That’s Not Small Government
Restricting medical use of CBD oil is wrong
I live in a Red state. Well, it’s actually a pretty Purple state, but it comes across as Red. They talk a lot here about small government, but that’s really just a code word. What they mean by it is that they want to reduce assistance to vulnerable people. Meanwhile, big, intrusive government is quite alive and well in my state, and that’s just how they like it. They like to make people’s personal decisions for them and they like to control people and information.
When I first moved to this state, I’d recently renewed my passport in preparation for an upcoming trip. Then I went to get my new driver’s license. Despite the fact that I had a valid license from my old state, and a valid passport, they required a copy of my social security card, they fingerprinted me, and it was a long and involved process. Frankly, it was much easier to get a Federal document that allows me to travel internationally than it was to get a state one that allows me to drive down my street. So much for small government.
That was annoying, but this makes me absolutely livid!
Last night my son had a seizure. We rushed to give him some CBD (cannabidiol — the non-psychoactive element in cannabis) oil, which is what has kept him seizure-free for the past several months. We got through it, and he only suffered some minor abrasions on his forehead, but we were still dismayed that the protocol that had been working so well, didn’t seem to be doing the trick any longer. He hadn’t had a seizure for 5 months, but in the past several weeks, he’s had three. I went to order some more CBD and discovered that we can no longer get the kind we need in our state — the kind with .03% THC in it. THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, is a crystalline compound that is the main active ingredient of cannabis. THE AVERAGE AMERICAN JOINT CONTAINS 0.3 GRAMS. “A growing body of research suggests that cannabis compounds work with each other to produce synergistic health effects.
This means that while the cannabinoids may be powerful on their own, mixing the two can produce different effects. Some of the therapeutic benefits of CBD may also be amplified by the presence of even a little THC.
And as cannabis physician Dr. Jordan Tishler confirms, the benefits of CBD seem to wear off after a few months unless a little THC is added.”
Sometimes I order for my son on-line and sometimes I just go to the store. The last two months, I’d bought it at the store. They did not inform me that they were no longer allowed to sell the formula that contains THC. Why would they? If so informed, customers like me would just figure out other avenues for obtaining the blend that best meets our health care needs.
For many who have used CBD oil, the newly available treatment has provided relief when all else failed. About two thirds of epilepsy patients will respond to the first or second medicine they are given for epilepsy. But once an epilepsy patient has taken two different medicines without relief, the odds that a third medication will work are less than 1 percent, doctors say. That leaves other options, such as special diets, surgeries, device implementation — or CBD oil.
“This can be really beneficial to patients,” said Michael Watkins, M.D., assistant professor of pediatric neurology with McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Watkins works at the Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic at UTHealth, where about 20 patients have been prescribed CBD oil. He said the stigma associated with taking medicine derived from cannabis is fading.
The stigma may be fading to some degree, but if you live in a place that considers zero tolerance for drugs to be a badge of honor — no matter whether or not those substances have valid and proven therapeutic value, no matter the fact that your rich pals in Big Pharma would like you to help them to keep relatively inexpensive but highly effective natural products away from the public, then access to said medicines may be deemed unacceptable. I think that’s what happened in my state.
My son cannot tolerate conventional seizure medications. CBD oil with .03% THC keeps him safe and healthy. A seizure only lasts about 60 seconds, but it is the longest minute on earth if you are watching someone you love endure it. It’s like watching your child be tortured and being helpless to do anything about it. If he hit his head, or fell down the stairs while having a seizure, he could suffer serious injuries or death. And there’s a readily accessible, properly tested, and responsibly manufactured product that can prevent that. But I’m no longer allowed to legally obtain it — at least not in my Red state.
That’s what “small government” has done for me, and my family.
