'OPPONENTS OF COMPASSION CLUBS CLEARLY HAVE NEVER HAD
CANCER'

Re: Raided Compassion Club to Hold Protest, April 7.
I'm a 40-year-old bone cancer survivor and as mainstream as you can get
(university-educated, white-collar job, married, two kids and a dog,
non-smoker, light
drinker). And I would not have made it through six rounds of intensive,
in-patient
chemotherapy without the help of Victoria's compassion club. I was ready to
call it
quits after round one because I was so violently ill and couldn't hold down
water, let
alone oral prescription medications.

I tried cannabis as a last resort. I only wish I'd tried it first
because it has been the fastest, easiest and most-effective medication
I've used throughout my cancer journey. Indeed it's the only
medication I have used for over a year.

I use only a bit of marijuana to reduce my anxiety around x-ray and
testing time. It makes me feel more positive and hopeful about my
future. (I didn't bother applying for "legal" cannabis because it's
too low in THC and would require me to use more in order to work
effectively.)

After what I've gone through, I cannot imagine why anyone would want
to shut down a compassion club for any reason. Opponents to them have
clearly not had cancer or any other life-threatening chronic illness.
If they had, they would not be so obsessed with rules and other things
that seem to look good on paper but don't make any sense in the real
world.

Nicole Bodner, Squamish, B.C.