4-Year-Old Girl Becoming The Face Of Medical Marijuana In Ohio

[Jacob Redmond]

For weeks, the face of Issue 3 has been a young girl and her family, who moved from Ohio to Colorado to legally get medical marijuana. NBC4's Duane Pohlman traveled to Colorado to find the facts behind "Addyson's Story."

Addyson's Story

In a rented home in an upscale, middle class neighborhood in Castle Rock, Colorado, Heather Benton makes it clear that she's proud that she and her daughter have become the faces of medical marijuana and Issue 3.

"I couldn't be happier," Heather said, as she settled in to the couch in her family room.

ResponsibleOhio ads, featuring Heather and 4 year old Addyson Benton have been playing around the clock for weeks across Ohio, yet here in the suburb of Denver, Heather can only get a sense from family and friends back home how big her voice has become.

The claim in the ad is clear: Medical Marijuana, which helps stop Addyson's seizures, isn't available in Ohio, so the family had to move to Colorado to get it.

Now, Heather readily admits she's on a mission about the need to reform medical marijuana laws.

Seizures And Sedation

Eight months ago, Addyson Benton, who has epilepsy, was battling hundreds of seizures day and night in a suburb of Cincinnati.

"It was bad," Heather said, adding, "She was waking up every single night at least one time a day, sometimes from naps, with clusters of seizures, which would be one visible seizure every second for thirty minutes."

YouTube video of Addyson, posted and shared by her family reveal of lethargic child back then, suffering from the debilitating seizures and sedated by the strong prescription medications.

"It was a nightmare," Addyson's father Adam said.

Excited, Engaged And Exuberant

During the television interview at the Benton home, Addyson was constantly on the go, blowing kisses, hugging the camera and constantly interrupting the questions from NBC4's Duane Pohlman, even pushing and jumping on him.

She was excited, engaged and exuberant.

The difference, Heather confidently notes has been the family's decision to move to Colorado so Addison can get medical marijuana.

The Patches

"People actually think these children are going to be smoking marijuana," Heather says, "No child is smoking marijuana."

Instead, Addyson gets patches, with THC, the active drug at the center of marijuana, placed on her ankles.

Adam quietly and confidently takes the two patches, one with the active psychactive form of THC, the other with non- psychoactive THCA. He folds both in to even sections, until he finds the right dose for his daughter, then cuts.

"It's all about dosage," He says, as he looks down at the scissors.

Within seconds, he peels the patches and sticks them to Addyson's ankles.

Addyson also gets a dose of THC oil once a day, rubbed on her gums.

A Kid Again

When asked whether it works, Heather doesn't hesitate.

"She's gone from Hundreds of visible seizures a day to under 5," Heather says, adding, "She's a kid again. It's not like she's running and falling and seizing all the time."

While Addyson is doing much better, the Bentons make it clear they want to come back to Ohio. But they can only do that if they can legally get medical marijuana.

"It definitely is frustrating thinking that there are several other families faced with this and they're still in Ohio and they don't have the rights to the same medication as we do,: Heather said, noting, "It's all based upon the state we live in."

News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: 4-Year-Old Girl Becoming The Face Of Medical Marijuana In Ohio
Author: Duane Pohlman And Andy Long
Photo Credit: NBC 4
Website: NBC 4 News

 

[cleanslate]

This is both astonishing and ironic. The vast medical/pharmaceutical industrial complex with all their billions of dollars and MD and PHD experts can do virtually nothing for this girl. Yet this plant based medicine delivered in a dermal patch that her father prepares for her and applies at home (a true home remedy) gives Addyson her life back.

This is what the medical/pharmaceutical industrial complex fears. That the fraud and quackery of reductionist synthetic medicine would be shown for what it compared to the healing potential of cannabis and other botanical medicines. Health and healing should not be held hostage by government imposed dominance of synthetic, mono-molecule drugs posing as real medicine. This model of "health care" is fundamentally flawed and financially unsustainable due to the insatiable profit motive of the medical/pharmaceutical complex.

Image what could begin to happen to the overall health and well being of the general population if cannabis was available without restrictions. Then researchers would be able to optimize and customize cannabis strains for various diseases and chronic conditions as well as developing new and more effective methods of administering cannabis as medicine.

 

[Radogast]

I see your point cleanslate.
However,
I am pretty sure he is buying the patches and has worked out timing and dosages with the help of a caregiver.

 

[cleanslate]

I see your point cleanslate.
However,
I am pretty sure he is buying the patches and has worked out timing and dosages with the help of a caregiver.

I didn't mean to say that he made up the transdermal patches himself. No doubt he is using something like Mary's Medicinals or a similar prepared product. As far as determining dosing and administration with advice from someone who is knowledgeable about cannabinopathic medicine. There are probably some people like that in Colorado. Most conventional medicine doctors trained in alleopathic medical schools would not deviate from established standard of care and they are not well trained in the endocannabinoid system.

So what I really meant by "home remedy" is that cannabis, and other safe and effective botanical medicines, could allow more of us to get off the "grid" of conventional pharmaceutical based medicine and have better health outcomes than we are having now.