HEART ATTACK ENDED MARILYN'S LIFE BUT BUREAUCRACY KILLED HER

Marilyn Holsten died of a heart attack in August. She was nearly
blind, diabetic, a double amputee. She was a burden. She was taboo.
She died because of bureaucratic idiocy and contempt.

Marilyn used cannabis to control the pain. Her medical condition
caused the pain, but government made it terminal. Her last year on
Earth was a living hell because of our irrational legal relationship
with cannabis.

What is the difference between stabbing someone to death or letting
them bleed to death? Fight or flight; fear and loathing. All that was
needed was compassion. It seems that was too much to ask.

Marilyn was a federal exemptee, legally allowed to consume cannabis.
But the rules that govern cannabis are a fraud, and so is the
government that made and maintains those rules.

So she couldn't legally use cannabis in her own apartment, where she
had lived for a decade.

Some people came to Marilyn's aid and I applaud them, but as a society
we treated her like table scraps and that is a disgrace.

Bruce Codere,

Fox Creek, Alberta