An Irish woman whose husband has late-stage Multiple Sclerosis has said she was left with no choice but to grow her own cannabis due to the huge cost of prescriptions.
On The Hard Shoulder this evening, the woman, who asked to be named Green Tea said each prescription for medicinal cannabis costs her €500 – and she can’t claim it back.
She was speaking to Kieran Cuddihy after cannabis campaigners sent him a joint in the post as part of a legalisation campaign.
She said she has been a full-time carer for her husband for the past four years and simply can’t afford it.
She said she used to source cannabis for him illegally, but when the pandemic hit she was left with nowhere to buy it from.
“I was always, before that, just sourcing it on the black market because I had somebody I knew I could rely on,” she said.
“Then, of course, supply chains and everything else fell through during the pandemic and I couldn’t get anything so I had no choice then.
“I taught myself, I watched videos online and I taught myself everything. I taught myself the science, the botany and the technique of growing it in a way that is safe for medical use. I have been doing it for almost a year and a half and I have now and I have gotten pretty good.
“He has gotten so much benefit out of it. He was in such a bad way, even on the illegal stuff because obviously the illegal stuff, while it still does some things, it is not good grade quality cannabis.
“So, when he started smoking my homegrown, things got a lot easier for him for a while. Now, unfortunately, things have deteriorated but that is just the nature of the illness so a lot of the stuff I grow now isn’t really strong enough to manage all of his symptoms.”
This sour diesels last night on earth before her extended dark. 💚🌱😍#growyourown#HomegrownisaHumanRight pic.twitter.com/0iHME9h6rr
— Green Tea ♀️ (@GreenTeasHerbs) November 17, 2021
She said her husband also takes all the other medication prescribed to him by doctors every day; however, “they are not doing the job they used to”.
Green Tea said the current system essentially legalises medical cannabis for the rich but not the poor.
She said that she is worried about getting caught – but she is certain what she is doing is morally right.
Law
“I am worried they are going to find me eventually but what I am worried about is my husband and his health,” she said.
“If they prosecute me, that’s fine – I can probably cope with that. I’ll use it to get more publicity for the cause.
“I know that if I was convicted by 12 people in a jury in a courtroom, I would have far more than 12 people outside that courtroom who are on my side.”
Legalise
She said making cannabis a crime has “ceded an industry worth billions” to criminal gangs.
“We’ve done that instead of legalising, putting a shop in every town and putting a course in the agriculture science colleges to teach it to farmers and give them an option away from carbon heavy farming like beef for example,” she said.
“None of it makes any sense at all to me at this point and that is why I am reaching out because it really is time for cannabis users, growers and medical users start coming forward and using their voices.”
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