LIFE SAVER

Re: "Paranoid on pot," Editorial, Nov. 1.

I've been a patient with access since 2007. The program is very good
and the marijuana is very effective in pain control, nausea and
increasing your appetite. I don't believe there are any real
short-term or longterm side-effects of the drug. I have battled
chronic pain for 25 years and had to be on horrendous dosages of
narcotic pain medication.

I have used marijuana during those 25 years and legally since 2007. I
have no side-effects or concerns. I have a complicated medical history
of ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia
and heart problems, and I can guarantee the pot helped.

A sudden accident broke my neck two weeks ago. After I was put in a
halo vest, my old pain went away. In one day, I came off my narcotics
and I can't even smoke a full marijuana cigarette, because my body
doesn't want the pain med or the pot anymore. Amazing.

Ryan Magnussen

Calgary