# Children on medical marijuana **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 4, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074 "2013-11-04T17:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/1 "2013-11-04T17:22:00Z")
Note to mods: I am not advocating anything. I am simply reporting on events. * * * Over the last few months, the Colorado Springs _Gazette_ has been running occasional articles on a unique strain of medical marijuana that is being grown in the region. As the articles state, families are beginning to move here, after trying many other things, so that they can try this strain for their children, many of whom have intractable seizures. > [@](#): > > They’d done all they could to control the seemingly endless, violent seizures that hit Charlotte 20, 40, 60 times a day. They put her on an extreme diet. They tried at least a dozen medications, many with harmful side effects. Despite some promising starts, nothing worked. > **[Medicinal marijuana stops seizures, brings hope to a little girl](https://gazette.com/health/medicinal-marijuana-stops-seizures-brings-hope-to-a-little-girl/article_520b074e-5c46-5d75-af95-bdd060f4a8b9.html)** > > Six-year-old Charlotte Figi, a picture of precious in her "Gatsby"-style bob and blue toenails, stands patiently as her mother reaches up her dress to change her out of her soiled > [@](#): > > Don’t tell the Stanley brothers that they’re drug dealers, or stoners, or whatever else comes to mind when you hear that they grow marijuana - and a lot of it - on their Teller County spread near Divide. . . . > > They developed their non-psychoactive plants through the cross-pollination of four varieties in a 1,200-square-foot laboratory in New Castle. It took nearly two years of breeding to create six low-THC, high-CDB plants. Today, the low-THC strains account for about 70 percent of the Stanleys’ crop. > **[Pot with a purpose: Teller County brothers' marijuana grown for medical benefits](https://gazette.com/business/pot-with-a-purpose-teller-county-brothers-marijuana-grown-for-medical-benefits/article_58113787-e0a5-57ca-b88b-f363124c2f8c.html)** > > Don't tell the Stanley brothers that they're drug dealers, or stoners, or whatever else comes to mind when you hear that they grow marijuana - and a lot of it > [@](#): > > Marisa Kiser-Podvin walked into a Colorado Springs marijuana dispensary with her toddler strapped to her chest and asked for a small bottle she hopes will save her child’s life. > > Like dozens of families from all over the country, Kiser-Podvin recently moved to Colorado, drawn by stories of local children making astounding recoveries from epilepsy using a special marijuana oil. > **[Families looking to cure epileptic children find first dose of hope with...](https://gazette.com/news/families-looking-to-cure-epileptic-children-find-first-dose-of-hope-with-special-colorado-marijuana/article_2162d24a-1705-5d2b-b8af-b53cb97ce342.html)** > > Marisa Kiser-Podvin walked into a Colorado Springs marijuana dispensary with her toddler strapped to her chest and asked for a small bottle she hopes will save her child's life. Like I find this to be simultaneously hopeful and troubling. Hopeful because early indications are promising. Troubling because thanks to the federal government, it’s currently impossible to do proper scientific testing of this marijuana strain. However, if a sufficiently large number of children are helped by this, without any major side effects, maybe rigorous testing can be done. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/2 "2013-12-04T22:26:52Z")
I’m bumping my own thread because the Gazette had another article about this a couple days ago. > [@](#): > > My niece, Hailey McGuire, was born seven years ago with Dravet Syndrome. She had her first seizure when she was 4 months old. I didn’t understand the implications. I never had seen a seizure. The first time I saw her tiny body contorted and convulsing, I knew I had to do something. Anything. The problem with seizures is that there’s nothing to do. You sit. You wait. You love. You try different medications - dozens of medications. Some work for a short time; others don’t work at all. And horrific side effects are guaranteed. > **['Face of Cannabis' project aims to raise awareness, facilitate change amid...](https://gazette.com/health/face-of-cannabis-project-aims-to-raise-awareness-facilitate-change-amid-use-of-medical-marijuana/article_bd11cf35-7d58-569a-b34b-7b56e41485fa.html)** > > Had I visited a psychic two years ago and been told that in a few short months I would be waving the cannabis flag, I would have called her crazy, I find it highly significant that NO major side effects have yet been reported for this particular strain of marijuana–especially considering that most approved medications have a long list of potential side effects. I admit that the sample size is still quite small, but the list of preliminary successes is growing longer by the month. [http://faceofcannabis.wordpress.com/](http://faceofcannabis.wordpress.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/3 "2013-12-04T23:21:50Z")
I’m kind of shocked that your OP didn’t garner a single reply. I thought at first it might have gotten lost in the background of **jkander** ’s [Cannabis Extract](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=707563) thread, but this was from a week before that started. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/4 "2013-12-26T06:52:37Z")
Here’s another update. > [@](#): > > Allie takes a few drops of green oil by mouth once a day. It has no psychoactive effects, but has unexpected benefits. Her coordination has started to return. She can walk down stairs and drink from a cup. After a week on the oil she began speaking more. First just a few words: Dog, ball, airplane. Then simple sentences. > **[Marijuana oil brings relief, joy](https://gazette.com/news/marijuana-oil-brings-relief-joy/article_c5ccba39-92c4-560c-bdf9-932731117783.html)** > > his is the first Christmas that the Swann family won't spend with extended family in Alabama - a situation that makes members shake their heads in disappointment and tear up I still don’t understand why nobody is willing to talk about this. Maybe I’m being too calm and rational about the issue. After all, there were pages and pages of responses to **jkander’s** thread. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/5 "2013-12-26T07:08:23Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Here’s another update. > > [Marijuana oil brings relief, joy](http://gazette.com/marijuana-oil-brings-relief-joy/article/1511475) > > I still don’t understand why nobody is willing to talk about this. Maybe I’m being too calm and rational about the issue. After all, there were pages and pages of responses to **jkander’s** thread. He was a lot more frothy-mouthed about it. He was saying to eliminate all testing and just throw cannabis oil at everything. He really did promote it as an all around cure and predicted that soon everyone would be taking cannabis supplements daily. He also was telling people to stop standard treatment in favor of cannabis despite the failures. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/6 "2013-12-26T10:12:28Z")
Yeah, I’m not really sure what to say other than, “I agree.” I think it’s shameful that the War on Drugs has driven parents to doing their own uncontrolled research with their own children as guinea pigs, rather than proper safety controlled studies. I also think that if I had a child with this sort of medical condition that wasn’t responding to conventional therapies, I’d be doing the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/7 "2013-12-26T14:29:51Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Yeah, I’m not really sure what to say other than, “I agree.” Yep. My Mom had a Med MJ Rx for a year. I was her caregiver for it and made a salve/lotion for her. It did seem to help (she has serious back issues). We did let the Rx lapse since we will be able to buy it legally pretty soon. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/8 "2013-12-28T18:43:00Z")
I also find it a bit ironic that for countless millions, _opiates_ are prescribed for serious pain management. If cannabis turns out to provide relief or a remedy in other areas, the irony will become even more tragic. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/9 "2013-12-28T18:57:41Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I also find it a bit ironic that for countless millions, _opiates_ are prescribed for serious pain management. > > If cannabis turns out to provide relief or a remedy in other areas, the irony will become even more tragic. The difference is that we are not just taking the raw opium sap and using it for everything under the sun without studies. No one is claiming that opiates are a cureall for cancer and diabetes and so on and so on. That said, the fact that pot is a Sched. 1 drug is damn fucking stupid. I do think there’s a lot of potential but it still needs to be subject to testing like everything else. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/10 "2013-12-28T19:01:52Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > The difference is that we are not just taking the raw opium sap and using it for everything under the sun without studies. No one is claiming that opiates are a cureall for cancer and diabetes and so on and so on. > > That said, the fact that pot is a Sched. 1 drug is damn fucking stupid. > > I do think there’s a lot of potential but it still needs to be subject to testing like everything else. Which I suppose is my point. Pot and Opiates are all Schedule 1. It’s clear they both provide pain relief, though cannabis probably relief in other areas too. Yet, somehow the same line isn’t being drawn with opiates and heroin as it is with cannabis and joints. What’s more, even if such a line is drawn, cannabis is no where near in the same destructively addictive and dependent camp as opiates. Yet, opiates are dolled out with hardly a second thought to patients that need such management. And cannabis derivatives? Cannabis research? Again, the irony. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/11 "2013-12-28T19:22:47Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Which I suppose is my point. Pot and Opiates are all Schedule 1. It’s clear they both provide pain relief, though cannabis probably relief in other areas too. > > Yet, somehow the same line isn’t being drawn with opiates and heroin as it is with cannabis and joints. What’s more, even if such a line is drawn, cannabis is no where near in the same destructively addictive and dependent camp as opiates. > > Yet, opiates are dolled out with hardly a second thought to patients that need such management. And cannabis derivatives? Cannabis research? > > Again, the irony. Politics. Racism. Classism. Rich people take opiates. They get them (at first) legitimately prescribed by upscale doctors. Poor and lower-class people smoke dope. They get it from hoodlums on street corners. [Louisiana Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Marijuana Possession](http://ecolocalizer.com/2011/05/17/louisiana-man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-marijuana-possession/) > [@](#): > > Hood received the maximum sentence under Louisiana’s habitual drug offender law because he had three prior marijuana convictions, although none of them were significant enough to result in even a single day of jail time. Rich, white, Republican Congressmen, on the other hand, don’t even have to lose their seats in one of the highest bodies of our government. [The congressman made drug admission – but the speaker could decide his future](http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/21/politics/radel-cocaine-congressman/index.html) > [@](#): > > But for now, Radel is retaining his seat. > > “I believe that members of Congress should be held to the highest ethical standard,” Boehner told reporters Thursday. “The issue is between he and his family and his constituents.” Really now. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-on-medical-marijuana/673074/12 "2013-12-28T20:37:17Z")
I can tell you for an anecdotal “fact” that marijuana helps control Medically intractable seizures.