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But in a few days, J decided he didn't like the cookie anymore and smashed it with his fist. We brewed him the tea, which smelled funky and grassy. He slurped it down, but without much effect. Many of the psychoactive compounds in marijuana are fat soluble, so I added a dropperful of the oil that we used in the cookies. That made him sleepy-looking but still aggressive. It became clear that when J ingested pot orally, it took two hours to see the results, and by then there wasn't much we could do to dial the dose up or down. The grower visited us again to give J another try at the bong, with little success.
But it was also possible that J needed a little time to get off the Marinol. After two weeks, we noticed a slight but consistent lessening of aggression. And he wasn't nervously chewing holes in his shirts.
We are now a month or so into this, and it’s still too early to know if we can find a dose and mode of delivery that gives us consistent results. Even if J could learn to use the vaporizer, it costs $600, and would leave the house reeking of pot. And we don't want to get too dependent, because of the inherent limitations. Though we’d love to calm J with pot so that he can visit his grandmother in Minnesota, bringing a controlled substance on the plane isn't the best idea.
But since we started him on his "special tea," J’s little face, which is sometimes a mask of pain, has softened. He smiles more. For the last year, his individual education plan at his special-needs school was full of blanks, recording “no progress” because he spent his whole day an irritated, frustrated mess. Now, April’s report shows real progress, including “two community outings with the absence of aggressions.”
The big test, so far, has been a visit from Grandma. The last time she came, over Christmas, J hit her during a tantrum. This time, we gave him his tea, mixing it with goji berries to mask any odor, although it occurs to me that my mother, a Korean immigrant, probably doesn’t even know what pot smells like (and it actually smells a lot like ssuk, a Korean medicinal herb). She remarked that J seems calmer. As we were preparing for a trip to the park, J disappeared, and we wondered if he was going to throw one of his tantrums. Instead, he returned with Grandma’s shoes, laying them in front of her, even carefully adjusting them so that they were parallel and easy to step into. He looked into her face, and smiled.
When I think of the embarrassment I may feel if my colleagues see this article, or teachers or parents at J’s school, or his less open-minded doctors, I pause. Although I occasionally smoked pot as a teenager (believe me, in northern Minnesota, there was not much else to do), now that I'm a law-abiding adult, all the scary anti-drug messages are flashing in my brain. But when I researched cannabis the way I did conventional drugs, it seemed clear to me that marijuana at the very least wouldn’t harm J, and might help. It's strange, I've come to think, that the virtues of such a useful and harmless botanical have been so clouded by stigma. Even the limited studies that have been done suggest marijuana's potential as an adjunctive therapy for cancer. Marijuana, you need some rebranding. Maybe a cool new name.
Meanwhile, in treating J with pot, we are following the law—and the Hippocratic oath: primum, non nocere. First, do no harm. The drugs that our insurance would pay for—and that the people around us would support without question—pose real risks to children. For now, we’re sticking with the weed.
Photo courtesy of the author.
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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.
Community Health Network
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. :)