Delbert Mullins says without cannabis, he would probably take his own life-- and he's fighting for the right to grow it in his backyard. Pain from multiple complications with arthritis and hepatitis have given him numerous pills to take with equally numerous side effects, among them nausea.
He insists he's not addicted, that pot helps reduce his medications.
“I think the pharmaceutical companies are what’s keeping marijuana illegal," he says. "Cause like me I can take half of the pain pills that I would normally."
But an addiction specialist at Shands questions that.
“For people who are using marijuana on a daily basis or a nearly every day basis, between a quarter and a half of these individuals are addicted to the drug," says Dr. Gary Reisfield.
Mullins began growing pot after he could no longer get Medicare coverage for his Maronal, a synthetic substitute for cannabis. He goes to court on the 19th.