Written by Laura 

I joined the Navy in 1994. Seven years before retirement I fell down a flight of stairs and severely injured my spine and neck. I didn’t receive proper treatment until the pain was so bad I was removed from sea commands permanently and placed on medical board for removal from service. After physical therapy, extensive cortisone shots throughout my body, psychological pain therapy, TMS therapy, and 18+ pain medicines, muscle relaxers and SSRIs, I was honorably retired.

I attempted suicide in 2011 and again in 2013 – the second time was right after my retirement. For six months, I cut myself off from the world and began to detox my body. I suffered from extreme pain and extreme physiological effects from the prescription pills but I was convinced that if I didn’t, I would die; even if it was my own hand. I had a dear friend recommend cannabis, a plant that I have never seen, let alone tried as an adolescent or young adult. At 39 years old, I learned how to make edibles and it has changed my life.

Today, I am no longer depressed or suicidal. I have regained the ability to perform basic daily functions to include showering and dressing myself. I am a cancer survivor, a fibromyalgia survivor, a military sexual trauma survivor and I KNOW that cannabis saved my life. Because I took the chance and used cannabis, I am not a statistic. I am not one of the veterans who took their own life. I am now a mom, a wife, a retiree, a college student (Master’s) and an educator of everyone I meet that cannabis is a wonderful plant.