My name is Lorraine Kerz. A little over a year ago I lost my son, Silas, to cancer. Sy, as everyone called him, was only 29 when cancer took him from us. While he fought his cancer with courage and determination, and received excellent medical care, he died less than eight months after being diagnosed. During that time, my son suffered constant and unrelenting pain; the cancer had eaten into his spine and was spreading rapidly. Being an independent and intelligent young man, he was concerned about having control over his decisions regarding treatment and care. After careful consideration, he weaned himself off of the methadone he had been prescribed immediately after his diagnosis and switched to shorter-acting pain medication for as long as medically possible. Watching my son struggle with the side effects of brutal chemotherapy treatments was heart wrenching. He threw up non-stop for days on end, had no appetite, lost weight, and was becoming despondent. Eventually, he decided to try using marijuana to see if it would help. Marijuana not only relieved his nausea and gave him back his appetite, it also helped alleviate the anxiety and despair he was feeling at the time. In short, marijuana greatly improved his overall quality of life. Perhaps most importantly, marijuana did not come with any of the harsh side effects that most of the pharmaceutical medications did. Anyone who has experienced cancer or knows someone who has understands how severe the side effects of cancer treatment can be. I am extremely proud of my son because he refused to give up, or to give in, to cancer. To think that my son could have gone to jail for using a drug that helped him maintain hope and quality of life is not just -- it is unreasonable and cruel. Because I have witnessed first-hand the benefits of legitimate medical marijuana use, I am pleading with our state legislators to enact into law the compassionate medical marijuana bill now before them.