Patient:
Cindy Moya.
Age:
53.
Condition/Illness:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ovarian cancer, acute arthritis, AIDS.
Home:
Moreno Valley.
Using medical cannabis since:
2009.
WHY DID YOU START USING MEDICAL MARIJUANA?
It was because I found out that marijuana was the only thing that allowed me to eat and sleep because of the pain. I didn’t need to take anything else. I remember that song “I Need a New Drug” by Huey Lewis and the News because that’s how I felt. I remember one time I had 19 biopsies, the pain was horrible, but all the doctor suggested was morphine, which I didn’t want because marijuana worked better.
DID YOU TRY OTHER METHODS OR TREATMENTS BEFORE MARIJUANA?
You name it, I’ve taken it. Aside from methadone, I’ve had just about every drug they could give me. It felt like they were just shoving pills in me, like Oxycontin, morphine and many others. I’ve had everything from blood transfusions to chemotherapy. I was sent by a doctor to a clinic in Loma Linda for pain management, but they told me they wouldn’t help me because I was using marijuana. They tried to get me on methadone, but I told them, “No” since that’s one of the worst drugs you can take long term. Several times I was told to take Tylenol, but I can’t because it’s too damaging to my kidneys. They’ve even tried to get me on codeine.
WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE OR PROBLEM FACING MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS IN CALIFORNIA?
Going to doctors and being given the wrong drugs. Every time I’ve gone to a doctor they’ve given me a hard time and have told me they wouldn’t treat me because I was smoking marijuana. I’ve had to argue with them over treatments that weren’t successful no matter what they tried. It shouldn’t be an argument. The doctors I’ve met with seemed ignorant about the benefits of medical marijuana. It seems like doctors have no idea what’s in the drugs they’ve told me to shove in my body. They don’t want to listen to patients who talk about how marijuana has helped them.
I’ve met with a few very good doctors who’ve told me that they think marijuana is a good solution, but they aren’t allowed to suggest that—their hands are tied.
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO FOLKS WHO ARE SKEPTICAL ABOUT MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE?
God gave us a seed that grows in the ground naturally, and when it grows we can wear it, smoke it [and] build with it. We can use it in so many ways to treat symptoms better than the drugs doctors suggest to us. Even if you don’t like to smoke, because it might be harmful, you can always use edibles. I don’t care what kind of disease you have, you will have to treat it somehow so you may as well use what works.
My family is very supportive, thank God. They’d rather see me on cannabis than all the other crap I was on. Five years ago, I was miserable because of all the pills I was on. Now, I feel so much better.
Our “Profiles in Courage” features are intended to highlight the problems—and solutions—that medical marijuana patients face every day.
