Robert Celt
New Member
Amy Young and her family moved to Oregon because the medicine her daughter needs is illegal in Alabama.
State Rep. Mike Ball said he plans to introduce a bill next month to change that. And he's confident it's going to pass.
"The people I've talked to about it seem very receptive to it," said Ball, R-Madison. "It's nothing like it was a couple of years ago when I started on Carly's Law. This is a whole different dynamic."
In 2014, Carly's Law passed the legislature without dissent once it stipulated that the University of Alabama at Birmingham would maintain control over the study and distribution of CBD oil — a derivative of the marijuana plant that has proven effective in cases of reducing seizures and does not yield an intoxicating high.
Young said her daughter, Leni, applied to be a part of the UAB study but she did not meet FDA qualifications. Without access to the CBD oil at UAB, the Young family left their home in Wetumpka for Oregon, where it's legal.
What happened when Leni, who is now 4, began getting doses of cannabis oil, according to her mother, was nothing short of a miracle.
"I prayed and hoped that it would help. But I had no idea that the changes would be this profound. She's doing things we were told beyond her realm...ever," Young told AL.com. "It has given our little girl her life. She is a happy, sweet, opinionated little girl.
"Every moment is just such a gift."
Ball is calling his bill "Leni's Law."
"I woke up a few months ago in the middle of the night — I couldn't sleep — and Amy had posted a video on Facebook of Leni after she had just started taking it and it's like she had changed a life," Ball said. "And I knew what I had to do. And even though they are not here — they're refugees -- there are other families (in Alabama) and we don't need people leaving to try to help their families.
"I think it's time to take this step and I'm going to do everything I can to get it done. I think a lot of folks are going to come out of the woodwork to help me."
Leni had a "pretty catastrophic stroke" before she was born, her mother said.
"(The stroke) destroyed all of her brain except for a small strip of frontal lobe and her brain stem," her mother said. "We had a pretty grim prognosis for her. When she was 7-months-old, her seizures began and immediately they were pretty life threatening."
The seizures — dozens a day, Amy said — were so frequent that Amy said she and her husband didn't even count the small ones.
After moving to Oregon and starting a regimen of cannabis oil — which does not contain THC, which creates the intoxicating high, but does include THCA, which does not create a high — Leni's seizures have dropped to about one every four-to-six weeks.
Her other pharmaceutical drugs have been reduced by 20 percent as well, Leni's mom said.
"Her oil does not get her stoned," Amy said.
Leni has progressed to the point to where she can sit up almost independently and watch the Disney movie "Frozen." Her parents now have to spell "ice cream" because she's learned what it means "and she wants it all the time," her mom said.
"This Christmas was the first Christmas we could buy toys with that she could actually play with," Amy said. "Every day, there's something new."
Even on a Facebook video, Ball could tell the difference. He got to know Leni and her family when he helped push Carly's Law through the legislature.
"So if you weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks of doing this, it's a no-brainer," Ball said.
He also cited the research ongoing at UAB that's he said revealed the benefits of the marijuana oil — giving scientific backing to what had largely been anecdotal evidence of effectiveness. UAB spokesman Bob Shepard said in an email to AL.com that the school was not in a position to discuss their findings at this time.
Researchers at UAB will be submitting their findings for publication in a peer-reviewed journal in the near future, Shepard said. He said the investigators are "encouraged by what they are seeing."
"We've got more understanding of it than we had a couple of years ago," Ball said, referring to the UAB study. "But there is a lot of anecdotal evidence and I will say this: I haven't found any evidence of any negative side effects. The drug stores are full of over-the-counter things that have more side effects than that stuff does."
For the Youngs, who now live near Portland, the bill becoming law would be a lifeline to their home state. Because Leni is dependent on the cannabis oil, they cannot bring her to Alabama without breaking the law. And Leni's big sister is on track to graduate from Auburn University in December and a bevy of grandparents are in Alabama, too.
"The difference in her is beyond anything we could have dreamed for and hoped for," Amy said of Leni. "From this point, I'm not putting any limits on her. I'm never going to say she's not going to talk. I'm never going to say she's not going to walk. At this point, I'm not sure."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Alabama Lawmaker Seeks To Decriminalize Medical Marijuana Oil
Author: Paul Gattis
Contact: AL.com
Photo Credit: Grace O'Connor
Website: AL.com
State Rep. Mike Ball said he plans to introduce a bill next month to change that. And he's confident it's going to pass.
"The people I've talked to about it seem very receptive to it," said Ball, R-Madison. "It's nothing like it was a couple of years ago when I started on Carly's Law. This is a whole different dynamic."
In 2014, Carly's Law passed the legislature without dissent once it stipulated that the University of Alabama at Birmingham would maintain control over the study and distribution of CBD oil — a derivative of the marijuana plant that has proven effective in cases of reducing seizures and does not yield an intoxicating high.
Young said her daughter, Leni, applied to be a part of the UAB study but she did not meet FDA qualifications. Without access to the CBD oil at UAB, the Young family left their home in Wetumpka for Oregon, where it's legal.
What happened when Leni, who is now 4, began getting doses of cannabis oil, according to her mother, was nothing short of a miracle.
"I prayed and hoped that it would help. But I had no idea that the changes would be this profound. She's doing things we were told beyond her realm...ever," Young told AL.com. "It has given our little girl her life. She is a happy, sweet, opinionated little girl.
"Every moment is just such a gift."
Ball is calling his bill "Leni's Law."
"I woke up a few months ago in the middle of the night — I couldn't sleep — and Amy had posted a video on Facebook of Leni after she had just started taking it and it's like she had changed a life," Ball said. "And I knew what I had to do. And even though they are not here — they're refugees -- there are other families (in Alabama) and we don't need people leaving to try to help their families.
"I think it's time to take this step and I'm going to do everything I can to get it done. I think a lot of folks are going to come out of the woodwork to help me."
Leni had a "pretty catastrophic stroke" before she was born, her mother said.
"(The stroke) destroyed all of her brain except for a small strip of frontal lobe and her brain stem," her mother said. "We had a pretty grim prognosis for her. When she was 7-months-old, her seizures began and immediately they were pretty life threatening."
The seizures — dozens a day, Amy said — were so frequent that Amy said she and her husband didn't even count the small ones.
After moving to Oregon and starting a regimen of cannabis oil — which does not contain THC, which creates the intoxicating high, but does include THCA, which does not create a high — Leni's seizures have dropped to about one every four-to-six weeks.
Her other pharmaceutical drugs have been reduced by 20 percent as well, Leni's mom said.
"Her oil does not get her stoned," Amy said.
Leni has progressed to the point to where she can sit up almost independently and watch the Disney movie "Frozen." Her parents now have to spell "ice cream" because she's learned what it means "and she wants it all the time," her mom said.
"This Christmas was the first Christmas we could buy toys with that she could actually play with," Amy said. "Every day, there's something new."
Even on a Facebook video, Ball could tell the difference. He got to know Leni and her family when he helped push Carly's Law through the legislature.
"So if you weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks of doing this, it's a no-brainer," Ball said.
He also cited the research ongoing at UAB that's he said revealed the benefits of the marijuana oil — giving scientific backing to what had largely been anecdotal evidence of effectiveness. UAB spokesman Bob Shepard said in an email to AL.com that the school was not in a position to discuss their findings at this time.
Researchers at UAB will be submitting their findings for publication in a peer-reviewed journal in the near future, Shepard said. He said the investigators are "encouraged by what they are seeing."
"We've got more understanding of it than we had a couple of years ago," Ball said, referring to the UAB study. "But there is a lot of anecdotal evidence and I will say this: I haven't found any evidence of any negative side effects. The drug stores are full of over-the-counter things that have more side effects than that stuff does."
For the Youngs, who now live near Portland, the bill becoming law would be a lifeline to their home state. Because Leni is dependent on the cannabis oil, they cannot bring her to Alabama without breaking the law. And Leni's big sister is on track to graduate from Auburn University in December and a bevy of grandparents are in Alabama, too.
"The difference in her is beyond anything we could have dreamed for and hoped for," Amy said of Leni. "From this point, I'm not putting any limits on her. I'm never going to say she's not going to talk. I'm never going to say she's not going to walk. At this point, I'm not sure."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Alabama Lawmaker Seeks To Decriminalize Medical Marijuana Oil
Author: Paul Gattis
Contact: AL.com
Photo Credit: Grace O'Connor
Website: AL.com