Drive Change’s David Heilpern got some great soundbites in last Saturday morning and ABC News ran them on the hour, every hour, all day. This is the benefit of having elected reps in Victoria, WA and NSW bringing on topical parliamentary debates on cannabis law reform. Journalists will ring us to discuss this News, interview us and then items are broadcast as News because debates on the floor of parliament are News.
News is a thing you can legitimately discuss and share. So make sure you share this far and wide.
Now for for another novel workplace situation from this past week. Doug (not his real name and three situations merged into one here) was always shy and withdrawn. Spends a lot of time online. Occasional bouts of sadness due to isolation and feeling out of place in the world. Conventional cookie cutter mental health services and the DSM had the guy on the SSRI-benzo conga line from the age of 16-36. Doug didn’t have many good days in that time.
After 18 months on CBD daily and THC at bedtime (and tapering down to half dose of an SNRI). Doug has started reporting this new thing. Good days.
Doug’s job is to sit behind a computer and purchase things by mouse-click and do his bit in a supply chain. Good worker. It’s a good job, good crew. Everyone’s matey. Outside of his online world, these work friendships are key keeping Doug socialised.
People noted he was a different (better) guy the last 18 months and commented on him coming out of his shell and smiling a bit more. Poor Doug fell victim to the human tendency of confiding in the people we share our workdays with.
Noelene from Accounts: Did you hear?
Nelly from Marketing: About Doug, yeah. Good on him. He seems to be doing better and he’s happier. His work certainly hasn’t suffered.
Noelene: No, because it’s the medical cannabis with THC in it they stood him down pending a big chat between doctors and lawyers.
Sure enough, HR bundled him off home and had their own expert medical advisors look into this medical cannabis stuff. Doug got good letters and support from his MC prescriber. Doug didn’t have a list of high THC flos prescriptions longer than a Leonard Cohen song (to quote the fictional Malcolm Tucker). Doug has a CBD isolate oil by day, a dedicated night time flower with a vanilla and not-rasta-sounding product name for bedtime. Strain/Chemovar names are what they are. They are the inchoate property marker hangover from the prohibition era when breeders of cannabis phenotypes couldn’t exactly defend rights in their creations in the courts but those creations needed names and many of those names are derived from the unique terpene bouquet given off by that chemovar.
Some employer-side advisors grasp this and can gloss over the product being prescribed having [insert whacky strain name] and focus more on:
- What are the conditions being treated?
- What is the ratio of cannabinoids + dose being used to achieve a therapeutic benefit? What times of day/night are doses taken?
- Is there reasonable basis to claim that all conventional meds have failed to achieve the same benefit and overall improvement in quality of life?
Guess what? Common sense prevailed. Doug will be welcomed back to full duties after a 4 week stand down.
But there are other ways employers can move people on and MC patients will always feel extra vulnerable in uncertain economic times. This means the R word (redundancies) but it can also mean adverse action via means that are hard to challenge, esp for gig economy delivery workers who need their licenses.
We too are deeply disappointed by the hold up in Victoria but we’re also getting on with it. Good days are a bonus when life is short (even in its longest days).
Nothing herein to be construed as medical or legal advice.
