After being diagnosed with bowel cancer in December, Patrick Ford, a former welder in Bournemouth, England, has now been told that he only has a few days to live.
One of his last requests? To smoke one last bit of marijuana with his friend in his bed in his nursing home, according to Metro UK.
His best friend, David Warnock, had visited in order to make Ford's wish come true, but thanks to marijuana laws in the UK, the staff at Drumconner Nursing Home had to decline the request.
"At the care home we had the fan pointed out the window to blow the smoke, but they snatched it away," Warnock told Metro. "He had been looking forward to having that smoke of grass."
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"You wouldn’t think we were in the 21st century with our attitudes," he added. "Holland has had it legalised for years."
But Ford, undeterred, checked himself out of the hospital to smoke at his best friend's house instead.
According to the Daily Echo, Ford has been using marijuana as a painkiller in recent years. (Recent studies have pointed to marijuana's effectiveness as a pain reducer.)
"We accept that smoking cannabis is illegal but this is a dying man’s wish," Warnock said. "He has got the right as a human being to do what he wants in his last days of life."
Understandably, the staff has had to comply with the law and not allow Ford to smoke on their premises. In the meantime, however, Ford likely won't return to the nursing home.
As Metro reports, he said that he has no plans to return to Drumconner Nursing Home, and will instead remain in his flat and "listen to his favorite music from the 1960s."
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