Medical Marijuana Patients to Legislators: Please Give Safe Access A Vote
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Today, at 1:30 p.m. at the Grand Staircase at the State House, a group of medical marijuana patients and advocates will hold a press conference to ask state lawmakers to support a medical marijuana law in Massachusetts. The state legislature's Joint Committee on Pubic Health is currently considering bill that would make Massachusetts the 15th state in the nation to give seriously ill patients safe and legal access to medical marijuana. Patients will call for the bill to receive a committee vote before a Joint Rule 10 deadline on March 18, after which passage out of committee becomes much more difficult.
Lorraine Kerz is a Greenfield resident whose son benefited from medical marijuana. "Watching my 29-year-old son struggle with the side effects of brutal chemotherapy treatments was heart wrenching," she said. "He threw up non-stop for days on end, had no appetite, was quickly losing weight, and was beginning to despair. Medical marijuana relieved the nausea, helped him regain his appetite, and allowed him to reduce his intake of painkillers. To think that my son could have gone to jail for using a drug that helped him maintain hope and quality of life is not just. It is unreasonable and cruel."
Among the patients who will speak is Matt Kaufman, a Revere resident.
"Just a few years ago, I was in the hospital because of severe internal bleeding that is the result of ulcertive colitis," he said. "The condition is really painful, but the medications I was given just tore up my insides and made the bleeding worse. My doctors had no idea how to help me, and I wasn't sure I had long to live. Now, thanks the medical marijuana, the bleeding has completely stopped. I'm off all the painkillers and steroids, and I'm leading a normal life. I hope legislators support the medical marijuana bill at the State House, because when I don't have safe access to my medicine, my symptoms immediately return."
