Last year, Meagan and Brandon Holt’s daughter Maddie, who suffers from a rare and debilitating disease called Zellweger Syndrome, was given only a short time to live, and her family was forced to do what no family can ever imagine – put a 2-year-old in Hospice care.
Maddie is deaf and blind, and entirely dependent upon round the clock medical care. Prior to being placed in Hospice care, Maddie developed life-threatening horrific seizures which sent her health into a downward spiral.For months, the family administered several prescriptions that were intended to help Maddie. However, none of them seemed to work and, in fact, had a negative impact on her health.
After months of watching Maddie’s health deteriorate, doctors had no more options, and her parents were preparing to say goodbye. Maddie was going to spend her last days alive on life support in a hospital bed. But then something amazing happened. Meagan began researching the effects of cannabis on intractable, or untreatable epilepsy and found her one last hope in the plant.
Being in Washington state, where medical and recreational marijuana is legal, Meagan got authorization, and then a beautiful group of people began donating whole plant cannabis extract to their family. From the first dose, Meagan says, they immediately noticed a positive shift in her health. Maddie’s health improved exponentially, and within days “she was off hospice, on palliative care, and working towards recovering from a rough year.
“Without cannabis, she would be a vegetable, or worse, dead,” explained Meagan Tuesday, to the House Commerce and Gaming Committee.
But all this hope would quickly be brought to an end thanks to a law that makes it illegal for growers to share cannabis with families like Meagan and Maddie who need this powerful medicine. But, Meagan, Brandon, and Maddie are fighters and Meagan has been pushing for legislative action, HB 2629, to reverse this ridiculous law.
During the Committee hearing on Tuesday, Meagan took to the podium to deliver a moving speech.
“This Bill is needed, so families like ours, who are in a situation no one should be in, can legally accept donations of a very expensive medication.”
“I want to read a quote that left me with a very heavy heart. ‘This is the last harvest of cannatonic for the children. This grow is no longer legal, so I can no longer donate healing medicine, at no charge, to the parents of children, whom doctors have told to go to Hospice and die. I have never had a harvest for the children that made me sad beyond measure. It will be processed into oil in under five weeks and distributed in two. What will the medically abandoned children and their parents do then?”
“If it weren’t for the generosity of the members of the cannabis community, we would not have been able to treat her. This Bill would allow me to be legally given life-sustaining medicine for my child. It would allow home growing of cannabis, which, in turn, could be processed and given to the patients that need it the most.”
“I do not see anything wrong with sharing quality medicine. Being able to grow and share a plant seems reasonable. Please approve House Bill 2629, so me and my child are no longer criminals.”
Michael Scott is a close friend of the family, activist, and the person responsible for putting together the moving video below. When he spoke with the alternative news site The Free Thought Project, Scott said
“It’s so very sad that these kind, loving folks are having to fight for the right to help their daughter and heal her. We’ve watched as Maddie has begun to heal. The damages Maddie suffers from now are from the medications the doctors gave her! Maddie is going through withdraws… it’s not right, not right at all.”
When The Free Thought Project reached out to Meagan for a statement, she replied with the following powerful words,
“The most important thing out of all of this that I want the legislators and really the government as whole, to realize is that this is more than just being allowed to share and grow cannabis. This is about the right to treat my daughter with a natural medicine.”
“How can it be ok to want to over medicate our children? Why should a child who is on hospice suffering from a terminal disease, not be allowed to choose to use a healing plant that allows them to enjoy their final days?”
“Cannabis allows my child to be herself. It allows her to enjoy the world while she is here. I can’t say for certain that cannabis will treat her Zellweger Syndrome. I still wake up to the reality that my child has already exceeded her life expectancy and every day could be our last. But what I do know is that with whole plant extract oil she is comfortable, coherent, and able to enjoy the little things, like a walk outside or play time with her sister.”
“The federal government needs to stop criminalizing innocent people for a plant. I am doing what any good parent would do and doing what is best for my child’s quality of life.”
On Tuesday, the House Committee hosted an open forum and are deciding whether or not this Bill will move forward.
The family is asking that everyone contact the committee members and voice your support of this Bill.
The e-mail addresses for all the representatives in the Commerce & Gaming Committee are below:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
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The time for action is now.
The annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society took place in early December, where the largest study presented there confirmed the astounding benefits of medical cannabis to treat seizures.
Epilepsy affects one in 26 Americans during their lifetime, “with one-third having a form of the condition that resists treatment or effective management,” such as Maddie’s.
The findings of this study add to the growing body of evidence that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive extract of cannabis, can provide the best option for intractable epilepsy.
Of 261 patients given CBD treatment, 45% experienced a significant reduction in seizure frequency, and 9% were seizure-free at 3 months. Some children continued to experience benefits after the trial ended, even one year after.
“In the subsequent periods, which are very encouraging, 9 percent of all patients and 13 percent of those with Dravet Syndrome epilepsy were seizure-free. Many have never been seizure-free before,” said lead author Dr. Orrin Devinsky.
The Last American Vagabond has covered many stories of CBD providing miraculous benefits to children suffering from treatment-resistant epileptic seizures. With scientific evidence piling up, it is no longer deniable that cannabis provides a host of medical treatments.
Even in spite of cannabis prohibition, politicians are starting to break the law to provide people with cannabis. Rep. Allen Peake, a Georgia lawmaker, admitted that he defies unjust cannabis prohibition by bringing medical cannabis into Georgia from states where it is legal, such as Colorado. He recently delivered medical cannabis to a mother whose son suffers from seizures.
The times are changing, and those who continue to throw people in cages or kill them for possessing a plant are being exposed for the vile tyrants they are.
