Virginia mother with multiple sclerosis says cannabis oil worked like nothing else
A Virginia mother and teacher is advocating change in Virginia law to allow people with all medical conditions to use cannabis for treatment.
Tamra Netzel, from Alexandria, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis over five years ago. After doctors told Netzel her prescription medications were causing her liver failure and other symptoms to worsen, she began using cannabis oil for treatment after consulting a friend.
While CBD oil doesn’t cause psychoactive effects, it’s medical benefits are tremendous.
“It’s amazing. It worked like nothing else did, but I couldn’t deal with the fact that I would have to break the law to be able to feel well,” she told CBS 6 News.
While last year’s Governor McAuliffe signed new legislation to allow doctors to prescribe cannabis oil to patients with epilepsy, Virginia advocates are fighting for legalization for medical cannabis for all diagnosed conditions or diseases. Two measures, SB 726 and HB 1215 are set to be placed on the election ballot to allow doctors to prescribe CDB-oil to “any diagnosed condition or disease determined by the practitioner to benefit from such use.”
State Senator Siobhan Dunnavant, also an OBGYN by trade, told CBS 6 News medical researchers continue to find abundance of medical purposes of cannabis and practitioners and doctors should decide the fate and safety of medical cannabis, not lawmakers.
“In some of these chronic illnesses and cancer treatment, we use poison to help people,” Dunnavant said. “We don’t need to be coming back to the legislature every year for legislators who are not subject matter experts to be reviewing what the latest data is and deciding if there is a medical indication. That’s something that needs to sit with doctors.”
While critics argue there isn’t enough research to support CBD/THC-oil has medical benefits and healing abilities, others like Netzel claim they have experienced, first hand, the benefits of medical cannabis for several medical conditions.
“Cannabis is bad. I believed that myth until it really matter to me,” Netzel said.
