Today\u2019s cannabis activists are well aware of children who require medical cannabis, usually for rare forms of pediatric epilepsy. But in the earliest days of state-level medical cannabis decriminalization, there was Josh Andrews, a 3-year-old with Wilms\u2019 tumor cancer.<\/p>\n
It was November 1980 and Ronald Reagan had just been elected president. Meanwhile, in Idaho, a young couple with two small boys were about to see their world turned upside down.<\/p>\n
Josh, their oldest, complained of a stomach ache, so his mother Janet bundled him off to the pediatrician thinking it was a \u201cbug\u201d or maybe just gas. How could she know that by nightfall she and her husband Jack would be driving to the hospital in Spokane, Washington to see the only pediatric oncologist for miles?<\/p>\n
The cancer diagnosis was confirmed with exploratory surgery and the surgeon removed Josh\u2019s right kidney along with a 2.8-pound tumor. The doctor also discovered the child\u2019s abdomen was \u201cpacked with cancer,\u201d and Josh had his first chemotherapy treatment on the operating table.<\/p>\n
Over the next four weeks, the chemo took its toll; Josh\u2019s weight collapsed from 45 pounds to 27. He was unable to eat or keep any food down. The prescribed anti-nausea drugs did nothing for him and by December Josh was so dreadfully ill that even he began to ask the obvious question \u2014 \u201cAm I going to die?\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Janet\u2019s stepmother sent her an article about cancer patients using marijuana<\/a> to stop the nausea and vomiting. Such articles were appearing more and more throughout the country: It was 1980 and in the preceding three years there had been a phenomenal spurt in state laws that acknowledged the medical value of cannabis and tried to establish statewide programs of research \u2014\u00a0programs that were blocked by the federal government.<\/p>\n Washington<\/a> was one of more than 30 states that had this type of law, but that didn\u2019t help Josh \u2014\u00a0or anyone else in the state. Even if the program had been fully operational (which never happened), Josh would have been too young to qualify.<\/p>\n Janet and Jack were furious at this news \u2014\u00a0Josh was already on all kinds of experimental chemo drugs; why not cannabis? So they did what any rational parent would; they procured marijuana and Janet began learning how to bake cookies laced with cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first batch was really bad,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cBut they worked!\u201d<\/p>\n The results were \u201cmiraculous.\u201d While other children on the cancer ward vomited into buckets, Josh would ride his tricycle up and down the halls.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen your kid is riding a tricycle while his other hospital buddies are hooked up to IV needles, their heads hung over vomiting buckets, you don\u2019t need a federal agency to tell you marijuana is effective,\u201d she said. \u201cThe evidence is in front of you, so stark it cannot be ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n After many months, Josh\u2019s condition finally stabilized and Janet\u00a0started looking for a place to channel her anger at a system that would deny her son the one drug that kept him alive. She called NORML<\/a> looking for help and was referred to the newly formed Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics, founded by Robert C. Randall and myself in 1981.<\/p>\n Janet joined the Alliance advisory board and provided testimony in the historic DEA rescheduling hearings before Judge Francis Young in the late 1980s. The judge was clearly moved by Josh\u2019s story and extensively quoted Janet\u2019s affidavit in his decision that cannabis should be re-scheduled.<\/a><\/p>\n In the 30 years since Judge Young\u2019s decision much has happened: Josh beat his cancer and the Andrews family resumed their lives. I lost touch with them, but frequently thought about the little boy riding his tricycle on the pediatric cancer ward and wondered what had happened to Josh.<\/p>\n So, with the help of social media, I located Josh and Janet.<\/p>\n Josh is now 40 years old, a father of one and stepfather to four. He is a union plumber and pipe fitter. He remembers little of his treatment days but says, \u201cI don\u2019t like hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n He does recall the cannabis cookies and tea.<\/p>\n \u201cThey weren\u2019t very good,\u201d he says with a chuckle that is quickly amplified by the laughter of his mother and father. He has little interest in cannabis and never used the drug while in his teens.<\/p>\n Did cannabis cure Josh? His parents don\u2019t think so and it is doubtful that Josh received enough cannabis to have any effect on the cancer tumors. But Janet and Jack are adamant that cannabis saved the life of their son.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout marijuana, Josh would never have completed the chemo and the chemo killed the cancer,\u201d Jack says.<\/p>\n When asked why cannabis is still illegal federally, Janet offers a simple explanation.<\/p>\n \u201c[Cannabis] is being legislated by people who have no understanding,\u201d she says. \u201cIf they had ever been through it or seen someone\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Her voice trails off, lost in the emotion of her memories, but then she looks at her grown son Josh and smiles.<\/p>\n Originally published in\u00a0Issue 28<\/a>\u00a0of Cannabis Now.\u00a0<\/em>LEARN MORE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> do you believe marijuana is a medicine?<\/p>\n The post Josh: A Reagan-Era MMJ Miracle 30 Years Later<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s cannabis activists are well aware of children who require medical cannabis, usually for rare forms of pediatric epilepsy. But in the earliest days of state-level medical cannabis decriminalization, there was Josh Andrews, a 3-year-old with Wilms\u2019 tumor cancer. It was November 1980 and Ronald Reagan had just been electedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,2135,85,2629,53,139,4131],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25887,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25886\/revisions\/25887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Josh: A Reagan-Era MMJ Miracle 30 Years Later<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"