People around the world are decrying the actions of Australian officials this month who arrested Adam Koessler for administering cannabis oil to his terminally ill 2-year-old daughter. The young father was arrested on January 2nd and later released on bail; he now stands to face jail time since medical marijuana in Australia is illegal.
“The results were amazing,” Koessler wrote regarding his daughter Rumer’s treatment. “What we saw when Rumer was given the medical cannabis oil what nothing short of miraculous. Her cancer ridden little body was alive again – Rumer had almost instant quality of life…Her skin color came back, her eyes were sparkling again…We were certain after seeing these results that her recovery was entirely possible.”
Administering the cannabis oil was not a spur-of-the-moment decisions on Adam’s behalf. Since Rumer was diagnosed with stage 4 pediatric cancer called neuroblastoma, her parents had decided to supplement her chemotherapy treatment with naturopathic medicine, gluten-free meals, and medical-grade cannabis oil to help combat the cancer as well as the side-effects of therapy.
Despite the evidence that cannabis use in the very young can have negative health consequences, for Rumer, who was considered terminally ill, the benefits outweighed the risks. Not only have international studies found tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of the main active compounds of marijuana, to be beneficial in shrinking cancerous tumors, the American Cancer Society indicates certain cannabis compounds can help “other medicines to achieve more predictable effects. Certain cannabinoid drugs have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to relieve nausea and vomiting and increase appetite in people with cancer and AIDS. Other marijuana extracts are still being tested.”
The scientific research and testimonies of other cannabis oil users means little against Australian law, however. Cannabis, in any form, is illegal, and Koessler is being charged with possessing dangerous drugs and supplying them to a minor.
“He is a father doing whatever possible to save his child… let him go,” wrote one of nearly 114,000 supporters on a Change.org petition to drop Koessler’s charges and legalize medical marijuana. Another supporter adds: “If the law states that this man cannot give his terminally ill… daughter something that improves her quality of life, than the law needs to be changed. The fact that this man has had his parental rights taken away by an ignorant legal system that has absolutely no right to do so absolutely disgusts me.”
Source: Voxxi