The 4-year-old boy struggled to balance while walking through the living room. His mother's eyes attentively followed his every move. Then a seizure knocked him to the ground, the dull thud of his small body echoing through the home. On this July morning in Guaruja, a coastal city in Brazil's state of Sao Paulo, Murillo quickly regained his senses as his mom, Janaína Silva, cradled him. "From five minutes of agony, it's now just seconds," Silva said, recalling how only three months ago her son's seizures would have lasted much longer. Murillo was diagnosed as a baby with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a type of epilepsy with multiple types of seizures that cause stiffening and dropping of the head and limbs. His shorter—and less intense—seizures are a result of a steady dose of liquid cannabidiol (CBD) that Silva can acquire for free through the state public health system, the AP reports.
In drugstores, a 30 milliliter bottle of the CBD that Murillo's pediatrician prescribed for his condition costs as much as $180—more than half Silva's monthly wages as an office assistant. Since June, she has spent zero on Murillo's CBD medication. Twice a day, she drips the oil into the boy's mouth, and each bottle lasts about 45 days. Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous state with over 44 million people, was the first to enact legislation making CBD available for free. The law was a win for Brazilian moms who have led a decadelong campaign to secure access for their sick children. They have fought through civil disobedience, court petitions, marches, and political pressure. The AP details the decade-long fight here.
(More
medical marijuana stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
