Maurice Hall

Patient
Name: Maurice
Hall

Age: 32

Condition/Illness: Back pain, nerve pain, paralyzed
from the knees down (gunshot injury) since 2006.

Using
Medical Cannabis since: 2003

Why
did you start using cannabis?

There was always a
lot of hype about marijuana, but that’s not what got me started. My reason for
using cannabis started with the curiosity when a basketball teammate of mine
said it helps relax some chronic back pain that he was having. I was having
muscle aches at the time, so I decided to give it a try to see if it would
work, and it helped out in a major way. In regards to my injury, I knew the
effects that cannabis had on me before and aside from not wanting to get
addicted to pain pills, I needed another option. 

Did
you try other methods or treatments before cannabis?

No. 

What’s
the most important issue or problem facing medical cannabis patients?

False propaganda.
The most important issue is that the government is trying to regulate the
distribution of the medicine for profit instead of medicinal purposes.

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

I would say to try
to get out of your box and open your eyes to the possibility that cannabis can
actually heal some symptoms and do more than most commercialized products. A
lot of people look down on cannabis because of the “hippie” or
“stoner” stigma that’s attached to it, but I believe it can actually
help with a lot of common symptoms people deal with on a daily basis. It’s
helped me with back pain, muscle aches, headaches and severe nerve pain that I
deal with everyday just to name a few. Now, there’s plenty of different ways to
medicate with cannabis besides smoking. There are pills, drinks and also foods
you can eat. I would suggest giving it a try—see for yourself.