Worth Repeating: Like Dangerfield, THC Doesn’t Get Any Respect

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Every Truck Job
“I smoked half a joint the other day, and it made me so hungry I ate the other half.” ~ Rodney Dangerfield

Worth Repeating
​By Ron Marczyk, R.N.
Health Education Teacher (Retired)
This post is dedicated to the great comic genius Rodney Dangerfield, who in life had a lot in common with THC, the cannabis plant’s main cannabinoid molecule.
THC is responsible for the the “high” that helped Rodney survive and manage severe anxiety and depression caused by a childhood filled with parental neglect and abuse, and childhood PTSD.
Rodney’s anxiety behavior of twitching and jerking on stage was not an act. 
But it was marijuana that saved Rodney’s life and helped him achieve self-actualization through a comic genius that is in effect a dual form of interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence.

As Rodney’s last wife, Joan Dangerfield, told it:
In addition to his anxiety and depression, Rodney’s other medical conditions included constant pain from the congenital fusion of his spine, an inoperable dislocated shoulder and rotator-cuff tear and arthritis.
Rodney first lit up back in 1942 when he was 21. He was hanging out with a comic named Bobby Byron and his friend Joe E. Ross –some of you might remember Joe E. Ross from Car 54. They went to the Belvedere Hotel in New York where Bobby lived. The night would prove to have such an impact on Rodney’s life that he even remembered the room number they were in: 1411.
Although he was supposed to be enjoying himself with friends, Rodney was characteristically agitated and anxiety ridden. It’s how he felt every day of his life to that point.
But when Rodney got high, he couldn’t believe it.  For the first time in his life, he felt relaxed and peaceful, and had a sense of well-being. That night marijuana became a new friend that would be in Rodney’s life for the next 62 years.
Marijuana was the medicine that made life possible for Rodney; literally, it gave him the ability to live. Rodney smoked marijuana for 62 years and wanted his autobiography to be called My Lifelong Romance with Marijuana.

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Marijuana was the medicine that made life possible for Rodney Dangerfield — literally, it gave him the ability to live.

Rodney is a case study in the positive use of medical marijuana. This medicine helped him live to the age of 83. 
Rodney could be called medical marijuana patient #1.
“When Rodney’s medicinal use was approved, Rodney showed the approval letter to everyone and carried miniature versions in his pockets,” Joan Dangerfield said.
“Ever the worried wife, I included a copy of the letter in the memory box of his casket in case the feds were waiting for him at the Pearly Gates.”
Please take a moment to read the rest of Joan Dangerfield’s memories about Rodney and marijuana here: 
 
“I smoked half a joint the other day, and it made me so hungry I ate the other half.” ~ Rodney Dangerfield
Even moments after brain surgery Rodney didn’t miss a beat. Rodney’s doctor came to his bedside after he was taken off the respirator. He said, “Rodney, are you coughing up much?” And Rodney said, “Last week, five hundred for a hooker.” Rodney died at 4:20 EST.
Medical marijuana made Rodney’s humor possible.
If you are against medical marijuana, you are against all medical marijuana patients like Rodney.
Stop the war on marijuana patients who, like Rodney, are just trying to survive and be happy. Please have some common decency for people who mean society no harm.  It’s not for everybody… But it should not be against the law. 
Medical marijuana clinic shutdowns would have killed people like Rodney.
“Marijuana makes you passive — the last thing you want to do when you’re high is have a fight!” ~ Rodney Dangerfield
Tonight we blaze in your honor, Rodney, with all mad respect.
Thanks for the peak experience of marijuana-induced laughter we are about to receive!

 
And just like Rodney…  THC, the main plant cannabinoid, gets no respect…no respect at all…
“That’s the story of my life; I get no respect, I tell ya.”
“My whole plant family of cannabinoids has been validated by the US government patent, but look who was left off the list: 

 
Why am I — THC — being rejected and treated as the forbidden molecule from this plant?
Apparently every other cannabinoid has worth as a medicine, but not me, THC.
Why?… Oh, it’s because I get you “high.”
I know… I know… Weird.  Right?  How ignorance still exists in the thinking of those in power.

Photo: Ron Marczyk
Mr. Worth Repeating: former NYPD cop, former high school health teacher, the unstoppable Ron Marczyk, R.N., Toke of the Town columnist

​Editor’s note: Ron Marczyk is a retired high school health education teacher who taught Wellness and Disease Prevention, Drug and Sex Ed, and AIDS education to teens aged 13-17. He also taught a high school International Baccalaureate psychology course. He taught in a New York City public school as a Drug Prevention Specialist. He is a Registered Nurse with six years of ER/Critical Care experience in NYC hospitals, earned an M.S. in cardiac rehabilitation and exercise physiology, and worked as a New York City police officer for two years. Currently he is focused on how evolutionary psychology explains human behavior.


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