My letter to my Florida family and friends

(I intend on posting this letter asking for compassion on facebook for my fundy family and 'friends' to read, when I change my avatar to a Yes on 2 this week).

Lemme know what you think.

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That's right, my profile picture has changed from something funny or cute to something that I am very serious about. On November 4, voters here in Florida will go to the polls to determine whether or not to amend the State Constitution to allow the medical use of marijuana for individuals with debilitating diseases as determined by a licensed Florida physician. The Amendment Does not authorize violations of federal law or any non-medical use, possession or production of marijuana.

Three years ago my health suddenly began to fail. Over the course of a few months I lost 60 lbs of muscle, was unable to stand without assistance, could not lift my arms above my head, and on the morning I went to the hospital, had to be lifted onto a stretcher and loaded in the back of an ambulance. During the eight days of numerous daily blood draws, muscle and kidney biopsies, nerve conductivity tests, scans, and other extensive testing that resembled something out of an episode of House, I was ultimately diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (lupus), Lupus Nephritis (lupus affecting the kidney), dermatomyositis (an auto immune disease that attacks the muscles and skin), Peripheral Neuropathy (nerve damage that affects signals sent to the hands, arms, legs, and feet), and Raynaud's Phenomenom (that affects the blood vessels of the hands and feet). I began treatment with large doses of steroids and was warned that I may need dialysis or perhaps a kidney transplant if I did not respond well to the treatment. The large doses of steriods were replaced with a form of weekly orally administered chemotherapy that I have been on for more than two years and will continue to take (provided that long term use does not adversely affect my liver, for which I submit to routine bloodwork). I was told in the hospital that I would never be able to work again and would need to be monitored closely for the rest of my life to ensure that flare up of the diseases did not degrade my organ function any further.

The first weekly oral chemotherapy drug I was prescribed by my doctor was Azathioprine. It made me violently ill within hours of taking it and continued to make me ill for three additional days. I would feel marginally better for three days only to repeat the process. Azathioprine was replaced by Methotrexate which felt like Pez candy conpared to the other poison. Methotrexate only makes me feel horrible for the two days after I take it.

I continue to suffer daily from muscle pain in my legs due to the dermatomyositis and peripheral neuropathy. My doctor has prescribed opiates, muscle relaxers, and anti-anxiety benzodiazepines for the leg and nerve pain. For my lupus I take an anti-malarial drug that has side effects including blindness in some extreme cases which requires me to have a special eye exam regularily.
If the amendment passes this Election Day it will not mean that cannabis is legal for just anyone to use. Patients will only be allowed to acquire and consume cannabis if it is recommended by a licensed physician for certain "Debilitating Medical Conditions such as cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or other conditions for which a physician believes that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient." SLE, Lupus Nephritis, and Dermatomyositis are all approved conditions with symptoms that benefit from cannabis.

I refuse to take the opiates for the pain due to their highly addictive nature and because the way they make me feel spaced out and disoriented and I attempt to limit the muscle relaxers and valium for days when the pain is severe due to other complications that can come from prolonged use. I cannot take Ibuprofen for pain due to liver damage from my conditions. People in 23 other states and the District of Columbia have the opportunity to, at a physician's recommendation, take cannabis for pain, muscle spasms, seizure disorders, and to combat nausea from medications. I do not currently have this opportunity because it is illegal and I do not wish to put myself and family in danger from the black market and judicial system that surrounds the use of cannabis in Florida.

My doctor currently has the ability to prescribe me much stronger drugs with much stronger side effects that are much more addictive and harmful. Why is it that some will trust a doctor to prescribe these drugs but will not trust them to recommend cannabis? I've been doubled over the toilet crying while throwing up for hours on end from legally prescribed medicine, what harm can come to me from treating the symptoms of my diseases and side effects of my medications with a substance that half of the people in the US have admitted using at some time in their lives, more than half currently support at least the decriminalization of, and 23 states currently allow?

Four years ago I was a healthy, working, newly-married man in (what I thought was) the prime of my life. Suddenly all of that changed for me and it could change for anyone else as well. If you do not support the legalization of cannabis for medical use at the recomendation of your licensed physician because you think it would only lead to pot heads smoking dope all over the place, guess what, they already do. A lot of people use cannabis recreationally and this amendment will not affect them. This amendment will allow people who are sick to seek an alternative treatment that may improve the quality of their lives without the risk of imprisonment and seizure of their property.

I could show you reports that show a 25% drop in deaths due to overdose of opiate painkillers in states where medical cannabis use has been approved. We can argue all day about alcohol being better or worse for society, or the harm or lack thereof in cannabis use. I don't want to argue. I just want you to think about what options you would want available to you or a family member who might become sick. Ask anyone who has been through chemotherapy or suffered from a seizure disorder or watched their parent, spouse, or child suffering if they would have done anything in order to reduce the hell they watched them go through.

American author Flannery O'Conner was describing her own struggle with lupus four weeks before her death when she wrote `The wolf, I`m afraid, is inside tearing up the place". She also wrote a short story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own". If you live in Florida, please empathize, sympathize, and vote Yes on #2 this November 4, if not for me, or the other sick people suffering, do so for yourself or a loved one who may, like me, fall sick seemingly out of the blue.

Thank you for your time reading this.