{"id":4638,"date":"2015-09-07T15:20:21","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T15:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=3735"},"modified":"2015-09-07T15:20:21","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T15:20:21","slug":"texas-cancer-patient-becomes-medical-refugee-moving-for-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/texas-cancer-patient-becomes-medical-refugee-moving-for-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Cancer Patient Becomes Medical Refugee, Moving For Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/texas-cancer-patient-becomes-medical-refugee-moving-for-marijuana\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Toni Anderson considers herself a medical refugee. She and her husband are packing their bags and leaving Texas for a chance to smoke medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy main goal is to get out of El Paso because I want to live,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n<p>Anderson has stage three cervical cancer. She has gone through chemotherapy and radiation, spending months on end in the hospital. She tried CBD oils while on chemotherapy and said there is a noticeable difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChemo that was a doozy for me but the radiation is what really got me,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cI cannot see how people do it without it. I&#8217;m in all honesty if I didn&#8217;t have it when I was doing the chemo I would not have made it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anderson said not only did the oil make her feel better, she also got her appetite back and saw the cancerous tumor decrease in size.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe doctors are all floored,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>However, each time she used the oil, Anderson was breaking the law. She stopped, fearing she would be prosecuted by police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s fair that I should have to feel like a criminal,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n<p>Her husband Colt DeMorris founded the El Paso chapter of NORML or the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started it because I watched my mom go through cancer, my grandfather and now my wife,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>DeMorris is on a mission to educate the public and lawmakers about the benefits of medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI watched what chemo did to my mom and I watched her chemo and radiation my wife has been through and there&#8217;s a safer alternative to combat things like cancer,\u201d he said. \u201cI&#8217;m very angry now because I have to sit here and now we have to try to move to save her life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DeMorris has reached out to state representatives like Joe Moody to push for reform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe shouldn&#8217;t have to sit here and see her go through this when half of this country has legalized medical cannabis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Moody says Texas is moving in the right direction. He introduced a bill this past legislative session to decriminalize marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTexas has been largely absent from discussing how we change our laws related to marijuana enforcement and also some of the opportunities in the medical arena,\u201d Moody said.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that there are three major movements happening nationwide in terms of marijuana. This first is a push for legalization like Colorado and Washington. The second is a decriminalization of marijuana, reducing the punishment for people caught with it from criminal to civil. The third is a push for medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Texas Rep. Marisa Marquez introduced a bill last session to legalize medical marijuana which had bipartisan support but didn\u2019t pass. Moody believe it will be introduced again next session.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s going to take multiple sessions to get something done. That&#8217;s true of any difficult piece of legislation in Texas and so you just keep chipping away at it and see what you can do to move the ball further down the field each session,\u201d Moody said.<\/p>\n<p>Moody has met Anderson and DeMorris, and heard from hundreds of others in similar predicaments. He hopes stories like their continue to gain momentum to put a face to the push for reform. Moody also wants the public to put aside their ideas of the so-called stoner culture to approach the issue with an open mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve come a very long way in a short time so I have hope going forward that this conversation is going to grow but for now yes I would say Texas is behind the times. But, we\u2019re moving very quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Anderson and her husband are packing their bags, hoping to one day return to Texas.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m scared. I&#8217;m scared and I don&#8217;t want to leave El Paso because this is all I really ever known. My whole family is here and I don&#8217;t really have much family,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I have to think about me and with that I&#8217;m going to have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/gallery\/data\/1412\/15885.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Jacob Redmond <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kfoxtv.com\/news\/features\/top-stories\/stories\/El-Paso-cancer-patient-becomes-medical-refugee-moving-for-medical-marijuana-198418.shtml#.VecpDPlViko\" target=\"_blank\">El Paso cancer patient becomes medical refugee, moving for marijuana<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: Meghan Lopez<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kfoxtv.com\/station\/#.VeczsPlViko\" target=\"_blank\">Station &#8211; KFOX<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: KFox14<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kfoxtv.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">El Paso Breaking News, Weather and Traffic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toni Anderson considers herself a medical refugee. She and her husband are packing their bags and leaving Texas for a&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2015\/09\/texas-cancer-patient-becomes-medical-refugee-moving-for-marijuana\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1614,9,1,3],"tags":[4182],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}