Woman With MS Says Medical Marijuana Has Curbed Symptoms

"Cannabis has given me my life back,” says Joanne Gauthier-Wiebe, a La Broquerie resident who notes medical marijuana has done wonders in curbing the symptoms of her secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Gauthier-Wiebe says the debilitating disease initially prevented her from reading, remembering, walking properly, and even led to her quitting her teaching job prematurely. “Once you get secondary progressive its kind of a steady decline,” she informs, “and yet in the last five years, since I have started taking cannabis, my health has significantly improved.” 

After realizing the dramatic effects the drug can have when taken properly Gauthier-Wiebe says she became an advocate for marijuana’s many redemptive qualities. “You can be pain-free and not be stoned. You start taking cannabis and all of the sudden you realize you can take a few drops and ‘Oh my gosh now I can function and go throughout my day.’”

Gauthier-Wiebe recognizes a lack of information in the area and has begun organizing classes that discuss cannabis as a medicine. She says such events have already taken place in Beausejour, Niverville, and La Broquerie. The next class is slated in Steinbach sometime early fall where Gauthier-Wiebe says a lot of people who use prescription marijuana will share their stories.

“We’re afraid of the unknown and people need to realize how much it can help them,” indicates Gauthier-Wiebe, “The reason we started having these meetings is because people were in pain, they’d go to see their doctor, they’d get a permit and not know what to do with it.”

Though the concept of medical marijuana is entirely separate from its recreational legalization this coming October, Gauthier-Wiebe comments on the impending plebiscite. She feels elderly people whose health is improved by the drug will gain obvious benefits from a local dispensary, adding those who abuse it will likely do so whether or not it is legal.

Gauthier-Wiebe thinks people need to be more informed and suggests her story is one of many that speaks towards the positive influence cannabis can have given certain circumstances.