LogicSoDeveloped
Bluelighter
Fed up with Tennessee's foot-dragging on medical marijuana, families with seriously ill children are departing for Colorado
A "For Rent" sign is staked in the front yard of Penn and Nicole Mattison's home off White Bridge Road. Mountains of boxes clutter each room, and the walls are stripped bare of family photos. In two days, the Mattisons will move their three children — Neal, 10, Sam, 7, and Millie, 22 months — to Colorado Springs, Colo.
They have yet to find a place to live.
Despite the general chaos, however, they appear surprisingly calm. So, for the moment, does Millie. The infant girl sleeps on the couch surrounded by a spiderweb of tubes, her mother tenderly stroking her back.
Then something changes. As the girl lies on her side, her arm goes rigid and begins to curl outward. Her entire body tenses. Even though she makes no sound, her face clenches and contorts.
Nicole Mattison just holds the trembling girl, soothing her. Gradually Millie's face and limbs relax. The time that elapses, from first tremor to resumed rest, is 15 seconds. On a good day, like today, she might have five such seizures.
On a bad day, she might have 200.
Millie Mattison, not yet 2 years old, suffers from infantile spasms. That's why the Mattisons don't feel they have the luxury of time. They're making the move to Colorado, which is among the 20 states and the District of Columbia with legalized medical marijuana, so they can obtain the drug for Millie.
At press time, Tennessee stands as one of six states with legislation pending to legalize medical marijuana. On Jan. 7, state Rep. Sherry Jones (D-Nashville) filed HB 1385, also known as the Koozer-Kuhn Medical Cannabis Act. The bill was originally drafted in 2010 by Bernie Ellis, a policy expert and activist who was busted for growing medical marijuana after drug agents raided his Santa Fe, Tenn., farm in 2002.
The names on HB 1385 were chosen symbolically. Piper Koozer, 2, suffers seizures resulting from the rare genetic disorder Aicardi syndrome. Her family recently relocated from Knoxville to Denver to secure her treatment. The late Jeanne Kuhn found relief in medical marijuana before she died of cancer in 1996. The bill that bears their names would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes only, establishing regulated dispensaries for qualifying patients with specific conditions — including cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, AIDS, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis — who are enrolled in a safe access program.
Kuhn's widower Paul Kuhn, a Nashville investment adviser and former Navy officer, is the past national chairman of the lobbying group National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Kuhn, who continues to serve on NORML's board, is optimistic about HB 1385.
"It will pass," Kuhn states, with a confidence many sympathetic voters don't share. "We're very close to the tipping point. There will be, this year, probably five to eight additional states that pass. So do we want Tennessee to be holding up the rear? It doesn't do our state image any good to be the laggers in a very progressive movement."
HB 1385 is currently in the House, and while it has about a dozen Democratic supporters, a Republican must publicly stand up and sponsor the bill for it to progress.
"We definitely have Republican votes, but we need to get a sponsor out there, particularly in the Senate," Kuhn says. "There are three physicians and two pharmacists in the Senate, so we hope they will be supporters."
But it doesn't look like Tennessee is going to be blazing anything, let alone a trail, on medical marijuana anytime soon.
read more at: http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashv...re-departing-for-colorado/Content?oid=4034302
A "For Rent" sign is staked in the front yard of Penn and Nicole Mattison's home off White Bridge Road. Mountains of boxes clutter each room, and the walls are stripped bare of family photos. In two days, the Mattisons will move their three children — Neal, 10, Sam, 7, and Millie, 22 months — to Colorado Springs, Colo.
They have yet to find a place to live.
Despite the general chaos, however, they appear surprisingly calm. So, for the moment, does Millie. The infant girl sleeps on the couch surrounded by a spiderweb of tubes, her mother tenderly stroking her back.
Then something changes. As the girl lies on her side, her arm goes rigid and begins to curl outward. Her entire body tenses. Even though she makes no sound, her face clenches and contorts.
Nicole Mattison just holds the trembling girl, soothing her. Gradually Millie's face and limbs relax. The time that elapses, from first tremor to resumed rest, is 15 seconds. On a good day, like today, she might have five such seizures.
On a bad day, she might have 200.
Millie Mattison, not yet 2 years old, suffers from infantile spasms. That's why the Mattisons don't feel they have the luxury of time. They're making the move to Colorado, which is among the 20 states and the District of Columbia with legalized medical marijuana, so they can obtain the drug for Millie.
At press time, Tennessee stands as one of six states with legislation pending to legalize medical marijuana. On Jan. 7, state Rep. Sherry Jones (D-Nashville) filed HB 1385, also known as the Koozer-Kuhn Medical Cannabis Act. The bill was originally drafted in 2010 by Bernie Ellis, a policy expert and activist who was busted for growing medical marijuana after drug agents raided his Santa Fe, Tenn., farm in 2002.
The names on HB 1385 were chosen symbolically. Piper Koozer, 2, suffers seizures resulting from the rare genetic disorder Aicardi syndrome. Her family recently relocated from Knoxville to Denver to secure her treatment. The late Jeanne Kuhn found relief in medical marijuana before she died of cancer in 1996. The bill that bears their names would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes only, establishing regulated dispensaries for qualifying patients with specific conditions — including cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, AIDS, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis — who are enrolled in a safe access program.
Kuhn's widower Paul Kuhn, a Nashville investment adviser and former Navy officer, is the past national chairman of the lobbying group National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Kuhn, who continues to serve on NORML's board, is optimistic about HB 1385.
"It will pass," Kuhn states, with a confidence many sympathetic voters don't share. "We're very close to the tipping point. There will be, this year, probably five to eight additional states that pass. So do we want Tennessee to be holding up the rear? It doesn't do our state image any good to be the laggers in a very progressive movement."
HB 1385 is currently in the House, and while it has about a dozen Democratic supporters, a Republican must publicly stand up and sponsor the bill for it to progress.
"We definitely have Republican votes, but we need to get a sponsor out there, particularly in the Senate," Kuhn says. "There are three physicians and two pharmacists in the Senate, so we hope they will be supporters."
But it doesn't look like Tennessee is going to be blazing anything, let alone a trail, on medical marijuana anytime soon.
read more at: http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashv...re-departing-for-colorado/Content?oid=4034302
