As the debate continues over medical marijuana around the country, yet another state senator has filed legislation in favor of legalizing marijuana. Sen. Curt Thompson (D-Tucker) filed the bill, along with a constitutional amendment, that would legalize marijuana for recreational use in Georgia. This would also allow retailers to sell no more than 2 ounces of marijuana Read more about The Fight For Medical Marijuana Continues[…]
Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) has made an unprecedented move and called on Attorney General Eric Holder to use existing authority to reschedule marijuana.
As CBD (cannabidiol) continues to make headlines for its growing list of therapeutic uses, supporters for this drug continue to make headway in bringing major issues to the forefront. Due in part to the countless families seeking out CBD as a component of marijuana to address serious medical conditions, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) has made an unprecedented move and called on Attorney General Eric Holder to use existing authority to reschedule marijuana.
“Marijuana is currently a Schedule I drug. This is a category for drugs with no medical benefit. Not even cocaine or methamphetamine are Schedule I,” said Congressman Cohen. “Patients have used marijuana to treat epileptic seizures, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Parkinson’s disease, and nausea associated with cancer treatment. The federal government should be doing more to keep abreast of the science that has demonstrated that marijuana has medicinal value as well as not interfering with states that have recognized that fact.”
This letter goes on to detail one of Congressman Cohen’s constituents, 3-year-old Chloe Grauer. Chloe suffered from a rare neurological disease that caused her to have several hundred seizures a day. Her family tried a number of options to treat her disease including medications and surgery, but nothing stopped the seizures. They finally found CBD and attempted to treat their daughter with it. Unfortunately, because of marijuana’s schedule I classification and their inability to source CBD elsewhere, they were unable to access the CBD they hoped would finally relieve some of these debilitating seizures. Sadly, Chloe passed away late last year.
Unfortunately, this story has become more common in recent months with states pushing for bills to bring CBD access to their state, just to get caught up in other red tape. In Wisconsin, a law passed nearly a year ago to help children with seizure disorders hasn’t helped anyone here yet. Families who pushed for it say they feel duped and want to know what happened. Even though Wisconsin law says people can legally possess it, they still can’t get it.
In Texas, the FDA is partnering with leading facilities like the Texas Children’s Hospital to understand more about the therapeutic benefits of cannabidiol. Texas Children’s is the only facility in Texas that is participating and has the highest number of enrollees of any institute. Currently, five or their patients are involved in a double-blind study using a liquid form of CBD called Epidiolex.
Researchers are conducting this clinical trial to discover more about how CBD can help patients, like six year old Izaiah Ruiz, who has a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. Patients with this type of epilepsy often endure hundreds of seizures each day, and they suffer from every type of seizure.
“It’s very terrifying, because you don’t know if that’s going to be the last seizure or the last one that’s going to take his life,” explains Izaiah’s grandmother, Lori Fountain.
Epilepsy is more prevalent than you may imagine.
“It’s unbelievably common! One in 10 people will have a seizure in their life – 100 people will develop epilepsy. The lifetime risk of developing epilepsy for an individual is 1 in 26,” exclaims Dr. Wilfong. He explains that it is more prevalent than Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, and Parkinson’s Disease combined, yet it is more under-funded than any of those conditions.
Virginia’s House of Delegates voted on a long-shot medical marijuana bill that would help families suffering from severe forms of epilepsy access CBD oil.
This week in Richmond, Virginia, parents joined together hopeful for a positive outcome for their epileptic children. Virginia’s House of Delegates voted on a long-shot medical marijuana bill that would help families suffering from severe forms of epilepsy access CBD oil.
The votes came in 98 to 0 support for this bill, with the only two delegates opposing the bill choosing to abstain rather than vote against it.
The overwhelming passage stunned Elder and other parents who never expected to succeed in Richmond’s highly conservative lower chamber on their first try. The vote might be seen as a turning point for Virginia, which has staunchly opposed loosening marijuana laws as neighboring Maryland and the District of Columbia have eased theirs.
Similar bills have begun sweeping through legislatures, surprisingly in many of the more conservative states, after an August 2013 CNN documentary “Weed” that showed the plight of a family seeking the oil for their daughter’s seizures, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. About a dozen states have passed laws allowing use of cbd oil in the past 18 months, including Alabama, Utah, and Mississippi.
In Oklahoma, State lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would allow children with epilepsy to use cannabis oil that contains less than 0.3% THC. […]
As another week passes in the push for access to cannabidiol, yet another study is published on its therapeutic worth. In the latest fall issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, scientists at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) found that components of marijuana, primarily cannabidiol, may be useful in reducing depression that results from chronic stress.
In the animal models we studied, we saw that chronic stress reduced the production of endocannabinoids, leading to depression-like behavior,” RIA senior research scientist Samir Haj-Dahmane said in a statement.
Endocannabinoids are naturally produced chemical compounds in the brain that affect motor control, cognition, emotions, and behavior. As the name suggests, they are similar to the chemicals found in marijuana (Cannabis sativa) and its active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
“Chronic stress is one of the major causes of depression,” Haj-Dahmane said. “Using compounds derived from cannabis — marijuana — to restore normal endocannabinoid function could potentially help stabilize moods and ease depression.”
The next step in the research is to see if using a marijuana extract, cannabidiol (CBD), restores normal behaviors in the animals without leading to dependence on the drug.
The recently introduced “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015” has found support on both sides of the political aisle in the United States. This Act would effectively remove federal restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp, the non-drug oil, seed, and fiber varieties of Cannabis. This would be a huge benefit to families in the US who are looking for CBD sourced from hemp.
The House bill, introduced on Wednesday, January 21, by U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.), would require the federal government to defer to state laws that allow farmers to grow the crop.
“The federal ban on hemp has been a waste of taxpayer dollars that ignores science, suppresses innovation, and subverts the will of states that have chosen to incorporate this versatile crop into their economies,” Polis, said in a statement. “I am hopeful that Congress will build on last year’s progress on hemp research and pilot programs by passing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act to allow this historical American crop to once again thrive on our farmlands.”
The Senate also has developed its own version of the bill, which was introduced on January 8, 2015, by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
But the bill has received mixed reviews from advocates.
This is a mock-up of the card the Iowa Department of Transportation will issue to those who can obtain cannabidiol in the state (Photo: Iowa Department of Transportation)
The Iowa Legislature passed, and Gov. Terry Branstad signed, a bill permitting individuals with intractable epilepsy and their caregivers legal use and possession of cannabidiol.
On Monday, Iowans suffering from chronic epilepsy were able to apply for a medical cannabidiol registration card. These cards provide documentation that patients and primary caregivers have met the requirements of the Medical Cannabidiol Act and are authorized to legally possess medically necessary cannabidiol.
The Iowa Department of Public Health worked with the Iowa Department of Transportation to put together a process to approve and generate cannabidiol registration cards and developed an application form now available on the Iowa Department of Public Health’s website.
The law allows only for the oil’s usage and does not permit the product to be produced in Iowa, which advocates told The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau in November can cause a problem because similar programs in other states do not recognize out-of-state patients.
Lawmakers in Virginia are joining the growing movement to address the state’s outdated marijuana laws. Sen. Adam Ebbin, an Alexandria Democrat, has introduced a bill that would eliminate jail time for possession of marijuana and make it punishable by a maximum $100 civil penalty. At an emotional committee hearing Thursday, four mothers of epileptic children Read more about A Call To Action For Marijuana Reform In January[…]
Gov. Rick Scott signed Senate Bill 1030, which approves the CBD medication, nicknamed Charlotte’s Web, and SB 1700, which protects the identities of the patients who use it.
Last year, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill that legalizes the use of a noneuphoric, high CBD strain of marijuana to treat conditions such as epilepsy, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and cancer. He signed Senate Bill 1030, which approves the high CBD medication, nicknamed Charlotte’s Web, and SB 1700, which protects the identities of the patients who use it. This was seen as a huge victory and step forward for the state of Florida. However, there has yet to be a single patient helped by the legislation so far.
This has been yet another example of a state where they have allowed the use of CBD, but have created no means by which patients can legally acquire it.
In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal and Rep. Allen Peake were hit with the frustration of citizens last week concerning House Bill 1, the medical marijuana bill. Deal, instead of allowing marijuana production in the state, has decided to form a commission that would be charged with figuring out the best way to manufacture and distribute medicinal marijuana.
That kicks the can of production down the road for a year. […]
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican who said he opposes medical marijuana, being sworn in has Illinois families thinking hard about their next move.
2014 was a landmark year for the acceptance of cannabidiol and medical marijuana across the US. In Kentucky, legislature unanimously passed a law last spring ushering in cannabidiol oil with legislators cheering on with excited families. This same scene has been replicated in city after city as families with their ailing children optimistically embraced each other and the elected officials that carried their cause.
When the celebrations finally end, however, a troubling trend has emerged and parents are getting anxious and frustrated with the outcome of this newly passed legislation. In Kentucky, it’s been nearly a year, and not a drop of the oil has been produced in the state. There are currently no manufacturers for the oil in the state, and it’s illegal to transport it across state lines.
Sen. Perry Clark, a Louisville Democrat and long-time advocate for the oil, said he’s been contacted by numerous constituents who can’t find the treatment they need, and whose children are still suffering while they wait.
“I’ve had several of them come to me and say ‘Where is it? Where is it?’” said Clark. “People are leaving to go to where this efficacious medicine is available to them.”