For local podcast host and creator Sara Payan, cannabis was a game changer and lifesaver during her battle with stage 3 colon cancer. It also wound up being a great topic to spark deeper conversations about life, death and everything in between.
“I was not feeling well and suffering from cyclical vomiting and cramping. I had a colonoscopy and they found a tumor the size of a lemon,” says Payan, the current vice chair of the California Cannabis Advisory Committee. “A friend had a medical marijuana card and gave me a few grams to try, and it really helped my symptoms.”
Payan got her own card and used marijuana to get through a resectioning of her colon and 12 rounds of chemo. “I used it in lieu of pain medications like opioids and for things like nausea and getting me eating again,” she says, adding that side effects of opioids can be deadly for someone with her condition. Having the card really opened up another world for her. “I was like ohhh, ‘You mean, I can get weed and not get in trouble for it?’ I was like a kid in a candy store the first time I went in.” READ MORE