Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Brian Bennett believes a bill in the Indiana Legislature would give his son, Joe, a chance at a more normal life.
"It would give him a chance to be a little kid and have an education and relationships with people," Bennett said.
Joe has intractable epilepsy, which are seizures that are difficult to control. At one point, the 7-year-old was suffering more than 200 seizures a day.
"This is kind of our last option of hope," Bennett said in a telephone interview.
The hope is in HB1181, a bill that seeks to define industrial hemp in the state.
Industrial hemp comes from part of the cannabis plant, also the source of marijuana. The hemp comes from the stalk of the plant and is used for things like textiles, foods and paper. Marijuana involves smoking the cannabis flower.
The bill seeks to authorize the marketing of industrial hemp in Indiana. It seeks to make industrial hemp exempt from the definition of marijuana.
The part of the bill the Bennetts are interested in "provides that industrial hemp substances are exempt from certain criminal laws when the substances are part of certain medical treatments."
The bill includes a medical hemp that is purposely grown high in cannabidiol (CBD), but low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is the substance that produces the marijuana high.
The particular medical hemp is known as CBD oil.
CBD oil is now legal in 12 states and has been proven to help people with epilepsy, including Joe.
But, Joe and his family had to temporarily move from Walton, Ind. to Colorado to try it out.
Joe first experienced a noticeable seizure in Aug. 2009 when he was 20 months hold.
"I was working in my shop and heard a blood-curdling scream," Brian said. "Kari (Joe's mom) had Joe in her arms. He was limp and flopping around. Just not right."
Joe also stopped breathing for nearly five minutes.
The parents called 911 and Joe was rushed to the hospital, but doctors had no solutions.
Joe had another seizure a few months later and then others that progressively got worse.
"We noticed he was falling, stumbling," Brian said. "He would just drop like a sack of potatoes. That was concerning."
Brian said Joe has taken 15 different anti-seizure medications that have side effects like intoxication and slowed mental development.
Joe was even put on a diet that eliminated sugars completely.
"That didn't go well," Brian said. "Within 36 hours, Joe's body began shutting down."
In summer 2013, Joe and his family visited the Cleveland Clinic where he was hooked up to a video EEG and a brain monitor. His parents were required to press a button every time Joe had a seizure – about 200 seizures a day.
Brian said doctors ran some other obscure tests, but still couldn't help Joe.
"We learned that after three failed meds, epilepsy patients have a less than two percent chance of ever finding a medication to control seizures," Brian said. "As a parent, you lose faith in what you're doing. We were bummed out because we didn't know what would come next."
In Aug. 2013, a neurologist even said to the Bennetts, "It bums me out because I don't know what to do."
"That was soul-crushing," Brian said.
Then the Bennetts heard the story of Charlotte Figi, a young Colorado girl who was successfully administered a CBD oil to treat her intractable epilepsy.
Her parents decided to turn to a medical hemp when Charlotte was five and when the doctors knew they couldn't help her.
They got a medical marijuana card for Charlotte and turned to a Denver dispensary for the drug and then had a friend extract the oil. The oil is meant to be taken orally.
The CBD oil dramatically reduced Charlotte's average of more than 300 seizures a day. Her behavior improved, as did her quality of life.
The oil from the particular dispensary Charlotte's family uses, has become known as "Charlotte's Web." The dispensary, Realm of Caring, has expanded to a few other states.
The Bennetts knew right away CBD oil could be the answer for Joe, but it wasn't legal in Indiana.
"One month later, we were in Colorado Springs and rented out my wife's cousin's basement," Brian said. "We established residency."
Joe then started taking CBD oil.
"We saw his seizures get less, then less, then less," Brian said. "We stayed out there as long as we could afford to. Three weeks the first time."
The Bennetts noticed Joe's quality of life improve.
"At school, he had an attention span, which went from nonexistent," Brian said. "We went back (to Colorado) over spring break and his behavior got even better."
Brian said he and his wife have taken Joe to Colorado several times, but their resources have run out, and their true home is in Indiana.
"We had to make a decision on what makes Joe's life better," Brian said. "We decided the best way to move forward is to try to get this legal in Indiana."
Brian said they've seen what hemp oil can do.
In 2013, Joe was seizing constantly, even falling on his head. He wore bicycle helmets to help protect himself. He went through 29 helmets that year.
"But since the (hemp oil) experiment, he doesn't wear a helmet anymore," Brian said. "That, in and of itself, is remarkable."
The family turned to a friend of a friend who has a daughter with intractable epilepsy. That family had worked with Indiana legislators on other projects.
Last fall, Brian met with Rep. Steven Davisson, R-Salem, and showed him the (above) video of Joe and told him what they learned in Colorado.
Other Hoosiers like Brian had also approached Davisson about a medical hemp bill, as well as other legislators.
Davisson filed HB1450 this session, which sought to set up a medical hemp registry within the state through the State Department of Health. He wanted there to be a resource in the state to provide the oil and to control and regulate it.
12 other states have passed laws allowing medical hemp use, with doctors' orders. Davisson wants Indiana to follow suit.
His HB1450 didn't make it out of committee, but many legislators still had an interest in some sort of medical hemp legislation.
"Rep. Don Lehe was interested in working some of my bill into his (industrial hemp bill)," Davisson said.
Part of Davisson's bill was added to Lehe's bill as an amendment.
"We got the Seed Commissioner involved," Davisson said. "We want people to be able to use it (medical hemp) without fear of legal ramifications."
The new bill, HB1181, has already passed a House committee. It passed the full House unanimously, 96-0.
A Senate committee *edit* heard* the bill at 10 a.m. Monday.
Davisson said many specifics still need fleshed out in the bill, such as who would dispense the CBD oil in Indiana.
But, he's optimistic.
"I think it's one of those things that people frown on the politics of it," he said of medical hemp. "If we keep the THC level low and if it does provide them with a better quality of life, then why not?"
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical hemp legislation could be game-changer for epileptic Hoo - 13 WTHR Indianapolis
Author: Olivia Ingle
Contact: Oingle@Wthr.Com
Photo Credit: Brennan Linsley
Website: Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Sports - 13 WTHR Indianapolis
"It would give him a chance to be a little kid and have an education and relationships with people," Bennett said.
Joe has intractable epilepsy, which are seizures that are difficult to control. At one point, the 7-year-old was suffering more than 200 seizures a day.
"This is kind of our last option of hope," Bennett said in a telephone interview.
The hope is in HB1181, a bill that seeks to define industrial hemp in the state.
Industrial hemp comes from part of the cannabis plant, also the source of marijuana. The hemp comes from the stalk of the plant and is used for things like textiles, foods and paper. Marijuana involves smoking the cannabis flower.
The bill seeks to authorize the marketing of industrial hemp in Indiana. It seeks to make industrial hemp exempt from the definition of marijuana.
The part of the bill the Bennetts are interested in "provides that industrial hemp substances are exempt from certain criminal laws when the substances are part of certain medical treatments."
The bill includes a medical hemp that is purposely grown high in cannabidiol (CBD), but low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is the substance that produces the marijuana high.
The particular medical hemp is known as CBD oil.
CBD oil is now legal in 12 states and has been proven to help people with epilepsy, including Joe.
But, Joe and his family had to temporarily move from Walton, Ind. to Colorado to try it out.
Joe first experienced a noticeable seizure in Aug. 2009 when he was 20 months hold.
"I was working in my shop and heard a blood-curdling scream," Brian said. "Kari (Joe's mom) had Joe in her arms. He was limp and flopping around. Just not right."
Joe also stopped breathing for nearly five minutes.
The parents called 911 and Joe was rushed to the hospital, but doctors had no solutions.
Joe had another seizure a few months later and then others that progressively got worse.
"We noticed he was falling, stumbling," Brian said. "He would just drop like a sack of potatoes. That was concerning."
Brian said Joe has taken 15 different anti-seizure medications that have side effects like intoxication and slowed mental development.
Joe was even put on a diet that eliminated sugars completely.
"That didn't go well," Brian said. "Within 36 hours, Joe's body began shutting down."
In summer 2013, Joe and his family visited the Cleveland Clinic where he was hooked up to a video EEG and a brain monitor. His parents were required to press a button every time Joe had a seizure – about 200 seizures a day.
Brian said doctors ran some other obscure tests, but still couldn't help Joe.
"We learned that after three failed meds, epilepsy patients have a less than two percent chance of ever finding a medication to control seizures," Brian said. "As a parent, you lose faith in what you're doing. We were bummed out because we didn't know what would come next."
In Aug. 2013, a neurologist even said to the Bennetts, "It bums me out because I don't know what to do."
"That was soul-crushing," Brian said.
Then the Bennetts heard the story of Charlotte Figi, a young Colorado girl who was successfully administered a CBD oil to treat her intractable epilepsy.
Her parents decided to turn to a medical hemp when Charlotte was five and when the doctors knew they couldn't help her.
They got a medical marijuana card for Charlotte and turned to a Denver dispensary for the drug and then had a friend extract the oil. The oil is meant to be taken orally.
The CBD oil dramatically reduced Charlotte's average of more than 300 seizures a day. Her behavior improved, as did her quality of life.
The oil from the particular dispensary Charlotte's family uses, has become known as "Charlotte's Web." The dispensary, Realm of Caring, has expanded to a few other states.
The Bennetts knew right away CBD oil could be the answer for Joe, but it wasn't legal in Indiana.
"One month later, we were in Colorado Springs and rented out my wife's cousin's basement," Brian said. "We established residency."
Joe then started taking CBD oil.
"We saw his seizures get less, then less, then less," Brian said. "We stayed out there as long as we could afford to. Three weeks the first time."
The Bennetts noticed Joe's quality of life improve.
"At school, he had an attention span, which went from nonexistent," Brian said. "We went back (to Colorado) over spring break and his behavior got even better."
Brian said he and his wife have taken Joe to Colorado several times, but their resources have run out, and their true home is in Indiana.
"We had to make a decision on what makes Joe's life better," Brian said. "We decided the best way to move forward is to try to get this legal in Indiana."
Brian said they've seen what hemp oil can do.
In 2013, Joe was seizing constantly, even falling on his head. He wore bicycle helmets to help protect himself. He went through 29 helmets that year.
"But since the (hemp oil) experiment, he doesn't wear a helmet anymore," Brian said. "That, in and of itself, is remarkable."
The family turned to a friend of a friend who has a daughter with intractable epilepsy. That family had worked with Indiana legislators on other projects.
Last fall, Brian met with Rep. Steven Davisson, R-Salem, and showed him the (above) video of Joe and told him what they learned in Colorado.
Other Hoosiers like Brian had also approached Davisson about a medical hemp bill, as well as other legislators.
Davisson filed HB1450 this session, which sought to set up a medical hemp registry within the state through the State Department of Health. He wanted there to be a resource in the state to provide the oil and to control and regulate it.
12 other states have passed laws allowing medical hemp use, with doctors' orders. Davisson wants Indiana to follow suit.
His HB1450 didn't make it out of committee, but many legislators still had an interest in some sort of medical hemp legislation.
"Rep. Don Lehe was interested in working some of my bill into his (industrial hemp bill)," Davisson said.
Part of Davisson's bill was added to Lehe's bill as an amendment.
"We got the Seed Commissioner involved," Davisson said. "We want people to be able to use it (medical hemp) without fear of legal ramifications."
The new bill, HB1181, has already passed a House committee. It passed the full House unanimously, 96-0.
A Senate committee *edit* heard* the bill at 10 a.m. Monday.
Davisson said many specifics still need fleshed out in the bill, such as who would dispense the CBD oil in Indiana.
But, he's optimistic.
"I think it's one of those things that people frown on the politics of it," he said of medical hemp. "If we keep the THC level low and if it does provide them with a better quality of life, then why not?"
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical hemp legislation could be game-changer for epileptic Hoo - 13 WTHR Indianapolis
Author: Olivia Ingle
Contact: Oingle@Wthr.Com
Photo Credit: Brennan Linsley
Website: Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Sports - 13 WTHR Indianapolis
