I became close to my
friend Angel Pittman one summer, where I discovered she was battling ovarian
cyst syndrome. After her surgery to remove all of the cysts, she was told that it
would come back and the doctors prescribed her a lot of medicine that she had to
take. She hated taking her meds because it would make her feel hazy and she
would find herself running into the bathroom to vomit up all of the expensive
medications she took. She resorted to deal with the pain and taking excess
prescribed drugs by smoking marijuana. From that first smoke, she was in love.
She preferred to smoke marijuana than to taking her prescribed drugs.
Angel told me buying marijuana was cheaper than paying
her medical bills for the drugs she had to take. Smoking made her feel happier,
making her laugh at the simple things and it also made her eat more than she
did instead of vomiting her food back up on the bathroom floor. On top of going
in and out of the hospital in the summer of 2013, she recovered from one of her
cyst surgeries to go back to school for her senior year. I followed her life
and spent time with her, where she taught me a lot about her philosophy on
marijuana and discovered the small issues in her life she was struggling with
from paying off financial bills to focusing on finishing school in time with
her peers.
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Angel is a 21-year-old Psychology major.
Fascinated with the complexity of the human brain, she wants to find a job that
helps people.
“I want to help end the war on drugs and to make the criminal
justice system work for everyone.”
Angel has prescription strength drugs
like ibuprofen, naproxen,
percocet, lortab, muscle relaxers, anxiety meds, depression meds, and even
bipolar medication that was given to her when they could not figure out what
was wrong with her until an MRI reviewed she had poly-cystic ovarian syndrome.
Rolling a joint, preparing for one of her daily smokes at
the end of a busy day.
Angel chose to smoke marijuana. It helped with her anxiety
and pain. To smoke a bowl of marijuana was easier than to take 11 of her
prescribed drugs all together.
Angel opens up her monthly hospital bill reminders that
costs about $2000 since her surgery in the spring.
A Portrait of Angel
When asked about the people and memories
from the photographs on her walls, she tears up, recalling the good and the bad
from her life.
“Love the life you live.
Live the life you love.”
– Bob Marley
Angel’s retail job at the local Nike
store.
“I
like working at Nike but honestly, I have to support myself through school and
bills is just another added stress."
Angel
has a 9-month-old puppy named Boudreaux, where he always wants to lay next to
her and to protect her.
“When I was sick he would
just cry at the bathroom door waiting for me to finish puking. He always wanted
to be right up under me, and I think it scared him to not know what was going
on.”
Angel smokes a joint in the comfort of
her room.
Angel
Pittman
“I think America got the wrong idea about
marijuana and a lot of other drugs thanks to government propaganda. There was a
time when narcotics were widely used across the county. Housewives on coke and
smoking opium, people with addictions were viewed sympathetically and hemp was
a vital product. I never touched drugs or even alcohol until I came to college.
If I had known the truth, I probably would've started a long time ago. I don’t
have time to embody the set ideas towards people who choose to smoke like me.”
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Thank you to Angel Pittman, your soul is beautiful.