Kentucky Mothers Call On State Lawmakers To Pass Medical Marijuana For Their Children

Despite polls showing the vast majority of Kentucky residents are in favor of medical marijuana, the state still remains among 12 others without any form of legalized cannabis.

However, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear's office recently released a report revealing new findings from a medical marijuana advisory committee, which he established in June. According to the report, "Kentuckians want medical cannabis to be legalized."

Mothers Are Worried About Their Children’s Health

Kristin Wilcox, a member of the Governor's Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee, co-founder of Kentucky Moms For Medical Cannabis and the mother of a child with Dravet's Syndrome said their committee found that 98.5% of Kentuckians support medical marijuana legalization.

Wilcox's daughter Shelby suffers from severe seizures. “She used to have thousands a day, She’s had seizures as long as 14 hours,” Wilcox said adding that her daughter is part of a clinical trial and continues to take FDA-approved Epidiolex twice a day, which contains cannabis oil. Wilcox says the medicine hasn’t stopped Shelby's seizures completely, but “the amount of time they last are less.” 

Earlier this year, the Kentucky House of Representatives passed a medical cannabis bill, but the Republican-controlled General Assembly squashed it. However, “my spotlight is focused on Senate leadership,” Wilcox said.

Julie Cantwell, the other co-founder of Kentucky Moms For Medical Cannabis said lawmakers are not listening to them. “I don’t think they care about people being sick." Cantwell has to leave the state every two months to buy medical marijuana where it’s legal for her 22-year-old son Preston who has drug-resistant epilepsy. Thanks to medical cannabis, the last time he had a seizure was in October 2019.

“Parents are having to break the law to get them help,” Cantwell said. “We have to worry about leaving one state and bringing it back to another state.”

Cannabis Is Medicine

“It is absolutely medicine for me,” Preston said referring to his cannabis treatment. “Please hurry up and get out of the way, so a lot of people can be healthy and be happy,” he said referring to the lawmakers who stand in the way of legal medical marijuana, reported Whas11 News.

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Photo: Courtesy Of Sasha Freemind On Unsplash