Segment
March 5, 2014
Penn Mattison's 2-year-old daughter, Millie, has intractable epilepsy. Her seizures (since age 2 months) were so severe the family thought they would be planning her funeral. Her parents were willing to try anything, so, in January, they moved from Tennessee to Colorado, where medical marijuana is legal. And within five weeks of taking the drug in an oil form, Mattison said it's been a miracle for his daughter. Mattison said Millie's seizures have dropped 75 percent.
"We have gone from 300 seizures a day to maybe one to 15," Mattison said. And her medical bill has also dropped sufficiently. "The medicine we were on was roughly $60,000 a month in the state of Tennessee," the father said. "It costs us roughly $60 a month in Colorado. "
Mattison and six other medical marijuana advocates testified Wednesday before a Health sub-committee, including Toni Corbin, of Lebanon. Corbin's son, Wallace Peterson, suffered a traumatic brain injury after a motorcycle wreck. "If God made this cannabis plant and God made us with this Cannabis receptor in our bodies, maybe God has a plan. Who are we to question and interfere in God's plan?," Corbin said.
The advocates are hoping Tennessee lawmakers will pass the Koozer-Kuhn Medical Cannabis Act. They say more than 60,000 Tennesseans with chronic medical conditions are buying marijuana illegally on the streets, and several of those who testified at the hearing admitted that. "Passing the Koozer-Kuhn Medical Cannabis Act will keep thousands of cancer patients like me from having to go to the streets for this natural medicine," said cancer patient Cathy Walker.
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"The cause of her seizures is still unknown. Millie has endured intubations, blood transfusions, spinal taps, MRIs, CAT scans, genetic testing and stints in the pediatric intensive care unit, one due to kidney shutdown from an anti-seizure ketogenic diet. She's been on as many as 11 (Big Pharma) medications at one time and relies upon a feeding tube. Her current medication, Sabril, leaves her lethargic and has severe potential side effects, including blindness."
"One study we looked at said that if two anti-epileptics don't work, there's a 10 percent chance that any of them will work," Penn says. "If four don't work, there's a 0.8 percent chance. We've been on six. Nothing has really helped that much. She sleeps 20, 22 hours a day — there's no way she can build any muscle tone or development skills."
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U.S. Senator Lamarr Alexander of Tennessee, high ranking and powerful, was the fourth highest recipient of Big Pharma campaign "contributions" in 2013-2014. Tennesseans take second billing as the most over-medicated people in the US. More prescriptions per capita are written in Tennessee than in 48 states. According to Pro Publica's "Dollars for Docs," Big Pharma owns influential Tennessean medical professionals, paying them millions of dollars to salute and advocate the newest Big Pharma drugs to their fellow professionals and professional associations. In 2009, key Tennessee doctors received about $8mil for Big Pharma advocacy. In 2012 , doctors nationwide received $2 billion in direct payments and gratuities from 15 big drugmakers.
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