We Are Legion

Hello dear reader. It’s been a while. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year. My arch nemesis, my lupus, flared in time for the holidays and my son’s two-week Christmas break. I spent a lot of time on the couch with fatigue but we had fun playing I spy and throwing rock, paper, scissors together. My in-laws took him out almost every day to give me a break and his Aunt took him to the museum for the first time. He had a great Christmas and got spoiled by all. I couldn’t write much as it was endless days of games, painting, the library and PBS plus snuggles. It was perfect even when I felt like total shit.

So, my lupus flared and my superhero powers didn’t come along and help me out. I am a hot mess most days but am still managing to get by. I break my daily duties down and add times for rest. It feels good to write again. I miss it. I was used to writing every day and haven’t for some time now. I don’t know why. I guess I just needed a break and I was sick. Now it’s time I got back into the swing of things. 

So much has happened. Canada has finally legalized marijuana but is quickly losing its place as a leader in the cannabis sector. It’s harder than ever to get your hands-on decent medicine for patients. Thank god I am able to make my own oil and tincture. I would be screwed and wheelchair bound without it. I got spoiled for Christmas with a PAX 3 vapourizer. I had really wanted one. It’s amazing and I prefer vaping to smoking anything, especially with lupus. I got really spoiled but I spoiled my husband and son too I am spoiling him again for our anniversary on the 19th but he deserves it. He works hard to take care of his family and he loves us. He is honest and loyal not to mention attractive and ridiculously intelligent.

Cannabis is finally legal in Canada but as I said, Canada is losing its place in the forefront of this new industry. Suddenly patients can’t get their medicine at all. It was difficult before but now it’s next to impossible. Newstrike/UP Cannabis’s recent recall of contaminated product only serves to highlight the problems with the system in place in Canada. The government sold out patients to the highest bidder and is now letting them poison us for profit. I have never been able to get what I need from my LP. I have had a $60 credit with them I have never used because they never have what I want. I think that tells you how things are for patients.

Now, a few idiot doctors with no knowledge of or training in cannabis, are calling for the dismantling of the medical system. Sure, the current medical system is stupid and unconstitutional but it can (and does) help some people. Medical cannabis is different from recreational use and it’s insulting that patients are treated like recreational users. Firstly, we aren’t users. We are patients. We are sick and suffering and living in pain and dying. We aren’t looking for a not so cheap thrill at $10 a gram. We aren’t looking to ‘alter our consciousness’ so to speak, just relieve our suffering. It’s insulting to call us users. We aren’t drug addicts. We are people in pain. People who want a life and want to contribute to society. We aren’t evil, useless or stupid. We are human beings and deserve to be treated as such. 

The assumption that patients are dumb and useless is baseless and demeaning. You don’t cease to exist once you become sick. You still have thoughts and feelings that deserve to be heard and validated. We aren’t useless. We are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, neighbours and colleagues. We are legion. Don’t underestimate us. I have learned just how determined a sick person can be and how far they can go. It’s pretty frigging hard but you have to be determined when you are sick. A chronic illness and lots of determination can take you far. It’s an unconventional, bumpy and pock marked road that you may have no choice but to follow so turn it into your own yellow brick road. A determined patient is not one to be messed with. We fight back hard because we are against the wall and we won’t hesitate to put another against the wall when we are pushed.

It isn’t fun being up against the wall. You have to be able to think and react quickly and calmly to anything that happens. You have to roll with the punches and give a few yourself. Be a southpaw. No one expects that from the sick. A quick 1-2-3 and they are almost always left reeling, wondering what the fuck just happened.  Patients can’t afford to be pushovers. We get walked all over by our health, we can’t let others do it to us too. Life will chew you up and spit you out at the best of times. You can’t let it when you are sick. Life has already taken a large proverbial dump all over a sick person’s life. We don’t need to let others treat us poorly.

But we are given shitty treatment (being polite) by our government and those idiots claiming the medical system should be dismantled. It needs to be changed but it should stay. The Cannabis Act and the new medical system are both unconstitutional and won’t withstand the inevitable legal challenges. We have been fighting for our rights for decades and our government is traipsing all over them. No protections were put into place to ensure patients would get priority over recreational users so they would still be able to get their medication. My husband and I spoke at length with our MP, informing him that patients couldn’t be left behind and that with the current supply system, shortages would exist for years. We know several other key government officials were given the same information. All chose to ignore it and the sick and dying people in need. They flouted our rights.

Patients matter. Don’t get me wrong. Everyone matter but not everyone is sick and suffering. It’s not everyone who suddenly can’t get their hands on their medication or can’t afford it. It’s not everyone faced with a lifetime of pain and suffering due to illness. It’s not everyone facing impending death due to terminal illness. Don’t these people suffer enough? Shouldn’t they at least be able to get a medication the courts have been saying they have a right to for over four decades? Shouldn’t their legally prescribed and needed medication needs take priority over someone seeking a legal high? 

For patients, this is a fundamental quality of life issue. We want to live and feel as healthy as we can. We want to contribute to society and live our lives. In the end, that’s not much to ask for. We just want our rights as guaranteed to us under the Constitution and Charter. We want respect and a voice. We just want a life. We want the same things as healthy people. We have the same dreams. We are here and we will ‘not go quietly into the night’ unless it’s to kick some late-night ass. We are here. We are legion.