Weeds

With the advent of the financial crisis I’ve been starting work earlier each night rather than work beyond 3am. Prior to the crisis one could exploit the absence of cabbies at that time of morning but since November the late night corporate accounts have all but disappeared.

One area of afternoon work is around hospitals as staff, patients and visitors head home. Recently I collected an elderly woman down from the country for treatment of leukaemia.

On approach I thought she was a groovy baby-boomer with chopped white hair and colourful clothing. However as she hobbled to the front door it was obvious she was a patient in some distress.

After ordering an address in the inner west she told of visiting from a farm in western NSW for regular doses of chemotherapy and others operations. “See here,” she said, pulling back her blouse to expose a large bandage across the chest. “I just hope it doesn’t start bleeding again.” I immediately resolved to drive with extra care.

For a cancer patient she was surprisingly chirpy and happy to chat. Most likely, I guessed, due to escaping from the house of pain and death, if only for a nights reprieve in the real world.

Many country patients stay alone at boarding houses and motels so a friendly conversation with a cabbie is generally welcomed. I asked about the chemo side effects and she admitted the depression and weight loss was substantial due the leukaemia being fairly advanced.

When I suggested she may find marijuana a help she smirked and tapped her nose. “We might have a few weeds behind the shearing shed,” she chuckled, “just for me and a few friends in the same boat.”

And she didn’t need any advice on making pot cookies. Good for her.

Comments

[Rainer the cabbie]

Happy Easter to you Adrian, I hope you get some time off. Funny how most late night fares end up at the Cross at Easter.
Great advice to your passenger, those cookies are the only upside of having cancer I reckon.
Hope to catch up with you one day, for a coffee and a biscuit. Butternut that is.

[adrian]

Nup, Rainer, working right through. Look forward to catching up for a coffee.

Happy Easter to all.

[Gold Coast Cabbie]

Too true about the financial crisis changing work patterns. Pre-GFC I avoided the traffic until 6pm, and finished around 4.30am - with at least an hours break during the night.
Now I fight the traffic on midweek afternoons to get something on the meter. Later on I rely on cruise and hails - I've had a few "dreaded Three Wise Monkeys"...

[James]

The use of marijuana in a medicinal capacity for cancer and other chronic disease patients is long overdue..
Marijuana is far from the 'soft drug' that it had been made out to be in the past and can have a raft of both physical and mental health implications associated with its use.. However it is a far better alternative to the use of strong opiate painkillers in ongoing pain management as is the norm today. It also has the added benefit of increasing appetite, something which opiates don't do.