People would really be surprised if they knew the true story about medical marijuana. On one recent doctor’s visit to renew her prescription, the aging woman noticed that the average age of the patients sitting in the doc’s office was about fifty and most of them were women!
What you might imagine is a bunch of young male stoners in sloppy jeans and inappropriate t-shirts angling to get their hands on a legal prescription, but that isn’t the story.
Of the eight patients the doc saw during the hour, only one was a younger male. He looked to be about twenty-something. Dark hair, a scruffy beard, thick thighs, nice hands. He looked fine, but he had pain issues stemming from a motorcycle accident. Too bad his back was out. Back in the day she would have had him in three minutes.
One woman was well into her eighties, thin white hair pulled back into a bun, large craggy wrinkles marked her time on Earth. She got a discount on her visit. Maybe this was something to look forward to? Getting older might mean discounts at the doc’s office? She wouldn’t mind sharing stories. It might be nice to sit around the office and medicate together, but no product was allowed in the doc’s office.
An attractive woman in her thirties was short on the paper work she needed to complete her visit. She was sent away with the promise of a re-evaluation. She seemed like she was down on her luck, not feeling well. Her shoes were worn and split at the heel. Her clothes had seen a better day. She seemed to be holding back tears as she left dejectedly. People just trying to do the right thing all around.
One older man in his fifties limped in. He was tired and dirty from his day job as a gardener. He was beginning to feel the results of his daily trials: mowing, raking, trimming, digging, planting, blowing, spraying fertilizers and chemicals.”What a great doc!” he exclaimed as he came out from his appointment.
The patients leave feeling as if they have a satisfactory direction in which to manage their various ailments.
The three women in their early sixties exchanged knowing glances. They all looked like former professionals: a nurse, a teacher, a social worker. Although retired, they retain the dignified dress of their professions. They have never met, but they seem to know each other anyway. They recognize who they were, who they became, and who they are now.
They all grew up in the hot days of the cultural revolution. They came out of it as college graduates with professional credentials, they got jobs, had families…. Yes, they smoked marijuana for recreation in their youth, but now they realize the value it has for medical use.
They are trying to be good citizens and follow the law, but they still keep their medication on the down low. There is still a stigma about public display. Drug and alcohol use have governing rules and laws. Public intoxication is against the law. Society means to keep it that way.
“When are the Feds going to invest some money into research?” the old woman asks.
“You sound like a revolutionary,” the doc teases her.
“I’ve been around a long time,” she answers back. “I’ve done my part to push the envelope.”
“Seriously, I think it will be about two more years. The pressure is building with so many states lifting bans on medical use…about two more years,” the doc offers.
Most people would be surprised. Your 80 year old neighbor is growing it with her tomatoes. Your child’s teacher smokes in her darkened room late at night. Your hairdresser uses it. The nurse who took your blood pressure medicated on her lunch break. The nice cop down the street hides out in his garage, and on and on…. #LegalMedicine
(First published 11/16/13)
