Why Medical Marijuana?

I'm sure if you're reading this blog, you undoubtedly already know about how we're fighting to legalize medical marijuana in Utah right now. Just in case you don't, here are a few different stories:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3355596-155/utah-mom-with-chronic-pain-hopes

http://libertasutah.org/interview/wheelchair-bound-utah-mother-in-chronic-pain-convicted-for-using-medical-cannabis/

http://kutv.com/news/local/lds-mom-pushes-for-legalization-of-miracle-drug-medical-marijuana

https://ksl.com/?sid=37786010&nid=148&fm=most_popular&s_cid=article_popular-4

There are more but I don't want to take the time to post all of them. I think you'll get the gist of it from these...

Anyways, the reason I'm writing this blog isn't to re-tell the story. My wife did that WAY better than I could do on her own blog in 3 separate posts:

http://edsmama.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-betrayal-of-legal-and-medical.html

http://edsmama.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-tale-of-exile-and-time-for-change.html

http://edsmama.blogspot.com/2015/12/braveheart.html

So now that the story is all out there, let me tell you a little bit about some of the responses we've gotten.

For the most part, people have poured out love and support. I can't tell you how much it is appreciated. The situation we're in is more than I ever thought I could bare but somehow, we're getting through it and the love and support of others is a HUGE part of that. There is however, many people that oppose the medical cannabis legalization. Here are some of the most common arguments I've heard from different people:

*If we legalize medical then the next step will be recreational legalization and then the next thing we know, the entirety of society will be lazy and unproductive.

*There are better options than marijuana for any condition

*Marijuana has no medicinal use

*Marijuana legalization will lead to more crime

*The law is the law so now you have to deal with the consequences

*The FDA hasn't approved it and so we can't trust that it's understood enough to legalize it

*We need to do more studies on it before we can be sure it's safe

There are other arguments that I've been told but those are the most common things I've been hearing. Now I'm going to respond to these things one at a time.

*If we legalize medical then the next step will be recreational legalization and then the next thing we know, the entirety of society will be lazy and unproductive.
Ok, so you're worried that people won't work if they use cannabis? I'd bet everything I've ever owned that every single person in America knows multiple HIGHLY successful and productive business owners/citizens that use cannabis either as medicine, or on a recreational basis. The reason you aren't aware of this in many cases is because people feel they need to hide it because it's illegal. Now, I understand that if you're using it recreationally and not to treat something, you're going to get "high" and you might want to sit on a couch and do nothing but relax. This can happen. I know it because I was a pothead when I was younger. Here's the thing though, IT GOES AWAY once the high goes away! The day after a long night of drinking alcohol is MUCH harder to function than a night of cannabis. I mean, I have experienced both. Before I got baptized into the LDS church and served a 2 year mission, I had lived as an alcoholic and a pothead.


*There are better options than marijuana for any condition
In some cases, this has got to be true. Cannabis is not a cure all for everything so obviously, there are plenty of patients that need other drugs to treat their symptoms. This however, is probably the most ridiculous thing you can say (other than the next argument I'm going to refute) to someone that has tried EVERYTHING the medical world could offer. We have literally seen doctors from coast to coast this past year and we've seen the top doctors on Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and we've tried EVERYTHING that anybody has ever suggested with bad results. Either they didn't work, or they treated the symptom and created new symptoms that were even worse, or at best, they would have minimal positive effects on the symptoms. So for someone that says there are better options to someone that has tried every idea we've ever heard and never had better results than those with cannabis; I have one question for you: Do you know of something that nobody else on earth is aware of?


*Marijuana has no medicinal use
Uhmmmm....are you serious? I don't know if I should even address this one. Just come watch the miracle plant work...I mean, come hang out for like, 10 minutes and then tell me it has no medicinal use.


*Marijuana legalization will lead to more crime
Aside from the fact that this argument is entirely asinine and our country should have learned (with alcohol prohibition) that prohibition never lowers crime and in fact RAISES crime rates, take a look at some statistics from Colorado since it was legalized:

Pretty much, that argument has zero basis in fact and is entirely based on fear mongering tactics. That is all I will say about that...

*The law is the law so now you have to deal with the consequences
This is absolutely true. We were fully aware of the fact that we were doing something against the law. The risks were to either break the law, leave everything and everyone we know including my career in Utah, or to let my wife die. Those were the only options we had. Considering all things, we figured staying in the closet about the medicine was the best option so that we didn't have to take our kids away from everything they know and still have their mother around. So yes, the law is the law and there are consequences to breaking it. Does that make the law right? Were the laws in Nazi Germany right just because they were law? Were the slavery laws in the USA right just because they were law? How about the founding fathers of our country that committed treason every single day by fighting for freedom? Were the founding fathers wrong to fight for independence because of the british law? Now I realize that cannabis isn't the same thing as a countries independence. But for the individual that needs it to survive or improve their quality of life, it is probably more important than the independence that our founding fathers righteously fought for. Civil disobedience is absolutely necessary to right the wrongs put on us by a faulty government. In fact, here is the first part of the declaration of independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security (emphasis added)

Ok, so if the declaration of independence specifically says that it is not only our RIGHT, but rather, our DUTY to throw off such government, then what better way can you suggest to do so, other than peaceful, civil disobedience. Should we become violent and fight the government? Would that be better? Isn't that even worse? We'd be killing and beating people. Isn't that ALSO against the law? I think Ghandi and Jesus Christ did it best. Peaceful, civil disobedience is the best option in my opinion. Here is my favorite quote from Ghandi: “They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then they will have my dead body, but not my obedience.” I stand with Ghandi. I stand with Jesus Christ. I stand for freedom. I believe that the preservation of life is a God-given inalienable right. For my wife, cannabis is what provides that preservation of life. Any questions?

*The FDA hasn't approved it and so we can't trust that it's understood enough to legalize it
Ok, we tried everything the FDA approved that was offered to us. Nothing worked. In fact, it almost always made the situation even worse and it usually resulted in another ambulance and ER visit because the FDA approved drugs are approved for the profit of big pharma and not for the patient that needs it. Plus, if the FDA gets involved, it would have to be changed and converted into something that would be less effective and more dangerous. Guaran freakin teed. Did God make a mistake? He created it. Do we trust the FDA more than God? There are some things in nature that can cause problems. Cannabis isn't one of those things. It has never, in the history of mankind, killed a human. It is physically impossible (unless it's broken down into concentrates that are actually dangerous). In it's natural form, it is the safest drug you'll ever try. I'm not a doctor. Although, I have talked about cannabis with many highly esteemed doctors (a geneticist, a neurologist, an ER doctor, a pain clinic doctor, and a couple different pharmacists) and I've never heard anything other than how safe marijuana is and that they don't understand why they can't recommend it to people.


*We need to do more studies on it before we can be sure it's safe
If you were dying or suffering, would you want to wait for more studies on something that you know for a fact is helpful? WE DON'T WANT STUDIES! WE WANT ACCESS TO A PLANT THAT CAN BE GROWN IN OUR BACKYARD! Why do we need studies? Or maybe the better question is why do we need studies BEFORE people are given access to it? It's already clearly documented that it isn't dangerous, especially compared to other drugs. So if you want more studies then go for it. In the meantime, let people who need it use it and you can study it out the rest of your life if you want.


These are the most common arguments I've heard. There are others but they just get more non-sensical as the list goes on. Marijuana propaganda has been pushed on the public for FAR too long. The DARE program taught very little true facts about it and that's the education the majority of the public have had unless they take a personal interest to find out more. It is all fear mongering, propaganda BS and it has no place in a decent education. Sadly, the public have been fooled for almost a century. In the 1800's the documentation about cannabis was honest medical documentation. Then about the time of the Mexican revolution when there were a lot of refugees coming across the border with their "Mexican loco weed", all of a sudden the medical papers turned. All of a sudden it was describing something that was so far from the truth that it was preposterous and it eventually lead to the film Reefer Madness that then perpetuated the lies and lead to an entire society of people that knew next to nothing about the reality of cannabis. Am I suggesting that the propaganda started from racism in the early 1900's? Yes. Yes I am. That is where the term "weed" started. That is where the word "marijuana" started. Maria and Juana. Marijuana. They were words created to induce fear of "the crazy Mexican refugees and their loco weed". Nothing more. Based on the "education" after that, you wouldn't even know they were referring to the same drug as cannabis. It was taught that the "loco weed" would make you crazy and have superhuman strength. If you've had ANY experience at all with the plant, you'd know that it couldn't be further from the truth. And reefer madness? Have you seen it? It's actually so ridiculous it's comical. The sad thing is, a lot of those same fears have survived into modern society. The public needs to be re-educated and I am determined to do everything in my power to make it happen. People believed for a really long time that the earth was flat. It was believed by society at large. And it was a lie. So is the propaganda that you've been fed your whole life. Cannabis shouldn't be seen as a recreational drug that can possibly have medicinal benefits. It should be seen as it really is...a GOD GIVEN MEDICINE that, just like anything in your medicine cabinet, can also be used incorrectly and abused. The difference is, when cannabis is abused, it doesn't kill you.

If ignorance is bliss, then wipe the smile off my face!

In high school my favorite band was Rage Against The Machine. There is a line in a song called "Settle For Nothing" that says "If ignorance is bliss, then wipe the smile off my face". I thought I understood this line when I was younger. What I didn't know, was that I was destined to learn the hard way that the system has some SERIOUS flaws that need to be changed. There has been some propaganda that has infiltrated multiple generations and been ingrained so deeply that it's near impossible to reverse. I'm meeting with someone today to hopefully get started on a path that will lead to a career of trying to re-educate the public on this issue.  I'll get back to that later in this post. First, I think I need to explain what lead to my new perspective. I'm going to more or less summarize a really long story.

 

Most of you reading this know our story either from our blogs, or from American Ninja Warrior. If not, here is the short version: My wife suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. She has a form that doctors still haven't classified because it's a freak form. For her, it has affected just about every joint in her body, her digestive system, her nervous system (which controls blood pressure, how medicines are released, etc....) and caused serious chronic pain. It is a terrible, terrible thing to witness and even worse for her to have to experience. Due to the dysautonomia (the nervous system problems) and the digestive system problems, she literally can't process any of the pain meds correctly without causing other, even worse, side effects...which leads to more meds to counter the side effects...and the list of meds just gets longer and longer. Living like that destroys peoples health and unfortunately, it is the way the system is designed and it is the reality many people live in.

 

We trusted the medical system. We turned to it, as most people do, when she started experiencing health issues. She tried EVERYTHING they had to offer. We know they were well intentioned. They save lives every day and we appreciate them. However, they can't legally recommend something that is against the law. They have to stay in the parameters of the laws and the system that they work in. Here is the problem; After everything legal was offered, my wife had found ZERO relief from the pain unless she wanted to be drugged out and addicted to opioids, lose her mental capacity, and be as useful as if she were comatose. That was the solution the medical community could legally offer. Here is the other problem, she tried all the options other than opioids because she didn't want to be drugged out and they caused more problems than they helped! For example, the last pill the pain clinic could offer was tramadol. Here was the result of using tramadol; unconscious and vomiting in the back of the van while having a drug induced seizure...all in front of our 2 little angel babies. That lead to ANOTHER emergency room visit that lasted all day and they loaded her on opioids (in an IV) to stop the situation from being life threatening. Then she couldn't even pronounce a single word because she was too high. Come to find out that her autonomic nervous system doesn't let the drug be released slowly like it's supposed to work. Instead, it all gets released at once, and causes seizures. Not much of a solution right? Multiple doctors had suggested that we move to neighboring Colorado because cannabis is a safe, possible solution to combat some of the pain and many other symptoms.

 

So what does any competent person do in this situation? The options for her were to either be loaded on opioids and high all the time, which would make it impossible to be the mother that she wants to be, or to die, or to leave everything we have built our lives around (my career, our families, our friends, our support system) and move to a place where cannabis is legal but we don't know anybody, or to defy an unjust law that doesn't allow someone to self medicate on a God-given plant that actually works and doesn't have negative side effects. Considering all these factors, after much prayer and consideration, we decided that the least risk was to stay in Utah and to break the law.

If you want to read into a lot more details, you need to read my wifes blog post about it. The continuation of that story will be in a new blog post today (12/14/15). I HIGHLY suggest you read her posts. She has a gift for telling her story.

Anyways, this is what lead to her use of cannabis in the first place. a LOT of experience as a medical guinnea pig and nothing working.

Fast forward to October 1st, 2015. We had created a large amount of credit card debt due to all the extra expenses and we were drowning in it, financially. We had put our house up for sale to try and use the equity to pay off our debts and get into a smaller house. On October 1st, we got a call from our realtor that there was someone that wanted to look at the house but the only time they could do it was a half hour later. We went into crazy cleaning mode and Enedina was having a bad day so she had to get herself ready enough to get out of the house in a hurry. Being as responsible as we could be in the situation, we decided to pack up all the cannabis and paraphernalia so that the buyers didn't see it. By the time we got in the van, my wife was clearly in a LOT of pain and her neck was popping in ways that shouldn't ever happen to a living human being. I went up the road to take my daughters with me into a chryotherapy session with me so that Enedina could use some of the life saving medicine in the parking lot by herself. After I got  done, I took the girls back out to the van and saw that Enedina was doing MUCH better. The windows were all rolled down to air out the smell but it obviously still smelled like marijuana. Not enough time had passed yet so we decided to go across the street to get a few groceries at Wal-Mart before heading home. Enedina wasn't feeling good enough to go inside so I decided to not park in the handicapped parking. (I don't feel that it's morally right to abuse that privilege since I'm not handicapped) So I went to the regular parking space and while I was getting out, this guy walks past the van. No big deal. Elena didn't want to leave Enedina alone though because she always tries to distract her when she's in pain. She's such a freaking sweetheart! So I got Eva out and we went in to the store. The guy that had walked past our van was looking at me in such a way that it made me feel a little uncomfortable but I wasn't really sure why. Then I forgot what I was in the store to get. After trying to remember for a few minutes (longer than I am usually in the store) I called Enedina. Instead of telling me what to get, she told me that she was talking to the police and to get out there asap. I have always believed very strongly that honesty is the best policy so I was determined to not try and hide the truth. Enedina was of the same mindset.

So I go out there and start talking to one of the cops. I could see that Enedina was crying hysterically but I didn't want to make the cops mad so I just kept talking to the one while his partner interrogated my wife. I explained the whole situation and he seemed super sympathetic about the situation but said that they were obligated to do something because of the law that they have to enforce. Totally understandable. We knew all along that we were risking the legal consequences of marijuana possession as long as we were in Utah so I accepted that and was totally willing to accept responsibility for it. Then they threw the GIANT curveball at us that changed our lives forever..

They had told us that the witness said that he SAW my wife smoking in the van with our daughter in the backseat (it was a total lie and I'll explain in a minute). Because of that, they were also citing her for child endangerment...which meant CPS was going to be involved. This was something we hadn't anticipated. Of ALL things....child endangerment? Are you freaking kidding me?! THE ONLY REASON SHE EVEN USES IT IS TO SURVIVE SO SHE CAN BE THEIR MOM!!!! Otherwise, she wouldn't even have the will to live! The irony of the charge was mind-blowing!..especially since it was based on a lie.

Like I said before, the cop had told us that the witness had "seen" her smoking with the child in the van. That is also what the cop wrote in his police report. Here is the problem with that. First of all, SHE WASN'T USING IT WITH THE CHILD IN THE VEHICLE! Secondly, the actual witness statement says that he only SMELLED the marijuana. He saw nothing, which makes sense since there was nothing to see. She had used it in the vehicle alone in the parking lot across the street....so it smelled. The witness had told the truth as he experienced it. I don't agree with calling the cops because of marijuana, especially in a van that is obviously for a handicapped person, but that isn't the point. The witness had told a true statement. The cop had ASSUMED that she had used it in the presence of our child and then lied and said that the witness had seen it, which was the probable cause. This assumption and LIE was the whole reason that CPS got involved. One "little" false detail on a police report changed our lives forever.

That night, I started having a VERY strong feeling (I believe it was from God) that we needed to get the girls and our necessities and get out of the state asap. So we packed up and left in a hurry. We went straight to Colorado because the cops had confiscated all of her medicine and she was having a MUCH harder time without it. By the grace of God, we had a friend that found out about the situation and brought over an eighth of cannabis just to get us all to Colorado alive. It was just a precaution, and it literally saved Enedinas life about an hour outside of Colorado. We were driving and things started slipping in her neck. Then muscles started spasming. I pulled over and got the girls out. Enedina used the emergency cannabis and within seconds, she could breathe normally again and her neck wasn't creating more pain and stress. Another miracle. I'll probably write multiple posts in the future about the sever misconceptions about marijuana but for now let it suffice to say that cannabis is probably the safest drug (legal or not) on the planet. I can overdose really easily from just about ANYTHING in anybody's medicine cabinet. It is literally impossible to overdose from smoking marijuana. The worst that could happen is you'd fall asleep and wake up maybe feeling like your brain is going slow for a few hours. That's it...worst case scenario. I know because I used to be a "pothead" and I experienced that a couple times.

So we get to Colorado and immediately start searching for a house. We're living in hotels and getting further and further in debt. It's not cheap to stay on the road for that long with a family of four. It also gets old really fast. We found a house pretty quick but we still had to sell our house in Utah. After  2 months, it was finally sold but the toll it took on Enedina to be on the road that long is something we'll never get back. We were able to pay off the debt with the equity of our house which was another miracle, but it took a lot of heartache to do it.

We had wanted our children to stay in South Weber. I wanted to grow old in South Weber. Enedina always says that she finally found a place she can call home and felt comfortable dying in South Weber. I grew up in South Weber. It is my home. All of my family is here. Enedinas family is here. We have a ton of friends here. We don't know anyone in Fruita Colorado. The places where we do know people were all too expensive to live in or it was too far from home. We wanted to stay close so we could visit family and have them visit us. Fruita seemed like the perfect place.

Now fast forward to December 10th. The day of court. The day we have been dreading for months of running from the state of Utah. We had no idea what was going to happen. We had hired a very good defense attorney and he was trying to work a miracle for us but up to this point, had been unsuccessful so far. Then the next miracle happened...He convinced the prosecutor to drop the child endangerment charge to a possession charge in a plea deal! Normally, we wouldn't be so excited to plead guilty of marijuana possession but in this case, it was so exciting! Plus, we could accept it because it was actually true...
We still had to present the deal to the judge and pray for his sympathy so it wasn't over. Then the time came. Enedina was up there with our attorney and they presented the plea deal. The judge asked Enedina if there was anything she wanted to say. She said yes but she couldn't hardily talk. She obviously didn't have any cannabis with her at court and it had been a while. Luckily, our attorney had seen me relocate her collar bone and pushed in the right place and the judge saw and heard it pop into place. Then she could talk. She said the most beautiful statement that I really want to get a copy of for our own purposes. It even made the judge emotional. In fact, afterwards, even the assistant of the prosecutor went up to her and gave her a hug. It was seriously a beautiful moment. She testified in court about the law being unjust and about the efficacy of cannabis. She said it from a place of love. It was beautiful! If I can get a copy of the recording, we'll share it.

This whole situation lead to us being in a perfect scenario to be the "face" of medical marijuana in Utah. I got in contact with the founder of The Drug Policy Project of Utah and she seems really enthusiastic about our story. There is a new advocacy group forming that we may end up playing a big part of could very well lead to a career as a lobbyist and potentially even a politician. We're at the beginning of the path so who knows how far it'll go, but the possibility is there. It is something I NEVER anticipated!

We have had trial after trial but in all of this, God has been there to strengthen and support us. We have felt his love and guidance in all of this and we will continue to follow the Spirit, wherever that may take us. I know that God is in everything and I thank Him every day for preserving our family.