Happy Mother's Day! Moms in favor of medical cannabis
Women are usually the ones who are in charge of the care and administration of medicines when a family member becomes ill. For this reason, cannabis mothers have been the main spokespersons for the medical cannabis movement around the world. They know firsthand the benefits of CBD and other cannabinoids, but they have also been victims of stigmatization and violence in their quest to obtain medical cannabis.
Cannabis has been scientifically proven to help improve the quality of life of patients, in addition to providing treatment for multiple conditions that conventional medications have not always been able to combat. Here are some of the benefits of CBD and THC, along with other cannabinoids, terpenes and other components of cannabis.
Unfortunately, hundreds of families around the world cannot easily access medical cannabis, either because of its high cost, the difficulty in obtaining it, or simply because it is a cannabis derivative that remains illegal or is in gray areas of the law in many countries.
Pharmaceutical vs. herbalist
In the 19th century, the healing properties of cannabis became popular in Europe to treat a wide variety of ailments. Not all of its applications yielded positive results, but improvements were found in the treatment of infantile convulsions. [1]
At the time, the pharmaceutical industry sought to discredit "natural remedies," suggesting that substances synthesized in a laboratory had more credibility than herbalism. [1] Moreover, the plant's cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system, and the relationship between the two had not yet been discovered. [2,3]
The drugs that became renowned were opiates (morphine and heroin) and analgesics (aspirin and barbiturates), which were synthesized in a laboratory. They thus became the main treatments, reinforcing the prohibition of cannabis. [1]
The turning point
Cannabis prohibition left the 20th century with limited advances in the field of cannabis medicine. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, policies surrounding cannabis began to loosen, encouraging research and activism for the adult, medicinal and industrial use of cannabis. There began to be more scientific research on the benefits of cannabis and its main non-psychoactive component: CBD.
The internet was another great tool for families to share or search for information. They were able to share their experiences about cannabis treatments to treat mainly (but not exclusively) epilepsy, cancer and multiple sclerosis.
This was the case for the parents of Charlotte Figi, the iconic case of an American girl diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, which caused her to have severe epileptic seizures. At the age of five, the girl had lost the ability to walk, talk and eat, and doctors had suggested inducing a coma to give her body a little relief.
His father found a video on the internet of a California boy being treated with cannabis. The strain used had a low percentage of THC, but high CBD. Among the benefits of CBD we find anticonvulsant properties, so the treatment had extraordinary results and was extended to dozens of children with the same condition.
Movements of cannabis mothers
Families face long and costly medical examinations, often do not get the right diagnosis and, when they do, cannot access the best treatment because it is not 100% legal. In short, children lose their right to access health care and their mothers are left adrift.
Paulina Bobadilla is the founder of "Mamá Cultiva". This Chilean non-profit foundation brings together mothers of children with various pathologies who have not found an improvement for their children in conventional medicine. In an interview for CNN Chile, she said about her daughter's epilepsy: [5].
"Refractory epilepsy is an epilepsy (where) medications no longer give results, despite their maximum doses (...) (My daughter) came with an operation because she was still on very high doses, with horrible side effects and she did not stop convulsing every day, but my daughter lived in a totally alien world."
Javiera, Paulina's daughter, was having up to 10 seizures a day that made her situation worse and worse, and the available treatment options showed no results. Paulina found videos of Charlotte's case on the internet. With a dose of three drops a day, Javiera left the anticonvulsants behind, attends school, does not express aggressive behavior and plays like the rest of the children.
CBD in Mexico
In 2017, Mexico recognized that prohibiting the medical use of cannabis is a violation of patients' health rights. This was thanks to the iconic case of Grace, a Mexican girl diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and was suffering up to 400 seizures a day. [6]
Treatment options for this disease are limited and almost never reduce seizures, one of the options is callostomy, a very delicate surgery that consists of cutting 3/4 of the corpus callosum of the brain. But CBD has had positive effects in 84% of patients, significantly reducing their seizures with no negative effects and without having to resort to surgery. [6]
Although thanks to Grace's family it is now legal to treat with cannabis extract in the country, the authorities have not issued a regulation. To obtain it, families face bureaucratic red tape, long waiting times and high costs in order to get the treatment and obtain the benefits of CBD oil.
Cannabis moms: activists but vulnerable
For these reasons, hundreds of mothers around the world have created or joined the cannabis moms' movement. These women activists lead the dialogue tables with the authorities of each country for the regulation of medical cannabis and at the same time they organize themselves to learn and teach how to grow and extract CBD oil at home.
The latter two activities place them in a position of vulnerability because they may incur in health crimes: either because they have to negotiate with black market distributors, or because they produce and distribute cannabis derivatives (often to their underage children). Either way, these women are victims of stigmatization and criminalization despite their quest for access to health care for their family members.
They are also faced with not knowing the quality and safety of the plant they get, as it could contain pesticides or heavy metals, or not have the amount of CBD their children need. In other cases they are victims of scams, as the extract they buy may be just cooking oil, at best. Also, home extraction methods may not be the most suitable to successfully isolate CBD from the rest of the substances contained in the plant.
Conclusions
At ICAN we recognize the great struggle of these cannabis moms and we know the medicinal benefits of CBD and other compounds of the cannabis plant, so we propose this space as a dissemination tool to help strengthen information networks and solidarity among patients and caregivers, and to break the stigma about the use of cannabis in the various arenas of public debate.
Through our work we seek to influence health policies in Mexico and Latin America to help facilitate access to medical cannabis, and that its production adheres to strict quality and safety protocols.
References:
Núñez, C., Hermosilla, A., Sepulveda, S., Riffo, M., and Martínez, C. (2019). Collective occupation as a means of overcoming Occupational Apartheid: the case of the struggle for the right to health of Agrupación Mama Cultiva. Cuadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional, 27(1), 4-16. https://doi.org/10.4322/2526-8910.ctoao1786. https://doi.org/10.4322/2526-8910.ctoao1786
Pertwee, R. (2006). Cannabinoid pharmacology: the first 66 years. British journal of pharmacology, 147 Suppl 1(Suppl 1), S163-S171. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjp.0706406
Lee, M. (2012) The Discovery of the Endocannabinoid System. The Prop 215 Era. Recuperado de <PDF>, última consulta el 5 de mayo de 2020.
Young, S. (2013). Marijuana stops child's severe seizures. CNN. Recuperado de <Sitio web>, última consulta el 5 de mayo de 2020.
CNN Chile. (18 de noviembre de 2014). Fundadora de Mama Cultiva: “Aceite de marihuana reemplazó los anticonvulsivos de mi hija”. Recuperado de <Video>, última consulta el 5 de mayo de 2020.
Por Grace. (s.f.). La fundación. Recuperado de <Sitio web>, última consulta el 5 de mayo de 2020.
