Nicholas Calderon, 49, Red Hook

"Last year, I was diagnosed with a slow-moving, eventually terminal blood cancer, and the year prior to that I suffered a spinal infection, which left me with permanent nerve damage and intractable pain from post-herpetic neuralgia. Each day, I live with the feelings of being stabbed in the back, punched in the stomach and kneed in the groin. These diseases and their treatments have been physically and emotionally devastating. My doctor and I need every safe and effective option available to best manage my pain. Unfortunately, I have never been able to tolerate pain medications, and my condition requires use of the strongest opiates. Marijuana helps to alleviate my pain and helps alleviate the nausea caused by the opiates I must take. And, it helps to elevate my mood — allowing me to focus on living and what I have to be grateful for, instead of sinking into despair. If I lived in one of 12 other states, Canada, or Israel, the treatment of my diseases with medical marijuana would be legal, and neither I nor my doctor could be labeled criminals simply because we chose the most effective treatment for my conditions. It's time for New York to allow a compassionate and narrow medical exception to its marijuana laws."

 If you are a New Yorker, please write your state senator in support of allowing medical marijuana here or call him or her here.

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