Pubdate: Sun, 02 Feb 2014
Source: Daily Citizen, The (Dalton, GA)
Copyright: 2014 Daily Citizen
Contact:  http://daltondailycitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1929
Author: Charles Oliver

MEDICAL MARIJUANA GAINING SUPPORT IN GEORGIA

For the past four months, Sarah Callaway has had to watch as her
daughter Greylynn's body has been wracked by uncontrollable spasms
several times a day.

"They don't hurt her. But they scare her, and she cries. And you can't
do anything for her except comfort her," said Callaway, a Chatsworth
resident. "That's the most frustrating part. I just say to her, 'I'm
sorry I can't do anything for you. I'm sorry.'"

When Greylynn was born six months ago, doctors diagnosed her with a
brain malformation and gave her only weeks to live. She survived, but
her condition has left her with a form of epilepsy called infantile
spasms. She's currently on two different anti-seizure medications, one
of which could possibly leave her blind. But they only control the
spasms. They don't stop them.

Sarah Callaway and her relatives have researched the issue and talked
to other parents of children with seizure disorders, and she said she
has found that some children have seen dramatic improvements when
treated with cannabis oil.

"It has been known to help babies with what my daughter has," she
said.

Cannabis oil is sometimes referred to as a form of medical marijuana.
But Callaway said that calling it medical marijuana might give people
the wrong impression of how it works, since the oil is very low in THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol), the compound that gets people high.

"It doesn't make you high. But it stops the seizures, and it would
help her have the best quality of life she can. These children deserve
that. Why would you not do something that would help them have a
better quality of life?" she said.

Cannabis oil, like most other products from the cannabis plant, is
currently illegal in Georgia. But last week, state Rep. Allen Peake,
R-Macon, introduced a bill that would allow the state's medical
colleges to dispense the oil to those with seizure disorders. Some 80
of the 180 members of the state House of Representatives have already
signed onto the bill. Among them is state Rep. John Meadows,
R-Calhoun, chairman of the powerful Rules Committee.

"As a parent, I know that I would do anything that I could to stop my
child from suffering," Meadows said.

Meadows said many lawmakers understand that feeling and that's why
this issue has emerged so quickly. He said it has also helped that
Peake tailored the bill so narrowly, allaying any fears that
legalizing medical marijuana could increase recreational use.

"We aren't talking about rolling a joint and smoking it. We aren't
talking about marijuana stores in every city," he said.

Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, has also signed onto the
bill.

"If you've read the emails we have gotten from parents who have
children with seizure disorders that this can treat, I couldn't
understand how you wouldn't be in favor of it," Dickson said. "The
bill has been very carefully crafted so it won't increase recreational
use of marijuana. It deals only with a derivative with a very high
medicinal value. It doesn't provide access to any kind of smokable
marijuana. It won't create any marijuana stores."

Dalton resident Sheli Gillley has been staying with her daughter Zoe
in an Atlanta hospital for the past three weeks, but that hasn't
stopped her from contacting lawmakers and urging them to support
Peake's bill.

Zoe, 7, suffers from a mitochondrial disease as well as Lennox-Gastaut
syndrome, both of which cause seizures. She's currently being treated
with three different seizure medicines as well as an implant and a
special diet.

"But we still have multiple seizures daily," Gillley said. "Yesterday,
we had about 20."

While Zoe has not been treated with cannabis oil, Gillley said she has
talked to the mother of one girl who has.

"They are seeing astounding results," she said. "They went from having
400 (seizures) a week to one a month. She says she hasn't heard of one
case where there hasn't been a dramatic reduction in seizures.
Sometimes, they have stopped completely. Plus they are able to come
off their medications. That has such an improvement on their cognitive
functions. They are basically coming out of a fog."

Doctors back measure

Parents have been joined by many doctors in supporting Peake's bill.
In fact, the Medical Association of Georgia backs the bill.

"We've heard some very compelling testimony from physicians who have
had success in treating children with severe seizures with (cannabis
oil)," said Dalton family practice physician John Antalis, a past
president of the medical association. "This has allowed those children
to get off some very toxic seizure medications."

Antalis said the medical association does not support the sort of
broad legalization of marijuana that many other states have enacted,
which some fear could lead to an increase in recreational use.

"They are in favor of a very limited, monitored program," he said. "It
will be regulated and studied through a university system and that
people can acquire it only through one of these programs."

State Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton, said that the support of the
medical community is important if the bill is to pass.

"For me personally, and I believe for the Senate, we want to hear what
doctors say," he said. "From what I have been told, this is something
that is approved by the (federal Food and Drug Administration). But if
there's a consensus among doctors that this is something that could
help patients, we should give it consideration."

Antalis notes that medical marijuana has actually been legal in
Georgia since the early 1980s. That's when a state law created a
process that would allow patients to apply to join studies on the use
of marijuana to treat glaucoma and cancer. But that law counted on the
federal government to provide that marijuana. It did not, and the
board that oversees that program has been inactive for most of the
past two decades. Peake's bill would expand that program to seizure
disorders.

Peake has said he believes the state can acquire cannabis oil from
dealers in states such as Colorado, which have legalized marijuana for
medicinal and recreational use.

State Rep. Bruce Broadrick, R-Dalton, said he has questions about
whether the state can acquire cannabis oil.

"I've told Allen that I share his passion. I'm generally supportive of
his proposal. With these kids with these types of seizures, we are
very limited in what we can do for them," said Broadrick, a
pharmacist. "But I still have a lot of questions about logistics as
far as acquiring the product and bringing it into the state, what
confidence we have in the people producing it, how it's going to be
standardized, how it's going to be prescribed, how it's going to be
distributed."

Lawmakers will probably work out some of those questions as the bill
makes its way through the General Assembly. Others they may leave to
the state medical board if the bill passes.

Sarah Callaway said she believes that if lawmakers look into cannabis
oil and the promise it holds they will approve the bill.

"I wish that every representative in the state would come and spend a
day with one of these children and see what they go through," she said.
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