A massive shift in awareness has come about in the US over the last decade. In many areas, the American public is beginning to not only see things in a different and more lucid light, but beginning to question that which has gone mostly unchecked for decades: the mainstream narrative.

When it comes to cannabis, despite the obvious mainstream anti-cannabis agenda, this nation has made its intentions known. Yet congress and the majority of government officials continue to drag their feet and give the topic the eternal political run-around in day-to-day politics; especially when it comes to action and the acknowledgment of what the American majority actually wants. This lack of action in regards to cannabis speaks louder than any words and is happening for the typical political motivation: money. The case of Alysa Erwin has become a beacon of hope and signal of change for those who are told their only option is to suffer the horrendous and terrifying effects of chemotherapy and its dismal success rate of about 3%.

When Alysa Erwin was 14 years old, she started noticing an odd sensation in her neck. She began experiencing debilitating headaches, blurred vision, nausea, major body pain, changes in personality and mood, and just felt sick and overall abnormal. During the many visits with their local doctor, the office refused to give her any scans and continually labeled her a hypochondriac, both behind her back and to her face.

After months of this unhelpful and patronizing administrative incompetence, Alysa’s mother, filled with frustration, took her back to the local hospital demanding some sort of brain scan. It was only then that a CAT scan was given. After seeing the build-up of fluid in her brain, she was next given an MRI. This was when it became apparent that her discomfort was not just a figment of her imagination, but that she was suffering from a serious ailment. Then, following an onslaught of tests, in the Spring of 2011, she was diagnosed with Grade 3 anaplastic astrocytoma — brain cancer — at the University of Michigan hospital.

Due to the state in which her cancer was in at the time, the doctor was unable to administer any certain types of radiation. Yet, Alysa had made it clear that she did not want liquid chemo either way, so she was prescribed chemotherapy in pill form. Her parents were told she might live 18 to 24 months with chemotherapy treatments, but after only five days of its use, Alysa was overwhelmed by the sickening side effects and decided to discontinue the therapy. It was then that Alysa’s grandparents gave the Erwin family a desperately needed peek through the Orwellian shroud the American government maintains on the topic of cannabis; specifically its miraculous medical value.

Alyssa’s grandparents introduced her to Rick Simpson Hemp Oil, and the Phoenix Tears Foundation, and after watching the video What if Cannabis Cured Cancer it was then that her regiment of cannabis oil began.

The change in Alysa was seemingly miraculous. After being bedridden in pain and unable to eat, she ingested a half-gram in half an hour. Soon she was up, smiling and eating. Her first three-month checkup showed no further cancer growth. By January 2013, about the time she was expected to die based on the original projection, Alysa’s MRI showed her to be cancer-free.

According to the Phoenix Tears website, it is important for a cancer survivor to stay on what’s called a “maintenance dose” (Rick Simpson uses it himself to remain cancer-free after fighting off his skin cancer) to ensure the cancer does not return; as any cancer survivor will tell you, it all to often does, especially with the use of radiation chemotherapy.

“Once you have brain cancer like that, you always have to be on the oil,” says Alysa’s mother, Carly Erwin. “What’s the maintenance dose? We don’t know. Wish we had doctors on board because they’re so many questions. It’s awful.”

Due to the continuing Federal Government restrictions on cannabis and its research, despite the overwhelming evidence to support its medical efficacy, Alysa’s doctor would not discuss the cannabis oil treatment with the Erwins other than to say, “keep doing what you’re doing.” In the fall of 2013 the Erwins lost access to a continuous supply of cannabis oil. Their access to the life saving substance began to dangerously fluctuate. When they were able to acquire the much-needed oil, the quality wildly varied, so they weren’t sure how much to use. Maintaining a continuous supply can be quite dangerous because the user is technically operating on the fringe of the law, as well as it being very expensive. The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act doesn’t allow possession of more than two ounces at a time for patients, so they are required to continually and frequently go out in search of something that could land them in jail, even though it will most likely save their lives.

In January of 2014, an MRI still showed no cancer. Yet in April, the test was done with a different kind of machine, which showed a small spot on Alysa’s brain. At that time the doctors were unsure if the spot was simply due to the differing technology used. The family then left the hospital with the explicit understanding that the doctor would look into the abnormality and get back to her, which never happened.

“I thought no news is good news,” Alysa’s mother told us.

In the months that followed, Alysa began to lose weight and get sick once again. On July 21, she weighed 88 pounds. They immediately made an appointment with the doctor for the 24th, and after traveling all the way to Ann Arbor, they were told that her cancer had returned. The doctors gave her the same prognosis she received the last time: that the best they could do was extend the time she had left, but that her cancer was terminal and there was nothing else that could be done.

Of course the Erwin family was already well aware of the inaccuracy and fallacious nature of that statement and have since cured her cancer with cannabis oil for the second time. The reality is that these doctors are choosing not to advise the one thing that could actually save her life, for fear of some shadowed entity that will swoop down to relieve them of their medical license. At what point did the medical field become more about what the establishment wants and less about what the doctor believes can actually help a patient?

It was this very lack of concern for the actual patient (as opposed to their big pharma corporate sponsors) that forced Alysa to go without her maintenance dose of cannabis oil in the first place, which would have almost certainly kept her cancer at bay. If it wasn’t for the restrictive laws in place in Michigan and the nation as a whole, millions of dying Americans might have been given a second chance at life. These archaic Federal laws continue to keep this life-saving plant out of the hands of the millions who are told every day that no options are left to the them; or worse, that chemo is their only choice, when in fact, it is their only hope.

Sources: http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/alysa-erwins-cancer-is-back-and-doctors-wont-help-her-with-cannabis-oil-treatment/Content?oid=2240758, http://www.cancertruth.net/2015-february-newsletter/#sthash.0JEDmBOR.dpbs, anecdotes.me/alysa-erwin-beat-terminal-brain-cancer-twice/