The debate over the decriminalization of marijuana has faded from the headlines since last February's march to legalize it. But tonight we are going to introduce you to a grandmother who is defying the law for medicinal purposes. Keith Swift found out that she's not getting high, she getting healthy.
Keith Swift Reporting, [keithkswift@gmail.com]
Don't adjust your television, you are seeing correctly: 74-year-old Deltrude Uter is lighting up a stick of marijuana. Ma Trudy, as she is known in her neighborhood, is a daily smoker and makes no apologies for it.
Deltrude Uter, Smokes Marijuana
"That's medicine."
Marijuana is medicine for Ma Trudy who began lighting up earlier this year after she was diagnosed with bronchitis and asthma. Years of smoking cigarettes had caught up to her and that's when this grandmother decided to light up something else: marijuana.
Deltrude Uter,
"The doctor recommended medicine but the medicine didn't help me at all. A man came and told me to smoke marijuana. I tried it but I couldn't make it because it was like it choked me. Since this year I started again and I make it better now. They told me not to take big puffs, take it light, just take like four or six light puffs and out it. I do it and at night I couldn't sleep before I started it and now, I do it everything, I sleep without any coughing; I rest perfect."
So since January a stick of weed has become part of Ma Trudy's nightly ritual. She normally rolls her own and prefers her marijuana in bamboo paper. But don't ask her about the type because she has no preference.
Jules Vasquez,
You have a preference for the weed because I know some people want hydro etc.?
Deltrude Uter,
"I don't know hydro from no hydro."
Keith Swift,
What type of paper you prefer?
Deltrude Uter,
"I buy the bamboo paper which they sell. That is what I buy."
And this is serious business for her. She takes only a couple draws a night before going to bed and she always does it in the privacy of her living room or bedroom. And Ma Trudy says she would never share a joint with any of her 6 children. But more than that Ma Trudy has 80 grandchildren. When I visited her today a couple dozen were running around the family yard, but she says she would never encourage any of them to try it.
Jules Vasquez,
So if you have a grandchild in primary school and they come and ask you to smoke weed, how would you handle it?
Deltrude Uter,
"I wouldn't encourage him. I wouldn't encourage him until he get on his own and then he could do what he wants but not under my care; not all. Later on when he becomes an adult then he can do what he chooses."
Jules Vasquez,
Have you ever smoked with any of your kids?
Deltrude Uter,
"I would never. I think I would be disrespecting them, even though it wouldn't bother them because they know it benefits me. But I don't think it would be right."
But what Ma Trudy feels is right, is what she's doing. After all, a couple puffs of medicinal marijuana a day has bettered her health. She has no more blackouts and her nights are more restful.
Deltrude Uter,
"I get very good benefits from it because I feel a lot better. I no longer get blackouts which I used to get because I used to fall down and now that doesn't happen to me. I don't feel like I am doing anything wrong. I am doing this for my health and I don't think that weed is wrong because God planted it. It is what God Almighty planted. It is a herb of the field."
A herb of the field which has found an unlikely advocate in this grandmother
Miss Trudy (Ma Trudy) says she has never been harassed by the police.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
