There are currently five marijuana legalization efforts underway in the state of Ohio alone; four by ballot measure to amend the state’s constitution and one as proposed legislation in the House of Representatives. In Idaho, the Senate has recently approved a bill that eases the way for use of medical cannabis oil by seizure patients. This bill is currently before the House. In the United States alone, calls for reform to laws prohibiting marijuana any under circumstances have been sweeping city governments.
The reason for this movement, it seems, is clear for anyone following recent developments in this area. Just look at Addyson Benton of Ohio, who was diagnosed with myoclonic epilepsy at nine months old and has up to 1,000 seizures a day.
Epilepsy: When Addyson (pictured here with her mom, Heather Benton) was diagnosed she was having up to 1,000 seizures per day
Her family has decided to move 1,200 miles to Colorado in hopes of getting treatment in the form of medical marijuana. And though she’s tried at least ten anti-seizure drugs, nothing seems to reduce her symptoms. Her parents, Heather and Adam Benton, researched a form of non-psychoactive medical marijuana, known as cannabidiol, and decided it’s in Addyson’s best interest to give the drug a try.
With no access to CBD in Ohio, her parents were forced to turn to doctors in Colorado. After being told that the oil – called Charlotte’s Web CBD oil – wouldn’t ship to them until the October 2015, they decided to finally make the move. The family had a chance to try the oil, which is usually taken orally through a syringe or an empty pill capsule, on Addyson before moving and said they can already see improvements in two weeks.
With similar stories finally becoming public, a push for new legislation has changed the way that legislators understand marijuana.
Last week, Georgia’s legislature overwhelmingly approved a bill that allows people suffering from certain medical conditions, including epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, to treat their symptoms with cannabis oil that is low in THC but high in cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive compound with considerable medical promise.
However, these stories haven’t just been making the US new circuit. In Jamaica, a country known for his hard stance against marijuana, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Anthony Hylton, says Jamaica intends to lead a charge in the United Nations to effect changes to the international treaties concerning marijuana.
“We believe that the schedule in which marijuana is now placed, which is one of the highest schedules as a drug, we believe that it should be removed from that schedule and looked at in the light of …. the evidence, which has revealed its strong medicinal (value),” Minister Hylton said, while addressing a session of the recently concluded Jamaica Investment Forum (JIF) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James.
“Jamaica intends to participate, and to lead, if necessary, a process in the United Nations to have those treaties amended or to reflect what I believe is the evidence that is available, and take those fully into account in the international treaties as they now exist,” he said.
With citizens around the world vocal about the fight for marijuana legislative reform, 2015 looks to be a landmark year for marijuana legislation and the acknowledgement of cannabidiol as a game changer for countless families.