In the waiting room with a family member, looking around, I see a variety of people. Young and old, outwardly infirmed and inwardly pained, ambulatory and wheelchair bound. I realize I am looking at the many faces of the medical marijuana patient.
There are some who have an image that most medical marijuana patients are “stoners” who now have a legal way to do what they’ve always done. Certainly this is a segment of the group, but a broad generalization couldn’t be further from the truth. They are children suffering from seizures. They are cancer patients looking for some relief and hope as they undergo treatment. They are the elderly with arthritic pain so bad that walking and movement become increasingly difficult. They are the Parkinson’s patients wanting to unfreeze and move smoothly. There are many more faces and they all have a common thread. They find the relief they seek, maybe not wholly, but at least in part, from medicinal cannabis.
The negative perception that some people have of those who use medicinal cannabis needs to change. MMJ Patients are diverse in their backgrounds, economics, professions, and ages. They are not “stoners” or “potheads”, they are people with ailments just trying to get some treatment.