Would you do something illegal to save your life? What about to help someone you love?

That’s exactly the situation one New Jersey family is faced with.

Is the state of New Jersey playing politics with people’s lives? Medical marijuana became state law more than three years ago.

Whether for cancer, glaucoma, children or the terminally ill, a prescription doesn’t mean you can get pot, leaving the suffering to say they’re literally dying to get some marijuana.

Betty — not her real name — is a self proclaimed lawbreaker. After being told her rare form of liver cancer would kill her in a few months, the 70-year-old tried filling a medical marijuana prescription in New Jersey but got nowhere. The state has three medical marijuana dispensaries but only one is operating.

“Without it, I’d be dead,” Betty said. “I couldn’t eat, I was throwing up constantly. I lost 45 pounds.”

Through research, Betty found that THC, the active chemical in marijuana, would bring back her appetite, cut down her dependency on pain medication and shrink her tumor.

Facing hurtle after hurtle trying to fill her prescription, Betty chose to break the law: a friend from California cannabis oil pills and a family member bought her a pound of street pot.

Betty says that the marijuana allowed her to get her appetite back, gain weight and become healthy enough to have the tumor on her liver removed. She says she now has 20 more years to live.

“I have some energy and I feel better,” Betty said. “it’s been a Godsend. This stuff works.”