United for Care chairman John Morgan shared his personal support for Amendment 2, which would legalize medical marijuana under special circumstances, at The Swamp on Wednesday.
At the press conference, Morgan, representing the People United for Medical Marijuana organization, told medical marijuana supporters about his quadriplegic brother’s experience with marijuana to relieve his pain.
He said a lot of people get lost in the campaign thinking it’s about legalizing marijuana for recreational use, but it’s not.
“The people we are fighting have no argument,” he said.
The medical-marijuana amendment aims to help those with certain medical conditions such as HIV, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other conditions function without having to take multiple pain medications. Only physicians will be able to prescribe patients they feel can benefit from using medical marijuana, according to the amendment.
Jeff Lahman, a United for Care member, spoke about his personal experience with using medical marijuana at the conference.
“It was a Godsend,” he said. Lahman suffers from stage three kidney failure, lung cancer, arthritis and other illnesses.
The use of medical marijuana allows him to function in his daily life without having to take a dozen medications, he said.
After the conference, Morgan headed over to the Computer Science and Engineering building to speak with College Democrats.
Morgan continued the marijuana conversation by discussing the use of painkillers.
If medical marijuana replaced the use of painkillers like OxyContin, billions would be lost in revenue for big pharmaceutical companies, Morgan said.
“This is not a political issue, this is a medical issue,” he said.
Voting for the amendment begins on Nov. 4.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 9/11/2014 under the headline "United for Care holds medical marijuana amendment rally"]
