Posted on 02/22/2011 1:35:12 PM PST by neverdem
Teen's medical marijuana fight escalates as school says he cannot come back to class after going home for medicine
Father appeals to legislators for help
The saga of a Colorado Springs teenager struggling with a rare neurological condition best controlled with medical marijuana lozenges became a little more surreal when Harrison School District 2 informed the student’s father that the child cannot return to school on any day that he consumes medical marijuana.
“They say if he takes his medicine he cannot come back to school,” the teenager’s father told The Colorado Independent. The boy attends Sierra High School.
The child missed most of the last school year when he was diagnosed with diaphragmatic and axial myoclonus, which causes seizures that can last for 24 hours or more. He spent extensive periods of time hospitalized and used morphine and other narcotics to control the seizures until doctors discovered that THC works better than any other medication.
He was able to return to school in January but as the district would not allow him to possess or consume his prescribed medicine on campus, he transferred to a school closer to home so that he could walk home as needed to take his medicine.
After the district’s latest salvo was delivered, the teen’s father said he spoke with both the district superintendent and the district attorney and that neither were receptive to his arguments that his son needs the medicine to function, does not get high and does not smell like marijuana.
The district has refused to comment to us, other than for a spokesperson to say that the district intends to follow the letter of the law, which is that no student may possess or consume medical marijuana on school grounds.
The district’s attorney, Kelly Dude, did not return a call for comment.
The father has now taken the step of writing to the legislators who represent his district, Democratic Senator John Morse and Republican Representative Mark Barker.
We called both, seeking comment. Barker told us he would look into the matter, and then sent us this email: “I will have the legislative liaison staff research the issue and once we have the information, perhaps we can provide a solution.”
Senator Greg Brophy, R-Wray, reached by email, said this: “Tragic. Zero tolerance policies are for people with zero intelligence.”
In the letter, signed by the mother, the father and the grandmother (who has legal custody of the child), they recount the damage they believed was being done to the child by narcotics which had been used to control his condition before they tried THC.
They ask Morse and Barker for their help in changing the law so that exceptions can be made on a case by case basis. They make the point that the teenager does not get high on the drug.
“This is a child that wants his education, and has gone through enough with the endless tests, trials, and school changes.
“We are doing everything we possibly can to stay within the letter of the law,” they write.
The father has released many pages of medical records to The Colorado Independent. The boy’s doctor has not yet returned our phone calls, so we are not releasing her name, but below we quote from a letter she prepared for the school district.
LETTER OF MEDICAL NECESSITY
Date: January 18, 2011 To: Whom it may concern
Regarding: redacted name
DOB: redacted date/1994
Diagnosis: Diaphragmatic and Axial myoclonus
Treatment: Sinemet 25/100 mg tablets, 2 tablets by mouth three times per day Zoloft 50mg at bedtime THC 10-50mg as needed for episode of breakthrough myoclonus
Rationale: Failure to respond to a host of other medications including Keppra, clonazepam, valium, morphine, benadryl, Xanax, inhaled lidocaine, Dilantin, Tegretol, Depakote, Flexeril, Artane, IVlg and Solumedrol. Previously, (redacted name) was taking benzodiazepines while at school for episodes of breakthrough myoclonus which was sedating and ineffective to control the symptoms. We now have (redacted name) on a medication regimen which actually helps reduce the frequency and duration of his spells, and have found a medication which reliably aborts the attacks (THC) when they occur.
He has no significant side effects to the THC and is functional on this medication. I strongly recommend that (redacted name) return to school on his current medication regimen and be allowed to take the THC which has been prescribed by a physician to treat his medical condition.
Please call me with any concerns or questions.
In the plan above, the father explained that the zoloft and sinemet are taken on a regular schedule to reduce the frequency of the attacks and the THC is taken only when an attack occurs in order to reduce the severity and length of the individual attack. For best effect, the THC needs to be taken immediately when an attack occurs, which is not possible when the boy has to walk home to get his medicine.
As a side note, the father told us today that his son sprained an ankle over the weekend and was prescribed vicodin for the pain.
“I called the school to see if he could come to school after taking vicodin and they said that was no problem even though the vicodin affects his mental state way more than the THC.
“It’s not right,” the father said.
And that applies to this article, which deals with a ill boy who sucks on a doctor prescribed THC dervative lozenge that doesn't get him high, how?
Giving them access to that would do nothing for the pain they feel.Don’t you get it most who suffer from neurological pain hav done the narcostics route and all it does is make you out of it and still in pain.I sure hope yu never have to experince what they are talking about if you ever do then you will pay for the awful things you have said.Karma isn’t kind.
Giving them access to that would do nothing for the pain they feel.Don’t you get it most who suffer from neurological pain have done the narcotics route and all it does is make you out of it and still in pain.I sure hope yu never have to experince what they are talking about if you ever do then you will pay for the awful things you have said.Karma isn’t kind.
Well let’s just hope that you and all of the know-it-alls here never have to go through the kind of pain that is being described to you here.Then you can firsthand tell everyone about what BS it is or better yet watch someone you love go through this sort of pain.It has nothing to do with an agenda it has everything to do with quality of life and not spending every moment puking your guts out or being is so much pain that killing yourself starts to look like a good idea.BTW THC does not damage DNA and I hope you also never pro created the world has enough idiots without you adding to the pool.
ROFLOL, self determined pain is just that, does not mean you are in pain, go to hospital and get help. And stop making up fake problems.
Medical fraud is subject to a range of penalties from criminal prosecution to the revocation of licenses.
The father has released many pages of medical records to The Colorado Independent. The boy’s doctor has not yet returned our phone calls, so we are not releasing her name, but below we quote from a letter she prepared for the school district.Seizures are easily documented by an electroencephalogram, i.e. EEG. You're assuming that the seizures are caused by an acquired or inherited genetic defect.
LETTER OF MEDICAL NECESSITYDate: January 18, 2011 To: Whom it may concern
Regarding: redacted name
DOB: redacted date/1994
Diagnosis: Diaphragmatic and Axial myoclonus
Treatment: Sinemet 25/100 mg tablets, 2 tablets by mouth three times per day Zoloft 50mg at bedtime THC 10-50mg as needed for episode of breakthrough myoclonus
Rationale: Failure to respond to a host of other medications including Keppra, clonazepam, valium, morphine, benadryl, Xanax, inhaled lidocaine, Dilantin, Tegretol, Depakote, Flexeril, Artane, IVlg and Solumedrol. Previously, (redacted name) was taking benzodiazepines while at school for episodes of breakthrough myoclonus which was sedating and ineffective to control the symptoms. We now have (redacted name) on a medication regimen which actually helps reduce the frequency and duration of his spells, and have found a medication which reliably aborts the attacks (THC) when they occur.
No one said anything about self determined pain except you.Since seizures can be documented then it is your mouth against medical tests somehow I trust the test more than you.He was “at the hospital” and they did find him help with the THC.
Name the hospital and doctor and well see them answer to the licensing board. There are laws against quack medicine.
Contact the Colorado Attorney General’s office. Let us know how it turns out.
Post 46 has the some of the testing results you will have to go and read to find out which hospital did the testing but the results are there.Like I said perhaps if you atually READ the article before voicing your uninformed view....
The whole damn story started out I don’t believe this crap, now in the end you say why don’t you believe this crap. Because pot is not a damn pain killer. Now go eat something I’m sure you have the munchies.
You have no clue at all.All you seem to do around here is run your mouth and make yourself look bad.I don’t really care if yu beleive the medical tests or not the doctors do.I’ve seen what it does for people taking chemo and also for people with chronic neurological pain and know it does work.Insulting me only makes you look bad and I could really care less what a person with your intellect thinks of me.
There is no way on earth to made a damn druggie look worse than they already do. And this crap about medical marijuana is just that crap.
You have no clue about who you are talking about and I am not a “druggie”.I just happen to have watched several family members go through chemo and think if something could relive something like that then it should not be against the law for them to do so.Making defamitory comments like that borders on cyber bullying so perhaps you should watch your mouth before someone sues you.
If you have a card/recommendation in many states, it isn’t. At least according to state law. I couldn’t care less about Federal law.
Whether you personally believe that the pepole getting the cards don’t actually need the card is totally irrelevant to that fact.
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