5-year-old Bruno will start taking medical marijuana oil for his recurrent seizures.
On Wednesday, January 4th, Jacel Delgadillo received the first shipment of medical marijuana oil for her 5-year-old son who was suffering from seizures since he was only three months old. The mother hopes that the $75 worth of medicine will help control her son’s convulsions. Over the course of the next month, the Nicaraguan mother must administer for drops of medical marijuana oil to her son on a daily basis.
According to the mother, medical marijuana with low levels of the psychoactive agent, THC, was the only treatment that allowed Bruno to lead a normal life. She said her son started to exhibit symptoms of Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy at only three months old. Bruno would get a fever followed by as much as 300 seizures during the course of a single day, Jacel Delgadillo says.
Even though the use of medical marijuana has been legalized in 2014 under Florida’s Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, companies in charge of producing the medication and distributing it were only allowed to issue the treatment last year. The law, commonly known as Charlotte’s Web, allows patients suffering from severe muscle spasms, seizures, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, AIDS, or other debilitating diseases to use the drug as a form of treatment for their conditions.
Even so, the process has been delayed because all regulations had to be followed, as stated a spokesman for Knox Medical, Adam Sharon.
“This was a whole new world for Florida, so it was a long process”, said Adam Sharon.
Other than Knox Medical, which delivered the treatment to Jacel Delgadillo’s home, CHT Medical, Trulieve Surterra Therapeutics, The Green Solution, and Modern Health Concepts are the only authorized distributors of medical marijuana. Moreover, the latter is also the only dispensary available in Miami-Dade County.
Bruno’s mother is also an active member of the Cannamoms, a group that lobbied Florida state lawmakers in 2014 for the legalization of medical marijuana. In November 2016, 71 percent of the state voters passed Amendment 2 which allows multiple patients suffering from debilitating diseases to turn to cannabis as an alternative treatment for their condition. The amendment went into effect on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2017. Nevertheless, the state Department of Health and Florida Legislature still have to implement rules that will govern the state’s industry based on medical marijuana. Because of this, many believe the implementation will be delayed.
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