20
patient focus
cannabis patient care
|
vol. 3 no. 2 cannapatientcare.com
the pain, not curing MS, but now I'm functional. Isn't that what
we want? I wouldn't be able to hold a job without it."
When her son told her about a poster in his guidance counse-
lor's office that said cannabis use leads to cocaine and other hard
drugs, she went to the school, much to her son's embarrassment.
"Why would you have this up?" Carla asked the guidance coun-
selor. "You're an educator. Why would you not educate yourself?"
She remembers her son's complaints about how she was
bringing attention to her cannabis use.
"I know," she told him. "You know how much this has
helped me."
It was a hard three years, but by the time her son got to
high school, the switch had flipped. He saw the stigma was
wrong. When he got to college, he discovered his university
has a cannabis curriculum and took a couple of courses.
"I'll always remember the smile on his face when he said,
'Look what they offer!'" Carla says. "That's the best thing ever."
From that experience, Carla has learned that we must do
cannabis education one on one, whether that is with children
or medical professionals. She makes use of expert resources,
but she also knows her own story makes a powerful case.
"I'm the healthiest unhealthy person, thanks to cannabis
use," Carla says.
Editor's Note
This profile was previously published by Americans for Safe
Access in their March 2022 ASA Activist Newsletter. To see the
original newsletter, please visit https://www.safeaccessnow.org/
asa_activist_newsletter_march_2022.
about the author
WILLIAM DOLPHIN produces Americans for Safe Access's (ASA's)
monthly Activist Newsletter and has been part of ASA's communi-
cations team since 2002. He is the co-author of
The Medicalization
of Marijuana: Legitimacy, Stigma, and the Patient Experience,
an
award-winning book of medical sociology, and has published hun-
dreds of articles on cannabis and other topics. He has taught at
a number of colleges and universities, including UC Berkeley, and
is currently working on a book about cannabis use and mental
health.
Carla Basante in
Washington, D.C.
Carla Basante
with her son.
