission on the topic:

 

“It is my understanding that Birmingham is one of the few cities in Michigan reported to be in favor of criminalizing marijuana across the board,” she wrote. “As a long-time resident and current user of medical marijuana, I urge you to reconsider this position.

 

McEwan continued: “Now, understand that I am a retired Birmingham business owner, a grandmother of 10, and an award-winning community volunteer. The marijuana I use every evening has taken the place of many high-powered narcotics and sleeping pills prescribed after many months in the hospital.”

 

 

In 2010, Birmingham adopted an ordinance that “prohibits any activity that violates federal law.” Marijuana, still classified as illegal under the Controlled Substance Act, falls under that umbrella.

 

While other Michigan cities recently passed referendums on legalizing small amounts of marijuana, Birmingham hasn’t dealt with the issue since that ordinance was adopted.

City Manager Robert Bruner said he doubts the top leadership in Oakland County will ever relax their opposition to medical marijuana – especially dispensaries.

 

 

“As long as Mike Bouchard is sheriff and Jessica Cooper is prosecutor, I highly doubt it,” he said. “I was city manager in Ferndale when the medical dispensaries were busted – and Ferndale allowed dispensaries. I’m not agreeing or disagreeing – I’m saying that’s the reality.”

 

A DIFFERENT VOICE

McEwan and her husband have four children and 10 grandchildren between them. A graduate of Michigan State University, she worked as a financial analyst for Mobil Oil and a marketing analyst for General Motors. She also ran her own ad agency in Birmingham for 17 years.

 

 

On top of that, she’s been involved in a number of local organizations, including the Women’s Committee for Hospice Care, Boys & Girls Club, Oakland County Lighthouse and The Community House. She’s also an accomplished oil painter.

So why go public about her marijuana use?

 

“I did have reservations,” McEwan said. “Although a lot of my friends know that I have used medical marijuana, there are a lot of people who I’ve known and met over the years who will undoubtedly be a bit surprised to find this out.

 

“But it’s really important for people to understand you don’t have to be a drug-addled idiot to use medical marijuana. It’s not smoking pot. It’s a medical necessity for a lot of people. And when I say medical necessity, I don’t mean you’re going to die without it. But when you think about what drugs it can replace, just for the overall health of your body, it’s just dumbfounding.”

 

 

LEARNING TO BAKE

In 2012, McEwan underwent a series of complicated surgeries to correct her spine from a deformity that a car accident had caused many years ago.

The surgeries did not work. After spending nearly 12 months in the hospital, she returned home in a wheelchair. For most of the day, she is relatively pain-free.

Evenings are a different story.

 

She first tried taking a combination of Oxycontin, Vicodin and Seroquel to help her at night, but ultimately the painkillers were giving her headaches and leaving her groggy.

“I knew I wanted off those drugs from the get-go,” she said. “I just didn’t know how. I tried cutting back, but the cost was the loss of being pain free.”

That’s when a friend suggested she try medical marijuana. After some initial reluctance, McEwan decided to try it. She saw a doctor, provided the necessary records and was issued a medical marijuana card.

 

Learning how to bake with marijuana was a bit of trial and error. She followed cookie recipes from the Internet until she found one to her liking.

“Baking it into an edible product takes away the ‘high’ you would get from smoking pot and it just causes you to be drowsy,” she said. “So it’s a totally different thing than smoking it.”

 

Today, she deals with her pain by eating one cookie every night before going to bed. And that’s it.

 

SPEAKING UP

McEwan does two hours of therapy every day and is starting to feel some strength in one of her legs. But she doesn’t know if she’ll ever walk again.

 

Her voice is quite strong, however. McEwan said she’s more the type who tends to “go and do” rather than “sit and watch.” Even if it means writing a public letter to the local commission.

 

“Why should I be looked upon as a borderline criminal? I don’t think I deserve that,” she said. “Now, I know the police are not going to arrest me – and I know I could go to a dispensary in Detroit and buy things and not get arrested.

 

“But when I tell that to people, they just look at me in shock. ‘You couldn’t possibly use marijuana.’ People have to understand there’s a whole bunch of people who are using it – and they’re wonderful, sane, normal, productive people.”

 

 

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20131201/NEWS02/312010087/Birmingham-woman-eases-pain-marijuana-cookies-rallies-behind-cause

 

 

Herein lies the truth about medical marijuana. The truth that just about every elected official in the state refuses to acknowledge.

Some day in the not too distant future these officials will be forced to admit that they were wrong about marijuana. They will then laugh and say "How were we to know?" Well, your ignorance is causing an untold number of people to not only suffer needlessly from debilitating pain, but to also suffer needlessly from the guilt associated with using a harmless substance that you, in your infinite wisdom, have deemed "immoral". Do everyone a favor. DO some research on this plant before you make anymore decisions that will cause more pain and suffering.

 

Poetic justice for these officials would be for them to be denied the use of this substance in their time of need.

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Quote from Chauncy...


Herein lies the truth about medical marijuana. The truth that just about every elected official in the state refuses to acknowledge.


Some day in the not too distant future these officials will be forced to admit that they were wrong about marijuana. They will then laugh and say "How were we to know?" Well, your ignorance is causing an untold number of people to not only suffer needlessly from debilitating pain, but to also suffer needlessly from the guilt associated with using a harmless substance that you, in your infinite wisdom, have deemed "immoral". Do everyone a favor. DO some research on this plant before you make anymore decisions that will cause more pain and suffering.


Poetic justice for these officials would be for them to be denied the use of this substance in their time of need.


 


 


As they say on Facebook... 'Like'


Edited by Letterhead954
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awesome article..and an amazing woman it sounds like.

 

thank you.

 

i would say absolutely yes Bob depending on how she baked it.. if she merely adds cannabis then it certainly could be.

 

it is an excellent opportunity to show how using cannabis can be done without making an extract.

 

cannabis can be added to numerous recipes and be delicious... and be baked, roasted, grilled, and even fried....

Edited by mibrains
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One cookie before bed. I can SLEEP the whole night! And I can't take anything to mask pain,I KNOW IT WORKS.Candies,2 a day. I will advocate for medibles till I die.

Me too. I have to medicate heavily to get to sleep, and a brownie at bedtime keeps me asleep. Otherwise it's only 3-5 hours a night (if I can get to sleep) and over time a nasty case of sleep deprivation. It's much better than being hooked on ambien, and without it I would be a complete mess. 

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