A Story of One Musician: How Silver Stem’s Medical Marijuana Helps One Person at a Time
John is a university professor suffering from arthritis who is not allowed to use marijuana even though it is legal in Colorado.
Our conversation with John (the name has been changed) began from his feedback to our Silver Stem’s Facebook page:
“This store is why I can still play guitar. Their products allow me to be creative with the guitar while ignoring the pain otherwise unignorably, from severe arthritis in my fingers. In fact, I can only play open tunings now and not standard tuning, but, thankfully, I can play without the pain causing me to be unable to play. And I am writing wonderful new music for acoustic fingerstyle gitar,”
he wrote.
We were touched and intrigued and got in touch with John, who agreed to tell his story.
John is a 5th generation Coloradoan, with three university degrees (including PhD) in philosophy. John had been married and has four children, with ages ranging from 8 to 34.
Prior to that he had been a substance abuse counselor for 12 years and a jail counselor for four years.
And he did have something to share in the latter profession – John describes himself as being wild hippie in his teenage years who dropped out in senior year and in the end of 70’s tried every drug he could get his hands on, including meth, heroin and LSD which led to 15 encounters with local jail. He had a tough childhood – two brothers committed suicide, parents divorced when he was five, but after “rebelling” he had a spiritual awakening, quit all drugs and alcohol and started counselling.
Since then he has went back to being a social drinker (after 14 years on the wagon) and consuming marijuana for medicinal/recreational purposes (after a 24 year break). And he has one big reason for using pot.
When he quit substance abuse he discovered music, where he learned everything himself, without any formal training. His attention was caught by American Primitive Guitar style and over the past three decades he had recorded 3 albums, and held numerous performances, including festivals, though it was always a hobby and not a way of making money.
John describes his earlier days as being wild and taking anything he could score and then vowing to never return to the dangerous drugs such as LSD and others.
When we got to marijuana policy, John stressed that in his 12 years in being a substance abuse counselor all the training reinforced the difference between marijuana and the other illegal drugs. He also stressed that “alcohol is a far more destructive drug than marijuana, on all fronts, period”.
It was a different story with marijuana – before recording his 2nd album John began experiencing arthritis, which became worse and worse with each year. The pain was unbearable making him quit music for two years. Cortozone shots did not help much and that is when he decided to get a medical license, and he has renewed it two times since then. Ointments were not the best options since they prevented him from playing, so he opted for sativa strains, which allowed him to get back to writing and playing music. There are still many inhibitions and restrictions, but John does write and even play at a local bar during the happy hour. He had to adjust his style to the limitations caused by the illness, but is nevertheless happy to be able to play.
IN CONCLUSION: When I asked John how he came by Silver Stem he said it was recommended to him by one of the students who assured him that it sells only the Finest product and we are proud to say the he has been with us for the past two years.
Silver Stem had started as a medical dispensary only and has since been striving to help those in need of relief. It feels great to offer services that help people in need, since many ailments cannot be treated by anything other than medical marijuana.
Please refer to our strain guide to see what to use for treating various symptoms.
