Veteran Symptom Management with Cannabis: Interview with Steve Ellmore

Steve Ellmore: So, see, the thing is, I'm one of the few who haven't been using cannabis for pain. That’s because I use it for mental health. I've been using it for that and for sleep, and because of my knowledge of the other properties about it, I investigated it personally because what began with a neck and shoulder strain has led to my elbow and then all that is connected.

And with this on, again, off again in the government, being called back to work, I haven't been able to do my therapeutic running that I used to do all the time. Now I'm back and it's just been a headache. I've been getting a lot of increased pain lately that I have been seeing a doctor about.

Cannabis has been helping. And the key thing that I highlight on that aspect is the cannabinoids and the terpenes. CBD has always been well known. Unfortunately, it's not in a lot of flower today. I know CBG has been around and that does a few different things, but I think that's more for the gut inflammation more than anything. But I do know Beta-caryophyllene and some other terpenes are very helpful with that. And I have tried some different strains recently based on their terpene profiles, and they have worked very well and I'm impressed. My personal impression, having not been a pain patient for long was a belief that maybe it was more for taking your mind off the pain, kind of a treatment versus a physical thing.

But what first got me into the cannabinoids was some balm that I had with CBD and THC. For full spectrum that I had from my outreach and that somebody had given me, and I used it, and it was amazing. It was after I rubbed it in, within five, less than five minutes, it was already working. And so I was impressed because I never, that's the first time I had an immediate reaction to cannabis because even when I smoke, I have a delayed reaction to it.

And so that, that got me thinking. So, I did get to try some strains, like I said, that were helping me as well and so I'm very happy to discuss those matters. But here's another thing that, it's a sort of a side note, but what I had been thinking about is in trying to find the right strains or tinctures or anything else, I do have a concern over marketing.

I know CBD, that's been a trend for years, since the Hemp Act and it was legal in a commercial aspect. I think there needs to be more research in that aspect. As for all the cannabinoids and human trials as well. I was concerned about some tinctures that were, they're labeling them 600 milligrams and you're thinking, “great, I can count that out and measure that in, in a dropper and figure it out,” but that’s not the case when that's a total cannabinoid.

And they're putting other things in there, like some of the acids and other things like that. So, there was one, it was THC and THCV and I'm like, what? That, that was a whole new cannabinoid for me. I'm like, well, what is that? Well, that's supposed to be for energy. I was like, okay. And then I looked at another one in which it was a dropper for THC and THCA. I'm like, well, how is that gonna help me? Because, there hasn't been that chemical, you know that that changes in the cannabinoid. I don't know what the research says. Does THCA have any effects? I know this debate when I very first started out as a patient six years ago with CBD, because it's not in psychotropic, I was trying out CBD and CBDA drops and none of them were having any effect on my anxiety and things like that, like I was promised. And again, I didn't get the full spectrum. That’s why I'm bringing it up is because I think it needs to be kept in the discussion. And I'm concerned, like I said, about over marketing things that people just don't know what they are because it, it makes the numbers go up.

I keep saying it's not about alcohol; it's not about the percentages. I got some 19% flower that just knocked me out because it had the terpenes I needed like three and a half percent. So those are the things that I'm always preaching and talking about.

Madeline Colli: Another thing that we're seeing too, is that consumers are going for the higher amounts, which is not always necessarily the best thing.

Just because it has more THC or whatever type of cannabinoid, it doesn't always mean it's the right fit. Or it's not always better.

Ellmore: Yep. And I got a habit of, same with food, I just, I don't like to waste anything, so I find myself smoking more than I really need. And then there's a point, where I realize that in certain things that I'm trying to treat, where a microdose is actually better than more, and it depends on certain ailments, but I've been reading about them.

They're mentioning in small doses; this is good or that's good. But then when you go over, then it doesn't. I'm actually back to using Sativa finally, and only because I recently got diagnosed for the first time with ADHD and realized in the last several years, where you've seen me in my different head spaces, I was going heavy on the Indica because I was just going a million miles an hour and I was so anxious and so uptight, and I was trying to keep myself down and all along, it turns out that no, my body was fighting to move and I was fighting to keep it down. It turned out that wasn't what I needed to do. And that's why it's important to always step back and look at your ailments and the treatments you're doing and reevaluate every so often. I do that every year.