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Barbara Hatfield submitting comments re: #200340, the medical marijuana treatment facilities zoning ordinance.
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To the Honorable Board:
I am writing to urge you to please vote in favor of the amended Zoning Ordinance for Medical Marijuana Facilities and amended Medical Marijuana Overlay Map, as reported by the Land Use Committee, meeting as a Committee of the Whole, on February 23.
This is very important to me and other Somerville residents like me. I am a senior citizen and a Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Patient. For more than 30 years I endured chronic pain and fatigue from Fibromyalgia, a neurological disorder that causes body-wide severe aching and burning pain, balance problems and cognitive difficulties. I was forced to retire before I planned because of my health, and my social life and pursuit of hobbies have been restricted. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, acupuncture and other treatments have not brought lasting relief. Nor did more than two-dozen drugs from muscle relaxants, anti-seizure medications, and antidepressants to opioids. Instead they caused intolerable side effects, allergies and fear of addiction.
There is a medicine that gives me a great deal of relief without debilitating side effects…medical marijuana. It reduces my pain and increases my energy level so that I can fulfill daily responsibilities, have a social life, hobbies and volunteer activities.
Although Massachusetts adopted Medical Marijuana four years ago, it is only recently that dispensaries have begun to open in the Commonwealth. So I was forced to obtain my medicine in the black market and often I had to do without. But things are getting better with the opening of a few dispensaries in Massachusetts, none of which however is close to where I live.
That is why I am communicating with you today. I need a medical marijuana dispensary close to where I live. Presently I am a patient at a dispensary in Brookline. It is a wonderful facility, but it is a long trip by car and public transportation. We patients have a right to obtain our medicine close to home just like everyone else who can get their prescriptions at their local pharmacy.
I am asking, therefore, that you please grant me that right too by adopting the recommendations of the Land Use Committee Report and establishing dispensaries for Medical Marijuana Patients in Somerville.
Thank you for the opportunity to express my views on this matter.
Sincerely yours,
Barbara Hatfield