Mr. Ricketts, your stance on the use of cannabis oil in the treatment of epilepsy repulses me. You have been consistent about your belief in reducing the role of the federal government in the daily lives of citizens, yet when you have an opportunity to effect real change in the lives of those who suffer from a disease completely beyond their control, you have the audacity to refer people to an antiquated FDA procedure. This does not make any sense and is inconsistent with someone who believes change can come on a local level. On the state level, with the support and leadership of your administration a treatment with vast potential could be enacted in short order.
Your stigmatization of this treatment due to its tangential association with marijuana is lacking in common sense. There is no possible recreational use of this treatment. It is not an intoxicant. Yet because of a slight association to recreational marijuana, you won't support it. Frankly, you should be ashamed.
Perhaps you are ignorant on what a seizure entails. My wife is a Registered Nurse. She currently takes care of a seizure sufferer. This individual is three-years old and has little quality of life. Seizures have greatly diminished her life capacity and have caused her failure to thrive. I can only wonder what a possible 50% reduction in seizures, as shown in 70% of those who use this treatment, would allow her to do. But I can only wonder as her mom wisely obeys doctor's orders. Since a doctor can't legally prescribe it in this state, the three-year old will continue to suffer. Why would you not do something so simple that could effect change in a three-year old?
I did not vote for you because the impression you gave me was that you were beholden to tired ways of thinking and policies that have been proven failures. It is clear that with your position on this important issue, where leadership and open-minded thinking is required, I was correct in that assessment.
