Mario Muñoz says the intense pain he suffers because of cervical paralysis and the stress he experiences over waiting for someone to help him get around on a daily basis will get worse now that the city has moved to close hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries.
Los Angeles officials decided there were too many of the shops, and ordered closures of nearly 80% of the 500 or so licensed marijuana dispensaries in the city. The move has been cheered by some who viewed the marijuana shops as magnets for quality-of-life crimes in neighborhoods throughout the city. But it also left Muñoz — whose paralysis stems from wounds sustained in a gang shooting — facing longer trips to get the stuff that he says eases the pain well enough to allow him to sleep.
"I'm against the closure of more businesses because it harms those of us who need medical marijuana," Muñoz says. "Imagine, me in my condition, how am I going to get it? I'm going to have to struggle more to get to one of the few places left with permission. I've been using medical marijuana for years and it does work. It helps me sleep. It relaxes my body."
Indeed, Muñoz argues that marijuana should be more available.
"This weed isn't as bad as many think," he says. "Alcohol is much worse because people are not conscientious, and they drive even when drunk and they kill other people. Some say that if they legalize medical marijuana there won't be control, but that's what's happening with alcohol."
Marijuana advocates are trying to rally support for broader acceptance of the drug under the banner of HempCon, a group of dispensary owners and others who say the offer lectures by experts in the medicinal use of the plant, and also promote its responsible use.
A recent HempCon event in Los Angeles was organized by marijuana dispensary owners as the first of what is expected to be a series of events throughout California — part of a bid to create a more favorable opinion about the medicinal use of marijuana and take the decision to legalize and establish clinics of marijuana to the voters. The next convention is scheduled for San Francisco from August 6th to the 8th.
This November, California voters will decide on an initiative that will allow adults over 21 years to have up to one ounce for personal use and grow up to 25 square feet of marijuana per home or lot.
Daniel Bornstein, an attorney who offers legal services for marijuana dispensary owners, said HempCon is a reflection of the need for medical marijuana. He argues that the government should regulate and tax sales of marijuana, using an approach similar to rules on tobacco or alcohol.
Juan de la Cruz, an activist who is involved in the HempCon events and also suffers from severe pain due to an accident he suffered 36 years ago, agrees with Muñoz about the need for greater access to medical marijuana.
"What we're trying to do with this is to provide good shops for selling medical marijuana to all patients and we're hoping that some day marijuana will be legalized because many people, like me, need marijuana," says De la Cruz. "Otherwise, I suffer from very severe pain because of the consequences of the accident I suffered when I was young and from the two operations I've had. There are other patients in worse condition — I must say, I'm one of the lucky patients. Still, nobody needs to suffer pain of this kind that many of us would have to suffer if it weren't for marijuana.
Miriam Reyes is a writer for Impulso.
Photos by Impulso.
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