Several bills have been introduced during the current legislative session that, if passed, could affect Haleigh’ s Hope Act. House Bill 65 and House Resolution 36 would expand the law, but according to Peake,“ none of the legislation that has a chance of passage this year addresses cultivation.” And Senate Bill 16, which was introduced by state Sen. Ben Watson( R-Savannah) and has already passed the Senate, would limit the amount of THC present in cannabis oil to 3 percent. Watson, who is a medical doctor, has also called for federal officials to reduce the classification of marijuana from a schedule 1 drug so it can be subjected to research studies.“ To say cannabidiol has no medicinal value is just not true,” Watson told the AJC last month.“ It’ s politicised, sure,” said Peake.“ And that’ s too bad. Because real families are losing their children. At least four kids have died just since the law was enacted. It’ s real-life.”
But for all the politics, it’ s also an opportunity.
“ Look, this happens once in our history, right?” said Doner.“ When we look back in 10 or 20 years, we in the broader medical and political arenas aren’ t going to look at cannabis with the same stigmas as we did before. This has been a movement initiated on the patient front, and it has gained traction because by and large there are tremendous medical gains to be had. We don’ t understand nearly as much as we could, but we do understand that medical marijuana is, in many cases, working to produce great outcomes for patients.”
Haleigh, now 7 and three years removed from the seizure that sent her mom on a collision course with history, is finally emerging from the nightmare that once gripped her. In January, Haleigh sat up for the first time. A few weeks later, she went two days in a row without a single seizure.
“ Now that we are solving the seizures, she is getting so much better,” said Janea.“ She is able to express herself. For four straight years, she couldn’ t tell us if her stomach hurt or that she was about to have a seizure. She had no communication at all. Now she can answer yes or no questions. And it’ s amazing how much she knows.”
Janea never meant to be a spokesperson for medical marijuana; she says she’ s never even tried it. But people stop her in the grocery store to ask if she’ s the“ weed lady,” and she patiently explains that, yes, she was in the AJC, or on CNN yesterday, but no, she is not the“ pot mom.” She’ s Janea Cox, Haleigh’ s mom.
And then, just the other day, it happened, the moment Janea had prayed for since the seizures first began. She and Haleigh were watching“ Gilmore Girls” on TV and having lunch. Haleigh, wearing her signature hair bow, looked up at her mother with those big brown eyes and she smiled.
Hi momma! Haleigh said, speaking a sentence for the first time in her life.
Stunned, Janea smiled and cried and took her daughter’ s hand.
Hi honey, she replied.
Janea and Haleigh were present for the executive order signing with Rep. Allen Peake( behind her) and Gov. Nathan Deal. After two years of trying, Georgia lawmakers reached a consensus on legalizing medical marijuana. Deal, surrounded by affected family members, signed an executive order to start the process in March 2015.