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Marijuana benefits

As a member of the Phoenix Pain Management Society, I want to let people in on the benefits of being a society member.

Re: ‘Police, mayor say new pot dispensary in Parksville is illegal,’ (The NEWS, Jan. 22).

As a member of the Phoenix Pain Management Society, I want to let the people of Parksville, Quallicum Beach and Nanaimo in on the benefits of being a society member.

I am a medical marijuana patient and have been using medical marijuana products for my illnesses for the past year. My medical conditions have improved over 300 per cent.

I have gone from having a pain-filled body and a foggy vegetable mind to being a new ‘alive’ human again. I am now improving my life and becoming a contributing member of my community again after more than 10 years.

I came to this miracle medicine right before Health Canada was changing the Medical Marijuana Purposes Regulations (MMPR).

Health Canada was no longer selling from their supply, no longer issuing new patient grow licenses, no longer issuing designated growers licenses, no longer issuing approved medical marijuana user ID cards, and the new approved growers were not producing yet, so they had no product to sell. Where was I to go? I was a 54-year-old woman with no connections to access my needed medicine.

When a dispensary opened in Nanaimo I was extremely pleased. Being a person who is living on disability benefits and hasn’t been able to work full time for the past 10 years, trips to Victoria cut into the grocery budget. So does the cost of my medical marijuana.

I won’t and don’t want to ‘have to’ buy my medicine from a ‘for-profit’ company when the marijuana plant is a free ‘gift’ from Mother Earth.

I hope this letter helps explain the importance of having these dispensaries. I am committed to helping the Phoenix Pain Management Society provide these products and services to the communities of Vancouver Island.

Please come out, become a member and help us keep your health care choices, your choices, and make this Society a valuable, effective and efficient option.

Teresa WhitakerNanaimo