Cannabis Survivor

BY SLOANE SIMON

Cannabis Crushing Crohn’s

I first introduced our dear readers to Zander Lucero last month in our Artist Issue as a local Oklahoma Cannabis photographer. If you missed the article, you can check his work out on Instagram (@terpart.ok).

When Zander and I first met back in early August to sit and discuss his photography, we got on the topic of why he got into cannabis photography, why he was passionate about it. This led to him telling me about his diagnosis of Crohn’s disease at the age of twelve and his desire to find a better way to medicate.

Crohn’s disease is chronic inflammation of the bowels that affects the lining of the digestive tract. It can be life threatening in some cases, but usually presents as abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss, anemia and fatigue.

Zander was ten when he first began experiencing symptoms, however; he was misdiagnosed as being lactose intolerant. He was also told at this time that he didn’t have good hygiene, which was also causing his issues.

Two years passed, and his family moved to Florida from New Mexico. It wasn’t until this time, at the age of twelve, that Zander was correctly diagnosed as having Crohn’s disease.

So, at twelve years old, Zander was placed on Remicade, a type of chemotherapy to help treat his symptoms of Crohn’s. He would continue on this and a steroid for the next six years of his life.

At 18, Zander tried some recreational cannabis. “I noticed after I smoked, I could eat steak. I could never eat steak,” he recounted. After this realization, Zander obtained his medical card in Florida, and within a year, was able to wean himself off of his medications that he had been on for the previous six years.

Soon after, Zander packed and moved to Texas. Not taking into consideration Texas is not a legal state, Zander had difficulty gaining access to his medicine, cannabis. Within two months of being in Texas, with no cannabis,

Zander experienced a massive relapse of his symptoms. This relapse was so strong that he dropped from 140 pounds to 80 pounds. He was extremely sick, so Zander’s parents drove down to Texas and brought him home to Oklahoma.

Once back on Oklahoma soil, Zander became an OMMA card carrying member so he could continue to use cannabis to help in his Crohn’s treatment.

Unfortunately, due to how sick he was while in Texas, Zander did have to take the Remicade and steroids to help fight the Crohn’s alongside the cannabis. Adding the pharmaceuticals did help to gain control over his Crohn’s, however; his appetite had not returned. It’s not too shocking that his appetite was still not coming back, though, with side effects of Remicade dealing with stomach pain, indigestion, and just an overall feeling of being sick.

This is where cannabis became most beneficial. Zander relied on the munchies to actually want to eat, to curb the negativity of the side effects of the Remicade.

“Without smoking, it was impossible to swallow.”

When the world started to shut down due to Covid in March 2020, Zander decided he needed to take measures to assure he would not be without cannabis, since none of us had (or have) any clue of what to expect. Zander began growing out of his home, and he also began making his own full spectrum RSO. Around this time was also when he began adding CBG isolate and his inflammation has decreased significantly because of this.

So with now growing his own cannabis to make his own full spectrum RSO, Zander started the weaning off of his pharmaceuticals again, this time with the CBG isolate being used as well.

Zander has been ingesting RSO every night for over a year and is now at six months of no symptoms of his Crohn’s disease without the use of steroid or chemo drug.

Crohn’s does not have a cure. So to say he is cured of this disease would be a lie, but he is in remission, he shows no symptoms of having this devastating disease. As long as he has his medicine.

Zander brought up a recent trip to Florida where he didn’t take any of his medicine with him, because, well, flying, and the federal government has an issue with it.

By the third day of his trip, he noticed he was struggling a little bit, having some symptoms pop up. Zander was able to purchase a delta-8 cart while still on his trip, and this helped to subside some of the less than savory things he was experiencing.

Being in a Red State like Oklahoma, when I talk with people about their cannabis usage, I’m always curious to know how their family feels. I do not know if this is because of the way my own family views it, or if it truly still holds the stigma. I want to think it is the “stigma” thought that gets me to these questions and not my own issues, but I digress.

Prior to obtaining his medical card, Zander’s parents were aware of his usage in high school, but they somewhat turned the other cheek to it. This was also before medicinality was legalized in Oklahoma, but, the results and relief he was getting from partaking outweighed consequences at the time. While in Florida and having his med card, Zander stated his parents were very supportive, and upon return to Oklahoma, they made sure he had his med card here. Although they do support Zander’s usage, neither his mom nor step-dad have an interest in trying cannabis.

Zander’s dad and step-mom found out during a visit, when planning went out the window and Zander’s step-mom could smell the devil’s lettuce coming from the bathroom. Ya know, the old steamy shower, window cracked trick to dispel the smell….doesn’t work.

Zander was able to sit down and have an open conversation with his dad and step-mom about the benefits he was experiencing because of cannabis. Benefits and relief he was not getting from pharmaceuticals.

This is when Zander learned he and his dad experienced some of the same Crohn’s symptoms. Zander’s dad is now a med card holder, and both of the men utilize medicated THC creams to help decrease joint pain and stiffness that is a less talked about symptom of Crohn’sdisease.

I mentioned before that Zander began growing his own cannabis at home. His favorite to grow and just a favorite overall is Bruce Banner #3, a strain that has been difficult to find aroundOklahoma.

“I just harvested that,” Zanderslyly stated, a slight grin across his face. Bruce Banner #3, “one hit is all I need,” is high in caryophyllene and myrcene terpenes.

The caryophyllene terp provides a nice anti-inflammatory property, while the myrcene helps increase his munchies. Limonene is also pretty present in Bruce Banner #3, providing stress and anxiety relief.

Currently in veg, Zander has some Granddaddy Bruce, a cross of Granddaddy Purple and Bruce Banner; as well as a strain of Chemdawg that comes from 6% terpene genetics. Zander is also growing Purple Punch and Banana Punch clones.

While discussing favorite strains, we soon turned to favorite terpenes. As medical cannabis shifts and evolves, we are realizing more the importance of terpenes, their effects and benefits on the medical patient.

Zander told me about Geraniol, a terpene I was unfamiliar with, but should be well known. Geraniol has a thin cell wall, allowing it to get into cancerous cells and destroy the cancer without destroying the healthy cell.

This is the same thought process with Crohn’s and using Geraniol. It can go in and destroy the Crohn’s cell without harming the healthy ones. Geraniol is present in Bruce Banner #3, so it is no wonder that both of these are Zander’s favorites. When we turned conversation to the future, Zander stated he would love to further his presence in the industry. As I mentioned earlier, he currently does cannabis photography, but would love to get further into having his own growth.

Zander is also passionate about more research on cannabinoids, how they affect us asconsumers, how our bodies react, and the benefits they provide. On top of this research, Zander hopes to see real medicine being made from cannabis. The more we look into the terpenes in the plants, the way they bind to our cannabinoid receptors, the more beneficial cannabis can be for treatments of a wide variety.

Zander, like many of us that use cannabis as medicine, would like to see this focus shift more to the med side. Yes, we all love to look at big, beautiful buds, but the beauty doesn’t matter if the terps aren’t there. “Stop chasing the dollar signs, chase the benefits for the people,” Zander stated in reference to seeing an actual standard set for medicinal cannabis.

In turn, he sees future recreational legalization as a much needed event. Not only would a legalization across the federal board be beneficial for people like Zander that require cannabis for the medicinal value, it would be a big money maker due to taxes. Medical cannabis in Oklahoma is already eclipsing a billion dollar industry, think of what recreational legalization could do for our schools and infrastructurefinancially.

Thanks to cannabis, Zander has been able to live a somewhat normal life despite his Crohn’s disease. He hopes to continue with his photography career in cannabis; as well as hopefully someday having a commercial grow of hisown, focusing on high quality, clean cannabis.