For Roger Reeves, pain is constant. It starts in his lower back, at the three bulging discs that are the source of his troubles. Then it spreads, reaching down his legs in fierce waves.
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“Oh yes, it’s sharp,” Mr Reeves told the Mercury.
“Eleven out of 10. Once I couldn’t get out of bed for three days.”
On Friday Mr Reeves appeared before Wollongong District Court to appeal a sentence stemming from his drug use.
The Corrimal 55-year-old says he took to growing and using cannabis to alleviate his pain when nothing else would suffice.
On October 23, Police arrived at Mr Reeves’ home to investigate reports he had been supplying prohibited drugs from the location. Police found no evidence of this, but Mr Reeves freely admitted to keeping bags of cannabis totaling 589 grams and growing three plants outside. He was charged with possessing and cultivating a prohibited drug.
It was the second time he has been charged, and then convicted, over his cannabis use.
On both occasions, Judge Paul Conlon quashed his conviction and dismissed the charges against him.
"I have great sympathy for people suffering from chronic pain,” the judge said on Friday.
"[Mr Reeves] says other medication is not bringing him relief."
But more court action looms. Already, Mr Reeves has been charged a third time.
He told the Mercury he had tried Oxycontin, a prescription medication, but found it deserving of its nickname, ‘hillbilly heroin’.
“I don’t want to take it because I was getting addicted to it,” he said.
Medical marijuana remains illegal in Australia, however the Federal Government wants to make it legal to grow the drug for medicinal and scientific purposes.
NSW and Victoria have flagged trials for child sufferers of epilepsy.
Mr Reeves said his pain was the result of an injury years ago, when he worked in the mines at Lithgow.
For him, legalisation of the drug for medical purposes cannot come soon enough.
"They're talking about doing it next year - but it's too long to wait when you've got people overdosing on Oxycontin," he said.
"There's no reason why it shouldn't be legal for people in pain.
“I don’t think there should be a charge for medical marijuana.”
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