Pubdate: Tue, 15 Feb 2005
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2005 Independent Media Institute
Contact:  http://www.alternet.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1451
Author: Ellen Komp
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/wamm (WAMM Raid)

JOURNYS WITH JEFFREY

Jeffrey's Journey (http://www.jeffreysjourney.com) (Quick American
Press) is a remarkable story of a mother's struggle to treat her young
son's medical condition. A conservative Christian who enlisted in the
U.S. Navy and planned to study medicine, author Debbie Jeffries
instead met her future husband in boot camp and soon gave birth to her
son, Jeffrey. Before his first birthday, Jeffrey started to exhibit
behavioral problems, which escalated into severe ADHD (Attention
Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder) coupled with obsessive/compulsive
behaviors and violent tendencies.

A bright and charming boy when not in one of his rages, Jeffrey was
diagnosed with a heartbreaking number of disorders. Doctors tried
treating him with at least 16 different prescription drugs, everything
from Ritalin and antidepressants to drugs prescribed for adult
schizophrenia and epilepsy. None seemed to help and many worsened
Jeffrey's condition or had serious side effects. He was
institutionalized three times and nearly suffered a fatal overdose of
drugs.

When Jeffrey was seven, Debbie's life changed when she heard a student
debate about medical marijuana at a school where she worked.

"Up until then, I'd been completely in the dark about the subject. I
had never used marijuana; I didn't know anyone who did (or so I
thought); and my family and I were conservative Christians who had
voted against Proposition 215, which passed in 1996, legalizing
marijuana for medical use in the state of California. . . . Any
exposure we'd had to marijuana was what we'd gotten from the
mainstream media. Our general view was that 'pot,' 'dope,' 'grass' -
whatever you wanted to call it - was part of a counterculture movement
that didn't have much value."

Debbie was amazed to learn that marijuana has been used to treat
mental disorders, dating back to ancient times. When she had exhausted
other options and was given a 30-day deadline to find a new school or
send Jeffrey to an out-of-state residential program, she stepped up
her research.

Jeffries found that, under Proposition 215, her son could legally use
marijuana in California if recommended by a physician. She launched an
exhaustive internet search and found WAMM, the Wo/Men's Alliance for
Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, which connected her with Dr. Mike
Alcalay in Oakland. After extensive evaluation, an experimental
treatment plan was recommended for Jeffrey. I

"On May 21, 2001, with nine days left before I would almost certainly
lose him, Jeffrey had his first dose of medical marijuana, baked into
a muffin provided by WAMM. He was seven and a half years old. In some
ways, I've felt like that was the first day of Jeff's life. ... It was
a 45-minute trip to his school during rush hour traffic. I merged into
the right lane to exit the freeway, and as I entered the city streets,
I felt something strange happen between our clasped hands. Jeffrey's
grip, always tense and restless, suddenly just loosened. It startled
me - usually he clutched my fingers. I glanced over at him, and he was
smiling. He said calmly, 'Mommy, I feel happy, not mad. And my head
doesn't feel noisy.' . . . Within half an hour of ingesting that first
piece of muffin, I had a new child. I didn't know whether to keep on
driving or pull over and cry."

Jeffrey's teacher sent home a note from school that day that began,
"It was wonderful!" The teacher reported he had shown no aggression,
and that he had been very compliant and responsive to
redirection.

Jeffrey continued using marijuana for the next several months. The
book relates how the family managed to standardize a dosage of the
sativa/indica mixture, cooking it on baking sheets and packing it into
pills he could swallow after he objected to the taste of his muffins.
Debbie's mother, who initially was strongly opposed to the idea of
medical marijuana, came to embrace her role as the "Pill Packin'
Grandma" after witnessing the remarkable change in her grandson.

"Six months later, my eight-year-old son wasn't angry at the world,"
Debbie writes. Soon she had "the mother/son relationship I had dreamed
of."

Jeffrey had been overweight (a side effect of his previous
medications) before beginning marijuana therapy and as an interesting
effect of his new regimen, he ate less until he returned to his normal
weight. "The change in Jeffrey was phenomenal," wrote Debbie. "He had
more energy and he was enjoying himself." The county school that had
given Debbie a 30-day ultimatum was now expecting to be able to
mainstream Jeffrey in a year or two.

Although Jeff still showed anger and defiance at times, and he lacked
certain social skills, the issues were finally being addressed and
real progress was made. When he had to be taken off marijuana - such
as when he was hospitalized for a tonsillectomy - Jeffrey's bad
behaviors would escalate rapidly. Within an hour of re-administration
of marijuana, the symptoms would subside. "It seemed to all of us that
Jeff was learning how to really think about his problems for the first
time. He was becoming introspective," Debbie wrote.

Debbie received a surprising (to her) outpouring of support and
understanding from her friends, church members, even her pastor.
However, after only a month and a half of the new therapy, someone
reported her to Child Protective Services and a court battle began,
culminating in a trial in July 2001. That December, in a landmark
ruling, the case was dismissed and the headlines read, "Mom Keeps Son
on Marijuana Regimen."

After "48 Hours" ran a story on Jeffrey's case in March 2002, 88
percent of viewers who called in voted for allowing Jeffrey to use
marijuana. Over the following weeks, Debbie received numerous phone
calls and emails from across the country from parents in similar
predicaments. Other parents (http://www.autism.org/marijuana.html) had
also had success treating autistic and aggressive behaviors in their
children with Marinol or marijuana.

Debbie's battle wasn't over. She remarried and relocated, and
Jeffrey's new school district claimed they would be in danger of
losing federal funding if his meds were administered on campus. She
was able to overcome the obstacle by driving to his school at
lunchtime and giving him his medicine herself.

Then, in September 2002, the DEA raided WAMM and destroyed the crop
that belonged to its 250 member/patients. This cut off the only source
of medicine for Jeffrey, who received his medicine free of charge from
WAMM. He gained 20 pounds in a matter of months and the extra weight
added strength to his violent episodes. A second formula was tried,
but it only worked for a few weeks.

Again, Debbie was in a race against time. Doctors told her if
Jeffrey's problems weren't brought under control by the time he
reached puberty, they could be unsolvable. As the book closes, she has
tearfully chosen to send Jeffrey to a ranch in Utah for troubled boys.
Angry at her government, but with characteristic courage, she is
hopeful the time Jeffrey had with marijuana therapy will help him get
through the next stage of his life.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin