Alex’s mood has taken a major turn for the worse, as I mentioned a couple weeks ago, but now it’s gotten downright awful. The behaviors we’ve seen in the past three or four visits might be the worst since we placed him in his first home over two and a half years ago. Nothing consoles him, nothing comforts him, and nothing calms him down. I fully believe a regular dose of cannabis in his system would give him an overall better life, but I have to wonder if there’s anything at all that could help him when he gets this bad.
The following clips all come from about a one-hour visit last weekend. Today’s visit was only slightly better than this.
Fair warning: the last clip is bloody. We didn’t get much video once he was that intense, but we felt it should be shown to those who still believe cannabis is too “dangerous” to use on children.
30 months later, still intense sibbing from Dad on Vimeo.
If this is your first time coming to the site, here’s the general situation:
Alex is our son, diagnosed with autism and severe self-injurious behaviors (sibbing). He was placed in a group home over two years ago because of behaviors much like these. We found that no traditional medications helped without completely knocking him out. He’s been on Haldol, Ativan, Valium, Zolaft, Risperdal, Naltrexone, Amitriptyline, and many others.
Cannabis (medical “marijuana”) has been able to make a big difference on several occasions, though it seems to work best when he’s on the verge of behaviors. Once he’s in full-swing, absolutely nothing short of chemical sedation helps.
It is our belief that regular, small doses of cannabis could at least reduce the intensity of these episodes. Prohibition of cannabis, however, makes it impossible to get his group home to dose him, not to mention we have no idea what strains are best, what dosing would work, what form would be the most effective, etc. Prohibition doesn’t curb use or abuse, but it does take away what might be the only medication in existence that we haven’t been able to properly try out. It also inhibits research into how cannabis might be able to help children (and adults) in Alex’s situation, because the federal government is so unwilling to permit serious, in-depth, whole-plant experimentation and study.
We no longer believe anything short of full legalization will matter, because the federal government refuses to take medical cannabis seriously, and refuses to reschedule it or even discuss it. We hope states start to legalize and force a showdown with the federal government, because it’s time science became a part of the government’s mockery of a discussion.
I feel rather foolish asking you if you have tried treating Alex with quality chiropractics being that there is quite a bit online on the subject. My husbands late grandfather was a highly regarded Vermont chiropractor and after reading Alex’s story I remembered that he had success treating self injuring children years ago. My thoughts are with you and your family!