Cannabis & Children
In 2014 there was a mass influx of “medical refugees” to Colorado, the first state to offer cannabis for medical use. Hundreds of families left home, loved ones, jobs, security, for the healing promise of cannabis—a plant that could send parents to prison. Caring for medically complex children is an endless search for relief from seizures, cancer, autism, chronic pain. It is a desperate journey within a medical system offering pharmaceuticals as first line defense. But parents need more in their healing arsenal. Sophie, Ollie, Joey, Emily, Maddie—their parents searched for medications free of toxic side effects and pharma haze. Cannabis—what is this vilified plant, this miracle drug? Is it possible to separate hype from scientific fact when the government proclaims it public enemy number one limiting valuable research dollars? As one mother said after beginning cannabis oil, “My son is sober for the first time in his life—off the Ativan, the Xanax and the Benzos. This is about coming to life and I want everyone to come to see him—legislators, doctors, researchers. Imagine meeting your son for the first time at 11 years old.” This project is based in the belief that long form visual storytelling over a significant period of time can illuminate complex issues of the human condition.
