Contributor: John A. Collins
When you ask the average cannabis consumer to name a marijuana icon, most people go for the basics: Snoop Dogg, Seth Rogen, and people of this nature. Which is fine. Those folks certainly have carved themselves quite a career thanks to cannabis, that’s for sure. But when you broach the same question to an avid advocate for marijuana, they’ll like drop a few otherwise unknown names, but none of them would be more important than Rick Simpson.
The story of Rick Simpson has been passed through the cannabis community like a well-rolled joint. The wealth of influence this one man has on the entire industry, and marijuana, in general, is damn near insurmountable. And the craziest part is, he entered into this herbal world completely by chance.
Back in 1997, Rick was working as an engineer in a popular hospital in Canada. One day, while attempting to rid the boiler room pipes of asbestos, the aerosol glue he was using in such a poorly-ventilated area caused him to faint while atop a ladder. He subsequently knocked himself unconscious, but somehow, he was able to muster up enough energy to call out to some of his fellow employees, who quickly rushed him to the emergency room.
While he was taken care of that day, he suffered from sporadic dizziness, along with agonizing ringing in both of his ears long after. When he approached his doctors with this issue, they prescribed a number of pills, promising that they’d be able to rid him of these effects. However, not only were they ineffective, they actually made all of his aching ailments even worse than they were before.
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Detailed Look At The Legendary Rick Simpson Oil
It was around this same time of turmoil, that he saw a documentary detailing the multiple medicinal benefits of cannabis. Armed with this new knowledge, Rick took another trip to his doctor’s office, to see what he had to say on the matter. Obviously, his doctor was vehemently against partaking in marijuana as a form of medicine, and strongly urged Rick to avoid such a thing.
But Rick wasn’t buying it.
So, on his own, he got his hands on some cannabis, and begin to dose himself. In a short amount of time, he started to see his symptoms fade away. His marijuana regimen was working, and it was working better than any pill he had ever taken. He went back to his doctor to share his findings, but again, he was met with opposition. His doctor never agreed to attribute his well-being to his cannabis use, regardless of how obvious it was.
Sadly, some years later, Rick was diagnosed with a form of skin cancer, after he spotted some strange bumps on his arm. In addition to being devastated by the news, he was more determined than ever to utilize cannabis during his healing process. Seeing as how it had helped nurse him back to health in the past, he was expecting similar results this time around.
After learning that studies had been done, proving that THC removed cancer cells from mice, his plans went from medicating his cancer to eliminating it altogether.
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So, with these new scientific findings in mind, he began to apply a bandage, with cannabis oil, onto his cancerous bumps. He left this area of his arm covered for several days. Roughly half a week later, he took off those very same bandages to see that those bumps were gone. Completely gone. It was as if they were never there.
He excitedly went to his doctor to share the news, but yet again, he outright refused to agree that cannabis had anything to do with it. That only made Rick that much more of a believer in the power of cannabis, and he decided, right then and there, to dedicate the rest of his life to marijuana.
Rick started growing his own plants and turning them into his specialized, homemade concentrated oil, which is known in the cannabis community as: Rick Simpson Oil (RSO).
But he wasn’t in it to turn a profit. Instead, Rick would go out of his way, risk legal penalties and imprisonment, to create this oil and give it to folks in need – for free.
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Yeah. Absolutely free. Talk about a real-life hero, right?
Over the course of those years, Rick was able to help over 5,000 people live better lives, all because of his oil. Absolutely amazing.
Though the Canadian government threatened jail time, and raided his house and grow operations, Rick hasn’t lost any motivation whatsoever. Even today, he is working hard to spread the good word of cannabis through his potent, super-medicinal Rick Simpson Oil, making him one of the most iconic people in marijuana history – hands down.
If you ever get your hands on some Rick Simpson Oil, and you’re looking for an adequate guide on how to properly dose yourself, you should always remember to consult your physician in matters of this nature. However, if your doctor is anything like the ones Rick encountered on his journey, you’ll likely need to figure all of that out on your own.
However, that said, Rick has been open about his suggested route towards using RSO as a medicine. And the method goes as follows:
During the first week of treatment, you should plan on taking about three doses every single day. When I say “dose” you should aim for about a drop that is half-the-size of a grain of rice. Take one of those every eight hours or so. Also, for the first dose, only take a ¼ of a drop, just to get your body gently acclimated to the RSO.
The second through the fifth week, you’ll want to double that dose every four days. Typically, at around the four to five week mark, the usual patient will be administering an entire gram of RSO every day.
Then, during weeks five through twelve, be sure to take one full gram of Rick Simpson Oil per day, until you’ve completed the entire sixty gram regimen. In order to hit that goal, you should plan on taking nine drops every eight hours.
You can directly toss those drops in your mouth, under your tongue, if you’d like. But, because many are adverse to the slightly bitter taste of RSO, most tend to mix it in with drinks or foods to soften the “bitter blow” of the oil.
That’s pretty much it.
Even if you never find yourself in the position to try Rick Simpson Oil, you can’t help but admire everything this man has done, and continues to do, for the cannabis community. His tireless efforts in the face of adversity are remarkable. To be honest, we need more “Rick Simpsons” in this world. If we did, chances are this planet would be a whole lot healthier, happier, and peaceful.
But, for the time being, we must be grateful for all the progress he’s been able to achieve on his own. He’s already saved so many lives with his cannabis oil, and those numbers are only expected to grow and grow as the years go on.
So, while the typical cannabis enthusiast may only consider “Cheech and Chong” as their marijuana icons, I hope more people start to learn about Rick Simpson’s story. He is a true legend in the world of cannabis, and he’s more than deserving of your respect.
Thanks for everything, Rick.
We don’t know where we’d be without you.
