- Christopher Smith, Publisher
Cannabis Miracles to Share
Mother’s Day is just around the bend, and right on time, the Universe has landed another Mama Bear story on my desktop. Two, actually, in the last two days, and you just can’t ignore that kind of coincidence.
One is familiar, with a bit of extra good news at the end, and the second one is brand new to me, and it’s more evidence that cannabis is God’s Favorite Plant and capable of miracles. And I’m not a religious guy in any way, but… you’ll see what I mean.
THE SCOOP
Yesterday on Facebook I received a blast from a person who feels like an old friend when you speak with her. I’ve mentioned her here before: Charlotte Caldwell from Ireland. Her son Billy, who loves Harry Potter so she calls him Billy the Wizard, and as you’ve all heard, Billy Caldwell is The Boy Who Changed the Law in the UK which finally ended Prohibition and started to allow medicinal cannabis under the guidance of healthcare providers.
Billy’s seizures started at a few months old and got so bad that medical professionals advised his mother Charlotte to put her child out of his misery. Western-trained doctors in the Ireland could do nothing to stop his suffering, his epilepsy, and subsequent autism.
But Charlotte could and Charlotte did, taking her little boy to the US and to Canada multiple times for his first decade of life, to have him treated with cannabis medicine that saved his life. When British authorities seized his medicine in 2018, she fought back. She went directly to the media who had been waiting to meet them at the airport because 12-year old Billy was a bit of a cannabis celebrity. Everyone knew that the dreaded cannabis was keeping the boy alive. Within days she had gotten his medicine back and later that year the law was changed to allow patients like Billy access to lifesaving plant medicine.
The Brits have done an absolutely shameful job of rolling out the program to people in need, and after 4 years, only 3 people have been approved. But in the midst of British government’s nonsense that makes Chuck Schumer look like a Super Bowl champion, Billy Caldwell is still standing. And it’s a bit of a miracle that he is, but the news is even better than that.
It was happy news like a Valentine.
THE DEEPER DIVE
Then last night I saw a news story and followed it to the YouTube video you see posted here. It’s only a 4-minute video and if you have time you should really see it. And share it with anyone who thinks you’re crazy for being a cannabis advocate.
It tells the story of another Mama Bear and her child (Papa Bear, too!) Mikelle Challenger, her husband Michael and their son James. Mikelle says that James started having seizures when he was 3 ½. He has Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, which gave him seizures every 15 to 30 minutes. The mom was giving him 22 pills per day even though she felt that most of them didn’t do anything. Little James is also autistic, so this family had a devastatingly painful situation. In fact, they thought they’d lose him more than once.
But having Lennox Gastaut made James eligible for cannabis medicine in Texas, and as you’ll see in this video, the change in James was almost immediate. She says two hours after his first dose he made eye contact with his parents, which he had not done for years – that’s how sick he was. And I’m telling you, watch this video and by the end you might never be able to tell how bad things used to be.
Now he takes cannabis medicine from a company called Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation. And like Billy Caldwell in Ireland, James Challenger, who is now 14 and wears braces and is a world record fisherman, he says, has been seizure-free, for two years.
THE LOOP BACK
I’m not a religious guy. But Merriam Webster dictionary defines a “miracle” as “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs”.
You’ve heard the stories, I defy anyone to tell me that cannabis has not performed miracles for these boys.