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.