SHOULD YOU GIVE YOUR AUTISTIC CHILD POT?

The idea of giving your child pot as a medicine to help alleviate anxiety from autism is something I had never heard of before. After reading this slate.com article, I sent the story out via facebook.com to hear what people thought. Below outlines the correspondence it generated:

KSLATZ: In the spirit of it being April 20th (420) - I enjoyed reading this article on slate.com. I believe marijuana will eventually be legalized throughout this country and it should be taxed appropriately. We can then legitimately test it to see how it can medically help people for various medical conditions like this young boy's autism. What do you think?

I give my autistic son pot
By Marie Myung-Ok Lee
Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/
Last summer, we reached the six-month mark in our cannabis experiment. We'd been using medical marijuana to help quell our autistic son's gut pain and anxiety, and we were seeing some huge changes in his behavior and, presumably, his happiness. http://www.slate.com/id/2251174/

Michael M.: Interesting article

Katy E.: my son is autistic and there is no way i would try this there is other ways to get them to do those things i have done just fine without pot

Steve H.: Good read. I hope your vision happens soon (my brother suffers from limited access for his MS). however, I suspect the country isn't there yet. We'll likely make a few steps forward at the state level, but the political pendulum will swing back before any national legislation happens. And regardless of state law, the feds have insisted on their right to prosecute anyone anywhere.

KSLATZ: Katy, if your doctor told you there was a new medicine that could help with your son's pain and anxiety, wouldn't you try it? there's a negative stigma associated with marijuana (due to politics) and I believe this article gives an interesting perspective on the positive benefits it can have used as a medicine for more than cancer, AIDS, MS, etc. ...

If it becomes legal in our country we can test to see how it can be medically useful for a number of diseases. Steve, I'm a glass is half full kind of guy, it will happen soon, just a matter of how soon ;) and we will all one day look back and wonder why so many had such disdain for something that's medically helpful to people :)

Steve H.: I'm hopeful too, Kevin, but then there's guys like VA gov Bob McDonnell, who somehow turns the clock back on moderate, populist policies to pre-civil rights era - and he's in the minority party! It forces me to accept that advancing issues like this will always be a hard slog. The best we can do is be noisy activists and support our progressive organizations with our hearts and our wallets.

Katy E.: I do think though i don't agree w using it on autism i do think it would b beneficial to other health issues...i was just saying i don't agree w using it on autistic kids because there are already things out there that work for them....however other issues such as cancer, MS, AIDS etc. i think it could help.

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A negative stigma surrounds marijuana in this country due to political agendas and decades of faulty reasoning. As stated above by Steve, this is an issue that will be decided state by state and will eventually - in who knows how many years - will become legal for the country and taxed appropriately.

The main argument for legalizing marijuana is to gain proper medical testing to see what ailments it can resolve. The woman in this story used different strands of marijuana to help her son's autism. Certain strands worked and others didn't. With proper testing and regulation we can define how this plant can help treat and/or solve several different ailments people are suffering from.

If our political leaders would loosen up a little and work for the people instead of big business - like tobacco companies - maybe we could gain some headway on this issue and use this notoriously "bad" drug for some good!

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA IN ILLINOIS?

Photo from huffingtonpost.com

Posted yesterday in huffingtonpost.com:

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - People suffering from cancer, AIDS and other diseases could turn to marijuana for pain relief under a plan approved Wednesday by an Illinois House committee despite claims that it would be a step toward legalizing pot.

Under the legislation, people with a doctor's permission would be eligible for a state registry card allowing up to seven marijuana plants in their homes and 2 ounces of "usable cannabis." The measure is written to expire after three years.

Advocates say marijuana eases pain without the side effects of heavier drugs and reduces nausea from chemotherapy.

"There is needless suffering going on out there," said the sponsor, Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie. "Everything else is a sideshow."

But Rep. Patricia Bellock, R-Hinsdale, said the bill raises serious questions. Will it be misused by people who don't really have a medical need for marijuana? Would it open the door to outright legalization of pot use in Illinois?

"It is the No. 1 drug that introduces young people to other drugs," said Bellock, who voted against the measure in the Human Services Committee.

Still, it passed 4-3 and now goes to the House floor.

Thirteen states already have medical marijuana laws that preclude a criminal conviction for use, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.
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MY OPINION:

I'm pretty surprised Illinois is getting on the legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes band wagon. I believe legalizing it for people with an illness that can benefit from the drug just makes sense. Like other prescription drugs, marijuana has been proven to be a beneficial drug for certain illnesses.

Lets face it, people are using marijuana anyway and is it really a hard core drug that should be punished for its use? I have always believed alcohol is more of a "gateway" drug than marijuana. The people I know who drink heavily like the speedy effect of booze and want to increase that feeling by doing coke or pills.

I think the historic social/political reasons why marijuana is illegal are completely ridiculous and I am glad the state of Illinois is getting their act together and realizing the benefits for legalizing this drug and I am hoping every state follows suit. Decriminalizing the drug nation wide will be next, it's just a matter of time. Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.

PROTESTING DRUG LAWS ON APRIL 20, 2000

In college I met so many great people through my college's weekly newspaper the Northern Star. I had the privilege of working with and interviewing the best and brightest on NIU's campus. 

I started out as a reporter and convinced my editor to allow me to take photos for my stories since I had a photo background. Eventually I became a double threat with my pen and camera. I worked on the weekender section with my good friend Barb, was the photo editor for one semester and I had the honor of being a weekly columnist for three semesters at the end of my stay in college. 

In early April 2000 I was working with Barb and our Weekender section - basically this was the weekly entertainment guide for the paper. We decided to have a 420 issue since April 20 was a Thursday. 

I wrote a persuasive article that cited medical professionals, college professors and an editor at High Times magazine as sources who believed marijuana isn't as bad for you as alcohol and might even be a healthier drug than alcohol. (My sources included my pharmacist boyfriend I was dating at the time, a friend from high school who was working at high times and a college professor at NIU who taught a class on the effects of drug use) 

Barb and a former editor in chief of the paper named Joe decided to organize a march on campus, protesting state marijuana laws. We had about 15 people join us for the march. I basically chanted along with the group and took photos - the photo above is of Barb and her "Just Say No To The War On Drugs" sign at the protest. 

Looking back on it all, it was very unorganized. If we really wanted to make a big splash we should have had more people, more signs, called the major media outlets, etc. 

Barb and I also talked about this when I was in Chicago for the holiday and we both believe our Weekender issue should have shown both sides as we only wrote about the anti-pot side (we did remember assigning the pro-pot side to someone - but he didn't write the story - dumb stoner!) 

Good times being dazed and confused in corn country Illinois!