Why wait until you're suffering to care?

I just read a story over at 420 Magazine via Wacotrib News and it pissed me off so much that I had to say something. Enough with the formalities, let's go.

Waco Man Teams With NORML in Push for Medical Marijuana

Alan Caruthers, of Waco, says he was 18 years old the first and last time he tried marijuana. It didn't do much for him. Until this year, he saw no reason to try it again, and he dismissed arguments for decriminalizing it as pothead talk.

It took a four-year struggle with myelofibrosis to change his mind. His leukemialike bone marrow disease gives him constant bone pain. The chemotherapy gives him nausea that makes him vomit daily. The Vicodin, Ativan and other drugs he's taking to relieve those symptoms are losing their effectiveness, and he's afraid of getting addicted to them.

So now, at age 44, this Christian family man and lifelong Republican is considering medicating himself with marijuana. And he has become an unlikely advocate for the right to do so legally.
(click title for the rest of the article)

Here's my response to the article:

This pisses me off.

"It took a four-year struggle with myelofibrosis to change his mind."

Why in the hell do you wait until it's YOUR problem before you actually give a damn about people suffering?? That, to me, is the most selfish reason for advocating for medical marijuana. You don't need to be in the "crap" to give a damn about those already living in it. What's next? His healthcare costs are going to bankrupt him so he'll be advocating for the public option or even universal?

Or, worse. What's going to happen when his issue is resolved? Will he go back to not giving a damn because he's out of troubled waters, so to speak?

The most that medical marijuana advocates and legalization advocates would ask of people is that they listen and get all of the facts. But, he was not that kind of man. Many people in this nation aren't willing to listen. I have absolutely NO respect for people like that.

I hope he gets his marijuana. I just want to see how he acts after he gets the treatment he requires.

That's all I am going to say at this point. I am just severely disgusted.