“He just wanted to be out of the pain”
Monday, Apr 16, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Peoria Journal-Star…
First responders were called to the home of Anthony Phillips, 46, and his fiancée, Rena Corp. He told them he had ingested K-2/spice around 11 p.m. on April 7 and woke up around 4 a.m. on April 8 with severe stomach pain. He told the medics he had been vomiting blood. Corp had been suffering symptoms as well. Both were transported to UnityPoint Health-Pekin. The hospital quickly transferred them to UnityPoint Health-Methodist in Peoria because they needed more advanced treatment.
Phillips died.
From the end of the story…
The family knows, said [said Becky Phillips, Anthony’s sister-in-law], that some people will say he shouldn’t have been using the K-2, that it wasn’t all Smith’s fault. She said there were other people at the hospital who were also reacting to K-2.
″(Anthony) probably wasn’t all innocent,” she said. “But he took it for his pain.
“He had severe arthritis. His leg was the size of a kids leg. He couldn’t walk a block without the pain hitting him so hard. He just wanted to be out of the pain, and he couldn’t get the proper medical.”
You know what wouldn’t have killed Anthony Phillips? Marijuana.
- Annonin' - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 9:51 am:
But let’s remember marijuana not controlled by GovJunk Bestie BigPharma
- wordslinger - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 9:52 am:
–You know what wouldn’t have killed Anthony Phillips? Marijuana.–
No, it would not have. That Oxy and Vic you get with a doctor’s script at Walgreens could, though.
- anon - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 9:55 am:
Is there something in the story that says he was not eligible for medical marijuana prescription? I didn’t see that, only that “he couldn’t get the proper medical,” which is not exactly clear.
- Lt Guv - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 9:57 am:
Amen. It’s time to get past this prohibition.
- JS Mill - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 10:00 am:
=You know what wouldn’t have killed Anthony Phillips? Marijuana.=
Amen. We need to be a leader in this area. Opioids are hurting us as a nation. Look at the percentages, by state, of people claiming disability and then compare that to the rate of opioid use. These are just coincidences.
- Barrington - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 10:05 am:
No one makes up pain, yet lawmakers continue to ignore fiscally prudent and easy solutions. These stories are heartbreaking.
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 10:23 am:
Marijuana would absolutely have not killed this man. It could have very well helped him.
We have to keep moving forward with legalization and expansion of MMJ. We can’t live in the past anymore and in a paranoid, delusional world of Reefer Madness. People are dying of legal opioids, and synthetic weed. People are dying in organized crime. People are being convicted and having their lives and employment damaged. Tax dollars are being flushed down the toilet, arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating so many people.
We should legalize weed for adults, expand MMJ and focus on things like teen drug use prevention and traffic safety, instead of hurting so many and wasting so much money.
- BucknIrish - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 10:25 am:
==No one makes up pain==
For a medical marijuana card, I wouldn’t be surprised at how creative people could get.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 10:44 am:
===For a medical marijuana card, I wouldn’t be surprised===
Whatevs. Just legalize it.
- A Jack - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 10:49 am:
A medical marijuana card is not that easy to get. I had a relative who was able to acquire a variety of prescription medications when he was healthy.
But when he came down with cancer, he found it impossible to get a medical marijuana card. He was fortunate though in that he had other sources for the real thing to get him through the end of his life.
- FLEA - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 11:31 am:
DITTO what A Jack said. Illinois has designed the most strict and regulated system to obtain a med card. Not patient friendly or focused at all on allowing the program to serve patients.
- Gruntled University Employee - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 11:42 am:
Cmon Governor it’s a plant, it grows wild in nature…and some people’s basements.
- Barrington - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 11:45 am:
For a medical marijuana card, I wouldn’t be surprised at how creative people could get.
Pain comes in many flavors: grief, chronic, acute, phantom, debilitating, etc. Please do not negate pain by making light of obtaining a medical marijuana card. You are part of the problem.
- Hon. John Fritchey - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 11:52 am:
The decades-old war on drugs and enforcement of current laws pertaining to marijuana has cost more lives and adversely impacted more lives than marijuana itself ever has or will.
- Thoughts Matter - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 12:03 pm:
Legalize it, tax it, regulate it. By trying to overprotect adults from themselves, we are sending them straight towards substances that WILL kill them. We need to step back and focus our laws on the more dangerous stuff such as K2, meth, etc. On top of that didn’t we learn a thing from Prohibition?
No one is saying we have to allow people to get behind the wheel or go to work high. We have regulations for alcohol and cigarettes. Tweak them for pot.
Quit trying to force your moral values on people that aren’t harming anyone else.
- Undiscovered country - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 1:26 pm:
hey @gruntled university employee, poppy’s are also a plant that grows in the wild.
- john doe - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:21 pm:
I have suffered from severe pain due to a pinched nerve for 2 years. While I have no problem with legalized Marijuana,it didn’t help me at all. So far the only thing that has helped is Opiates.
- 33rd ward - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:19 pm:
A friend of mine who works nationally in the legal cannabis industry just told me that Canada is jumping ahead of us on this issue.
Even when we create something new, and good for us, we kill it by the powers that already be (IE, alcohol, jails, harassment, etc).
Then as Americans, we like to simply blame someone else.
- Homer J. Quinn - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:41 pm:
Canada and Mexico. by year’s end both will have legalized, and we’ll look even more foolish.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, Apr 17, 18 @ 8:43 am:
==So far the only thing that has helped is Opuates.==
Lucky you to be able to get opiates for your pain. So many doctors are too terrified of going to jail to prescribe opiates to their patients in pain.
- Lt Guv - Tuesday, Apr 17, 18 @ 1:37 pm:
Yes, the Liberal Govt, in Canada has made legalization a benchmark of their platform. They are Waaaaaaay ahead of us. Again.