Medical marijuana on tap at Oregon cafe

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20091124/medicalmarijuana24_st.art.htm

A legal place to socialize, medicate

By Tracy Loew

USA TODAY

PORTLAND, Ore. — At first glance, the Cannabis Cafe, in a former adult club called Rumpspankers, looks like any other coffee shop. Customers sip coffee while playing cards, working on computers or sharing a meal.

It's also where people approved to use marijuana for medical purposes can smoke joints and pipes, or use a vaporizer that collects marijuana fumes for inhaling.

It's all legal, and for cancer patient Albert Santistevan, 56, it's about time. "It's a very positive atmosphere. We could use more places like that," the former jewelry shop owner says.

A few weeks ago, Santistevan would have had no public place to go. But after the Obama administration's decision last month to soften the federal stance on medical marijuana, the Cannabis Cafe and a smaller lounge across town — called Highway 420, a number pot users have used as code for marijuana — opened.

[Kolesar]

1. Marijuana as a pain killer

Sounds counterintutitive, but I am glad it works for somebody. Do different strains work differently?

[Betsy Ross]

2. Indica vs Sativa

The two work very differently. Sativa is stimulating, good for many with depression. Indica is more sedating, perhaps better for pain. Then there are many different variants or combinations of the two.

[Kolesar]

3. When my shoulder was injured and I had time to kill

Whatever variety I was on just made me "feel the deep ache" even more. I have not tried it for "therapy".
I could recommend the product for relieving stress, though.