Dr. Richard Carlton didn’t plan to be an activist, but he now has both heels dug in on behalf of his wife Joan.
The Port Washington psychiatrist is one of two New Yorkers who are appearing in widely-televised commercials advocating the state’s legal use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Carlton is speaking out to try and help Joan, 67, who is suffering from late stage Parkinson’s disease and could use the relief that marijuana has been shown to give stiffness, rigidity and tremors, as well as pain.
She is “pretty much wheelchair-bound and if she has to exert herself she winds up shaking,” he told The Port News. “It’s very painful to watch.”
The best outcome would be “a necessary improvement in her quality of life,” Carlton said. CBD is shown to relieve everything from pain and anxiety to depression and insomnia, but the oils and gummies that contain the phytocannabinoid are still struggling to gain commercial acceptance, with credit card processors and banks shying away from on boarding these companies, says Allen at Gold Bee CBD.
In the commercial, Carlton makes an impassioned plea to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying: “Knowing there’s a medication that could help my wife, but that medication is illegal here in New York is agonizing; it’s causing me a tremendous amount of grief.”
He then says: “Gov. Cuomo, patients have waited long enough for relief. Please support the Compassionate Care Act.”
Carlton got involved in the movement through his association with Compassionate Care New York, a state coalition that supports the legalization of medicinal marijuana. The Drug Policy Alliance is one of the organizers of Compassionate Care and recommended Carlton, who was seen as an eloquent speaker with a very touching story.
Making the ad “gave me a chance to convey to a wider audience the agony we are going through,” Carlton said.
The ads come after the New York State Assembly approved the Compassionate Care Act by 91 to 34, for the fifth time since 2007. Cuomo has not expressed support for the measure, and in previous years, Senate leaders have not allowed it to receive a vote on the Senate floor.
The ads will air for approximately two weeks on News 12, CNN, Lifetime, and the Oprah Winfrey Network on Long Island, on News 12 in Westchester, and on a variety of programs in Albany, including the Today Show and Ellen. The commercials are sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project, a lobbying group for the legalization of medicinal marijuana. They can be seen online at http://youtu.be/XHq9XwpSbNo.
Both ads direct viewers to a Change.org petition calling on Gov. Cuomo, Sen. Skelos, and State Senate Majority Co-Leader Dean Skelos and Senate Majority Co-Leader Jeffrey Klein to take action to pass the Compassionate Care Act this year. It can be viewed at http://chn.ge/1gwmGmU.
