My name is Laura, and I believe that some members of my family and I are excellent candidates for medical marijuana use. I also believe that I should not be denied the right to grow my own marijuana plants for me and my family. Especially considering that I am on disability, have multiple children, and the State of Florida has made it almost economically impossible for me to get the proper medicine to help my children and myself.
"I believe that Florida Medical Marijuana patients should be allowed to legally grow their own cannabis plants, for their medical use."
Growing up with parents that were dependent on medication to live because of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart issues, etc., I have always been interested in alternative medicine. I worked in the medical & chiropractic field for years. I have seen healing miracles through alternative remedies, and on the flip side I've seen people referred out for surgery which has ended very badly.
My interest in cannabis as medicine began years ago. I began to research more and more as I heard about the positive results from treatment with cannabis. I have a dear friend whose husband has a rare form of cancer and MS and Rick Simpson oil has put him into remission in the past.
Sadly, at this time, his cancer is back and we are also going to be fighting for her family's right to grow their own marijuana plants for their families medicine. They have two autistic children as well, one severely (nonverbal, can be violent, etc.).
I have four children of my own and another child I have raised for over 6 years. A little over four years ago, my life changed forever. I had just dropped my three youngest children off at their elementary schools (one was in a special autistic program at a different school than the other two). I was at a stop light which was red and pulled up behind a woman in a small SUV. I was in that position when I was suddenly slammed from behind. I had a cute little Mazda Protégé....Had is the key word here. The trunk was in the back seat and the impact pushed me under the SUV in front of me to the point that the SUV's spare tire underneath her vehicle fell off. I was truly fortunate to have walked away and even more fortunate that I had dropped off my sons before this happened. We had angels watching over us that day.
As a result of this accident, I have several herniated discs. I also suffer from anxiety to a degree since this accident, but my main issue is pain. Since this happened to me, I have been to see a surgeon who didn't give me the greatest chances of fixing either my low back or neck and it certainly wasn't good enough odds to risk paralysis.
The surgeon wanted me to see a pain management doctor. He was uninterested in working with me unless I would take morphine or oxycodone. I am not interested in either of those drugs. I've seen the effects of addiction to opiates and how it destroys other families, and I was determined that wasn't going to happen to me. I kept taking the hydrocodone 10/3.25 that they kept prescribing for me. I tried the Neurontin which only made me dizzy and unable to function normally. I took Xanax to help with the anxiety. I have a family history of alcoholism and since the medication didn't help me much, I began supplementing with alcohol until one day I had to stop. I went to AA for seven months, have no desire to drink anymore and my life has improved because of it.
Ironically, on the day I had been sober seven months, I woke up with horrible pain, throwing up and basically couldn't move or keep anything down. My fiancé took me to the closest hospital to our house and they diagnosed me with an intestinal blockage. I knew the issue was from my taking too much Ibuprofen. I was taking 2400-3200 milligrams a day because I wasn't smart or informed enough to know it could cause me this much trouble.
I was also taking the pain medication (which I rarely took more than two of per day) and I was prescribed four. After several unnecessary tests and procedures, and the hospital making many mistakes that could have resulted in more pain and injury to me if my fiancé hadn't been there when anything important was supposed to happen, they finally discharged me after almost a week because I threatened to discharge myself AMA. They weren't helping me, almost made it worse, and I wanted to go home.
While I was in the hospital, I was given nothing but intravenous fluids for a week containing medicine, magnesium and potassium. I am 5'8" and have had four children. I weighed 121 pounds when I was released from the hospital. I was a walking skeleton wearing a size 0 in jeans.
If it hadn't been for cannabis at that time, I may not have been here to tell you this story. It was the only thing that allowed me to eat and regain my strength to be able to function again. At this time, I have chosen to remove myself from the opiate world. I have weaned myself off of the hydrocodone, I am now conscious of how much Ibuprofen is too much, and I focus on nutritional supplements as much as possible. It has done wonders for me. I was able to get off my stomach medication by resetting my system with apple cider vinegar and DE.
To most people, I look like your average normal mother....but few people see the days that it's hard for me to get out of bed and the days when I have to wait for my fiancé to come home and help me shower because my hands aren't very functional that day.
Shortly after this, my youngest son began having seizures. His first one was very small and didn't show anything on the CAT Scan so they told us not to worry unless it happened again. It didn't, so we were able to relax....until over a year later he had his second seizure. This one involved part of his face and his shoulder. He was unaware of what was happening to him but my fiancé was able to snap him out of it by engaging him in clapping and following his voice, etc.
The trips to the ER seemed endless and they got worse and much more frequent. They only occurred at night, but my daughter and I didn't sleep at all it seemed for months, scared that something was going to happen to him. We eventually insisted that they put him on medication for seizures since CBD oil was not an option in Florida at that time and we did not have the funds to move. Our family was falling apart with worry so we reluctantly put him on a seizure med. They stopped his seizures but the side effects have been horrible. It's hard to watch your little guy have a seizure and watch his eyes roll back and think that he's dead. It's not a whole lot easier to watch your extremely passive, kind, sweet, thoughtful little boy turn into an easily set off aggressive and sometimes mean child.
We are fortunate that he has been two years seizure free at this point. We've been told that the EEG was normal at this point so we are going to be able to start weaning him off his medication slowly, very soon. This both thrills me and terrifies me at the same time. He is 12 years old and most kids do not outgrow his type of seizure until they are 16. I have no ability to get him access to CBD oil. I am disabled and have very little expendable income. I could find a way to afford a medical card for him if I was able to grow his medicine.
Another of my sons suffers from ADHD and extreme lack of focus. My other son has Aspberger's and is very creative.
"I believe that both of these children would receive great benefit from cannabis as well, and that it should be open to me and my family to be able to use our God-given right to grow a marijuana plant from a seed and turn it into medicine."
This plant was once legal and widely used and we need to be able to allow afflicted people unobstructed access to this form of medicine.
Laura...