A mother's fight for medical cannabis for her son

Brut America

This mother fought to legalize medical cannabis in Mexico for her son, who lives with drug-resistant epilepsy. Brut spoke to her about her journey.

Transcript

00:00And how do you dare to grow drugs?

00:06And I tell them, well, if nature gives me what the Ministry of Health denies me,

00:11what other option do I have?

00:13And I wish all the medicines were given in pots.

00:17Imagine!

00:19I am Carlos' mother and caregiver, an 18-year-old teenager

00:24who lives with refractory epilepsy and mental disability.

00:30It is very difficult for them to be surveyed,

00:38to live tied to a bed.

00:40However, Carlos resists.

00:46All this activism was triggered by the struggle to legally access cannabis.

00:52Good grass, lemon, good grass, pineapple.

01:02They told me that Carlos was premature and what he needed was papaya at home.

01:26Carlos was very still, he almost didn't cry, he didn't make sounds,

01:36he began to change color, to turn purple.

01:42Excuse me.

01:52Carlos was in a cardiac arrest.

01:54It took 14 minutes to recover him.

01:57There was hemorrhage in the brain, in the heart.

02:01They said it was a multisystem damage.

02:04Having a child with epilepsy in Mexico is really something very difficult,

02:10because unfortunately in our country there are no medicines available.

02:15Like all people, he had a great stigma towards everything that was considered drugs.

02:21We started using it with Carlos when he was three months old.

02:24Clonazepam, benzodiazepines, diazepam, clonazepam, clobazam,

02:30which had very large warning sheets,

02:34and where it was read, do not administer to minors under 16 years of age.

02:44Carlos tolerated drugs from the age of 12.

02:54And that's what led us to cannabis oil,

02:57because we had run out of all the pharmacological options in Mexico.

03:08Even though in Mexico there is a law that was modified in 2017,

03:13even though there is a regulation that was issued in January 2021,

03:18we still don't go from paper to practice.

03:21We still can't access safe treatment.

03:24This is a totally peaceful demonstration, comrades.

03:30And I started growing.

03:33I prepared two oils, one as a rescue oil, the other as a daily oil.

03:39When you start with this little bit of THC,

03:42after three months, your levels are also stable.

03:46And the doctor tells us that it is no longer necessary to bring it,

03:49to apply immunogamma.

03:51And we, as you say, right?

03:58The crisis began to spread, and it began to be more alert.

04:05We are at risk of being criminalized, up to 15 years in prison.

04:13The cannabis plant is an ancient plant,

04:15it is one of the oldest in the history of humanity.

04:19There are reports of its use since almost 3,000 BC.

04:22At that time, cannabis was used for the control of convulsive crises,

04:26for the control, in some cases, of psychiatric diseases,

04:30even as an analgesic during labor.

04:36We arrived at the beginning of the 20th century,

04:38and we know that in the United States, at the beginning of the 1930s,

04:43an anti-marijuana or anti-cannabis campaign began to be generated.

04:49Violence, murder, suicide.

04:54We have been banning the plant for more than 100 years,

04:57and this has made us burdened with prejudices, myths, social stigma.

05:02We are barely opening up so that we can investigate this plant.

05:06Cannabis does not cure diseases, it controls symptoms.

05:10Chronic pain in patients, for example, who have fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis.

05:16Parkinson's patients will also benefit from CBD.

05:20Of course, patients with refractory epilepsy.

05:25In January, they did not give Carlos his medications in the IMSS.

05:30Neither in February, nor in March.

05:33So they called the IMSS on Thursday to ask me to pick them up on Friday.

05:40But Friday did not give me life.

05:42So until today, Carlos and I are going to pick up his medicines.

05:51The cultivation of the plants annually involves around $12,000 pesos.

06:00Because you have to buy seeds, you have to buy soil, you have to buy lamps,

06:04you have to be checking the light, because they are not just any plant.

06:08They are plants intended for medicinal use.

06:11Because it is the right of every person in Mexico to freely choose their treatment.

06:16And this is being quartered by the state.

06:21Today in Mexico, you say, well, in Mexico you do find products.

06:24Ah, of course you do find products.

06:26But many of those products, if not all of them, are either out of the legal framework

06:30or are considered food supplements.

06:34And a food supplement is not a medical treatment.

06:37But what this has done precisely is open the door to an unregulated market,

06:44taking advantage of their desperation and even swindling many families,

06:49selling them oils that do not contain cannabis as contaminated oils.

06:54We need a product that meets all the standards of quality and health care.

07:08For me, it was something very beautiful.

07:11Because I believe that this medal, this award, is not only for Mexico.

07:18But it is for all these millions of housewives,

07:22who daily wash dishes, mop the floor,

07:25take care of changing diapers,

07:27take care of accompanying our loved ones to the doctor,

07:30and who have been made invisible.

07:32Carlos is now an adult.

07:34An adult with a very difficult character,

07:38who has begun to live life in a different way,

07:41and to recognize himself as a person with rights, with the power of decision.

07:50He is already 18 years old.

07:52And how he has changed his life and how he develops,

07:56I think it is something very beautiful,

07:58and not only for me, but for everyone.

08:00It is something very beautiful, and not only for me, but for everyone.

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