Australia: In Desperate Need Of Medical Marijuana

[Jacob Redmond]

David Bradley has had arteriovenous malformation since he was a baby, and thinks legalizing medical marijuana could save his life.

The 31-year-old has exhausted all other treatment options and doesn't understand why it's not legal to use the plant that has been proven to help his condition.

Arteriovenous malformation is an abnormal connection between arteries and veins, bypassing the capillary system, which is causing intense pain and bleeding for David in his left arm, moving down to his ribs, and may have started in his bowel.

"It would help me in every way because there's no drugs, there's no treatment - there's nothing for me," he said.

But when the father of two thinks about taking it and the possibility of being charged for it, tears come to his eyes.

"I might lose my kids - I can't lose them. They're what keep me alive now."

David and his partner Rosie want people to have the conversation about medical marijuana.

"There's multiple uses of the different varieties of the marijuana plant, so this is where people aren't educated in it, and I really want to get them to get educated in it," he said.

"It's a herb that's been around for thousands of years now, and it's been used medicinally."

Department of Health chief health officer Jeannette Young agrees that more research is needed into the potential medicinal uses of cannabis products.

"The current scientific evidence on the safety and efficacy of cannabis suggests that some pharmacological cannabinoid substances may have value in the treatment of a limited range of medical conditions," she said.

An advocate of medical marijuana, Marika Toivo, said medical cannabis products had been trialled for years in many different countries and, as a result, been legalised.

"Suggesting that Australia needs to spend millions of dollars and several years conducting more trials is ridiculous in the face of so much research," she said.

News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Cannabis campaigning | Caboolture News
Author: Erica Baigrie
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Photo Credit: Vicki Wood
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[Enderghast]

Jacob, you are not alone, there are many of us! I myself have primary progressive multiple sclerosis. This is a rare form of MS. In Australia my condition is classed as untreatable. Worldwide studies have found only one treatment, marijuana. Yet if I was caught self medicating I would possibly be imprisoned. Instead they dose me up with huge amounts of highly addictive opioid pain killers and 600mg of Lyrica a day. None of this is helping me in any way except to reduce the chronic spinal pain and migraine headaches I suffer from, among many other symptoms that are going to cripple me and eventually kill me in a horrible way, and I imagine your case is the same. Our politicians strongly believe that it is better that people like us suffer terribly and continue to degrade slowly, over time, until it kills us, than to use the 'evil' marijuana in treatment. We are dying, slowly and painfully. Even if marijuana did have some detrimental effects, what does that matter to people like us who can, at the very least, gain some comfort and relief from it? But we unfortunately have heartless politicians running things for capitalism, not for humanity!