Mother Shares How Cannabis Helped her Son with Autism

States in the U.S. and countries across the globe have made great progress in legalizing cannabis, but rules and regulations are different depending on the location. If there’s one constant in the cannabis industry, it’s that cannabis is a miraculous plant that has saved countless children’s and adult’s lives. The same is true for yet another child whose life was changed through consuming cannabis.

When Marie Myung Ok-Lee’s child was around the 18-month mark, he had already undergone two spinal surgeries that put him in a cast. Soon after, her son “began experiencing violent rage almost all throughout the day,” the Tech Times reports. Neither Marie nor her husband could understand what was the problem until doctors diagnosed their son with a painful gut disease and severe autism. They tried multiple kinds of treatments that were unsuccessful, but it wasn’t until later that Marie began to consider cannabis as an option.

With the help and guidance of a medical cannabis patient group at Brown University in Rhode Island, where she also taught classes, Marie discovered different strains and tested them to treat her suffering son. After finding the best strains for his condition, she began baking infused cookies and testing other forms of cannabis treatment, “But when I got the cookies right, he calmed down” Ok-Lee said. “His aggressions became less ferocious and less frequent. Mealtimes became less fraught. He was able to maintain enough self-composure that he even learned to ride a bike—despite every expert telling us it would never happen,” she said in her essay posted on The Washington Post. It was so successful, that she continued to have her son use cannabis as a treatment, and has done so for the past seven years.

Looking back on the trials she and her child had to go through, she admits that without cannabis, her life would have been a lot more difficult, “This subterfuge, the stigma, the fear and the work required to find a steady supply of the right plant prevent more families with kids in crisis from trying medical marijuana,” Marie said. “Even parents sent along by our son’s neurologist, who has been amazed by his transformation, have concluded that it’s all too much for them.”