Using His Paraplegia to Advance Social Cause: Mark Mathew Braunstein

Google the name Mark Mathew Braunstein, what do you see?  You’ll find that three themes pop up: marijuana, vegetarianism, and prostitution.  Each of these is a facet of this bearded, quirky, incredibly intelligent nonconformist.

Out of all the nonconformists, art curator Mark Mathew Braunstein takes the vegan, marijuana-laced cake.

Medicinal Marijuana
When asked about how he felt about being the poster child for medicinal marijuana, he clarified, “I have to admit, I’m in it for recreational promotion as well.”  Mark smoked marijuana medicinally before he broke his neck 17 years ago and continued to use it for medicinal purposes when his disability left him dealing with painful spasms which he refused to treat with pharmaceutical medications.  In fact, he bans all pharmaceutical drugs in his life, even refusing pain meds while in traction the week following his L2-L3 spinal cord injury (SCI).  Why marijuana? “It made sense for me to use marijuana because it provides pain relief and reduces spasms, which is quite unique for one substance.”

Marijuana Controversy
You would think that a public penchant for marijuana use could cause controversy in Mark’s life.  He’s never been shy about his use and has been very public about his advocacy in various forms of media.  In fact, when General Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Policy, claimed that marijuana had no use medicinally in a 1996 interview, Mark was furious and  wrote a rebuttal to McCaffrey, which was also published in The Hartford Courant. 

Despite his very public views on his marijuana use, Mark hasn’t received any repercussions from a legal standpoint.  Additionally, Mark works at Connecticut College as an art curator, photographing the college’s collection of work.  Not only that, but Mark lives in a first-floor unit in the college’s arboretum.  Despite this combination of working and living on school property and being open about his use (2-3 times a week in his home), he has never faced retribution.  Why is this the case?  “If I were to be arrested,” Mark said, “what a media circus that would be!  Being visibly disabled is the only way I’ve gotten away with it. My paraplegia has helped me advance social causes that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to.”

Vegetarianism and Animal Rights
Continuing Mark’s penchant for the strange, out-there passions, he has two other pursuits: vegetarianism and animal rights.

For example, in From There to Here, a book which compiles 45 personal stories about SCI survivors and their journey, Mark submitted a chapter, titled, “Take the Pain.”  He discusses his herb usage and talks about his love of nature, mentioning how being at a lower level (in his wheelchair) makes him less intimidating and therefore more approachable to animals.  For a long time before his accident, he made a habit of scaring away the ducks near his house during hunting season, making it difficult for the hunters to shoot the flapping birds. The year he was recovering, he anxiously sat in his house hearing the shots that he was powerless to prevent. He angrily vowed to get back out there next year. 

And that he did.

The next year, Mark had gained enough strength to ambulate on crutches.  He was back to his duty in fine form, scaring the sitting ducks.  There was one hitch in his plan this year though--the local police.  Mark, arrested for “hunter harassment,” written up in the local paper in an article titled, “Lone Cripple with Crutches Arrested for Harassing Four Hunters with Guns.” Mark went to court, where he was championed by many animal (and Mark) supporters.  The charge was to be dropped, but only if Mark would promise to “be good.”  He knew he couldn’t do that, so he refused.  He was then offered another deal: the charges would be dropped if he handed over his foghorn. He conceded.

All the attention to the duck-hunting debacle was noticed by various animal-rights groups in the area.  They soon investigated the close proximity the hunters were to residences and banned hunting from the area.  It was a beautiful victory for this Lone Cripple.

Veganism
Mark became a vegetarian at age 15 for “all the reasons:” environmental, animal-rights, and health.  He intensified that practice by becoming vegan 3 years later.  In the article “Can Bee Venom Cure Incontinence,” published in New Mobility 2007, Mark credits his veganism to health benefits he experiences as a person with an SCI.  Many people with an SCI get numerous urinary tract infections; however, Mark has never had one in his 17 years of being a paraplegic.  He’s also avoided the inevitable weight gain that comes with being in a wheelchair.  He shared his thoughts on veganism in his first book, Radical Vegetarianism (Panacea Press, 1993), which discusses in depth the ethics of being a vegetarian.   His upcoming book, Good Girls on Bad Drugs, covers subject matter of a different sort.

Which leads us to…

Prostitution
Mark has been working on Good Girls on Bad Drugs for 10 years.  Its purpose is to show that drug addicts aren’t terrible people—“they’re just born with the addiction gene,” says Mark.  He specifically chose prostitutes rather than drug dealers for various reasons: drugs are everywhere, even in small towns nearby, and many of these women get their start in prostitution by trading sex for drugs.  Also, Mark feels safer with a female, and he can find and pick these women up.  He also has a perfect alibi.  “Because I’m paraplegic, I don’t have sexual function, so I freely admit that to the media.  I have no sensation on the genitals, orgasm for me means no ejaculation, so that’s why they have nothing they can offer me.  Most people wouldn’t admit that, but I let it all hang out.  Again, I’m using my paraplegia to advance a social cause.”

Good Girls on Bad Drugs will be made up of two parts: one of photographs and the other of text.  Mark has photographed 133 women for this book, which he’s hoping will come out next year. 

A Passionate Disability Advocate
This off-beat pot-smoking, vegan, prostitute-chasing, bearded, bespectacled man has found a silver lining in his paraplegia: an ability to advance the social cause of his various passions without ridicule or repercussion. 

Being in a wheelchair has been Mark’s golden ticket to promoting the taboo and the capability to live his life in a way that makes him happy and pain-free.  Of happiness Mark says, “Being happy and paraplegic are not an improbable combination.”