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Muscular dystrophy patient calls on Quad City docs to end ban on medical marijuana

MILAN, Illinois-A Quad Cities man with muscular dystrophy says he has to buy pot on the street illegally because local doctors aren’t on board with prescr...

MILAN, Illinois-A Quad Cities man with muscular dystrophy says he has to buy pot on the street illegally because local doctors aren't on board with prescribing legal medical marijuana.

""Being a 26 year old with Duchenne muscular dystrophy isn't easy. I had spinal fusion surgery last November for my scoliosis. I was having excruciating pain all the time. Marijuana helped me get through everything", said Conrad Nelson, of Moline.

Nelson says he asked his pain management doctor in Rock Island to certify him for medicinal marijuana, but he would not.

"He said it would kill my brain cells. He wouldn't prescribe it. For moral reasons", Nelson said.

For his mom, a former nurse, the doctor's denial is frustrating.

"You can tell the difference, when he uses the marijuana. I think it's because they don't want the stigma. They don't want to be known as the 'pot doctor', they don't want that reputation", said Gail Nelson.

Conrad has defied the odds with the disease. He was homecoming king at Moline High School, and could walk on his own until he was 20.

However, he is now confined to a wheelchair, and says the marijuana helps him with pain, depression, and anxiety.

"People change with chronic pain. I have had a lot of depression, days when I don't want to get out of bed. The marijuana , it calms you down, helps take the edge off," Nelson said, adding that the opiate pain pills prescribed by doctors make him sick, and have side effects.

Nature's Treatment medical marijuana dispensary in Milan says it is still seeing reluctance by local doctors.

"People are having to travel all over, to Peoria, Chicago, St. Louis", said Devon Gamboe, with the center.

Muscular dystrophy is one of the conditions which qualifies under the medical marijuana pilot program in Illinois, but only about 100 people in total are card-carrying members at the dispensary.

"They don't know what it's like to wak e up with this genetic disease. It's frustrating. What else do I have to do to qualify for this? I was born with this. I think it is big pharma, the pharmacies", he said.

A medical marijuana expo will be held at the Stern Center in downtown Rock Island on Wednesday June 22 from 2pm until 6pm, where a state outreach worker will help with questions about the pilot program.

Meanwhile, Nelson says he may have to travel outside the Quad Cities to get "qualified" for a prescription, but traveling is hard on him. He has already outlasted the average life expectancy for a Duchenne patient.

"I've been through a lot. Why should I not be able to use it?", he said.

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