There are days I cannot get out of bed because of chronic pain from damage to my spine. Without cannabis, I must take four different medications. These include an anti-seizure medication, a depression medication, a muscle relaxant, and a nightly sleep medication.

These medications cause a variety of side-effects. For me, it is common to suffer from dizziness, fatigue, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, an increased likelihood of bruising, constipation, and diarrhea. While taking CBD helps, being able to medicate with cannabis once a day would allow me the ability to replace all these medications, and could save my family hundreds of dollars each month, as in addition to the prescription medications, I must treat the side effects. However, this will not change until North Carolina enacts medical marijuana laws.