Navy veteran Martin Chilcutt served in Air Intelligence during the end of the Korean War and before the Vietnam War, where some of his duties involved testing nuclear weapons. The radiation exposure left him extremely vulnerable to cancer, which he has suffered from — and survived — three times. He has been in remission for ten years, but there is always a chance that cancers could return.
Traditional medications did little for Martin’s chemotherapy-induced pain and nausea, and some doctors at the Veterans Affairs hospital recommended medical marijuana. Martin was amazed at how effectively and quickly marijuana eased the pain and nausea he felt from chemotherapy. One of Martin’s friends, an epileptic veteran, took his V.A. doctor’s advice and tried medical marijuana to prevent seizures. Another veteran friend who developed multiple sclerosis used medical marijuana on his V.A. doctor’s recommendation to relieve neuropathic pain and muscle spasms.
"The medical use of marijuana has helped to relieve the pain and suffering associated with serious illnesses in my life, and in the lives of several close friends of mine. I wish more doctors would speak out and demand that the federal government allow research to be done on medical marijuana and help protect their patients on the federal level, at the V.A. Medical Centers. We need rational decisions and action to combat the status quo. The most perilous aspect of using medical marijuana is the threat of getting arrested and going to jail.”
Copyright Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access