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- Community teaches terminally ill patients how to prepare their medicinal cannabis oils
A social community of sick people has organized to teach hundreds of patients to make their own cannabis extracts to mitigate or reduce their ailments.
These are groups of patients evicted or in treatment in the Costa Rican health system known as “La Caja”, the majority with complicated diseases such as chronic pain, fibromyalgia, arthritis, epilepsies, cancer, multiple sclerosis, among others.
With their consent, they have sought the organization Costa Rica Cultiva (CRC), a non-profit association founded by Bernardo González and Susana Leiva.
The group is in charge of empowering these people to learn the whole process from planting cannabis to extracting specific medicinal varieties for these cases.
CRC has done an ant-work for months that has grown to such a point that it does not give enough help for so many requests.
That is why, the previous Sunday, a private workshop was organized for 20 curious people to learn more about this topic.
The requirements: have a chronic condition and have current epicrisis.
The group included veterinarians, communicators, students, nurses, doctors and, of course, medicinal cannabis users whose expertise is sometimes greater than that of the same doctors who have opposed natural medicine for decades.
The interested parties attended the workshop at no cost and it was also taught by Argery Herrera and Marielos Blanco, patient members of CRC.
From 9 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon each of them learned firsthand the basics of a medicinal crop. The first part was dedicated to the basic care of plants: light, water, food (nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus) and love.
In this way, each of them performed the germination process and took home a small seedling that will be their medicine within a few months.
“We have realized that there is a lot of pain. I myself entered this because of a serious pain in the spine. For that reason, today we are here, “confessed Bernardo, while teaching the cultivation workshop.
Medicinal extraction
The part that most interests people is being able to access the “miracle drops,” as many of them call cannabis oil.
Argery Herrera and Marielos Blancos, patient members of CRC, are living proof of this.
Since they started taking theirs they have been able to stop most of the drugs they used, as well as, feel a relief that they had never felt since suffering from fibromyalgia and chronic pain.
Since then, they prepare medicine in their homes and now, they share their knowledge to help those who need it.
“Thanks to God with the drops of cannabis I have been eliminating many treatments and now I am alone with methotrexate. Totally deflated, super happy, ” says Argery, while watching the extraction procedure.
A practical document accompanied the teaching that the girls shared for about two hours while the alcohol evaporated from the resin. The moment also lent itself to exchange comments and take questions freely without stigma or criminalization, spaces that are possible thanks to the good will of the many people.
They touched on common themes such as: Will I become addicted to cannabis ?, Can I take it together with other medications ?, Should I tell my doctor ?, and others.
Many of the attendees shared their testimony with great enthusiasm.
“What you are doing is something very special,” said one of the attendees, after an emotional closing marked by the hope of a better quality of life.
Each person brought home a vial with which they will begin their journey to try to relieve their symptoms that no longer respond to the typical medications prescribed by their doctors.
Through tears, smiles and expressions of affection, the attendees left through the main door of Agroindoor, aware that together we are building a better society.
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You can find more photos about the workshop on our official Instagram account: @mcnglobal
in Costa Rica. 
