Judge Who Jailed 311 People for Using Marijuana Is Now an Advocate of the Plant After It Saved His Life [Video]

Believe it or not, the marijuana plant is saving people’s lives. The evidence is overwhelming. Even law enforcement officials who were against the plant are now speaking in favor of it.

Doug Bench was a judge in the U.S. state of Florida. During his time as a judge, he hated marijuana, and made sure anybody who was brought before him for using the plant borne the full brunt of the law. According to Bench, he threw as many as 311 people behind bars for marijuana related offences.

But they say posterity is the best judge. Nemesis caught up with Bench when he finally retired as a judge. He became ill and was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a devastating disease that can result in a slow and painful death.

The COPD soon started tormenting the life of Bench. He tried many conventional remedies but all proved futile.

That was when Bench’s wife jumped on the Internet to carry out a research on a possible alternative cure to Bench's ailment. After just four hours into the research, Bench’s wife came across an article that recommended marijuana oil as cure to COPD.

As there was no alternative, Bench broke the law. He used the plant, and it worked like magic. Bench became well. He is still alive and kicking. He now says he can no longer keep silent over this wonderful plant that he once hated for no reason.

At a public forum on Florida’s Medical Marijuana Implementation earlier this year, Bench eulogized the marijuana plant. He said he is now a strong proponent of marijuana, cursing himself for putting people behind bars for using a plant that saves life.

“I hated marijuana; I hated the use of marijuana and the violation of the law. I was diagnosed with a terminal disease. I had no choice, I had to break the law if I wanted to live. I put 311 people in jail for marijuana offenses — and I was wrong. I’ve been haunted for 30 years, wondering how many of those (people I put in jail) were using cannabis for medical reasons because our government suppressed that information for 70 years. I’m now an advocate for medical marijuana,” Bench said to the shocking of the crowd.

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Bench’s advocacy for marijuana legalization in Florida is said to be yielding positive results. Before 2017, it said no state in the U.S. punished people more severely for minor marijuana offenses than Florida.

Currently, the state is relaxing its marijuana laws. Officials have agreed to issue IDs to medical marijuana patients on October 3 this year in order to protect them from being charged.