A Georgia family lost custody of their son after utilizing marijuana to treat severe seizures. Charged with reckless conduct by the Twiggs County Sheriff’s Department, Suzeanna and Matthew Brill openly admitted to providing their son with marijuana, but claimed it was to prevent their son’s “seven days a week, 24 hours a day” seizures.
According to local WMAZ, the Brill family had previously employed various regimens of medication, and even CBD oil, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid that is legal for consumption in most states and is known for its medicinal qualities like seizure prevention, but it wasn’t effective. In desperation, the Brills introduced their son to marijuana.
“I smoke it first,” said Matthew Brill, the step-father. “I know where it comes from, I know my people. Made sure the bag was good, packed the bowl in my bowl, which I know ain’t been anywhere else, and I set it on the table and told him that it was his decision. I did not tell him he had to or not.”
The Brills’ claim that their son’s marijuana usage caused him to be seizure-free for a 71 day period. There is some evidence behind this claim, as Scientific American recently published a study detailing how the use of marijuana and marijuana derived products reduces severe epileptic seizures.
While the effects of medical marijuana on epilepsy have been primarily positive, the Brill family supplied their son with unregulated marijuana. Medical marijuana in smokeable form is not yet legal in Georgia, and the program is one of the more restrictive ones in the United States. Medical marijuana patients are only permitted up to 20 fluid ounces of non-psychoactive CBD oil, and the list of qualifying conditions is extremely limited, particularly for minor patients. However, Georgia’s attitude on marijuana is changing, as Atlanta decriminalized the drug and most people support recreational legalization.
“Nothing else was working,” said Suzeanna Brill. “I can’t have my kid dying because no one wants to listen.” Despite the charges, the Brill family says they would do it again to protect their son.
[Image via WMAZ screengrab]