Of the many medical conditions that cannabis has proven beneficial for, epilepsy and other causes of chronic seizures are among the top of the list. High-CBD extractions of the plant have been especially useful in treating children with these debilitating symptoms. Unfortunately, due to the handful of states that still treat all forms of cannabis with harsh punishment, a number of struggling children lack access to the medicine they need.
This is what led one Idaho mother Kelsey Osbourne to take matters into her own hands. Her three-year-old daughter Madyson started suffering from seizures and hallucinations after coming off of an anti-psychotic prescription medicine. To relieve these symptoms, Osbourne began treating her daughter with a smoothie infused with cannabis butter. Because of this, the mother of two has lost custody of her two children and is now facing criminal charges.
Idaho is one of the only surrounding states that doesn’t look lightly upon cannabis use, whether it be for medicinal or recreational purposes. Though the Food and Drug Administration has a program in Boise that uses CBD as an experimental treatment for 34 children with severe epilepsy, there is little leeway on medicinal use of the marijuana in the eyes of the law. One Idaho Statesman argued that Osbourne made the marijuana butter herself, and that it did happen contain THC.
This past week, Osbourne and the pro-cannabis organization Idaho Moms for Marijuana rallied for medical marijuana outside of the Department of Health and Welfare in Boise. Without access to proper CBD-based medication, the loving mother stands by her decision to do what was best for her daughter.
“It's something that I'm going to fight for and I'm not going to give up until I have them back home where they have been begging me to be," Osborne said to the news channel Fox 42. "I'm not going to stop. I won't stop. If it takes me two years, then it's going to take me two years."
Unfortunately, Idaho is not one of the many states voting to legalize medicinal or recreational cannabis. Though Osbourne may have made a questionable decision by treating her daughter with cannabis that contained THC, her case seems more like a desperate mother doing anything to help save her daughter than any form of neglect or child abuse.
