Meet the Author of The New Prescription and CannabisMD.

My doctor filed the medical use act of 1998, following my 1996 Medical Necessity trial in Seattle. In 1986, I had been hit by a car and suffered horrendous injuries. I found marijuana a much more superior medication to the pharmaceuticals I was prescribed.

Although marijuana helped to make my life more livable, in 1996 I was arrested for growing my own medicine. Since then, I’ve become acquainted with thousands of other medical marijuana patients through my activist efforts and work with Lifevine Collective.

I have become the only court-appointed expert witness on the use and cultivation of medical marijuana in WA State.  I’ve participated in the legal defense of dozens of patients who have been prosecuted, so I know very well the onerous burden of the Affirmative Defense. Severely ill people are usually unable to afford the cost of defending their rights, and the added stress, and the hardships of jail and trials are usually detrimental for their already poor health.

We have worked long and hard to get our pleas heard! Finally, after all these years, the law recognizes collective gardens. Many patients have been growing marijuana together in small gardens, pooling their meager resources to produce high quality medicine. Small community gardens provide a low-cost means for many, who otherwise would not be able to obtain pure, high-grade cannabis, to produce their own in peace and within their means.

The corporatization of cannabis in WA state must not eliminate the small nonprofit Industry of patients helping patients. Marijuana is one of the most diverse plant species on Earth. There are many different strains with various medical effects. The life-saving medicine with its many wondrous healing properties, belongs to the land it grows on, and the people, who grow it.

Martin Martinez

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