Unlikely Heroes: 11-year-old Girl Suing The US Gov’t to Legalize Cannabis

Today heroes truly come in all sizes. 11-year old Alexis Bortell — a self-proclaimed medical cannabis/marijuana advocate who was born and raised in North Texas before moving to Colorado to gain legal access to medical marijuana to treat her seizures — now leads the charge against the US Government.

Since starting treatment there, she has gone over 800 days without a seizure, has been featured in numerous documentaries, and has spoken at conventions and even written a book on the benefits and uses of medical marijuana.

“Most Texas Legislators don’t seem to care enough to fight for patients, so I will do it,” Bortell said. “I am only asking to be treated like everyone else and no one is listening to patients like me. Maybe now they will.”

Her hope with this suit is to have medical cannabis reclassified. (source)

The “Fantastic 5” Plaintiffs are fighting for the rights of all Americans who are suffering when cannabis could help.

The plaintiffs include:

• 11-year old, Alexis Bortell, formerly Texas now Colorado resident who had to move so she could treat her intractable epilepsy naturally with medical Cannabis.
• Retired NFL player and Super Bowl Champion, Marvin Washington, who desires to football players and other patients to treat their pain with a cannabis, rather than dangerously addictive opioid drugs.
• Six-year-old, Jagger Cotte. A Georgia boy suffering from Leigh’s Disease, who has been utilizing medical Cannabis to lengthen his life and control his excruciating pain.
• Disabled military veteran, Jose Belen, who takes medical Cannabis to control his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• The Cannabis Cultural Association

What brings these very different people and organizations together? Their desire to see true freedom in America and the effectiveness of cannabis.

The defendants will be the United States federal government, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Administrator of the DEA Chuck Rosenberg.

The federal lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the Controlled Substances Act specifically regarding Cannabis/Marijuana. The Fantastic 5 have challenged that the CSA, in classifying Cannabis a “Schedule I drug,” is so irrational that it violates the U.S. Constitution.

Michael Hiller, lead counsel in the case says, “The record makes clear that the CSA doesn’t make any rational sense, and the Federal Government knows it.” and that, “if the Federal Government doesn’t believe in the rationality of its own statute, it’s unconstitutional to enforce it.”

Cannabis simply does not fit the definition of a Schedule I drug. For something to be classified a Schedule I drug:

(i) it must have a high potential for abuse;

(ii) must have absolutely no medical use in treatment; and

(iii) cannot be used or tested safely, even under strict medical supervision.

It is arguable whether marijuana has a high potential for abuse, depends on how you define abuse. By far, it carries less risk than the “legal” opioids that are killing more people in Americans than any other drug, legal and illegal.

It’s impossible for the anyone to claim the cannabis has “no medical use” and a complete lie for the US government to hold this stance when they hold a PATENT on the medical uses of cannabis.

Medical uses listed in the patent:

1. Treatment potential for neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma.
2. Treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and HIV dementia.

Medical research studies have shown significant medical benefits for cannabis:

• Pain
• Neurological
• Seizures/epilepsy
• Cancer

Finally, it’s well documented that the plant can be used safely and that testing is rather simple. By comparison, one would have to say that cannabis is more dangerous than cocaine and crystal meth considering these are Schedule II drugs and are thus considered less addictive and less dangerous.

The reality is that the US gov’t and even the Medical community is guilty of neglect and patient endangerment since at least Oct. 7, 2003, when the US government acquired a patent on the medicinal benefits of cannabis. So in my strong opinion, the government and the medical community that knew this information has knowingly caused the unnecessary suffering and even early death of anyone who could have benefited from this amazing plant!

Simply put we know that a love of money and corruption is what the Fantastic 5 are up against. “The tanking numbers for painkiller prescriptions in medical marijuana states are likely to cause some concern among pharmaceutical companies,” as stated in a Washington Post article, is backed up by a compelling bar chart. What could be more empowering to individual healthcare than a plant that just about anyone could grow and thereby remove their reliance on Big Pharma?

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References

http://www.thedentonite.com/culture/11-year-old-sues-federal-government-for-medical-marijuana-rights

http://nypost.com/2017/07/24/ex-jets-player-sues-jeff-sessions-to-legalize-marijuana/

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US6630507.pdf

https://cannacultural.org/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26800377

https://kristenwatson.atavist.com/green-migration

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791144/

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2338266

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1898878