Medical Marijuana's Promise of Relief Lures Desperate Parents and Patients to Flee Texas
(Editor's note: This week's cover story comes courtesy of our sister paper, the Houston Press. Visit here for more stories by reporter Angelica Leicht.) 
Brian Stauffer
BY ANGELICA LEICHT
Sitting cross-legged on the floor in her apartment outside of Houston, Faith's mother looks over at the toddler repeatedly as she talks. There are no physical indicators that signal the start of a seizure, but Faith's mother can tell one is on its way.
Everything about raising Faith involves watching and waiting, and today is no different.
Suddenly, Faith's mom jumps up, her words stalling mid-sentence, and makes her way to the mat where the chocolate-haired child is lying. She plops down next to her daughter, gives her moon face and chubby-cherub limbs a once-over, and places a hand across her tiny chest, feeling for any sign of what's to come.
It's an unnerving ritual, the watching and waiting, but Faith's mom can feel what is happening in her own bones. She knows that Faith is about to seize.
Slowly, the toddler's eyes begin to flicker. The gut-wrenching convulsions quickly follow, working their way up her tiny body, while the anxiety that has worn premature lines across her mom's forehead works its way into sheer terror.
Fear fills the room, and she yells out to no one in particular.
"It's a seizure," she says. "Faith is having a seizure."
Seizures are nothing new to the family -- they've been happening since Faith, now 2, was about 4 months old -- but they are terrifying just the same. There is no respite from the epilepsy for the child, and modern mainstream medicine has no solutions for the young family.
Until recently, Faith's parents, who have asked that we not use any of their family's names, would call 911 and take her to the emergency room, where doctors would give her antiseizure drugs. The drugs didn't work -- they never worked -- yet the doctors would try anyway.
With the fear of what's to come -- Dravet Syndrome only worsens as children grow -- Faith's parents have decided to go an alternative route. They're ready to break the law for their daughter, and this means getting their hands on some cannabis oil.
Treating medical patients -- children or others -- with cannabis is illegal in Texas, and they could lose custody of their daughter for it, despite the clinical evidence of the drug's efficacy. But Faith could lose her life if they don't get a handle on these seizures.
Losing Faith is an unfathomable thought.
With Dravet Syndrome, the frequency of seizures will increase as a child gets older, and there can often be as many as 300 episodes per week in some cases. But from Colorado's legalization movement, a new, more hopeful treatment has emerged for devastating childhood disorders like this: medical cannabis. Like Faith's parents, many out-of-state residents are trying to get their hands on the goods.
Brennan Linsley/AP A Colorado grow house worker cultivates Charlotte's Web, a marijuana strain used to treat seizure disorders.
Twenty-two other states and the District of Columbia have put laws in place providing for the use of medical marijuana now or in the future. Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, D.C., Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington all have laws that legalize medical marijuana, but regulations vary greatly from state to state.
Parents are traveling to neighboring states for treatment, becoming "medical marijuana refugees," but with the lack of federal guidelines in place for medical marijuana, the conflicting rules make it incredibly difficult for outsiders to navigate the system -- especially when they've got a sick child in tow. And as in the case of Faith's parents, those trips may be for the sole purpose of smuggling those drugs back into their home states.
Playing medical refugee only to come home again is a big gamble, and states with marijuana prohibitions aren't always kind to desperate parents upon their return. States without laws legalizing medical marijuana are not likely to differentiate between recreational and medical marijuana cases, and parents may face charges even if the medical marijuana they obtained was from a legal, documented source.
Angela Brown, a mother from Minnesota, spent three years watching her son Trey suffer from seizures and extreme pain. Brown opted to leave Minnesota, where medical marijuana was illegal and won't be legal until 2015, to seek help for her son in Colorado. Brown bought cannabis oil in Colorado and took it back home to Minnesota, where she used it to treat her son's pain and spasms. While there is evidence that the cannabis treatment was working, Brown is still facing legal trouble for using it. The Lac qui Parle County attorney is pursuing two charges of gross child endangerment against her for giving her 15-year-old son the cannabis oil.
Trey's seizures started at the age of 11, after he was hit in the temple during a baseball game. The boy suffered a stroke and subsequent coma from the blow, and the massive brain injury caused debilitating pain. According to Angela, Trey's learning was affected, and he was unable to go to school. He began hurting himself, too -- and his mother became desperate for treatment.
The Brown family tried several traditional treatments for Trey, but when all else failed, they went the medical marijuana route. The family traveled to Colorado, and they were astounded at the results. Just a few hours after he took the oil, Trey's symptoms disappeared, according to his father, David Brown.
Trey's symptoms continued to improve, and an accompanying incredible academic turnaround prompted the staff at his school to question the parents about what they were using to bring him relief. The candid answer -- cannabis oil -- spurred an investigation by child protective workers in August. They seized Trey's cannabis oil and also filed a criminal complaint against Angela Brown, who is facing two years in jail and $6,000 in fines if she's convicted.
While the state of Minnesota had already passed a medical marijuana legalization bill by the time Trey's family was investigated -- it was signed in May 2014 -- the legislation does not take effect until July 2015. Trey would likely qualify to obtain medical marijuana at that time, but the law does his family no good now. Trey needs his medicine -- and his mom -- and both of them may be tough to access if the state has its way.
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