Patients shouldn’t live in fear of treating their illnesses

More than half of the states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of medical marijuana to make the lives of those who already live in so much pain a little more tolerable. My daughter is one of those people.

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SC should learn from other states’ medical marijuana experience

Medical marijuana could be legal in SC if advancing proposal becomes law

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Harmony, who is 5, suffers from a genetic condition called lissencephaly. It affects her brain and causes seizures. We tried a variety of other medications, but they didn’t help. That’s when I knew I had to try Cannabidiol, or CBD oil, a compound found in cannabis.

While I knew CBD oil would help Harmony and give her some peace, the difficulty to attain it was disheartening. I decided to take a risk, and to my relief, it worked. I saw a change in Harmony, and she was doing so well, but when my supply began to run out I feared my daughter would have to go back to that pain she had endured.

Many states understand the need and the benefit of medicinal marijuana and have laws that allow it. South Carolina has a CBD law, but there are limits on the quantity of tetrahydrocannabinol (the psychoactive part of marijuana). We hope the Legislature will expand the CBD law and allow full medical marijuana.

Whatever South Carolina does, medical marijuana is still prohibited under federal law. But a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate two years ago to end the federal prohibition of all forms of medical marijuana use, helping so many like Harmony with their diseases.

I applaud Sen. Lindsey Graham for being a sponsor of this bill and hope he will continue to be a champion of it. I hope that Sen. Tim Scott will join him.

Parents shouldn’t have to live in fear for helping their kids. Let’s hope that this year we see action at the state and federal level to help parents and children in need.

This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Patients shouldn’t live in fear of treating their illnesses."