Christine Collier works in the cannabis industry and utilizes CBD everyday. She spends three days a week making topicals for Cannabombz and two days a week caring for an elderly woman. Christine uses CBD for aches and pains but primarily for her Chron's disease. She spreads the word about CBD to clients and friends and is extremely passionate about the cannabis plant. This is Christine's CBD journey...
Why do you use CBD?
It helps with the pain from Chron’s disease -- all my pain -- back pain, leg pain, I notice a difference with all of that. It helps with my anxiety because of Chron’s, everyday is different you never know what to expect so I find comfort in knowing I can get pain relief from something other than a pill. I don’t like to take pills I don’t like how I feel on things like opioids so I feel fortunate to be able to have an alternative medication that helps.
Does anyone else in your family use CBD?
My daughter, my sister in law, my mom, my great aunt, my clients, and my dog.
How did you discover CBD?
At first I was just smoking weed at parties when I was young and had no idea about the medicinal part. I really wasn’t having so many problems with Chron’s like I am now, and I quit smoking weed for awhile and noticed the pain. And this was back when there was no studies that marijuana helped, I just noticed myself. Then when someone told me that what it was for I was like “Wow! I didn’t realize we could use it as a medicine.’” So I know the difference from using it and not using it and my Chron’s medications do not control my disease. Now we get to hear, I think, more honest opinions. Back in the day it was ‘Reefer Madness’ and big pharma did that. So once people started putting this other information out there to be read because they felt empowered or whatever to help other people is how I found out. Reading and talking to other people and noticing the benefits myself; then my daughter also showed me things like topicals and other uses of CBD.
Was CBD hard for you to acquire?
No, I knew it was out there and I knew it helps but financially it’s a hardship. With insurance I can afford to pay for medications, but this out-of-pocket payments for alternative medicines is costly -- something I can’t afford.
How has it affected your relationship with friends/family?
I feel judged and I feel like people are very close-minded, they don’t want to read the research because they don’t believe it can be true from all the things they heard back during ‘Reefer Madness’ times. And it’s totally assaulting and offensive when people tell me that I shouldn’t use it, that it’s bad for me, these are the people that are ignorant and it’s a natural herb… how can it be worse than manmade chemicals?
Has it affected your career in anyway?
I don’t have to miss so many days of work because of pain. It has provided me income because I love it. I believe in it and it makes me happy to make products for myself and other people, and people who are not in a lot of pain don’t know what they’re talking about.
Do/did you take any pharmaceutical drugs with/before CBD?
Yes. I was offered all kinds of pain meds like Percocet, Delotted, Xanax Attivan -- all mood altering, addictive medications. Fortunately, I don’t have such a strong addictive personality and I don’t like the way they make me feel. Otherwise I believe I would be addicted, too, like so many others.
Do you feel like there is a stigma associated with CBD?
Yes, that’s because people who don’t understand. People from older generations just don’t understand, and I can understand their close-mindedness because they’re from a different time, but I’ve gotten a lot of older people to try. But the people who don’t want to take it are insistent that they don’t even want to know about it. They say, “I don’t want to know how good for you it is, I would rather take a pill because I trust a pill more than a plant.”
I just wish it was more affordable. It should be covered under insurance but big pharma doesn’t want that because they can’t make money. And that is so wrong. So wrong to do to people. People who are hurting and need help. And you can get majorly penalized with the way the laws are. You know, if I get pulled over I have potential to get in serious trouble. It needs to change, it just has to change. It will change. We’re getting there though, the more you talk about it the more accepted it is. It’s a process.
Especially since it works. The people who don’t want to take it take pills because they really believe there is no other choice because they’ve been told, “Here take this pill or lay there and suffer day after day.” If the doctors, the marijuana doctors, the chiropractors, if everyone just got on the same page with the end goal just to help people, I don’t know why we don’t do that I don’t know why they can’t all work together.
Tell me your CBD journey in a few words.
I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t care what people think. I don’t care if I’m judged, I don’t care because I am more important and I need to do what makes me feel good. CBD has changed my life. I’m here working because of CBD I’m not in the hospital because of CBD.