420 Girl - Serra Frank

[420RedHead]

I became seriously ill and began to suffer from debilitating chronic pain in February of 2002. After several years of taking prescribed narcotics for my chronic pain, just to be told I was a pill junkie and the pain was all in my head, I learned the truth about Cannabis as medicine. Finding out that I had been lied to about Marijuana triggered what I feel was an awakening within me. I began to research as much as I could about this incredible and very misunderstood plant. In 2005, I created a Myspace page to help educate other parents about what I had found. This led to the formation of a grassroots network of parents around the world, called Moms for Marijuana. We focus on promoting education, raising awareness, and creating discussion about the benefits, risks, and history associated with the Cannabis plant. - Serra Frank

 

[420RedHead]

Starting an international movement to promote the benefits of cannabis was never Serra Frank's intention when, in 2005, she created a simple MySpace page. The Boise, Idaho, native had been suffering from interstitial cystitis since 2002, although it took seven years to get a correct diagnosis. Interstitial cystitis is not a pretty medical condition. A chronic inflammation that prevents the walls of the bladder from expanding properly, which in turn causes them to crack and bleed, it can hurt like hell. When Frank's symptoms first surfaced in 2002, she was pregnant with her second child. Her doctor prescribed Percocet, an acetaminophen/oxycodone combination, but it failed to quell her pain. "How can something so effective in controlling my pain be labeled as an illegal drug?" This is the inevitable question pondered by thousands of patients who depend on medical marijuana for their quality of life. "It helps with so many medical conditions," Frank says. "We get people with Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, Parkinson's disease, Glaucoma, Crohn's disease. Some have psychological disorders like Bipolar and Schizophrenia. There are so many different people who benefit from it." When asked how marijuana can in fact improve the world, Frank shoots back with a set piece that can only be called wishful, "Cannabis is a renewable, sustainable and versatile resource. It can be used for paper, plastic, fiber, food, fuel, construction, medicine, recreation and more. It can provide our world with a new crop, new biodegradable products and renewable sources of energy. It could create jobs, increase revenue, and provide new taxes that could be used for our communities and schools. It can create thousands of medicines that could help ease the suffering of millions of people and potentially holds the cure for cancer and other elusive diseases. It can help people to become productive members of our society by allowing them to become independent from our welfare systems." - The Fix