Shortly after making the decision to use medical marijuana to treat my probable diagnosis of Primary Lateral Sclerosis, I decided to keep my cards close to my chest. In order to avoid causing problems with neighbors, or law enforcement, I opted to keep my decision to use medical marijuana a private decision.

I am not a horribly private person, and nobody would accuse me of being a hermit, but I feel that does not mean that I have to tell everybody my news. However, I did feel the need to inform my family of my decision, for fear that they wouldn’t fully understand what I am experiencing. I also fear what may happen if the beans somehow got spilled through an outside source.

I started by telling my wife. Having a controlled substance in the house is serous business in of itself, but having what the federal government considers to be illegal is something on a new level. After discussing how this would help me, we came up with a system to ensure that our three children would never be able to access my medication.

We decided to store my cannabis in our gun safe, where little hands cannot reach.

I then told my brother, who was cool about it, and really had little to say (he is not a talker anyway). His exact words? “Cool.”

My mom and dad were a different deal. My dad is a straight laced conservative guy, and my mom is a little more moderate. My thinking was that my dad would be against my decision, but that really didn’t matter too much. I am going to medicate and make myself comfortable and healthy, no matter the opinions of others.

My parents were both actually pretty understanding. My mom, much like my brother was cool with it. My dad was asking if I really knew what I was getting myself into. He said the police would have a target on me, and that I needed to think about my kids in all of this.

He went on to tell me that as long as I don’t drive while high, or bring it in his house he is fine with it. That was pretty reassuring, and I was happy to comply with it. I can definitely respect my father’s rules in his house, much as I would expect him to respect mine in my house.

Overall, I would say that it is probably worthwhile for most people to keep a decision to smoke medical marijuana as private as possible, but it may be beneficial to make your immediate family aware of your decision. It helps clear the air and will let everyone know that you are taking steps to make your disease as bearable as possible.