Medical Marijuana for Minors
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Why I Endorse Medical Marijuana for Minors
Imagine you are 15 years old, a teenage guy in the prime of your life. You're on the freshman football team (you've played since you were in sixth grade). You can skateboard, run around in paintball tournaments, wrestle with your friends. A typical teenage guy... Until one night someone tries to beat a yellow light, you aren't in the crosswalk, and life goes sideways.
You lost three days of your life. Thank god, because I would never want you to remember the pain you suffered. I wouldn't want you to remember being hit so hard you were thrown over 30 feet.. hit so hard you were knocked out of one of your shoes. Your right femur was snapped, your left knee was dislocated so badly it lay at a right angle.
After three surgeries in two days, the trauma surgeon tells me you will never play football again. You have severe drop foot from nerve damage, and may need to wear a brace the rest of your life. You will develop arthritis in both your knees and are guaranteed more surgeries over the course of your lifetime.
You have your bad... well, they are both bad... You have the most damaged knee reconstructed. You develop more scar tissue. The doctor gives you prescription pain medication, and it doesn't help. He prescribes something stronger... It doesn't help. Your knees swell and you have to wear special cold wraps at night... It doesn't help. Our family doctor prescribe a sleeping pill... It doesn't help. You try marijuana, (realistically, you probably didn't try it for the pain, and you waited quite a while to tell me), and you discover... it helps.
You are my son, and I would give anything so we could go back in time... So we could stop that truck, or have you for once listen when I tell you to be careful at night, and don't wear all black... To stay in the crosswalks. To look up while you are walking... We can't go back in time. We can look forward, and you can try and make the best of your life that you can. If marijuana helps you live a better life, I support your decision.
You lost three days of your life. Thank god, because I would never want you to remember the pain you suffered. I wouldn't want you to remember being hit so hard you were thrown over 30 feet.. hit so hard you were knocked out of one of your shoes. Your right femur was snapped, your left knee was dislocated so badly it lay at a right angle.
After three surgeries in two days, the trauma surgeon tells me you will never play football again. You have severe drop foot from nerve damage, and may need to wear a brace the rest of your life. You will develop arthritis in both your knees and are guaranteed more surgeries over the course of your lifetime.
You have your bad... well, they are both bad... You have the most damaged knee reconstructed. You develop more scar tissue. The doctor gives you prescription pain medication, and it doesn't help. He prescribes something stronger... It doesn't help. Your knees swell and you have to wear special cold wraps at night... It doesn't help. Our family doctor prescribe a sleeping pill... It doesn't help. You try marijuana, (realistically, you probably didn't try it for the pain, and you waited quite a while to tell me), and you discover... it helps.
You are my son, and I would give anything so we could go back in time... So we could stop that truck, or have you for once listen when I tell you to be careful at night, and don't wear all black... To stay in the crosswalks. To look up while you are walking... We can't go back in time. We can look forward, and you can try and make the best of your life that you can. If marijuana helps you live a better life, I support your decision.
I am not a medical professional.
I do not know all the answers about the medical marijuana debate. I am just a mom with a kid who is in a lot of pain. There is no perfect cure for pain. However, I have done my homework, and believe that cannabis is the best option available for my son to treat his chronic pain. Before you choose any course of medical treatment, do your homework, seek medical advice from doctors who are familiar with your case, ask lots of questions, and do what you think is best.
Medical Marijauna... For My Kid?
Walk in his shoes and understand why.
Update: Our family doctor has filled out the paperwork, so next week I will take it down to our county health services department and submit it. I was really pleased that our doctor was supportive. Of course, she has seen the aftermath of his accident and knows that no one can go through something like that and not have lifelong problems. So far, the county has called to say they have everything ready on their end, and will call me to let me know what I need. It is a slow process, since most county Medical Marijuana Program Offices are open for very limited hours during the week. FYI: If your child is on medi-cal or medicaid, the county will reduce your application fees by 50%. If you would like to learn more about our experience applying for Medical Marijuana, or d get more information about the formal process, please visit my Squidoo Lens on How to Apply for A Medical Marijuana ID Card.
What does this have to do with medical marijuana? With teenagers? Simply this. I have a child who smokes marijuana. He doesn't smoke it every day, and he smokes it for a specific purpose. My son suffers from chronic pain. During his freshman year he was hit by a truck while crossing the street. The impact was so hard that he was thrown nearly 30 feet. If you ever wondered if someone could actually be knocked out of their shoes... it's true. He suffered a broken right femur which required a titanium rod, his left knee was completely dislocated, with torn ACL, PCL and lateral collateral ligaments. He also suffered 2 breaks on his left arm. During the first surgery on his left knee, the ligaments and tendons were so shredded that the doctor was unable to identify some of the knee anatomy. The top of his fibula, which connects the lateral collateral ligaments to the femur, was shattered so badly that it was like a cracked safety glass, just pieces. The doctor basically had to take the remnant of the ligaments and tack them down with sutures because there was no bone to pin them to. My son had reconstructive surgery last year on this knee, using a donated Achilles tendon (officially named Hector) to replace his ligaments because they were too badly damaged. He needs another surgery this year. to remove a screw from his right knee because it is digging into scar tissue. He has nerve damage in his left foot, and has a constant burning type sensation and sensitivity.
After the accident, and after the reconstructive surgery, my son was prescribed pain medication such as Vicodin. It never helped enough with the pain, and he quickly developed a tolerance for the medication. He stopped taking it because it simply didn't help. I bought special gel wraps for his knees, so he could ice them every night. We tried Valium to help him sleep, but his knees ached so bad at night he would just lay there for hours. Any type of activity, whether it is bicycling, walking more than a block or so, bending... it all hurts. My son began using marijuana long before I became aware of it, and at first I was so opposed to it. However, as time goes on and I see how it is able to help lessen the pain, and enables him to lead a more active, normal teenage life... I am all for it. I never want him to become a habitual user. When he spends the weekend away from home nerding out at his friends house (video games are the one teenage thing he can still do), he will come home in varying degrees of pain depending on what they did, or how many times he had to go up and down the stairs. He will go outside and smoke a little, then come in a throw on the gel packs for the evening. It helps him function the next day.
My son has lost so many things. He lost football, skateboarding and paintball. Sometimes, he spends days on end at home recovering, just because he did a normal teenage activity like going to the lake. I want him to enjoy his life as free of pain as he can, and that is why I choose to let my son smoke marijuana. When we see his surgeon for his next surgery, I will be applying for a cannabis card for my son.
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What does this have to do with medical marijuana? With teenagers? Simply this. I have a child who smokes marijuana. He doesn't smoke it every day, and he smokes it for a specific purpose. My son suffers from chronic pain. During his freshman year he was hit by a truck while crossing the street. The impact was so hard that he was thrown nearly 30 feet. If you ever wondered if someone could actually be knocked out of their shoes... it's true. He suffered a broken right femur which required a titanium rod, his left knee was completely dislocated, with torn ACL, PCL and lateral collateral ligaments. He also suffered 2 breaks on his left arm. During the first surgery on his left knee, the ligaments and tendons were so shredded that the doctor was unable to identify some of the knee anatomy. The top of his fibula, which connects the lateral collateral ligaments to the femur, was shattered so badly that it was like a cracked safety glass, just pieces. The doctor basically had to take the remnant of the ligaments and tack them down with sutures because there was no bone to pin them to. My son had reconstructive surgery last year on this knee, using a donated Achilles tendon (officially named Hector) to replace his ligaments because they were too badly damaged. He needs another surgery this year. to remove a screw from his right knee because it is digging into scar tissue. He has nerve damage in his left foot, and has a constant burning type sensation and sensitivity.
After the accident, and after the reconstructive surgery, my son was prescribed pain medication such as Vicodin. It never helped enough with the pain, and he quickly developed a tolerance for the medication. He stopped taking it because it simply didn't help. I bought special gel wraps for his knees, so he could ice them every night. We tried Valium to help him sleep, but his knees ached so bad at night he would just lay there for hours. Any type of activity, whether it is bicycling, walking more than a block or so, bending... it all hurts. My son began using marijuana long before I became aware of it, and at first I was so opposed to it. However, as time goes on and I see how it is able to help lessen the pain, and enables him to lead a more active, normal teenage life... I am all for it. I never want him to become a habitual user. When he spends the weekend away from home nerding out at his friends house (video games are the one teenage thing he can still do), he will come home in varying degrees of pain depending on what they did, or how many times he had to go up and down the stairs. He will go outside and smoke a little, then come in a throw on the gel packs for the evening. It helps him function the next day.
My son has lost so many things. He lost football, skateboarding and paintball. Sometimes, he spends days on end at home recovering, just because he did a normal teenage activity like going to the lake. I want him to enjoy his life as free of pain as he can, and that is why I choose to let my son smoke marijuana. When we see his surgeon for his next surgery, I will be applying for a cannabis card for my son.
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Important!
If You Take Only One Thing From This Topic...
Let it be that the most important thing to do with a child's medical issue is to educate yourself. Put aside your preconceptions, don't worry about what the family may say (trust me... no matter what choices you make, someone is going to disagree). Put the well being of your child first and trust your instincts.
Why Children Should Not Be Denied The Use of Medical Marijuana
An Article from The Medical Science Monitor
In June, 2003, The Medical Science Monitor published an article titled "Medical marijuana: should minors have the same rights as adults? by Peter A. Clark of Jesuit Community St. Joseph's University Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S.A.
Below is an abstract from this article, which in it's full version cites many government studies about both the benefits and medical risks associated with medical marijuana use. To download a copy of the complete article, please visit: The Medical Science Monitor
Summary
After reviewing the pertinent scientific data, it is clear that there is more than sufficient medical and ethical evidence to warrant the Bush Administration to authorize the Drug Enforcement Agency to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug so that it can be used for medical purposes. Failure to give an effective therapy to seriously ill patients, either adults or children, violates the core principles of both medicine and ethics. Medically, to deny physicians the right to prescribe to their patients a therapy that relieves pain and suffering violates the physician-patient relationship. Ethically, failure to offer an available therapy that has proven to be effective violates the basic ethical principle of nonmaleficence, which prohibits the infliction of harm, injury, or death and is related to the maxim primum non nocere ('above all, or first, do no harm'), which is widely used to describe the duties of a physician. Therefore, in the patient's best interest, patients and parents/surrogates, have the right to request medical marijuana under certain circumstances and physicians have the duty to disclose medical marijuana as an option and prescribe it when appropriate. The right to an effective medical therapy, whose benefits clearly outweigh the burdens, must be available to all patients including children. To deny children the use of medical marijuana when appropriate is a grave injustice which violates the basic foundational beliefs of both medicine and ethics.
Below is an abstract from this article, which in it's full version cites many government studies about both the benefits and medical risks associated with medical marijuana use. To download a copy of the complete article, please visit: The Medical Science Monitor
Summary
After reviewing the pertinent scientific data, it is clear that there is more than sufficient medical and ethical evidence to warrant the Bush Administration to authorize the Drug Enforcement Agency to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug so that it can be used for medical purposes. Failure to give an effective therapy to seriously ill patients, either adults or children, violates the core principles of both medicine and ethics. Medically, to deny physicians the right to prescribe to their patients a therapy that relieves pain and suffering violates the physician-patient relationship. Ethically, failure to offer an available therapy that has proven to be effective violates the basic ethical principle of nonmaleficence, which prohibits the infliction of harm, injury, or death and is related to the maxim primum non nocere ('above all, or first, do no harm'), which is widely used to describe the duties of a physician. Therefore, in the patient's best interest, patients and parents/surrogates, have the right to request medical marijuana under certain circumstances and physicians have the duty to disclose medical marijuana as an option and prescribe it when appropriate. The right to an effective medical therapy, whose benefits clearly outweigh the burdens, must be available to all patients including children. To deny children the use of medical marijuana when appropriate is a grave injustice which violates the basic foundational beliefs of both medicine and ethics.
Stuff about Medical Marijuana and Homeopathic Medicine!
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Find Out More About The Medical Marijuana Debte
These are pages I have found useful while researching medical marijuana as a resource for my child.
- Study Confirms Medical Marijuana Pain Relief
- April 17, 2008
DAVIS, CALIFORNIA - A clinical trial conducted at the University of California at Davis and just published online by the Journal of Pain has demonstrated significant relief of neuropathic pain (pain caused by damage to nerves) stemming from a variety of causes. This is the second study in just over a year to show that marijuana relieves neuropathic pain, which is notoriously resistant to treatment with conventional pain drugs, including opioid narcotics. A UC San Francisco study published last year showed relief of HIV/AIDS-related neuropathy. - Drug Policy Alliance Network
- An excerpt from the article:
Medical marijuana has strong support from voters and health organizations. The federal government, however, has resisted any change to marijuana's illegal status at the federal level. The Supreme Court ruled in 2005 in Raich v. Gonzales that the federal government can prosecute medical marijuana patients, even in states with compassionate use laws, and several medical marijuana dispensaries in California have since been subject to Drug Enforcement Administration raids.
however...
In 1978, the federal government was forced to allow some patients access to medical marijuana after a "medical necessity" defense was recognized in court, creating the Investigational New Drug (IND) compassionate access program. The IND, which allowed some patients to receive medical marijuana from the government, was closed to new patients in 1992 after it was flooded by applications from AIDS patients. Today, seven surviving patients still receive medical marijuana from the federal government. - Deaths from Marijuana v. 17 FDA-Approved Drugs
- Much of the medical marijuana discussion has focused on the safety of marijuana compared to the safety of FDA-approved drugs. On June 24, 2005 ProCon.org sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to find the number of deaths caused by marijuana compared to the number of deaths caused by 17 FDA-approved drugs. Twelve of these FDA-approved drugs were chosen because they are commonly prescribed in place of medical marijuana, while the remaining five FDA-approved drugs were randomly selected because they are widely used and recognized by the general public.
We chose Jan. 1, 1997 as our starting date as it is the beginning of the first year following the Nov. 1996 approval of the first state medical marijuana laws (such as California's Proposition 215). The FDA reports we read from Sep. 13, 2005 to Oct. 14, 2005 included drug deaths "to present", which was the date each report was compiled for our request. We cut off the counting as of June 30, 2005 to provide a uniform end-date to the various reports.
On Aug. 25, 2005 the FDA sent us 12 CDs and five printed reports containing copies of their Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) report on each drug requested. These reports included all adverse events reported to the FDA, only a portion of which included deaths. We manually counted the number of deaths reported on each drug from the FDA-supplied information.
A review of the FDA Adverse Events reports also revealed some deaths where marijuana was at least a concomitant drug (a drug also used at the time of death) in some cases. On Oct. 14, 2005 we used the Freedom of Information Act to request a copy of the adverse events reported deaths for marijuana/cannabis. We received those reports on Aug. 3, 2006 in the form of three additional CDs.
Let's Heat Up the Medical Marijuana Debate
Should parents consider marijuana as an alternative medicine?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes, all avenues should be looked into for the best interests of the child.
GoodMarijuana says:
Most definitely! As long as the child is responsible and the intake is monitored like every other controlled medicine should be administered to a minor.
Posted December 08, 2011
jeff says:
Absolutely especially if it is the final alternative. It has also been used as medicine for over one thousand years yes it also has been abused over time but we should educate our children on why it should be used as a medicine. Even if it is not the final alternative it still is a great option because marijuana helps people with Arthritis, Appetite Loss, Nausea, Cancer Chemotherapy, AIDS Wasting Syndrome and much muc
Posted April 03, 2011
Eliza says:
I'm 15 years old. I've had undiagnosed chronic pain for over a year. I am always in pain. I missed a full semester of school because of my pain. And let me tell you, the over the counter pain meds don't do anything not ibuprofen, not acetaminophen, not naproxen sodium. And the prescriptions make me either vomit or pass out or both. I throw up at least once a week if not more. I am nausea every single day. I've had anti-depressants, tranquilizers, migraine medicines, sleeping pills, blood pressure medication, and lots of other pills. Nothing has helped. And I'm not getting better. Why should I not be allowed to get a prescription that could stop my pain? What makes marijuana worse for me than morphine, a highly addictive dangerous drug that no nurse or doctor has ever had a second thought about giving me. So what makes marijuana bad? What? That I might not hate it every minute that I'm taking it? To conclude, though I haven't tried the option. I do think it's worth a shot.
Posted May 08, 2010
jpwriter says:
Absolutely. They are prescribed every other pain medicine that destroys their young body, but marijuana has not been shown to have these devastating effects. Pain pills are not as effective for some people or even a combination of MMJ and lowering the strength or currently used pills is advantageous.
Posted February 20, 2010
Dizzle says:
Please, support I-1068 to remove all penalties for possession, cultivation, and sale of marijuana in Washington State. We need 241,153 valid voter signatures by July 2, 2010
Sensible Washington
http://sensiblewashington.org/
Posted February 12, 2010
No!. Allowing your child to use marijuana is just giving them an excuse to abuse drugs.
sarahwbaumbach says:
Marijuana has been abused. If this will be continued, then expect more drug exploitations, abuse etc.
Nice lens,
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Posted April 15, 2011
HeartyCindy says:
it's been used already ages ago as a dru and its been abused.
Posted August 31, 2009
Don't Miss Out! Check Out Whats New On Squidoo
Mythbuster 1: You can get a prescription for medical marijuana
False. Medical Marijuana is defied as a Schedule 1 drug, the same class as LSD, Methamphetamine, etc. It is therefore illegal to prescribe this drug. However, if you have a qualifying condition, your doctor may recommend medical marijuana as being an appropriate form of treatmen
Sites Related To Medical Marijuana
- Taking the Law Too Far?
- Reason TV has a story about Owen Beck, a 17-year-old high school kid from California who got bone cancer and had to get his leg amputated. The medicine Owen was taking was making him very sick and and lost a lot of weight, so his parents decided to try medical marijuana. The marijuana greatly helped Owen, easing his pain and nausea.
The owner of the dispensary, Charlie Lynch, often gave the marijuana to Owen without charging his parents. But the local Sheriff (who doesn't like the fact that medical marijuana is legal in his town and the state of California) called the DEA. They raided the dispensary and arrested Lynch. He's now under house arrest, attached to an extension cord for 2 hours a day, and is facing 100 years in prison. - Pot Parents: Smoking's Better Than Drinking!
- Gina Kaysen Fernandes: Alcohol and marijuana are the two most popular -- and easily accessible -- substances on college campuses, but they're not treated the same under the law. Possessing pot can land you in jail, but drinking too much at a keg party can kill you. "This highlights the absurdity in how we treat these two substances," said Mason Tvert, the co-founder and executive director of the group Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, or SAFER. Mason has made it his personal mission to debunk the government's anti-marijuana message. "The fact that we have students drinking themselves to death made us realize we had to start some awareness on college campuses," says Mason.
Comments: The good, the bad, and the ugly
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Rob
May 29, 2011 @ 10:42 pm | delete
- Let's all hope that there will come a time that the government will impose a new regulation with the use of medical marijuana. Great job on this lens!
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zimmer knee recall
Apr 19, 2011 @ 9:43 am | delete
- Zimmer knee lawyers can help you out. They are the ones who will make sure that your rights are always protected. Seek their valuable help right away.
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Lenny
Jan 3, 2010 @ 6:27 pm | delete
- Thanks for this lens it has helped to clear up quite a few questions i had lingering about the big debate.
Lenny from http://www.lowryder-2.co.uk/
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Oct 27, 2009 @ 11:40 pm | delete
- Excellent lens, I found your lens pertaining to medical billing education very insightful and comprehensive, keep up the good work!
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tandemonimom
Aug 23, 2009 @ 2:10 am | delete
- I'm so sorry to hear about your son and his difficulties in treating his chronic pain. The drug wars are a joke - didn't anyone read the history of Prohibition? At a minimum, all federal drug laws should be repealed, and drug use should be regulated by each state.
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