About BCBUD

R. Tetz Photo Credit: Keith Nevile-Smith

WHY BC BUD MAGAZINE: Hello and welcome to this first edition. Before I share with you why I launched a medicinal cannabis magazine, I wanted to give you a little bit of personal insight as to my journey so far. When I was a teenager, I was into Tae Kwon Do — Korean martial arts. At a tournament, I had my nose broken and was quite freaked out by the traumatic experience.

My sensei, sensing my anxiety, gave me a couple hits of a joint, and reset my nose right there on the spot. This was my first experience with cannabis for a medical issue. I am originally from Cranbrook, BC and when I moved out to the beautiful city of Vancouver, I never touched marijuana. In fact it was only after five years that a friend brought out a joint after an amazing freestyle skateboard session.

Approximately 22 years ago I had a bad fall, crushing a couple discs in my back. This was the start of dual sciatica and the pain was very intense. I was prescribed Oxycontin and Morphine. It changed my soul. I found that as much as the narcotics prescribed helped my physical pain, I also noticed the drug changed my behavior and my priorities. As much as the narcotics eased the pain in my body, it equally took away happiness in my life in direct proportion.

Photography, food, sex, skateboarding, music: they all lost their appeal. Quitting Oxycontin  and morphine after being prescribed these medications for over 4 years was harder than I anticipated. I should have told my doctor what I was doing. I had an epiphany when I looked into the mirror and didn’t recognize myself. I had become physically gaunt, never leaving house. I wondered what quality of life I had to expect with these continuing harsh medications. I never really made it a big deal about quitting the narcotics. I just stopped cold turkey. I would never recommend this to anyone. I was lucky I survived, but I am glad I went through it as it opened my mind to the real harm some of these types of medications can cause.

Just recently, I was again prescribed Oxycontin for new excruciating pain. I had to quit after only 3 days on it. The feelings of foreboding doom quickly took hold. Everything started to drift away. So I decided to yet again wean myself off the products. I have decided to go the full medicinal cannabis route.

So, why launch this magazine? Simple: it’s about educating people who are faced with health issues to examine alternatives. Will medicinal cannabis work with every problem out there? Of course not — but it is imperative we have educated citizens and sensible  laws. If the information presented in this magazine is able to help alleviate pain and suffering of just one person, then that will have been worth all the effort. We expect,  however, that many will benefit from understanding more about medicinal cannabis.
Thank you for joining us on this journey.

This is just the beginning.
Yours truly,
Rick Tetz | Publisher/Editor