Melissa Etheridge (b. May 29, 1961)
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In an interview that aired October 16, 2005 on "Dateline NBC," singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge said she smoked medicinal marijuana to help with the side effects of chemotherapy during her treatment for breast cancer. "Instead of taking five or six of the prescriptions, I decided to go a natural route and smoke marijuana," Etheridge said. She said she smoked marijuana every day for her pain and symptoms and "the minute I didn't feel it, I stopped." (This is why smoking is such an effective way to ingest marijuana, rather than taking it orally.) When asked how her doctors reacted, Etheridge said, "Every single one was, 'Oh, yeah. That's the best help for the effects of chemotherapy.'"
At the 2007 Academy Awards ceremony, Etheridge rocked the house and took home a statue for "I Need to Wake Up," her theme song to VIP Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" -- which ought to be an anthem for us all.
Etheridge appeared with actor Danny Glover at an LA press conference in October 2010 in support of Proposition 19. “I don’t want to look like a criminal to my children anymore," she said. "I want them to know this is a choice that you make as a responsible adult.”
She was interviewed in High Times's 420th issue (January 2011) where she noted that "America has always had a pot culture" and said, "I was on chemotherapy, and it was horrible. But the pain was alleviated by cannabis. It was awesome--truly. I was able to sit there and really see that health is just balance. Cannabis helps balance. If we had reputable tests done on stress and cannabis alleviation of pain, doctors would prescribe it all the time--and they should."
She added, "I'm very much a sativa girl, the indicas just put me to sleep."