In a history-making decision, a California judge has ruled that a kindergarten student who suffers from a rare and severe form of epilepsy with seizures lasting as long as thirty minutes or more, has ruled that she can use a form of medical marijuana during school hours on school property. Prior to this decision, the district where 5-year-old Brooke Adams attends school, The Rincon Valley Union School District, had sought to ban the THC-containing ointment because it contains the active ingredient in marijuana, Tetrahydrocannabinol.
School officials said allowing the little girl to use the drug at school would violate state and federal laws barring medical marijuana on school grounds. In California, medical marijuana use in private with a doctor’s order is legal. At this time, thirty states and Washington D.C. allow medical marijuana usage; federal law prohibits the use of marijuana.
A Painful Childhood for Brooke
When Brooke was an infant, she was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome, and before the judge’s decision, a nurse accompanied her to school and administered the emergency. When Brooke was just a little over one year old, she was issued a medical marijuana card, and her parents say the two products she uses — daily CBD oil and emergency THC oil — are very effective in minimizing and even stopping the horrifying seizures she endures for sometimes longer than thirty minutes.
CBD is a chemical found in marijuana plants that doesn’t produce a psychoactive experience the same way THC does; THC is the psychoactive component of cannabis that produces the feeling of being “high” in most users.
Prior to the use of the CBD and THC oils, Brooke’s seizures were so dangerous that paramedics often had to be called, and now, the emergency THC oil has to be within reach at all times as it has been a wonder drug for Brooke. The oils have given her the opportunity to live the type of life a little girl just starting school should live. Since starting use of the cannabis-based oil, Brooke has fewer seizures that last only a few minutes each.
Prior to this decision, the judge had issued a ruling allowing Brooke to attend kindergarten accompanied by a nurse who would properly administer the medical marijuana oil when it was necessary. Since that temporary decision in August, a school nurse has been trained on the proper administration of Brooke Adam’s medicinal marijuana oil, and Brooke and her family can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that now school will be a safer place for this little girl.
A spokesperson from the Rincon Valley Union School District in Santa Rosa, California said, “The Rincon Valley Unified School District is happy to have the opportunity to serve Brooke and now has direction from the court to be able to do so.” The school district has not yet decided whether or not it will appeal the judge’s decision.
very good story