CLARKE Burscough (58), from Umkomaas, has put his faith in God and cannabis oil to beat the cancer he has fought for 33 years.
Now he is being starved of the latter because his would-be main supplier, Richards Bay’s infamous ‘Bobby Greenhash’, has been shut down by police.
Long-time friend Sarah Brown is desperate and is calling for government to speed up its promise to look into legalising cannabis oil.
IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini made the same appeal in Parliament shortly before he died of cancer in 2014. He openly admitted to using dagga (in an oil form) which he claimed had extended his life and eased his suffering.
President Jacob Zuma himself asked the Minister of Health to look into legalising the oil. According to local MP Narend Singh, a Medical Innovation Bill was currently in process and recommendations about legalising cannabis were included.
The Mail’s Juan Venter met with Clarke this week to hear his story of courage, now turned to fear, as his supply has dried up. Bobby Greenhash (born Sheldon Cramer) produced the oil which was supplied to sufferers free of charge.
Many regard Bobby, the self-confessed ‘stoner and surfer’ as the ‘Robin Hood’ of cancer sufferers. He fled to the bush with his family shortly before his home was raided by the Hawks, but then decided to hand himself over last Monday. He was turned away from the police station after his lawyers successfully mitigated.
Now Sarah is battling to find an alternative supply for Clarke who has battled squamous cell carcinoma (a common form of skin cancer) for 33 years. Over the years, various doctors had told him that he only had three months to live. Ironically, he outlived one of the doctors, a plastic surgeon.
“We have no doctors assisting us now as what we are doing is illegal,” said Sarah. “He was in lots of pain and the cannabis oil has brought him relief for the past two months. The change in him has been amazing.”
“I won’t lie down and die,” said Clarke. “Sarah knows, I’m hard-core. My last surgery was a year and a half ago at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital.
“It was a seven-stage operation. They operated on my head, face, back, neck and also removed a golf ball sized tumour from my spine,” he said.
Cannabis oil was a ‘revelation’ when he first started using it eight weeks ago, he says.
