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Profiles in Courage

Patient:
Matthew Dale Miller.
Age:
23.
Condition/Illness:
Cerebral Palsy.
Home: Lake Forest.
Been using medical marijuana since: 2007.
 
Why did you star

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Patient:

Matthew Dale Miller.

Age:

23.

Condition/Illness:

Cerebral Palsy.

Home: Lake Forest.

Been using medical marijuana since: 2007.

 

Why did you start using medical marijuana?

Because the cannabis calms me down. It’s bad. Someone has to hold my head steady to smoke. I shake that much, all the time. My muscles shake too much. The marijuana gives me greater control of my body.

 

How has medical marijuana helped the quality of your life?

I figure that it helped me a lot. It’s made me happier. It helped me stay alert and yet relaxed. Other drugs would make me really sleepy.

 

Did you try other methods or treatments before marijuana?

I tried other medications. I was going to the doctor for quite some time. They put me on Baclofen [an anti-spasm medication] . . . there were many others, I don’t remember all of their names. This was happening for many years. They either didn’t work or had bad side effects. Marijuana is better.

 

What’s the most important issue or problem facing medical marijuana patients in California?

[E]very patient should feel safe to access marijuana.

 

What do you say to folks who are skeptical about marijuana as medicine?

They don’t know how marijuana helps people. They don’t have to use it. They aren’t sick so they don’t know what it’s like when you can’t take your medicine. (Jasen T. Davis)

 

Our new “Profiles in Courage” features are intended to highlight the problems—and solutions—that Southern California’s medical-marijuana patients face every day.

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