Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Lobby Days Here I come... again

 
         When I was a child I never felt that I had a voice. I would try to speak up for the rights of my siblings and I, but no one would listen. I once even fancied becoming a lawyer and being the one that did in fact listen. Those dreams were dashed with the idea that I was not worthy of having that voice, that people in that marble house on the hill did not care about the ones who needed the most protection. It never stopped me from trying.
       When I found myself a patient, sometimes getting unnecessary treatments and tests so that others could profit, I started being an advocate for others that were being treated like petrie dishes. When I met a disabled vet begging for help, I became his advocate to the VA and tap danced on any desk I could get in front of to get my friend the assistance he needed.
       Now I find a war on one of the few medicines that heal so many different diseases and challenges, being waged when the freedom for access to it was granted so long ago. Medical Cannabis has been proven to heal.  I must go and fight for patient rights, at the law level.
        I must go speak for those fighting cancer. I must go speak for those that have non stop breath stealing pain. I must go speak for the humanitarians trying to provide this medicine to the most needy. I must do this for them and I, for we are all the same. I must do it for those very lawmakers who might one day find themselves as one of those or I. We are all the same. In an effort to be a voice in the chamber of echoes of our basic human right, I take with me all those in quarantine. I carry with me the tears that stained my cheek as I hugged my room mate goodbye for the last time before she passed away. I carry with me the future hope for all those diagnosed with cancer. I hope that my voice is enough.

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