News Industry News Oregon 7-Year-Old Gets Medical Cannabis Oil to Combat Chemo
Oregon 7-Year-Old Gets Medical Cannabis Oil to Combat Chemo
- Published on Sunday, 25 November 2012
- Written by Gene Ganjian
PORTLAND, Ore. — A seven-year-old girl suffering from leukemia is one of Oregon's youngest medical cannabis patients, reports Oregon Live.
Last spring Mykayla Comstock was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia, an aggressive form of the disease that affects 10 to 15 percent of patients.
Mykayla's mother treats her daughter with a half-gram of cannabis oil prepared in lime-flavored capsules to treat her pain, nausea, vomiting, depression and sleep problems associated with her cancer treatment. The marijuana pills are administrated twice a day: once in the morning, and again in the afternoon. Cannabis oil among patients and the cannabis community is well known as Rick Simpson Oil (RSO).
The OregonLive.com story indicates that the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program...
...serves 52 children who have a qualifying medical condition, parental consent and a doctor's approval. Like adults, most cite pain as a qualifying condition, though many list multiple health problems, including seizures, nausea and cancer. Allowing adults to consume medical marijuana is gaining acceptance nationwide. But Mykayla's story underscores the complex issues that arise when states empower parents to administer the controversial drug to children. Oregon's law, approved by voters 14 years ago, requires no monitoring of a child's medical marijuana use by a pediatrician. The law instead invests authority in parents to decide the dosage, frequency and manner of a child's marijuana consumption.
The Doctors Opinion
...Dr. Janice Olson, the medical director of the children's cancer and blood disorders program at Legacy Emanuel's Randall Children's Hospital, called the girl's marijuana use "inappropriate."
Dr. Stephen Sallan, a pediatric oncologist and professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, said he views the drug as "relatively harmless." He did groundbreaking research in the 1970s that found THC in marijuana helps prevent chemotherapy-related vomiting.
"As a mother," Mykayla said, "I am going to try anything before she can potentially fall on the other side."
Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer, striking an estimated 3,800 American children each year. Mykayla is one of 2,201 cancer patients authorized by the state of Oregon to use medical marijuana.
Read the full story on OregonLive.com
To follow Brave Mykayla's inspiring journey or to show your support visit: https://www.facebook.com/BraveMyKayla
