Kansas police raided the hospital room of a terminally ill man because he was using a weed vape pen and THC paste to ease the pain of his horrific cancer symptoms.
Oh…and the dude is 69-years-old.
69-year-old Greg Bretz, who is suffering from terminal cancer, after a hospital worker at Hays Medical Center caught him vaping marijuana. Bretz had been vaping the marijuana and eating the THC paste with bread – again – to relieve the pain that he was in.
While vaping in a hospital is probably not the best thing – having the police show up does seem a little harsh.
Bretz is in the final stages of terminal, inoperable cancer and told The Wichita Eagle that he most often lies “flat on his back” in his hospital bed and can’t stand up without being assisted. Bretz told the Kansas City Star that his doctor told him to use whatever was necessary to relieve his pain, including products containing THC — the active ingredient in cannabis.
The hospital had an issue with the vape pen because it is a potential fire hazard due to the oxygen being used in the room. Again, understandable. But that paste? Definitely not a fire hazard.
Instead of being told to simply not use the vape, or remove it from the room, the dying man was cited at 69 years old for drug possession and will have to appear in court on January 2, 2023.
Medicinal cannabis is illegal Kansas, despite 68% of state residents support state-sanctioned medical marijuana access, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Idaho and Nebraska also ban the practice.