View Gisele Barreto Fetterman through the lens of social media, and one might assume she is among the world’s most upbeat people. But those close to the lieutenant governor’s wife know she’s waged a lifelong war against chronic pain, with medical marijuana being an effective form of treatment.

She felt compelled to revisit the topic this week after Gov. Tom Wolf said he wants state lawmakers to legalize recreational marijuana.

“I think the outside world has seen me always really happy, kind of joyful, but that is training,” Fetterman said. “You have to work with your brain to make sure you’re going to have a good day even though you’re working through pain. And it takes a lot of practice, decades of practice.”

Fetterman, who lives in Braddock, suffered a few childhood accidents which she said left her with chronic back pain since age 7. Disciplined use of chiropractic care, yoga, inversion tables and “a million stretches” have been the longtime norm for the 38-year-old mother of three.

In 2016, when Pennsylvania legalized marijuana for medical use, she signed up for treatment.

“I was one of the first medical marijuana licenses issued; I was first in line at the dispensary,” said Fetterman, whose pain can impede sleep and her ability to walk. “It has taken some trial and error to find what has really helped, but it’s been life-changing for me.”

Thank you! Legal weed changed my life and can help so many others too. After suffering with chronic pain my entire life, my MMJ card gave me hope and relief. #legalizeit https://t.co/9D35h78HEQ

— Gisele Barreto Fetterman (@giselefetterman) August 25, 2020

Fetterman is one of more than 297,000 Pennsylvanians approved for the use of medical marijuana. Obtaining medical marijuana in Pennsylvania requires participation in a registry, a physician’s certification, a medical marijuana identification card and visits to approved dispensaries — a process that costs around $200.

While beneficial to many, Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program is still insufficient in ways that would be solved by legalizing recreational marijuana, according to Fetterman and other proponents of Wolf’s proposal.

“I think it would be more affordable, and it would vastly improve the access,” Fetterman said. “So many folks whose condition just falls short of it would benefit immensely as well.”

Fetterman will admit her medical marijuana success story has added to the fervor with which her husband, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, champions its full legalization in Pennsylvania.

“We’ve seen lives ruined over this, where in other states it’s a normal part of life,” Fetterman said. “We’ve seen young people who have been caught up in this, and it affects every level of their life because they had some weed on them.”

As Fetterman sees it, the stigma associated with marijuana use is one of the biggest hurdles to legalization. Just as the stigma faded with medical marijuana, however, she predicts the same fate for recreational marijuana.

“I had folks who would say, ‘You don’t look like a medical marijuana user: You dress so nice, and you’re so kind,’ ” Fetterman said. “I still hear some of that, but when I first came out with it, I heard a lot of that. I see how that has changed, and I think it will be the same with this.

“The fact that I have access now to legal and safe marijuana that improved my life and the lives of so many others, it’s hard for me to understand how some folks still oppose it.”

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