Posted on 07/30/2014 10:40:11 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom
Doctors in Macon, Georgia, told Janea Cox that her daughter, Haleigh, might not live another three months.
That was the middle of March, when Haleigh's brain was being short-circuited by hundreds of seizures a day, overrunning the array of five potent drugs meant to control them. Worse, the drugs were damaging Haleigh's organs.
"She was maxed out," Cox said. "She'd quit breathing several times a day, and the doctors blamed it on the seizure medications."
Cox had heard that a form of medical marijuana might help, but it wasn't available in central Georgia. So a week after hearing the ominous diagnosis, she and Haleigh packed up and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. There, Haleigh began a regimen of cannabis oil: four times a day and once at night.
By summer, she was down to just a handful of seizures a day. In less than three months, doctors were able to wean her off Depakote, a powerful medication that had been damaging her liver.
Haleigh had never been able to walk or talk. But freed from seizures in Colorado, "She said 'Mama' for the first time," Cox said. "She's playing with puzzles; she's walking. She's almost being a normal child."
Despite all the good news, Cox is living in limbo. Her husband, a paramedic, couldn't afford to leave his job and pension; he still lives and works in Forsyth, Georgia. The family is relying on charity to keep their Colorado apartment for the next few months; beyond that, the future is uncertain.
A bill being introduced Monday in the U.S. House of Representatives could be Cox's ticket home. The three-page bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act -- the federal law that criminalizes marijuana -- to exempt plants with an extremely low percentage of THC, the chemical that makes users high.
If passed, it would be the first time that federal law allows any medical marijuana use.
"No one should face a choice of having their child suffer or moving to Colorado and splitting up their family," said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pennsylvania, the bill's sponsor. "We live in America, and if there's something that would make my child better, and they can't get it because of the government, that's not right."
The bill will land in a Congress that may be open to change. Across the country, highly sympathetic patients and a nonintoxicating product have proved a popular mix. This year alone, 11 states have passed legislation loosening regulation of cannabis strains with high cannabidiol and/or minimal THC content.
In this atmosphere, Perry says that once members and their staffs are brought up to speed, he expects the bill to attract "overwhelming" support.
"It wouldn't be surprising if we see broad support for this proposal," agreed Mason Tvert, communications director at the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for marijuana and medical marijuana legalization. "If this bill gets support, it will demonstrate that there is recognition of marijuana's medical benefits."
Dubbed the Charlotte's Web Medical Hemp Act of 2014, the bill is named after Charlotte Figi, a young Colorado girl whose parents have campaigned nationwide for easier access to medical marijuana after successfully controlling their daughter's seizures with cannabis oil. Since her story became known, a growing number of parents have flocked to Colorado, hoping for similar success.
The Charlotte's Web cannabis strain, developed by the Realm of Caring nonprofit organization in Colorado Springs, is in high demand, in part because of the attention it's received in the media. Many families wait months for a batch to be grown and processed into cannabis oil. Perry's bill, however, would apply to any cannabis strain with a THC content of less than 0.3%.
Charlotte's Web and similar strains not only have minimal THC, they have high levels of cannabidiol, another chemical. A growing body of anecdotal evidence suggests that cannabidiol can effectively control seizures, though there are no published studies to support its use.
It's easy to find critics who say parents should follow a more traditional route.
"There is no evidence for marijuana as a treatment for seizures," Rep. John Fleming, R-Louisiana, a physician, claimed during a congressional hearing last month. "We hear anecdotal stories, and that's how myths come about."
Fleming and others point out that a pharmaceutical version of cannabidiol oil, called Epidiolex, is being tested in clinical trials. But many children aren't able to get into the trials. Haleigh Cox is disqualified because she has type-1 diabetes. Others aren't willing to wait several months to be enrolled.
"With Epidiolex, there just aren't enough seats at the table," said Mark Knecht, a father from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, whose story helped inspire Perry's bill.
His daughter Anna, 11, has epilepsy and suffers anywhere from a handful of seizures a day to more than 100, despite her four anti-convulsant medications. Knecht, the chief financial officer of a large Christian medical nonprofit, says Anna has been evaluated at several top hospitals but couldn't land a spot in the Epidiolex trial.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books allowing medical marijuana for a variety of conditions. But even as states rewrite their regulations, federal law remains the same: Marijuana is illegal to grow, sell or use for any purpose. Under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is listed on Schedule 1, meaning it has "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." To backers of reform, the Catch-22 is familiar: Marijuana is restricted in large part because there is little research to support medical uses; research is difficult to conduct because of tight restrictions.
A series of memos from the Justice Department has said that arresting individual medical marijuana users is not a priority, and a 2013 memo added that federal prosecutors should not target large commercial operations except on a case-by-case basis. But most observers say that shipping or transporting the drug across state lines ups the ante.
"For families like us, the biggest issue is the federal issue. You can't take it across state lines," Knecht explained.
His family still lives in Mechanicsburg. But after seeing CNN's medical marijuana documentary last year, Anna and her mother, Deb, established residency in Colorado, where they obtained a medical marijuana card that let them place an order for a batch cannabis oil, in hopes it will control Anna's seizures. If Perry's bill becomes law, Knecht says, "Realm of Caring could just put it in a FedEx package."
The scam is not that it may help people wit seizures.
The scam is it becomes universally available to anyone for anything.
It’s just a round about way to legalize it.
As far as your experience. Anecdotal evidence really means nothing.
If you are adverse to smoking it, edibles would be the way to go in your case. Edibles take longer to take effect, but have a more potent effect. Smoking is just about instant. Those that I know do it for seizures have all symptoms of the seizure completely disappear within just a few minutes of ingesting it. I’m amazed every time I see it.
Note there may be another industry that would be potentially impacted by this... hemp makes the best mooring lines.
Apricot pit extract was once sold as a cure for cancer - a contemptible practice, but hardly a good argument for banning apricots.
Quite an odd analogy.
It's a very close analogy ... unless you're saying you don't support the cannabis ban.
Oxycodone is prescribable - are you predicting it will soon become universally available to anyone for anything?
Now, making low-THC marijuana available for medical use may indirectly further the cause of high-THC marijuana legalization ... by replacing some of the hysterical phobia with the fact that, like so many things in life, there are plusses and minuses to marijuana. But that's just reality - which conservatives shouldn't fear.
This CO company sells 50 grams of cannabis oil for $1,300. That is a far cry from thousands of dollars FWIW.
Does it work? I have no idea.
This response shows your lack of familiarity with medical marijuana “prescriptions”.
Prescriptions are given out at dispensaries to anyone for anything.
This is what I mean by it being a scam. It has taken you in.
I'm pretty sure prescriptions are never given out at dispensaries - although they are filled there. And are you claiming nobody has ever been turned down for a marijuana prescription?
You are wrong.
Nothing personal against you, but you are in no way familiar with this.
Every stoner goes and gets their card. For insomnia is probably the biggest one. Headaches maybe second.
Thisis the vast majority of the clientele.
If it really worked as real prescriptions for actual patients with actual diseases such as glaucoma, that would be ok and even before these scam laws, that did happen.
I wouldn't say EVERY one. Many, but not all. If it really worked as real prescriptions
The Rx comes from a real, live doctor, just like any other Rx. Dispensaries are the "pharmacy". At least, that's how it works here in CO. Of course, that's also going the way of the dinosaur due to recreational now being legal.
A quack at the table in front who works for the pot seller is not a “real, live doctor”
That's not how it works here in CO. I did state that I was speaking to how it works here in CO. May be different in Cali, and I can see the frustration, but Cali's policies are not the across the board norm in most cases.
>>As per price, the oil needs a lot of dope for extraction and it costs thousands.<<
Pull your head out of your ass. It costs less than $50 per ounce and the dosage is a few drops.
It works great.
Stoner: I can’t sleep.
Doc: Why not?
Stoner: I can’t sleep if I’m not stoned.
Doc: Ok, here ya go.
Funny but not an exaggeration.
Have you ever tried it for insomnia?
I don’t know why you play along with the ruse.
You are either quite naive or disingenuous.
I think the latter.
I think CO and WA are much more intellectually honest in simply legalizing dope as opposed to the scam Trojan horse legalization of “medical marijuana.”
I referenced what I’m talking about in 33.
You should stop getting stoned.
What is the THC content of the $50 per oz oil?
Didn’t answer my question. The truth? When it comes to this issue, it’s just really no one’s business. If someone grows it in their backyard, and uses it in their living room, it’s not my business, it’s not your business, and it’s not government’s business, period. There’s your “ruse”.
You're probably closer to being right with this statement, however, there ARE INDEED medicinal properties. "Medical" marijuana is not a scam. There are legitimate medical uses for it, and if you don't see that at this point, with the research and experiences out there, then you never will, mostly because you look at the entire issue from a false premise in the first place.
Your question was irrelevant and specious.
And answered all ready in this conversation.
I try to be straightforward and sincere.
From you, we only get smarminess and disingenuousness.
You are a liar in terms of how this works, deliberately lying.
This post has your deliberate lies as well.
Why do you feel the need to overtly lie about this topic?
You are still addicted to marijuana. It affects your thought process, makes you susceptible to liberal and leftist propaganda.
It hurts you and it hurts — has hurt — society and the nation.
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