Wind Cloud, Medical Cannabis Patient, USA
For Wind Cloud, depression and the oppression of poverty were heavy weights to bear from a very early age. Determined to find a more powerful driving force in his life, he found the connection that inspired him, and the power of Cannabis helps him maintain it and share it with others. That positive perspective is the magic that compels him to Olympic level running.
What medical condition have you been struggling with?
It’s hard to narrow it down to one condition. Being raised in a “third world country” otherwise known as the Reservation, I was surrounded by clear have and have-nots. My awareness of this disparity hit me very early on. That reality combined with an always growing realization of the desensitization of fellow Natives powered by the false drive of addiction left me with a broken heart, I believe.
Our great leaders of the past, falsely accused of savagery, cried for our people. They cried for life. How can one cry for life be savage? Lakota warriors we are. Savages, we are not.
The Son of the Morning Star broke his promise to many nations, and was praised for his vicious nature of taking the life of a child. We defended our right to breathe. Custer fell, and a proud people stood for life when backed into a corner. The result was Custer Monument and Mount Rushmore being erected in the heart of our homeland, the Black Hills.
I would look into the brilliant star sky and wish to go home, but I didn’t know what “home” was. Something in me said, “I don’t like it here, I want to leave”. I longed for my connection to this feeling that I was not understanding.
I am a mixed blood. But I was born Lakota, in the old Pine Ridge Hospital that no longer stands, and raised on that land. My people are capable of anything: crafting, riding, hunting, praying to the creator, and, unfortunately…falling into addiction.
My struggle? Depression.
How long have you been experiencing your medical condition?
I’ve struggled with major bouts of depression since I was a child. We lived in Red Scaffold, South Dakota for a couple years when I was in 1st and 2nd grade. Sometimes at night, I would wander to the creek with our dogs, Smokey and Maki, as escorts. I would look into the brilliant star sky and wish to go home, but I didn’t know what “home” was. Something in me said, “I don’t like it here, I want to leave”. I longed for my connection to this feeling that I was not understanding. I think what I longed for was really, simply, a connection to something meaningful and bigger than me, but a part of me.
What do you believe caused this medical condition?
Many things had a hand in my depression. But I remember when I learned a very important lesson. I sat in ceremony and learned something very important; magic is real.
I finally understood that my longing for connection had a place to go to in this world. This wonder wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I was in sweat lodge and I experienced the ancestors. It was real. I was of fully sound mind and body, aware.
Upon returning to school the next day, I was excited to share my experience with others. There was this certainty about life that day. Things were never going to be the same again. I was right, more right than I understood.
My fellow classmates couldn’t relate. None of them even went into lodge to pray. Some laughed at me. That is when I started to get depressed. As a small boy, I thought, Magic is real, and nobody knows. This knowledge felt like a bittersweet burden to me at that young age. My own people have magic in their language and they don’t even know it. How can there be so much pain and anger and rage when there are so many other things we can be as a people?
Magic is the connections and interconnections available to all of us. When we open ourselves to it, it comes to us. It comes from the acknowledgment of all things, all nations. They all have voices; we must choose to listen. Our will becomes manifest when we believe in this magic.
No answer was going to be good enough from the reservation. So I asked elite minds. I attended a math and science camp at the School of Mines in South Dakota. Funded by NASA, we were given the experience of higher education and lifestyle and given a chance to dream big. Thank you Stacy Phelps, Phil, and all those responsible for grooming the educated man I am today. Because it wasn’t the camp that changed me; it was the way one of NASA’s top engineers did not answer my question that propelled me into a life long mission.
I told him of my experience in ceremony. I asked him, “How is it that magic real and how come NASA has not researched this phenomenon?” He told me magic wasn’t real. There was not going to be an argument from me. I knew the truth.
Since then, I have been on a mission to prove that magic is real and deliver this truth in full spectrum to the people of all nations. I know magic is real. Many want to believe in something bigger than themselves. It’s a drive in all of us, I feel. I swear on all that is precious in my world, I can feel it. It’s a wonder and a sadness. The energy is heavy. Cold. Wanting. People everywhere are eager for something more.
When many do not believe, it feels lonely in this world. It just takes one person to make a difference in a person’s life forever. I was fortunate to have this lesson more than once. I’ve had many great teachers, all of which are women. I’ve learned a thing or two from other men in this world. But anything I’ve learned worthwhile to me in this body has been from the guidance of a woman.
I come from a magical people. We were slaughtered while in our goodness. Women and children on the reservation have a hard life and most men are not men now. This is wrong.
This is the reason for my depression.
Magic is the connections and interconnections available to all of us. When we open ourselves to it, it comes to us. It comes from the acknowledgment of all things, all nations. They all have voices; we must choose to listen. Our will becomes manifest when we believe in this magic.
What medications have you been taking that was prescribed to you by your doctor?
My doctors have offered me pharmaceuticals. No thanks. My medicine man prescribed Hanbleca, Peyote, and Sundance. I chose Sundance before I had met him, so it was so. Sundance is a prayer I know. It puts me in touch with the power of my own magic and that of others.
Weed seems like such an ugly name now after many years of experiencing the plant’s abundance. I prefer other names for it. Flower. Sativa. Indica.
What type of alternative medicine have you tried aside from your doctor’s recommendation?
Cannabis is my consistent medicine. I’ve also added Peyote to my healing regimen. As a member of a Native American Church charter, I have been able to partake in a healthy circle of people who are a strong community and even better family. All prayer roads lead to success, health, and happiness.
How long have you been using the alternative medicine?
My alternative was actually my first choice. Cannabis! I’ve smoked and partaken in Marijuana in various forms for nearly 20 years. It’s as a lifestyle for me. We called it weed when I was a kid in the 90s. Weed seems like such an ugly name now after many years of experiencing the plant’s abundance. I prefer other names for it. Flower. Sativa. Indica.
During my experiences as a young man in a growing relationship, when my partner asked me to stop using Cannabis, I thought it was the right thing to do. I didn’t stop. I smoked behind her back. A lot. Again, it was a lifestyle choice, one that I could not betray.
Thanks to my medicine, I can eat after a grueling workout. I can actually hold down my food. And I can focus and concentrate and build my dreams.
As a runner, Cannabis is very important to me. Besides helping with my depression and evening out my mind, it has always helped me to have an appetite, too. I endured many stomachaches and feeling sick in the guts from a full-on running day. I was so sick that food made me want to vomit. My biggest bouts with appetite are during Track and intense running days.
How have you felt since you started using the alternative medicine?
Thanks to my medicine, I can eat after a grueling workout. I can actually hold down my food. And I can focus and concentrate and build my dreams.
Before I used Cannabis, when I was a child, I never did my homework. Boredom was my constant state of mind. In the second grade, I was put in the special education program. I played learning games and colored in the lines everyday. By 6th grade, tutors wouldn’t really help me any longer. They would just enter in the answers for me when my sessions would come up. I think they also tired of trying to teach me numbers.
Cannabis evens me out and helps my brain to make connections. Since I started using it as a teen I have felt patiently smarter. Better. Focused. I plan by the decades now, not days.
One day, it clicked. I suddenly understood numbers. But I never understood the concept of showing your work. I would do all the work in my head. We were given an 8th grade addition and subtraction test in the 3rd grade. I completed the test like it was a game, finished before everybody else. So I did. After I turned it in, the teacher got up and walked over to the teacher’s aid, and they began whispering and looking at me with darting eyes.
“I am going to be praised for my efforts!” I was so sure of it.
They asked me to stand up and to show my work. I said, “I don’t know how.” I had a perfect test. “The answers are all right,” said the teacher’s aid.
Because I couldn’t show my work, the test was not accepted. I have had a love hate relationship with math since. Critical thinking, though, I can do very well. I am patient enough to understand my own thoughts rather than flying off at a million miles an hour.
I think that my mind has always just moved so fast, too fast for me to “function” in standard, “acceptable” ways. I think that fact plays into my depression, too. Cannabis evens me out and helps my brain to make connections. Since I started using it as a teen I have felt patiently smarter. Better. Focused. I plan by the decades now, not days.
I’m training for the 2016 Olympics…I smoke Cannabis before I train so I can focus my mind and regulate my stomach acids during intense strenuous bursting periods of reps, dashes, or flexes.
Do you think you will continue with using alternative medicine?
I’m training for the 2016 Olympics. I plan on becoming the fastest man alive or break myself in the process. I am fast. Always have been. I’m built for running. I run barefoot-style, mostly in super light shoes. I smoke Cannabis before I train so I can focus my mind and regulate my stomach acids during intense strenuous bursting periods of reps, dashes, or flexes.
I give thanks daily for the blessings of the wonder crops that are Marijuana and Hemp. I have no doubts, I will consume my alternative medicines for my duration on this planet. Cannabis helps to put me in touch with my own magic so that I can share it with others.
When my breathing exercises become paramount to my success, I’ll convert completely to edibles instead of smoking. If a certain type of protocol is to be met to please the competition standards across state lines, I shall comply reluctantly with pure Hemp products in order to avoid THC.
I run for my people. Treaties have been broken. The information age has caught up to us. The world now fits in my hand. So now I can show the world magic. I give thanks daily for the blessings of the wonder crops that are Marijuana and Hemp. I have no doubts, I will consume my alternative medicines for my duration on this planet. Cannabis helps to put me in touch with my own magic so that I can share it with others.
What is your message to the CannaEffect community?
Say thank you for water. Say thank you to your food. Know your neighbors. Respect others. Be wise and take risks. Life’s an adventure. Give generously of your items or resources, even if it is just your hands. Time and energy remember. Create your dream and live it. Be brave. Know your medicine and be grateful for it. And most of all, believe in magic and whatever it is that puts you in touch with it.
All my relations, thank you. I give thanks.
SOURCE: CANNAEFFECT.ORG
