During a recent interview with Esquire UK, British actor Sir Patrick Stewart revealed that he uses a topical medical cannabis spray to alleviate problems he has with his hands.
“I mean, my main problem is my hands don’t work very well,” Stewart told Esquire UK. “But thanks to cannabis, they work much better than they used to. Thanks to the law in California now, it’s just a spray that I put on.”
Stewart says that he had been to several doctors with the hopes they could help treat his hands, or at least alleviate some of the pain. The doctors just dismissed his issues as part of the normal aging process.
“You get to an age where you go to the doctor, you tell him how old you are and he just shrugs his shoulders and says, ‘Oh, is that it?’” Stewart said.
Arthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disease. It can be extremely painful, often debilitating, and is common in senior citizens. It is unclear in the article if Stewart was referring to his own diagnosed arthritis, but his described symptoms are similar. Cannabis is an effective treatment for many different types of pain, including those that are associated with rheumatoid arthritis. Due to the perpetually failing leech that is the war on drugs, however, doctors are often in the dark about the various applications for medical cannabis, including arthritis.
Stewart currently lives in New York. When asked how he got around the illegality of medical cannabis while in the United Kingdom, he wisely pled the 5th.
“I can’t answer that question,” he said, with good reason.
By providing these inspiring but revealing quotes, Stewart perhaps unknowingly joins an ever-growing roster of actors, musicians, athletes and other celebrities who either benefit from or advocate for medical cannabis. Sir Patrick is yet another living example that it works for treating countless diseases and ailments in patients of all ages.
Queen Elizabeth II knighted Sir Patrick Stewart in 2010 for his contributions to film and theater. He plays an older, weaker Charles Xavier (Professor X) in the final Wolverine installment, Logan. The last Wolverine movie has already received some high praise, receiving a certified fresh 92 percent rating from the hard-to-please critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Including Hugh Jackman putting his role of Wolverine to bed, the film Logan is supposed to be the final time Stewart plays the role of Professor X on the big screen.
