Medical Marijuana Brings Hope to the Hopeless

Written By Monica Savaglia

Posted January 23, 2018

A girl in Illinois just had a huge victory for her health and her education last week.

Eleven-year-old Ashley Surin was kicked out of school for wearing a medical marijuana patch and using cannabis oil and lotion.

In 2008, when she was just a toddler, she was diagnosed with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Luckily, her cancer went into remission… but not before she received many rounds of chemotherapy and spinal injections. 

Even with her cancer in remission, she was dealing with the side effects of cancer treatment. One of the spinal injections she received triggered seizures. To keep these seizures under control, she had to take a number of medications… medications that left her with several other serious side effects.

These medicines managed her seizures, but they took a mental and physical toll on her young life. The medicine gave her extreme mood swings, memory loss, and limited energy. And she was still having seizures even on the medications.

Her parents decided to find an alternative treatment, especially after an incident last year — Ashley had a full-body seizure at the grocery store that sent her to the hospital.

Ashley’s doctors wanted to try a fourth drug last August. Her parents were skeptical about how the drug would affect their daughter. It was time to find a new form of treatment that would control Ashley’s seizures.

No parent wants to helplessly watch their child lay on the ground seizing. It’s paternal instinct to protect their child from harm. They would do almost anything to have control over that.

Finding Hope in Medical Marijuana 

For the Surins, that sense of protection and control led them to medical marijuana.

They found a new doctor who suggested a change in Ashley’s diet, in addition to a prescription for cannabis as a medicine alternative. The Surins received their medical marijuana license in December.

Ashley’s treatment now consists of getting a small bandage on her foot twice a day. Her parents rub lotion on her wrist from a tube that looks like lip balm. And if she has a seizure, she gets small drop of oil on her tongue.

In Illinois, it’s illegal to have medical marijuana on school grounds, school buses, or at school-related events. If Ashley were to wear her patch to school, she or her parents could be risking criminal prosecution.

Her parents were forced to take her out of school. This was unfair and harmful to Ashley, who would be missing out on her education all because she was using medical marijuana as a treatment.

Fighting for Their Child’s Health

So, Ashley’s parents took her school to court. The outcome was great for the Surins. The Illinois attorney general agreed not to prosecute and said there would be no negative legal ramifications towards the school staff for helping Ashley with her medicine.

The federal judge issued an order that allowed Ashley to go back to school!

This is only a single case, however, and some children who depend on this treatment might not be so lucky. Only Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, and Washington allow the use medical marijuana at school.

But the U.S. is increasingly understanding the benefits of medical marijuana, which will mean nationwide acceptance.

Without a doubt, this case and others to come will benefit our future generations.

Now, Ashley has the chance to live a normal life.

She won’t be in and out of hospitals trying to maintain her health or restricted from going to school in an effort to avoid hospitals. She no longer has to miss out on the education she deserves or the socializations that are crucial to growing up.

Medical marijuana will help people who would have otherwise been helpless or taking pills every day to (maybe) manage their pain.

Traditional treatments can work, but they don’t work for everyone. And that’s where medical marijuana steps in — providing relief and treatment for those who have been let down by traditional medicine.

Marijuana’s Fight Against Opioid Addiction

There are still no studies that prove medical marijuana legalization decreases prescription opioid problems. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be true.

We’re at the very beginning of this medical marijuana breakthrough. Studies on the subject are limited, but I guarantee more and more will emerge soon.

In the U.S., there are 23 states including D.C. that have passed laws approving medical marijuana use.

We’re on the verge of a huge breakthrough for medical treatments. We can’t say for sure if medical marijuana access will lower the opioid epidemic. But I believe as more studies get published, we’ll start to notice the decrease of opioid use… and addiction.

A study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) suggests a link between medical marijuana legalization and decreased overdose deaths.

The study couldn’t conclude if medical marijuana legalization caused a decrease in deaths or if patients changed their drug-taking behavior because of legalization.

However, the study did show how the access to medical marijuana for Medicare patients had reduced opioid prescriptions.

Doctors have the option to prescribe medical marijuana instead of opioids. This is great news! And it’ll be helpful to determine if we’ll actually see a decrease in opioid addiction.

Taking Advantage of Medical Marijuana

Now more than ever is the time to start taking advantage of investing opportunities available in medical marijuana. It’s about to disrupt a $635 billion pain medicine industry. 

Everyone is aware of the addiction that comes along with painkillers. The president has publicly declared the nation in an opioid epidemic. This will leave the painkiller industry in some pain of its own.

There are already a few medical marijuana companies out there today that are molding the industry. One in particular is a “triple threat” in the medical cannabis space, and it’s poised to dominate the market. You can learn more about this explosive opportunity right here.

The potential for medical marijuana to benefit both your health and wealth is out there — you just have to go out and grab it.

Until next time,

Monica Savaglia Signature Park Avenue Digest

Monica Savaglia

Monica Savaglia is Wealth Daily’s IPO specialist. With passion and knowledge, she wants to open up the world of IPOs and their long-term potential to everyday investors. She does this through her newsletter IPO Authority, a one-stop resource for everything IPO. She also contributes regularly to the Wealth Daily e-letter. To learn more about Monica, click here.

Angel Pub Investor Club Discord - Chat Now