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Rhode Island, where we live, is one of 13 states where the use of medical marijuana is legal. But I was resistant. My late father was an anesthesiologist, and compared with the precise drugs he worked with, I know he would think marijuana to be ridiculously imprecise and unscientific. I looked at my son’s tie-dye socks (his avowed favorite). At his school, I was already the weirdo mom who packed lunches with organic kale and kimchi and wouldn't let him eat any “fun” foods with artificial dyes. Now, I’d be the mom who shunned the standard operating procedure and gave her kid pot instead.
But then I thought back to when J was 18 months old. We were vacationing on the Cape, and, while he just had the slightest hitch in his gait, I was sure there was something wrong. His pediatrician laughed. I called back repeatedly until a different doctor agreed to see us. J was taken into emergency surgery, to remove a tumor that was on the verge of inflicting irreparable damage. Sometimes, you just have to go with your gut.
And yet, I still hesitated. The Marinol had been disorienting enough—no protocol to follow, just trying varying numbers of pills and hoping for the best. Now we were dealing with an illegal drug, one for which few evidence-based scientific studies existed precisely because it is an illegal drug. But when I sent J's doctor the physician’s form that is mandatory for medical marijuana licensing, it came back signed. We underwent a background check with the Rhode Island Bureau of Criminal Identification, and J became the state’s youngest licensee.
Having a license, however, is different from having access to marijuana. While California has a network of “compassion centers,” basically pharmacy-like storefronts that provide quality product from registered growers, Rhode Island's Republican governor has consistently vetoed that idea, in spite of the local stories of frail patients being mugged in downtown Providence as they go in search of pot. We weren’t about to purchase street marijuana, which could be contaminated with other drugs, so we looked into growing the pot ourselves. But by law, medical marijuana must be grown indoors, and it requires a separate room with a complex system of hydroponics, fans, and precise lighting schedules. (This made me wonder how much THC was actually in the spindly plants the high school goofballs I knew grew in their closets).
The coordinator of our patient group introduced us to a licensed grower. A recent horticulture school graduate, he'd figured out how to cultivate marijuana using a custom organic soil mix. His e-mail signature even quoted Rudolph Steiner. The grower arrived at our house with a knapsack containing jars of herbs. We opened the jars to sniff the different strains of “bud”—Blueberry, which did smell fleetingly of wild blueberries, and Sour Diesel, which had a rich, winey scent. The grower also had cured some leaves for tea, and he brought a glycerine tincture, a marijuana distillate in olive oil (yes, organic), cookies (ditto), and a strange machine that looked, fittingly, like a lava lamp. Basically an almost-bong, this vaporizer heated the cannabis without producing carcinogenic smoke.
For most adults, the vaporizer is the delivery method of choice, as it allows the patient to feel the effects immediately and adjust the dose precisely. J gamely put his mouth on the valve and let us squeeze a little smoke into him. It shot right back out his nose. He looked like Puff the Magic Dragon.
The grower left us with a month’s worth of marijuana tea, glycerine, and olive oil—and a cookie recipe. No buds. We paid $80. (Granted, we haven’t checked up on how much a nickel bag costs these days.)
We made the cookies with the marijuana olive oil, starting J off with half a small cookie, eaten after dinner. J normally goes to bed around 7:30 p.m.; by 6:30 he declared he was tired and conked out. We checked on him hourly. As we anxiously peeked in, half-expecting some red-eyed ogre from Reefer Madness to come leaping out at us, we saw instead that he was sleeping peacefully. Usually, his sleep is shallow and restless. J also woke up happy.
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Comments
I can only imagine the amount
By: sandralee | Mon, 01/04/2010 - 09:04
I can only imagine the amount of pain that little boy is experiencing. I do not know that marijuana can really be useful in such conditions. But how come the chiropractic care does not have permanent solution for it? I mean he is a 9-year-old boy and at this age recovery seems to be fast. Regarding the risperdal use, it does have some scary stories associated with it in terms of side effects so i think you have taken a right decision of not going through that way especially if it is not helping much. Homeopathy is a good option when eleopathy else fails but it does takes its own time to cure. I hope your child will get well soon.
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Chiropractic?
By: KBS1313 | Sat, 11/28/2009 - 18:42
Just wondering if you've tried chiropractic therapy as well? I've seen an article on chiropratic care that included a boy who was acting up in school, and the school wanted him diagnosed with ADD. His parents tried a chiropractor, and it helped. Just wanted to throw it out there as one more possibility. If the wires are crimped, the current can't get through properly. Chiropractic can help straighten out some of the kinks.
Thank you for posting your story so that others might benefit as well.
MM
By: Jsmith | Wed, 11/25/2009 - 06:51
Just wanted to say how much i enjoyed this story.
Good on you for keeping your kid away from dangerous pharmaceuticals.
MM is not a cure all and has its down sides just like any substance we put in our bodies. Under controlled dosage it is one of the most harmless substances on the planet.
Also on the vaporizing, if you can afford a decent vape and can get him to use it, it is definitely the way to go. Much easier to manage the dose.
There should be NO smell left in the house after using a vaporizer if it is working correctly. Just a blue mist that quickly go's away.
Also you can get balloons that you can fill to be inhaled.
Anyway good luck
MARIJUANA COOKIE
By: anahey | Wed, 11/18/2009 - 20:02
will i think this is good for children and people who want to calm down and for medicinal purposes also as long as you don;t eat too much of it so that you will not feel high
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Pot for Autism
By: stacey | Tue, 11/03/2009 - 21:08
Mom, 3 cheers for not caving in to pressures of society and letting yourself be guided to some truly authentic answers... You are to be hailed as a pioneering, inspiring and inspired caretaker. All my best. XOXO ~Stacey Kirkland Mesa,AZ
God Made Canabis for Medicinal Purposes
By: Spirit | Fri, 10/09/2009 - 00:07
I want to say sorry that some people who don't know what they are talking about find it ok to bad mouth you for helping your child.
I myself am a firm believer in that God works in ways that we don't
all understand. I also believe that God made canabis for us to use
for medicinal reasons - Who are we to question what someone else is
doing to help their child. Would you people rather see this mother
put her son on man made drugs that have aweful side effects or see
her use what God has made with no side effects - he isn't smoking it
so there is no harm in it - even the food and drug people know that
that is why it is used for cancer patients and for other kinds of
medical reasons. I have an 11yr old son that has Asperger's and
have even thought about checking into using canibis as a treatment
for evening out his emotional problem. I know that it would stop so
much of the anger part of his problems - problems that himself has
no control over and doesn't understand why he is the way he is and
even as a 11 yr old has said he would like to die because he is the
way he is. He has even said he wants to kill others so I see no wrong
in what this mother is doing for her child - I take my hat off to her
for trusting in God made then Man made.
Thanks for Sharing
By: kenny_b | Wed, 10/07/2009 - 14:24
My 11 year old daughter is mildly autistic. She is not high functioning. She is a couple of years behind her peers academically. We also have taken the steps of the gluten/casien free diet. She also receives a methyl b-12 shot every third day. We have found the diet and shot have improved her communicative abilities and mood swings immensely. She still gets intensely upset at times and frequently bites the back of her hand (very hard), she has scars on them from years of doing this. She doesn't have the gut pain that your son has. I am very interested in the stress relief the MM has on your son. I will be have a conversation with our DAN! Dr. the next time we see him. Thank you so much for sharing your story, you brought tears to my eyes!
I have noticed that most of the negative comments seem to have come from folks that don't have autistic children.
I'd also like to say thanks to the 48 year old Aspergers' gentleman who kindly shared his experience with MM. I appreciate the insight of what an Autistic person's life has been like from someone who never received the benefit of a diagnosis until much later in life.
I created an account just to
By: alix | Tue, 10/06/2009 - 08:57
I created an account just to respond to the fool below. Yes, it is much better to let your son suffer than to treat his pain -- even if he cannot understand or explain to you why/how much he suffers. How dare you care more about your son's welfare than what the neighbors think?
Yeah, right. I have a 6-year-old with Asperger's. He's very high-functioning, and I cannot imagine facing the kind of challenges the author's family has. The one thing we have in common is that EVERY DAY we have to do what's best for our kids, regardless of what the uneducated people around us think. (Because E. appears to be neuro-typical, we get lots of comments about our failure to discipline him and the fact that he just "needs a good spanking". Yes, and we'd treat a broken leg by taking away TV privileges. Makes perfect sense, right?)
Autism - Pain - Pot
By: rtimmerm | Fri, 08/28/2009 - 16:22
I absolutely LOVED your article for so many reasons ! I also appreciated the pharmicist's comments. It seems so awful that it is "legal" to give drugs with terrible side effects and yet "illegal" to use pot. I wish there would be more information/research/case studies available on pot use for autism. (I am a teacher of such students!)
You are probably the coolest
By: masterteevis | Thu, 07/02/2009 - 22:49
You are probably the coolest parent ever. But seriously, isn't it ridiculous how the government can tell us what we should and shouldn't put into our own bodies. If it were up to them, you'd be arrested for drugs and probably endangering the welfare of your child, even though the "approved drugs" do more harm than good. Enough of my ranting, more power to you and good luck to you and your son. :)