Cash was diagnosed with brain cancer prior to his second birthday, and had to undergo major chemotherapy. Cash’s condition became very serious. He hadn’t eaten in 40 days and was very near death. His father tried medical marijuana, which allowed Cash to eat, fight, and endure the chemotherapy, and he was even declared cancer-free for a little while. It sounds like the tumor has come back now, sadly, but at least Cash has cannabis as an option right from the start this time. Read more here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1383240/Boy-brain-cancer-cured-secretly-fed-medical-marijuana-father.html.

Storm was diagnosed with Multiple Synostosis Syndrome, which causes his bones to slowly fuse. It’s a terminal condition and very painful. Georgia, his mother, tried medical marijuana when he was 15 to ease his incredible suffering. Without marijuana, her son’s pain was so bad that he would literally scream for hours. Read more here: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/796638.

I feel I failed in getting my main point across, but I think it applies in all three of our cases: prohibition is failing our children, and medical laws only barely help.

Marijuana is clearly able to ease the suffering of many serious ailments, but as long as it’s even partially illegal, we won’t know exactly how best to administer it as a medication. For Storm, it works well when smoked, but he’s forced to the black market to get a strain that’s actually useful. This of course becomes costly and potentially risky, but the Canadian government has very limited medical marijuana laws (though they are better than ours in the United Stated, from what I’m gathering).

Mike, Cash’s father, lives in the U.S. and has to deal with the same problems I deal with. Though states have legalized medical marijuana, it’s still federally illegal. There’s very little research into the medical value of cannabis, how different strains affect different problems, which methods of ingestion work best, and so forth. And now that the Obama administration is attacking the dispensaries and growers, our children may not have any access to cannabis outside of the black market.

Tune in to the show tomorrow at 8pm: http://live.norml.org

I give him hash whenever I can, but I don’t know if it’s having any long-term effect, because he’s still sporting new bruises and scratches at least once a week. He’s been mostly happy around his family, but it’s clear that he’s still having regular bouts of self-injury away from us. It’s really nice that he’s so happy when he’s around us, of course — six months ago, he was rarely happy for more than an hour at a time — but I still feel like his best hope is a twice-a-day (maybe three times?) low dose of marijuana. The side-effects of his current medications are not only concerning, but also would be impossible to spot. How could a non-verbal, autistic child let us know he’s feeling vertigo, confusion, or memory loss? How would we know if new seizures were brought on by a medication when he’s already got a seizure disorder? How would we know if he’s nauseous and that’s causing him trouble eating? How would we know if he’s feeling abnormally depressed or angry? How would we know his heartbeat is occasionally erratic? How could we contact a doctor in the cases where “severe” side effects should be immediately reported? Alex couldn’t even tell us when he had a staph infection that caused horrible sores all over his head!

In better news, my radio interview is available — check out http://www.marijuanafactorfiction.org/ for the MP3 of Radio Free Moscow’s show that features Alex’s story. The interview starts around the 95-minute mark or so. I think I did a poor job of explaining the full situation, but it’s better than nothing.

Today and Thursday I actually got Alex to get in the car and go for a ride without assistance. This isn’t something I’ve felt comfortable doing for years, because his behavior gets so intense at times. Last time I tried was about a week ago, and he flipped out when I started to buckle him in. Today we went to Burger King (yes, I spoil the kid, and yes, I know BK is awful for you, but you try to find a treat for a non-verbal kid that isn’t awful) and then a playground. It was an incredible visit. I only wish my wife and other son had been able to visit him as well.

Also, right now my story is airing on Radio Free Moscow. I hope bigger media outlets can help spread the word to the more ignorant out there, as this show seems to be in a situation of preaching to the choir, but any attention helps.

Note that I bear no ill will toward ignorant people out there. I know personally how easily one can fall for the propaganda — I did. I just hope those who believe marijuana is bad are willing to look at the situation with an open mind, and consider the possibility that their beliefs are wrong.