cannabisnews.com: Youth on Marijuana Pills Needs Fewer





Youth on Marijuana Pills Needs Fewer
Posted by CN Staff on June 01, 2002 at 10:39:21 PT
By Megan Marshack, Staff Writer 
Source: Mountain Democrat 
The mother of the previously violent 8-year-old boy now using marijuana as a medical aid to ameliorate his rages is sweet-voiced and articulate in a telephone interview. She emphasizes her son's use of cannabis, recommended by a physician, comes after years of trial and failure of conventional psychotropic medications, diet, holistic medicine, behavior modification and other therapies.The mother, who is not being named for reasons of confidentiality, says she was working at the Rocklin school district as a teacher's aide when students in her class investigated the pros and cons of medical marijuana under Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, approved by state voters in 1996.
In helping her students do research, she "stumbled on the idea" of a way to help her son."They knew he was in a residential home," she says. "Yeah," she quotes the students, "You've got to do this."The boy had failed at placement at a special education school for conduct disorder and emotionally-disturbed children.The mother quit her job in February 2001 and was being paid by Placer County for taking care of her son, along with social service workers, around the clock."By May 15, he was out of control. It was a horrible nightmare," she said."I'm not about breaking laws, I wanted to do the best for my child," she said.The boy was facing a lock-down type of psychiatric placement.She consulted the director of Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana and an Oakland pediatrician who also had experience in the use of medical marijuana.The doctor said, "What do you have to lose? It's far less toxic than any medication," according to the mother.She said her son is the first documented case study for children using cannabis medicinally.Initially, the boy ate portions of muffins that had been prepared with marijuana."Within half an hour, actually 35 minutes, of the first dose, it was a miracle," she said.But the boy couldn't stand the taste, even when dressed up with whipped cream or sprinkles or other treats.So the boy's mother and grandmother began to pack his daily doses of marijuana in capsules."Another pill was nothing," the mother says after the boy's history of medication."We grind up the marijuana in a coffee grinder, sift it, put it on the skillet for an hour with butter and water to cook it, then we spread it out in a big lasagna type pan and bake it in the oven to dry it back out to a powder so that we can put it into capsules," according to the mother's Web site."Each pill contains 0.36 gram of marijuana," the mother said.Up until his first anniversary on the medication, the boy took three of them in the morning, two at 1 p.m. and three in the evening before bed, the mother said. That's a total of 2.88 grams per day. There are 28.5 grams to an ounce."Now he's down to one capsule before bed," the mother said.When the mother remarried and moved to El Dorado County, her son's new school had to tell her they could not medicate the boy during the school day. She had to drive 26 miles round trip to deliver the boy's capsules which had to be administered off campus.School staff did not meet the criteria to possess and dispense marijuana as primary caregivers under Prop. 215. State law forbids dispensing medication without a prescription. Physicians can only "recommend" marijuana -- not formally prescribe it. And, of course, marijuana remains illegal under federal law.The Oakland physician who first recommended the marijuana comes to El Dorado County to examine the boy. But the mother wants to find a local pediatrician for regular medical checkups and emergencies.The breakthrough day was May 21, 2001, a year ago. In the first six weeks, the mother said, "He's sleeping, no violence, no different than a normal kid."At 9 months old the child had "uncontrollable fits, rage, tantrums," the mother said.Later he was compulsive about food on his plate and his mother had to have plastic dishes because the boy would destroy them. Washing up could take from three to four hours."He couldn't get them clean enough," she said.In 1997 through 1998 the boy did not sleep more than two hours a night, she said, keeping her awake to watch him as well.In 1999, the boy had three separate admissions to a psychiatric hospital."The doctor said she sanctioned no more medications, because they did not help him," the mother said.She says the boy consistently hit, bit and kicked her.A sadly typical story happened on Mother's Day, 1999."I had taken (the boy) to church right down the street. He was horrible. I went to the grocery store because I wanted to bake something for myself and I had to do a take-down in the store. The shopping cart went over and he took a big chunk out of my hand," she said.This year on Mother's Day, she said the boy was grounded, but just "for 8-year-old stuff, for sassing. There's no violence in our home."The mother said her blended family is very supportive of the marijuana treatment."We all know some day it might quit working. We just live day to day," she said.As far as marijuana's illegality under federal law she said she would ask officials, "What would you do with him? He's living life. He's not a drugged-out child. What would you do with him?"Source: Mountain Democrat (CA)Author: Megan Marshack, Staff Writer Published: May 31, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Mountain Democrat Contact: mtdemo mtdemocrat.comWebsite: http://www.mtdemocrat.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmMarijuana Therapy For An 8-Year-Oldhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13026.shtmlIs It A Crime? - 48 Hours http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12170.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by paul peterson on June 03, 2002 at 14:54:02 PT:
 WHAT THE COOKING DO
MOM IS USING ALCHEMY TO CHANGE THE POT INTO A PILL. BY COOKING IN A SKILLET FOR AN HOUR, SHE IS SELECTIVELY "ACTIVATING" THE THC, and then baking until powder, is evaporating the THC out of the medicine. Let's call this anonymous kid "Jeff", is therefore getting a pill that is more cannabinoid than THC, which is why it works so effectively for him, as (I am going to surmise) that the type of ADD "Jeff" has is RBS (racing brain syndrome), which Oregon is considering allowing marijuana to be used to treat. The best evidence is that the cannabinoids are much more effective than the THC for treating all of his symptoms, including the OCD. The baking is genius, and somewhat how bong heads selectively filter out the THC (don't get as high, but we're really here for the anxiety abatement-without the weird loss of ability to keep your straight).After a full year of therapy, it is not surprising that Jeff can take less pills at night to maintain his improvements. Much of his total inability to function was from years of loss of self-esteem. Once he sees himself engaged in success (and a blended family will certainly help him to keep hope of normalcy), he will require less of a maintanence dose. Yes mom, this will continue to help him without "fatigue" of the effects, since cannabis is the best darned medicine possible-there is no "excitotoxicity" like with Ritalin, in fact, cannabis has been shown to save brain cells from those harsher chemicals. The RBS (if he has that), can also be treated with Dextrostat, which will reduce the total amount of cannabis he needs to take.My advice? Since cannabis is so darned expensive in this war zone world, grow your own, and use the broad leaves (less THC). Home grown, of course, smokes bad, but you don't need the smokeable form anyway. Get some grower to selectively cull all of the broad leaves from his crop for your product-(He will be happy to charge you less, for what he believes is the inferior portion-He will sell the buds for much more of a profit if the broad leaves are gone, etc.). In time, with Jeff's outlook improved from years of good reinforcement from success, I'll bet he'll need less and less. For now? If you could have him take some stimulant during the day at school, the fat soluable cannabinoids will allow for good behavior control, and he can dose all that he needs of your special medicine at night (just guessing, of course).And call me in the morning. Best wishes. Good Story.  
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Comment #3 posted by Industrial Strength on June 02, 2002 at 19:34:45 PT
really makes you think...
Now, I don't want to be a melodramatic cliche, but it would appear that this mere plant is some kind of wonder drug. It's just a plant! You put a seed in the ground and it grows. What's wrong with the world?
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 01, 2002 at 21:39:01 PT
County Adopts Guidelines on Medicinal Pot
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/cg.htm
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on June 01, 2002 at 11:16:58 PT
This offers hope for so many children and parents!
Once they quit focusing on the particulars of this case, maybe they could grind up some marijuana and try giving it to the other disturbed children who have to be institutionalized because something is wrong with them that nobody knows how to fix.
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