Telling family/friends you are using MC? - Good idea for a thread. It'll be relevant to many.
As for me - I'm in my 40s, live across two locations (mine and parents), I provide care daily and hold down a full-time (albeit WFH) job.... We siblings get into family arguments sometimes, fall out etc, but not for long given how ill our parents are. So, old fashioned family, super strict etc. So, for me, of all the times to "come out", mine was not ideal time at all (hospitals, care homes - parents), so I softened my disclosure by being prepped with documents and answers for moody comments or insults (i knew a "whacky baccy" comment would come. I don't have the links to hand but, there are plenty of useful docs about and links available on this site (messageboard mine came from- thanks
MedBud) in links and of course on google, that are well written guides on how to go about that conv.
I printed off a couple of things to have ready to show, did so, discussed its legal status and my responsibility toward it etc. Mixed reactions but nothing bad, went better than i thought. Within a day, in the car, I was then softly bringng it up, a week later I was bringing it up to say my clinic appt is booked etc... all good. Come the time of my ordering, I showed them, before I ordered, on the pc. I included them in it just to remove the taboos or tackle them head on, i asked if they had any Qs they did (always the legality, always the what about the driving) lo and behold read this section I have highlighted.... pass document.... "oh, that's interesting".... Little over three months on, and it is now just some conversation from the past and I am still me, and it be a medicine I take.
The fact we have gone through legal means to get our medicine, when BM is instant and often cheaper, shows we have gone about this differently, a right way, that says a lot for us patients on
MC. Also one last thng from my side, yeah, I am in my 40s. I shouldnt have to be scared of having the conversation for fear of fractured relations and upsetting peoples incorrect assumptions drawn from tv or "the news". But, if I was, so will others be too. I just wished I had done this sooner, as looking back, having to be a consumer of cannabis of BM pushed me and my consumption underground and has literally kept me away from friends and family especially given their intolerance and hostility to it. Yet here I am now, consuming within their space. Thanks to every effort of the pioneers all whom drove that forward for us to benefit, the
MC route I mean.... and the reduction in stigma.
A couple of issues I want to pick out.
1- Recognise this typical template on "the news?" ----- <insert name here>, <then age>, <insert crime here>. and has been sentenced today for X months/years at <insert court>. The defendant,
a cannabis user of <insert number> years will be <etc and on and on>. -------------------- Guys, do you see what I am saying here, the amount of times people read or hear this on tv on the news wherever, disparagingly and intentionally like this it tars us. FFS, would it say the same if the person had a pint after work out their fridge, or the person was a coffee drinker who had an espresso the day before? No. And on the medicine side, do they ever say about "the driver was a <insert legal drug here>" no! But, the media do this, to piss in the pool, antagonise and discredit and pander to certain types. And in doing so, unfortunately, they add to and create a BS reputation that many of us are stuck undoing, me one of them a few weeks ago at my end- as all that stuff i said Daily Mail stuff. So, the media fu-kery with cannabis itself, that is a problem, it has with some, created closed minds and hostility.
2- On the flip side, clearly, the narrative is changing. The fact we are on a site called
MedBud and obviously that we can now buy this medicine legally and with supervision and controls..... I never thought I would see this. That we are at this point, having this conversation, this shows where we are heading. Times change perceptions and clearly thats happening. We can look at Canada, Germany etc and the US states that OK'd medical and recreational too and well, this is incredible really. This gives me hope and promise that all those who come after us, will have it easier and a time no doubt when in some way it is legit completely with no taboos.
Sorry this is long, this is an important topic for some of us. Good luck to anyone who is facing a difficult conv and I hope, like mine, tackling hostility and prejudice head on changed this matter completely for me. The only major secret I ever had to hide, one too that i have detested having to hide at all.... is now legit and legal, three decades on. All the best.
I mean we hinted to them we smoked when we visited the Bob Marley tour in Jamaica and they just chuckled...
do not agree with. 
