This book serves as an introduction to the holistic subspecialty of cannabis medicine and my practice of FullyAliveMedicine. It is also a synthesis and update of various components of my ten previous books, all of which presented the specialty of integrative holistic medicine (IHM) and its self-care application for treating our most common chronic ailments (many of which are included in Cannabis for Chronic Pain), and for creating optimal health. IHM is rapidly becoming the foundation for twenty-first-century health care.
I am most grateful to my holistic physician colleagues for their commitment to pioneering this new medical specialty, and for embracing our core belief: Love heals! Without the mentoring and unwavering support of Bob Anderson, MD, my friend, fellow family physician, and cofounder of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM), this specialty and most of my books would not exist. Bob and I worked closely together from 1993 to 2006, developing the evidence-based curriculum, creating the certification exam and the Annual 5-Day Board Review Course, and teaching and certifying physicians in IHM. There are currently more than three thousand ABIHM-certified MDs and DOs in the U.S., the majority of whom are primary care physicians. We also coauthored The Complete Self-Care Guide to Holistic Medicine (1999, Tarcher/Penguin). Several of the chronic pain conditions presented in Cannabis for Chronic Pain are updated versions of Bob’s original work in the Self-Care Guide. Thank you, Bob, for your enormous contribution to the practice of good medicine, and for setting a new standard for quality health care.
In addition to Bob, who was also a cofounder and past president of the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA), I have been mentored and inspired by several of the other cofounders of the AHMA: Norm Shealy, MD, founding president of AHMA; Gladys McGarey, MD, a past president of AHMA whose parents were both DOs who trained with Andrew Taylor. Still, MD and DO, the founder of osteopathic medicine, thus providing a strong link between osteopathy and IHM; the late Evarts Loomis, MD, who founded Meadowlark, the first holistic medicine retreat center in the U.S. (Hemet, California) in 1957 and the inspiration for the Fully Alive retreats; Bernie Siegel, MD, whose bestselling book Love, Medicine & Miracles provided the catalyst for my joining the AHMA in 1988, while he was serving as copresident with Christiane Northrup, MD, whose passion for holistic medicine was infectious; the late Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD, who in 1984, as medicine’s leading authority on the subject of death and dying, radically changed my perspective on life (and death) with her article, “Death Does Not Exist”; and especially Lev Linkner, MD, who for nearly thirty years has been my model for the quintessential holistic family doctor, provided strong support while serving with me on the board of directors of both the AHMA and the ABIHM for more than twenty years, and has been a good friend as well.
Todd Nelson, ND, has been a significant contributor to nearly all of my ten books, as well as the coauthor of Asthma Survival, Arthritis Survival, and Headache Survival. In Cannabis for Chronic Pain, Todd has added his expertise to the “Holistic Medical Treatment” sections of Chapters 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 15.
I have been working and collaborating with Todd for nearly three decades, and consider him to be among the finest holistic health practitioners in America. He is also an excellent teacher and has helped considerably with my holistic medical education. He was on the faculty of the ABIHM Annual Board Review Course for three years and was consistently among our highest-rated speakers.
Todd’s practice, Tree of Life Wellness Center (www.tolwellness.com), is located in Lakewood, Colorado. There he serves patients with the most debilitating chronic conditions, the majority of whom have not responded to conventional medical treatment.
Deborah Breakell, FNP, specializes in women’s health and currently practices at Helios Integrated Medicine in Boulder, Colorado, which is where we met two years ago. I’ve been impressed with her expertise in women’s holistic health care, as evidenced by her major contribution to the “Holistic Medical Treatment” section for Dysmenorrhea in Chapter 13.
Deborah is a nationally certified family nurse practitioner through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), with clinical experience in women’s health, pediatrics, intensive care, and family practice. She is a contributing author of the book Better Breast Health—for Life! and shares clinical insight into women’s health on www.wellcast.org. Deborah’s personalized approach helps her patients achieve their health goals, using both integrative and conventional therapies.
Deborah has delivered educational presentations on the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy, the use of bio-identical hormones, integrative treatment options for dysmenorrhea, and other women’s health issues.
Jeremy Dubin, DO, is a family physician who is also board-certified in integrative holistic medicine and addiction medicine, which is his passion. His contribution to this book is the response to Chapter 3’s question 2, Is marijuana addictive?
Jeremy is the author of the book The User’s Guide to Not Using: An Expert Guide to Recovery from Addiction and is a frequent speaker on the subject of addiction medicine at medical conferences nationwide and internationally. He is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and was recently invited to teach family medicine to physicians in China.
He is also medical director of Healing Arts Recovery and Treatment Services—HEARTS, which is located in Loveland, Colorado, and his website is www.yourecovery.com.
I would also like to acknowledge David Threlfall, owner of two dispensaries—Trill Alternatives (Boulder) and Trill Evolutions (Denver)—and Lizzy Bratton, the patient consulting manager at Trill. David has helped considerably with my training in medical marijuana as he continues to establish the industry standard for MMJ dispensaries. In addition to consistently offering a wide variety of the highest quality medical marijuana products, he and his employees provide MMJ patients with comprehensive education for using this medicine safely and effectively to treat their specific condition, based on the recorded feedback they obtain from their clientele. I know of no other dispensary tracking this data. The professionalism David has displayed, through his diligence and dedication to helping others, qualifies him as a true health care provider.
With the knowledge gained from the feedback Trill has obtained from several thousand MMJ patients/customers, Lizzy has reviewed for accuracy the MMJ recommendations in each of the chapters in Part II. I am most grateful to both David and Lizzy.
Matteo Pistono is a writer and teacher who helped immensely with the writing of the book proposal and with the editing and fine-tuning of Chapter 1.
I’m grateful to my editor, Matthew Benjamin, for his meticulous editing and his vision of the readership for this material. His perspective has helped considerably in shaping the book. He’s done an excellent job and it’s been a pleasure working with him.
Gabriel Cousens, MD, an extraordinary healer and rabbi, founder of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, Arizona, has been one of my spiritual teachers for the past twenty years. From “Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism,” Essene priest training, conscious eating, and live foods, he helped me establish much more solid footing as a physician healer. I’m also grateful to him for surprising me with a new first name, which has helped guide me through the transformation from Rob to Rav (Hebrew = spiritual teacher).
Myron McClellan served as my spiritual psychotherapist in 1986. His guidance helped cure my chronic sinusitis, and his encouragement led to my career as a health writer by inspiring Sinus Survival. He intuitively recognized my potential as an author (in spite of the fact I’d never written anything of consequence), ability as a healer, and opportunity to help many others suffering with chronic conditions. Myron instilled in me the healing power of love, forgiveness, intention, affirmations, and visualization; and he has continued to have a major impact on changing the course of my life. I am eternally grateful.
Lawrence Phillips, a Feldenkrais Practitioner®, has helped me become far more conscious in body, mind, and soul—in short, more fully alive. As a spiritual teacher along with his partner, Myron, they have been teaching Mystical Musings for the past fourteen years. The wisdom they share at these monthly gatherings in Denver has been an inspiration to many in our community. Through Lawrence I’ve learned to use cannabis more effectively as an emotional healer and as a sacred herb. And his time-management suggestions allowed me to complete the manuscript for this book on time. Thank you, Lawrence!
From Doug Shapiro I learned the lesson, as he exemplified the belief, that anything’s possible. I followed his career for nearly seven of his nine active years while serving for part of that time as his personal physician/health coach as he raced throughout the United States and Europe, attempting to become the world’s best cyclist. He came close, as a member of two U.S. Olympic cycling teams (1980 and 1984), as one of the first Americans to race in and complete the Tour de France, and the winner of the 1984 Coors Classic, at the time the premier American bike race. As I guided him in treating his sinus disease, he became my teacher, guinea pig, and cocreator of the Sinus Survival Program, as he continually assaulted his mucous membrane with almost daily 100-plus-mile bike rides. As a result we both were able to cure chronic sinusitis. The lessons I learned from Doug inspired me to fulfill my greatest potential as a healer and teacher and provided me with many of the necessary tools for teaching holistic medicine, treating and curing a variety of chronic conditions, achieving most of my goals, and for living with the pain of and ultimately healing shingles. Through our healing journey together, Doug has become my soul brother. Words cannot adequately express the depth of my gratitude.
Thanks to my wife, Harriet, for initially suggesting the idea for the book, while I was suffering through my fourth month of shingles; and for providing me with the space and incredible support to essentially work two jobs for the past year and a half, with very little playtime.
Most of all, I would like to thank my astute literary agent, Gail Ross, who for the past twenty-six years has provided me with a second career as an author. Gail’s initial enthusiasm for Cannabis for Chronic Pain helped fuel my passion for this book and kept me on-task for nearly two years before publication. Her vast experience within the publishing industry and her acute awareness of what the public needs, combined with her strong commitment to making a meaningful difference, have proven to be a winning formula and brought her much deserved success. Thank you, Gail!