Ned used marijuana as medicine. A tiny solution to one of the ill-effects of having a cashed central nervous system. Ned needs pharmacuticals for all aspects of his life To keep his blood circulating, to make him sweat, to flush his liver and his kidneys'. He uses Inhalers to keep his lungs pumping oxygen. He needs massive amounts of antibiotics to keep infections from killing him.
Cannabis is the best relaxant of muscles short of morphine.
Ned's a typical dude, except for a jeep wreck in 1986, that left him a paraplegic. He was taken to a primo hospital here in Phoenix, St Josephs. It was at Saint Josephs Hostpital, that the doctor that treated him decided since Ned couldn't feel or use his legs anyway, there was no reason to set the bones. This resulted in Neds' bones, healing crooked and his body curling up into a tight ball. He was permenantly disabled from using a wheelchair or straightening his limbs out.