PORTLAND (AP) — Medical marijuana is legal for children in Maine if they pass a state certification process, but about two dozen families who want to try it say they have run into numerous obstacles.
The parents are eager to obtain a strain of medical marijuana that’s extremely low in the psychoactive component that makes people high but has been shown to be effective in treating children with epilepsy. But the so-called “Charlotte’s Web” strain is not available in Maine, and parents told the Maine Sunday Telegram that even if it was, they worry about bringing it across state lines when their children go to doctor’s appointments in Boston.
“The legal component is huge for me,” said Heather Bowie of Berwick, whose son was born with neurological impairments and has about 20 seizures a day. “I am not going to cross that line, because ultimately I am no help to Aidan behind bars.”
Meagan Patrick of Acton on Monday is flying with her daughter to Colorado, where the strain of medical marijuana is dispensed, to start the process of becoming a resident. Her 13-month-old baby, Addelyn, has severe epilepsy.
“If they were growing something on Mars that might help my daughter I’d be in the backyard building a spaceship,” she said.
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