How Medical Marijuana Helps My Mother Control Her Chronic Pain

Photo by Jacqueline Dooley

My 74-year-old mother doesn’t drink. She’s never smoked cigarettes or taken drugs. My mother reads Shakespeare for fun. She loves opera and classical music. She and my father own six exotic birds, pets they adore.

My mother is an artist. I grew up watching her draw portraits rendered in charcoal, pencil, and pastel. She continued to draw after my sister and…