resident, I’d never thought I would see the day where that would happen, this is called the Bible belt for a reason.
On April 20, 2014, the last day of the legislative session, the Senate and the House were going back and forth over certain bills, specifically a bill called Ava’s law, and the House did not want to pass it and of course the Senate did not want to pass the medical marijuana bill. The clock struck midnight and both bills died on the floor. Rep. Peake and our small group of parents, that he lovingly referred to as the “Dream Team”, were devastated to say the least. For me, it felt like I’d lost a loved one. I was nauseous and I had to pull over my vehicle because I could not see through the tears. I could not breath. I immediately called the “medical refugees” who were living in Colorado that I had promised when we began this journey to bring back home to Georgia and apologized profusely while sobbing. It was a kick in the gut. We all took some time off and agreed to return next legislative session with a bigger support group.
That following June, Victoria left her last day of elementary school in an ambulance headed to the E.R for uncontrolled seizures. I knew at that moment I needed to get her to Colorado. After one failed attempt at bringing Cannabis oil home, I knew we would have to physically move there even if it meant leaving my other children behind. I applied for the Journey of Hope grant established by Rep. Allen Peake and I borrowed a minivan from State Senator Butch Miller. On Friday, June 13, 2004, we headed West along with Victoria, her seizure alert dog, Choco and my mom.
On June 18, 2004, she received her first dose of Cannabis oil. And a few days later she spoke her very first word: “book”! Not only were her seizures reduced but she was more vocal than ever before! Since then It has helped her personality emerge immensely.
After school began we returned to Georgia to continue helping change the laws in our home state. Not only do I help parents and patients navigate the current laws and resources but I also teach them how to make medicine as Cannabidiol (CBD) is not enough for some patients. These patients go by the mantra “I’d rather be healed illegally, than die legally.” We are still working to change Georgia state and Federal laws, in fact next session we hope to add even more conditions to the bill as well as cultivation.
As Victoria has had a great seizure reduction due to utilizing medical marijuana (from 50 seizures a day down to 1 or two per day), it has really pushed me to help others achieve the same success and/or at the very least have an attempt at a better quality of life. Cannabis is not cookie cutter and currently patients seem to know more about medical marijuana than our doctors.
I proudly wear my Georgia’s HOPE shirt and on the back, it states: "Cannabis oil can heal." Recently, I ran in a local breast cancer awareness 5K, I had people coming up to me and asking for more information. Also, we were selected
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