Ed Gallagher

Medical Cannabis Patient; Veteran; HIV/AIDS Patient Advocate

Ed Gallagher is a blind and half deaf veteran, HIV and AIDS patient advocate, and a medical cannabis patient. When Ed was first diagnosed with AIDS and thought he was going to die, he gave practically all his money to AIDS organizations and turned his company over to his employees. Six months before he was expected to die, protease inhibitors, antiviral drugs that are used to treat HIV/AIDS, came out. With the price of this medication along with other medical expenses, Ed was left relatively broke. After having smoked since the 1960s, he was no longer able to afford cannabis, until he came across Sweetleaf Collective. Sweetleaf provides free medical cannabis to low-income, terminally ill patients, like Ed.