Several months ago, I had to go to the emergency room for severe stomach and back pain.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew I was hurting.
It took them nearly an hour to call me into the triage room. During that time, I was pacing back-and-forth in the waiting room because the pain was excruciating and I couldn’t sit. I was in the triage room for less than five minutes before the nurse told me I had kidney stones. She asked what I was using for pain and I told her I had medical marijuana. She looked at me a bit oddly, and I thought she was going to say something negative. I was so wrong about the negative comments, because she only said, “Good for you”. She told me that if she could legally tell patients, she would tell them that marijuana should not be a stigma, but something that people use to help ease pain and so many other complications of different ailments. I was in so much pain that I didn’t give any thought to blurting out that I use medical marijuana. Had I given it any thought, I would have said nothing in case she would have thought I was a habitual drug user. Ever since hearing her comment, I realize that using medical marijuana should not be something to be ashamed of. Having a medical ID card and using marijuana products in the proper way should carry no more stigma than the use of prescription drugs. I just wish more people felt this way about the use of marijuana products.