Patient:
Kareen Feldman.
Age:
55.
Condition/Illness:
ADHD, seizure disorder, side effects of chemotherapy.
Home:
Los Angeles.
Using medical cannabis since:
1989.
WHY DID YOU START USING MEDICAL MARIJUANA?
I started having grand mal seizures. The doctors were giving me pills, but they weren’t working and they asked me what I normally take, and I said, “I smoke marijuana.” So they allowed me to smoke out in a room by myself. The two that suggested it were both doctors . . . one was a head of cardiology and another was a head of neurology.
I had been hit in the head with a golf club by a person who tried to kill me 20 years ago. Since then I’ve had tremendous grand mal seizures and only marijuana seems to work.
I was on chemotherapy for a year and a half, when I was going through treatment for cancer. I smoked marijuana to help with the nausea and to stimulate my appetite.
My body still shakes a lot from my injury, and if it wasn’t for smoking marijuana I wouldn’t be able to drive or have a driver’s license.
DID YOU TRY OTHER METHODS OR TREATMENTS BEFORE MARIJUANA?
I was paying over $350 a month for pills called Dilantin. They would still give me seizures, though, so I tried cannabis to help myself, and I noticed that smoking helped me to stay calm. I still occasionally take Tegretol for my seizures. I don’t like to take it all the time because I build a tolerance, so I use marijuana.
I believe different people are affected differently by marijuana, and I’ve just noticed that it helps me. Now, when doctors ask me what I take, I tell them marijuana. My optometrist even suggested that I smoke when I started experiencing eye problems.
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO FOLKS WHO ARE SKEPTICAL ABOUT MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE?
I tell them they are wrong. I wouldn’t be able to drive if it wasn’t for marijuana. I could never live on just meds . . . I need to smoke a joint. Older people might understand, but a lot of other people don’t know the research that has gone into marijuana. It helps people . . . the science is there. But people prefer to believe lies and not find out for themselves. (Jasen T. Davis)
Our “Profiles in Courage” features are intended to highlight the problems—and solutions—that California’s medical marijuana patients face every day.
