Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20140509

She began writing. Should began during math. Two plus two is four. Marijuana refugees. Over 100 families have uprooted their lives and moved to colorado to obtain special strains of cannabis to help their children suffering from relentless seizures. We will speak with one mother and her nineyearold daughter who moved from virginia to colorado. We will also speak with pulitzer prizewinning reporter Dave Philipps of the Colorado Springs gazette and a leading medical marijuana dr. There. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The United Nations has issued a report on killings and displacement carried out on a massive scale in south sudan. Since violence began between warring factions in december, more than one Million People have fled their homes and thousands have been killed. The report finds civilians have been directly targeted. In one case, more than 300 men from the Nuer Ethnic Group were rounded up and slaughtered. Amnesty international also issued a report on the crisis thursday, saying at ackley motivated atrocities on both sides of the conflict constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. U. S. Officials are writing in Nigeria Today to assist in the search for nearly 300 school girls abducted by boko haram. U. S. Fficials will join a team already on the ground. Secretary of state john kerry said the United States will do Everything Possible to fight boko haram. Our Interagency Team is hitting the ground in nigeria now, and theyre going to be working in concert with president jonathans government to do everything that we possibly can to return these girls to their families and their communities. Were also going to do Everything Possible to counter the menace of boko haram. Onlyntire world should not be condemning this outrage, but should be doing Everything Possible to help nigeria in the days ahead. Nigeria is hosting the World Economic forum, which concludes today. Speaking at the form thursday, nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan praised International Delegates for attending despite the crisis. [indiscernible] coming here to support us morally. Forces in ethiopia have reportedly opened fire on students who are protesting a government plan to expand the boundaries of the capital. Witnesses say forces fired live ammunition against Peaceful Protesters last week during a security crackdown that coincided with a visit by secretary of state john kerry. The government has said eight people died during the protest in the state of oromia, but a resident of the town of ambo told the bbc 47 people were killed by security forces. The u. S. Has imposed sanctions on six Syrian Government officials and a russian bank over its transactions with syrian president bashar alassad. The sanctions came as secretary of state john kerry that with Syrian National Coalition President jarba in washington, d. C. Jarba has asked the u. S. To supply heavy weapons to rebels fighting the government. He spoke to reporters after the meeting. Kerrymet with secretary and it was a positive meaning, and now we will meet with other officials of congress and meet the white house. It is clear or his wife u. S. Dressed in his visit and the Syrian People are looking to all the american readers and american friends. The Syrian People are looking to the most important superpower in the world to help us with the suffering and into the humanitarian crisis that is affecting the Syrian People. But in syria, rebels set off an explosion that leveled a hotel where government soldiers were staying in the Northern City of aleppo. Russian president Vladimir Putin in crimeaa visit today as russia celebrates the anniversary of its victory over not see, germany in world war ii. The annual victory Day Celebration comes amidst rising tensions as areas of Eastern Ukraine occupied by prorussian forces prepare to vote on whether to secede sunday. There are reports of deaths in the eastern city amidst clashes between ukrainian troops and prorussian forces. In venezuela, a Police Officer has been shot dead in clashes with antigovernment protesters. The violence erupted after soldiers arrested 243 people as it sought to break up antigovernment protest camps in the capital caracas. Or than 40 people have been killed since the protests erupted in february. Police in thailand have fired tear gas and Water Cannons at antigovernment protesters two days after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted by a court. The court found the Prime Minister had violated the constitution by resigning a top security official. The protesters want leadership transferred to an unelected peoples counsel. A u. S. Journalist who has reported from yemen or the past three years has been deported from the country. Adam baron, who writes for mcclatchy and the Christian Science monitor, was deported a day after the United States closed its embassy in sanaa over security fears. Weeted, theres only one foreign to most officially left in yemen. Thats me. Just waiting for the soldiers to come knocking. The u. S. House of representatives has voted largely along party lines to form a select committee on the Obama Administrations handling of the 2012 attacks in benghazi, libya that killed u. S. Ambassador Chris Stephens and three other americans. The panel will include seven republicans and five democrats. This week, a republican Political Committee launched a Fundraising Campaign called benghazi watchdogs come approaching criticism from democrats like commerce member Elijah Cummings of maryland. They have selectively leak documents and cherry picked transcripts from excerpts without any official committee consideration. How is that bipartisan . Republicans have also been doing something worse. Deathsve been using the of these four americans for Political Campaign fundraising. I call on the speaker of the house to end that process right now. Oklahoma has agreed to stay the execution of prisoner Charles Warner for six months following the botched execution of another prisoner. Warner was to be executed last week on the same night as clayton lockett, who died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the execution began. On thursday, the Oklahoma Attorney Generals Office agreed to a request from warners lawyers to stay his execution pending a state probe into the one that went awry. Warner is now due to be executed on november 13. A majority of the jurors who convicted occupy wall street ofivist Cecily Mcmillan seconddegree assault are asking a judge not to sentence her to any time in prison. Onillan was found guilty monday of assaulting a Police Officer. She says she struck out instantly when her breast was grabbed from behind, and later suffered a seizure during her arrest. Turning the trial, the jurors were reportedly barred from researching the case, including potential sentences. Some were shocked to learn mcmillan at face up to seven years in prison at her sentencing on may 19. One juror told the guardian most wanted her to do probation, maybe some community service. The juror called the potential sevenyear term ludicrous, saying even a year in jail is ludicrous. Nine of the 12 jurors who convicted mcmillan have written to the judge asking for leniency saying the Obama Administration has issued updated guidelines reminding School Districts they cannot deny access to students based on immigration status. The move follows a series of complaints against School Districts across the country who have demanded parents and students provide documents that are out of reach for undocumented people. In 1982, the Supreme Court upheld the right of all students to receive public education, regardless of immigration status. Louis, missouri, at least 10 people were arrested protesting against peabody coal it is shareholder meeting. Activists had purchased shares of peabody in order to voice opposition to its practices, but they were denied access to the meeting room with executives. Not a whole activist Marshall Johnson addressed protesters outside the meeting. Navajo activist Marshall Johnson addressed protesters outside the meeting. [indiscernible] likelihood way of the provided for our cornfields, for our animals. Their way of development of civilization is all for profit. Es, it is our way of life basically, we are their welfare. The st. Louis protest comes less than a week after seven students at Washington University in st. Louis were arrested following a 17day sit in against peabody energy. Ceo greg boyce, who sits on the trustees. Oard of this week Stanford University billiono purge its 18. 7 dollar endowment of coal investments following a student led campaign. In ohio, hundreds of gallons of drilling fluid have spilled into a creek from a shale well being prepared for fracking. Wascials say the leak discovered on sunday. About 1600 gallons of the fluid known as mud gushed out before the spill was contained on wednesday. Ands were evacuated amidst fears of a natural gas explosion. The company said it still plans to move forward with fracking the wells. The mobile messaging firm snapchat has agreed to settle charges it misled users and secretly collected their data. Send photos, users videos, messages that disappear within seconds. Despite the copies claims the messages disappear forever, the federal trade Commission Says the messages remained accessible to users and outside parties. Said snapchat collected users location and contacts, despite claims it wasnt doing so, and failed to secure user data. Which enabled hackers to gather millions of user phone numbers in recent breach. The deal with the ftc requires snapchat to make changes, but it will not face a fine. Vermont governor Peter Shumlin has signed a law making vermont the first day to require labeling of gmo foods. The measure also bars foods with gmos from being labeled as natural. It takes effect july 2016. More than 100 people gathered thursday in texas to protest the Fatal Police Shooting of a 93yearold africanamerican woman. Witnesses say pearlie golden, known as ms. Sully, was shot at least five times outside her home on tuesday. Authorities say golden had a gun when a Police Officer arrived following a reported dispute with her nephew, who was trying to take away her car keys after she failed a drivers test. The officer involved, stephen stem, previously shot dead an africanamerican man in 2012, but was cleared by a grand jury. Stem has been on the police force for less than two years. But testers spoke to the local eagle newspaper protesters spoke to the local eagle newspaper. We would do the same thing last year, and did nobody do nothing about it. Hey keep doing it nobody has consequences for their actions. Thats it. Aint no threats. We just want something done. We need help. We are thinking about justice. What is going to be done about an injustice, that is what we seek. Officer stem has been placed on paid administrative leave. Hearne mayor ruben gomez says he will recommend the officer be fired at the city councilman in on saturday. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Today we look at marijuana refugees the people and families who have uprooted their lives and moved to colorado with the hope of obtaining medical marijuana to treat various illnesses. Any are families with Young Children who suffer from epilepsy and relentless seizures. According to the Colorado Springs gazette, at least 115 marijuana Refugee Families from 43 states have left jobs, homes, and the rest of their families so they could obtain oil made from the special strain of cannabis that has repeatedly quelled the seizures in a handful of kids in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs gazette recently published a peace about nineyearold madeleine lightle and her mother dara lightle moved from virginia to colorado. In a moment, madeline and her mother will join us. But first, lets turn to this video about their story produced by the Colorado Springs gazette. My name is madeleine. When i think of the child who has seizures, i think of a very low functioning child. Such as the my high functioning child and imagine her losing function, was very scary. There was hope she would not have any more, that that would be it. She would just have one. Then she had another one about a month later. You go through all these emotions again. You dont know what is going to happen. Earlier that year, i have been wondering, why cant she do math anymore . Im china teacher the same great over and over and nothing is aching. That is when they told us that she was a candidate for brain surgery. What we didnt know is that what they wanted to do was take out the entire left side of her brain. To look at your daughter and imagine half of her brain been probably the was hardest point in my life. It could maker better or it could not. He could take away seizures, and it could not. It was are only hope. This is when i saw a video about medical cannabis and how it could help with seizures. And it was about two weeks after that that it was like, i think we need to moved to colorado. I think i need to bring madeline to colorado. Within the next week it was, like, we are moving and not coming back. It has been six months. She began reading. She began writing. She began doing math and remembering. Two plus two is four. Some days i feel like what a blessing we were given this opportunity. I dont feel worthy, but i do believe my daughter is worthy to have a chance at life and to live, and im so grateful the simple oil from a plant is giving her that. Dara lightle. Htl for more we go to denver where were joined by dara and her daughter maddy. Thank you for driving in to denver for this conversation. Dara comeau why that start out by talking about where madeleine was worn and when she had her first seizure. In 2004eine was born and she actually was born prematurely and had a stroke in utero. We did not see any seizures until she was five years old. She had her first seizure in 2010, in the summer of 2010. We were not expecting it, even though she had brain damage on the left side of her brain due to the stroke in utero. We thought by that age, we would not see any seizures. And once the initial seizures began, what kind of medications did you use at that point . We used pharmaceutical medications. We started with low dosages, but she continued to have seizures. More were added on, some were taken away because they had adverse effects such as anger. We saw a lot of she is normally very calm and sweet. We saw things in her like personality changes, so they would take some away and add some more. We would still continue to see issues. We would have to deal with them because sometimes the seizures would stop for a time and then come back will stop come back. Maddy, thank you for coming in with your mother. It is good to have you with us. Hi. Hi. Maddy, can you talk about how a seizure feels for you . Um, um, pretty i usually tell my mom that im having a seizure good life with a and medication is helping me. Dara, can you talk about what that trajectory is from having gone through the seizures and then ultimately coming to colorado, the drugs used before and what youre using now . Summer, basically, last the medication she was on, by the end of last summer, she was on three medications. She was kind of like what i would call a zombie. She was a shell of a person. There were times when she couldnt even find the bathroom in the house that she grew up in. That is how bad things were during that time. Whether that was from pharmaceuticals or seizures, we are still unsure. I think the pharmaceuticals seizures ander made her worse. When we saw this video about medical marijuana and how it was helping children with seizures, we decided the best thing for madeleine was we needed to move out to colorado. My mother joined me out here in colorado. When we came out here and madeleine started the medical cannabis, as you heard in the video, our only hope for was brain surgery, taking out the whole left side of her brain. And a look at my child and imagine taking of the left side of her brain is very difficult for any mother, for any parent to see that. So when we heard medical cannabis could help, at first it was scary because youre like, well, i dont want my child getting stoned were smoking pot. Once we discovered it wasnt oil that is given at first three times a day in her mouth and would not get her high or anything like that, we realize the pharmaceuticals were making her high and the cannabis was helping her get better. We started the cannabis oil in october and Chua Sock Koong all pharmaceuticals by the end of december and she was off all pharmaceuticals by the end of december. Can you talk about the change in the frequency of the seizures before you started the treatment and what life is now like for your daughter and your family . She had three days of video monitoring and testing at Johns Hopkins hospital in the summer. During that time, we were told and we did not know this 80 of her seizure activity, she was having so many seizures that she could not learn. The neurologist put to death fingers up and said, what is one plus one and she said three. She cannot even add. At this point she was eight years old. She could not read. She cannot do anything. What she started the cannabis, it took some time. It was a little roller coaster. A were times when she would have more seizures and times when she was very cognitively clear. She was coming out of her shell. She was starting to have a quality of life. It wasnt until she was totally off the pharmaceuticals now she sleeps through the night. Her eegs have drastically changed from what they were afford to what they are now, is a recklessly. She is on no pharmaceuticals. Shes only on cannabis oil and her eeg plus have drastically changed. Shes able to add and subtract for the first time. She wants to learn and that is huge as well. There were a lot of positive changes we were not expecting. We had no idea we would see all the things were seeing with her now. Maddy, what does your medicine taste like . Charlottes web. What does it taste like . Oil. It just taste like oil . And how do you feel living in colorado . Have you made new friends . Do you miss your friends from home . I made new friends. I miss my friends in virginia where i used to live, but i also like my friends in colorado. Dara, this whole issue of having basically uprooting ourselves to go to another state to be able to have access to this kind of treatment, your thoughts on that . Not everybody can get up and just leave like we did. We were blessed to be up to do so, but there are so many families who cant just get up and go. We are happy to be here. Offeel blessed we are one the pilot families being able to try this out and show the world this works. At the same time, the fact we had to leave everything that we know and people are stripped from their families in order to do this, is ridiculous. It is ridiculous. For want to thank maddy coming on and dara, i would like to ask you to stay when we bring Dave Philipps on as well, the reporter who has been following you and maddy and other families who have come to colorado. El to be a fe called a marijuana refugee . In some ways it is painful, and in some ways it is a blessing. It is painful that we are stuck here and can go to disneyland or go to a funeral in a can go to a wedding if it is out of state, weddinge cant go to a if it is out of state, but this oil is doing great things for our child. Can you take the oil with you . No. It is federally illegal. It is legal here in colorado, but we cant leave the state. Dara, stay with us. Maddy, thank you for coming on democracy now sure. Lightle are indy denver, colorado. They cant leave the state because of they take the drug that maddy is using now to prevent seizures, marijuana, they would be arrested. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We will continue with marijuana refugees in a moment. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We continue our conversation on medical cannabis. Currently, 20 state and the District Of Columbia approve and regulated some capacity marijuana for medical purposes. However, Insurance Companies do not cover the cost of such prescriptions. Federally, marijuana remains a schedule one drug. For more we are joined by dr. Margaret gedde who founded the clinicians institute for Cannabis Medicine. She is the owner and founder of whole health in Colorado Springs. Quick and were also joined by Dave Philipps. Otherhree part series, than honorable was just awarded the pulitzer prize. He is also author of lethal warriors when the new band of brothers came home. His most recent article in the gazette is entitled, as Success Stories of kids fighting seizures with cannabis oil mount, legal landscape is changing. Still with us, dara lightle, who moved to colorado last october to seek treatment for her daughter maddy who has epilepsy. Dave philipps, talk about how you first stumbled on this story. Onehis is a story about family who was living in Colorado Springs who tried medical marijuana for their daughter because theres nothing left to try. Every pharmaceutical had failed. Every special diet had failed. There was nothing left and she was going to die, a girl named charlotte. We wrote about her after she started using medical marijuana, and herabis oil, seizures basically disappeared. I think she was having Something Like 400 a month and now she is less than four. She was on her way to death. Really. He ist happy child now a happy child who is able to play with her friends. We wrote about that and a few other people picked it up. I want to interrupt because we have your video about charlotte. , page recalls how her daughter charlotte suffered from relentless seizures. Charlotte has severe pediatric epilepsy. Dont stop on their own. There 20 minutes or 30 minutes or longer. Every seizure after that for 2. 5 seizures a status she and some are four hours long, two hours long. She has to be integrated intubated. We got diagnosed at 2. 5 years old. A few times, her heart has stopped using these drugs. They have done cpr on her. A couple of those times, i just sort of let go of the fact that just to keep trying with her. I said my goodbyes to her. As im doing cpr on her or in the hospital, kind of preparing myself for the worst. She is still here, but she has been through a lot to get to this point. As a doctor, she heard her history of seizures at that time and said, we have to pull the last meds shes on. She said, i dont know what else to tell you, theres nothing else we can do. After six months, i did not think she would survive the seizures 300 seizures a week, roughly, grand mal seizures. Just to put in mind, that is about four an hour. So one seizure every 15 minutes. Sometimes every five minutes. It never stops. To see her seizurefree for seven days, instantly, and we have been on it nine months, and from the 300 a week, she now has zero to one a week. It is greater than 99 seizure reduction. It is amazing. Absolutely amazing. To think she wasnt going to survive, and now she has a life. During that time, she lost the ability to walk from a talk, eat, and really just participate and life at all. She cannot do anything. She sort of light in my arms catatonic and that was it. There wasnt a life for her. But here we are. Ballerina. I talkings page fig about her daughter charlotte. Dave philipps, you did the piece about her. Take it from there. Countryies all over the this essentially spread on facebook. There are thousands and thousands of families that are in similar situations where the medical establishment has thrown everything at their childrens seizures and nothing has worked. A really had no choice but if they could come to colorado. One of the things i think people hear when they hear people are treating their kids with cannabis, they think it is some hippy nonsense or something. What they dont understand, these parents had no choice. It was either try this or let your children die. So they came. What else could they do . Were also joined by dr. Margaret gedde who worked with several of the families we than focusing on. Welcome to democracy now thank you. Could you tell us how you first got involved in the treatment, the use of medical marijuana . Certainly. Just to give a little background, my original training in medicine is in pathology and research. I did my phd as well as my m. D. In chemistry at Stanford University. I did many years of research, then i started to work in the pharmaceutical industry developing medications. It was about 10 years ago that i had a realization that the drugs drugs so often chosen are for profit and not necessarily because that is what people need. I also realized there many therapies that already exist that are more supportive and less toxic than pharmaceuticals, the can have terminus benefits, but most doctors dont know about that can have tremendous benefits, but most doctors dont know about. I did open an alternative ethical practice about 10 years ago. It was four years ago when this all came up in colorado, going on five years ago, that i for started to hear that marijuana could be medicine. I was encouraged to see if you patients in my practice [indiscernible] list that seemed to help them with. I started ask, how can this do so many things for people and not be toxic because it has such a state profile against other pharmaceuticals . That is when i learned we have her own [indiscernible] the system is very important in regulating other body systems. Then i decided to completely focus my practice on medical marijuana. It was about two years ago that i andst met charlotte fig we started treating children for seizure disorders, not really knowing what the effect it would have, but continuing to pursue the possibility for these families. In terms of the success rate of the treatments with the families you have already dealt with, could you talk about that . Certainly. We have seen over 200 children specifically for this. Them have been able to start the oil yet, so we dont have follow up results on everyone. The what has happened, you have to be careful how you use the oil. Were finding low doses are often more effective than high doses. There can be bumps in the road, but i would say about 1 4 of the children get results like moreotte did, 80 or seizure reduction. Another 50 get definite positive results, including the behavioral and cognitive improvements that dara was talking about, in addition to some seizure control. There can be mixed results, but definitely positive results. There is a percent of kids who have trouble adding the oil in any amount come and we continue to work with them to find, nations and doses that will work. So the majority do get some definite positive benefit although not every child does. Were continuing to learn the ander ways doses understand what combinations will work for each child. Were speaking to dr. Margaret gedde in Colorado Springs by video stream. She runs clinicians institute for Cannabis Medicine. Dave philipps, talk about the the gallery of all of this. How things have changed in colorado, and how many states would allow this. Or Something Interesting that is happened. Colorado has had medical Marijuana Law on the books for about 14 years. Happen,llowed this to even though no one who wrote the law thought maybe someday this could help really sick kids. It has. Come heree like dara and have success, they know a ton of families in similar situations back in whatever state they have come from. At this point, we have families here from almost every state. They create this redeem a lobbying group of both a Success Story and people at home who want to push for the same opportunity and they have started in the last 45 months going to the state legislatures and saying, we want the same chance. Let us save our children. There are 20 states and states that you would not think would likethis legislation, thi alabama and mississippi have both passed laws allowing this to happen, kentucky, utah, some of the reddest states in the country are passing medical Marijuana Laws that are narrowly to find help these sick kids. Theres this sudden realization theirhere is real their putrid qualities. What is the difference between the marijuana that people smoke for Recreational Purposes and the oil that the children are being administered . You heard dr. Gedde talk about cannabinoids. In cannabis, there are several kinds. The one i get smokers high is thc. Clinicalhat is really and the oil that kids use is something called cbd. Basically, for my understanding, it acts as a neuro regulator, something that keeps brain signals calm and steady. Nohas absolutely psychoactive effect. You can trick a whole bottle of it and it would not get you high. But it does have this very powerful effect on regulating brain signals. Were going to take a break and come back to this conversation. We are with Dave Philipps in denver. Thes based in colorado with Colorado Springs gazette. He just won a pulitzer prize. Dara lightle is also with us. She has come to colorado from virginia because it is in colorado that she can get the drug to treat maddys epilepsy. And dr. Margaret gedde is with us, she runs the clinicians institute for Cannabis Medicine. We want to ask after gedde when we come back about doctors calling her from around the country. Were hearing young people and parents are pushing for this kind of legislation in other states. What about doctors . Stay with us. [music break] cat stevens was just inducted into the rock n roll hall of fame. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. As we continue our talk about your one of refugees and medical cannabis, i want to turn to a video featuring their jackson talking about her son who once suffered 200 seizures a day. This figure was produced by realm of hope. Epilepsy diagnosis. It entails lots of seizures ,very day, delayed development that sort of thing. In the end, we had tried every medication. 17 treatments and all, plus a special diet for epilepsy. We really tried everything we could. Nothing help or would even make a seizures worse. The side effects from the medications, of course. It is ridiculous. I pulled out some scrapbook so you can see what zaki looked like on steroids. He doubled his weight. Showed the seizure 200vities and he was having plus seizures and number. There are eight people in his room watching it over and over. We were there for about a week. They just confirmed the diagnosis and said there was nothing else they could do. There to get the confirmation of what we are really dealing with, but to get help for them to help us. They said they had tried everything in their bag of tricks. Not to be military mounted, youre fighting for your childs life. We made the decision that we needed to go ahead and start this process. We were at the end of our pharmaceutical rope for so to speak. Just the safety profile was unheard of. I knew i wasnt going to kill him giving him too much, which i could not say for any other medication that we tried. At his worst, he had 200 seizures an hour. It had been 106 days now since his last seizure. After almost a decade, i get to meet him. , without all time this seizure activity. Without drugs. You cant imagine its real. Was Heather Jackson talking about her son who once suffered 200 seizures a day. Dr. Margaret gedde joins us again from the clinicians institute for Cannabis Medicine that she founded and also treated this family as well. Dr. Gedde, the American Academy of pediatrics is critical of the use of therapeutic marijuana for children. They claim it has not been tested or approved of the federal drug administration. Your response and maybe you could talk about this other family that you also treated . Yes. So the state research around cannabis is because it is a scheduled one [indiscernible] it is essentially impossible to do the proper Clinical Trials. Were in a catch22 where people say you dont have the studies, but we cant do the studies. Theres a long track record, thousands of years, not specifically in pediatric seizures, but there are studies from other countries and there is a large body of animal and Laboratory Work supporting the Clinical Trials that could go on. It absolutely is the case at the trials are not there yet that we need. On the other hand, we have a lot of information about this medication and we know it safety profile is much better, much safer just with what we know about it and so many medications that are already used. It is correct that there is an issue where the proper things up are not in place. As a clinician looking to benefit patients, however, if you can look at the risk and benefit for each patient, when you look at the condition the child is in and the fact that death is a real possibility for many of them and then what is known about the cannabis profile, even though we dont have that Solid Research under footing yet, as physicians treating a particular patient, definitely, i think you can make a very strong case that the patient and the doctor together should be a look at all the choosee treatments and cannabis as something to try. Call it a therapeutic trial. It doesnt mean theyre committed to using it forever. Even though we dont have the studies, i think doctors and patients are well within the very good and ethical practice of medicine to consider this as an option for particular person. This is dr. Sharon leavy, a critic of medical marijuana. She is chair of the American Academy of pediatrics. Using marijuana as a medication is jumping the gun, because we really dont know what the side effects or longterm consequences of marijuana are, particularly on children. Knowry we just dont enough about it. A couple of generations ago, people were recommending tobacco as a good method of relaxation or to relieve stress. It seems unbelievable now. But and this is one of the nations most prominent doctors announcing here shifted his stance in support of medical marijuana. , chief medicala correspondent for cnn, openly apologized for his past reporting, dismissing the past reporting dismissing the medical uses of the drug. This plant we will go to that clip and just a moment. Dr. Sanjay gupta, again, coming out. He was long against the issue of Cannabis Medicine and the use of medical marijuana and then came out in favor of marijuana. Thats go to dr. Sanjay gupta. I have apologized from some of the early reporting because i think weve been terribly and systematically misled in this country for some time and i did part of that misleading. I did not look far enough or deep enough or look at labs in other countries doing some incredible research or listen to the course of patients who said not only does marijuana work for me, it is the only thing that works for me. I took the dea at their word when they said it is a schedule one substance and has no medical applications. There was no scientific basis for them to say that. Dara lightle, as you hear the experts speak, your thoughts . I usedings true because to believe the same stuff. I believed what society was telling me, what the doctors were telling me, and what the federal government was saying. I that when people were saying to put my daughter on medical cannabis, i laughed at them. Then when i saw the video of how it changed people with seizures and now living in colorado and seeing multiple patients, not just seizure patients, their lives being changed and healed to to this plant, i am baffled that i believe that those things , that the world believes those things, that the federal government has it as a scheduled one drug. It is ridiculous that we are so scared of thc, it even talking about charlottes web and seizures, that we are nervous to say that there may be some thc and thenh i get a feeling ofigh when it been on these pharmaceuticals that have Addictive Properties to it that are dolts are losing their lives and becoming homeless on these medications, that my eightyearold was on, and were worried if they get a little bit of thc they might get a little hi. Well, some of these patients do need thc and it is benefiting them. If theyre getting a little high off of it, its not a systemic harmful if it is helping them deal with their medical conditions. , as you havepps been reporting, it is not just people in the United States that are beginning to come to colorado. People from all around the world are hearing about this and beginning to say, maybe this treatment can work for my child as well. Can you talk about the spread of the word . These stories are so powerful. You have just seen them. Families in similar situations will do whatever they can to attempt the same healing. I wouldnt be surprised if the evidence continues and the word spreads that this could very ,asily change federal law change laws in other countries, really be a kick starter for the Scientific Research that is lacking. Five years from now, we will look back on this as being almost medieval. And we will have a much larger understanding of the potential. Can you talk about where the laws have changed as a result of what is happening now in colorado . Really, the word of this only started spreading late last summer. We started reporting on it through the fall and into the winter. At that point, families and other states that were in similar situations but have no access to the Marijuana Oil, started pushing for change. The first one to change their laws was you talk, which is a very, very server the state and had never even come close to passing medical Marijuana Law. They have a very specifically tailored law that allows only for Marijuana Oil with a low amount of thc, so theres no potential of abuse. To some extent, other states that, if you talk pass this, lets give it a look. This is not coloradostyle medical marijuana. Throughouty, states the lower midwest and deep south started having the similar types of laws. People from colorado were instrumental in this. Families traveled to push forth in their home states. With thei along Stanley Brothers have spoken in legislatures across the country saying, look, this is real. This is not harmful. This is not dangerous. Give it a chance. Now big states like florida are on the cusp of passing this law. I think 20 other states have passed it. Talk about how this fits in, for people who are not aware of what happened in colorado overall. The Marijuana Oil, the cannabis oil is not the same as smoking a joint. Maybe you could talk more about the difference. In fact, it is not illegal to smoke one in colorado. Talk about the overall effect of the change of the law in colorado, and also how it has affected the economy. Well, it is funny. We have had medical marijuana here since 2000. In 2008, he really started to take off in terms of the number of people who had shops that sold medical marijuana in the number of people who had cards. I think most people in colorado believe the majority of medical marijuana users were actually recreational users who were using the red card as a fig leaf for their illegal use. There are also all sorts of people using it legitimately to treat ailments under the law. Of states look at that and say, well, we dont want that. Then colorado went one step further and this year, we legalized Recreational Marijuana which is funny, because the National Press made a big deal of it but it was really not a big deal here because weve had medical marijuana stores, essentially, all over the state for years. Now that the fact that you can without a statemandated card, is not a big change. I think those in colorado really dont even notice it. How has it affected the economy . Well, things that were in the black market are now on the open, which means it can be regulated and taxed. I dont think there are many people who see that as a bad thing. Dara lightle, what about the cost of this treatment, given the fact this is still a schedule one drug Insurance Companies dont reimburse . For families that may be of low income, what is this costing you . , usually depends on weight how much toilet you take. How much oil you take. For my daughter, because about 450 a month. Two different types. It is about 450 a month. For an adult, it could be up to 900 to 1000 a month. Dave philipps, what happens then . There are people who ive spoken to that cant afford this, especially people who have grown up kids or young adults. Like she said, theyre heavier, so they need more of the drug. They can get barbiturates, all sorts of drugs that are ineffectual covered by medicare or health insurance, but there is no funding to help cover the cost of this oil. I have spoken to people who just cant swing it. They literally the money is not there. They have given up the treatment. Dr. Margaret gedde, doctors contacting you from Major Medical institutions around the country come including in states like virginia where dara is from, where it is not legal to use this . I mostly hear about physicians through the patients. At this point, i havent had doctors at Major Medical centers reaching out to me. Those are the types of connections we are building. It is interesting because as a medical cannabis physician, i am kind of on the other side of the divide with that schedule one designation in the middle and doctors and institutions that are forced to take federal funds in terms of medicare and medicaid and so many different things, so there is this division where it limits them in terms of being able to discuss this with their patients. There really restricted by the Insurance Companies. Dr. Margaret gedde, we have to leave it there but we will continue to follow the story. Wholeand founder of gedde health in Colorado Springs. Thank you so much to dara lightle for bringing in your daughter maddy