CBD Oil Series Nominated for a Pulitzer

This has been a banner year so far for medical cannabis and CBD oil;
the federal government is considering giving the substance approval and rescheduling
cannabis, and many state governments, even those who are the most conservative
when it comes to cannabis, are making it legal. The Denver Post fittingly put together a beautiful and telling three-part
series on CBD oil and its effects, and they are being nominated for a Pulitzer
for their efforts.

The Pulitzer judges called this work an “intimate and troubling
portrayal” according to The Denver Post.
The series was created by John Ingold, a reporter, Joe Amon, a photographer and
Lindsay Pierce, a videographer. The series mostly focuses on a 12-year-old boy
named Preston and his family, who left North Carolina in order to move to
Colorado Springs to have access to the CBD oil Preston so desperately needs to
control the seizures he experiences as part of his rare condition, Dravet
Syndrome. While the series does offer hope for Preston and others who suffer
from his condition, it is also painfully honest and has some dark moments,
holding nothing back when it comes to the intensity of the lives lived by those
with extreme seizure disorders.

The article explains how Ana,
Preston’s mother, slowly included CBD and THC oils in Preston’s medication
regime to reduce his number of seizures. “In doses four or five times a day,
Ana would sometimes mix together 20 times as many drops of CBD oil as THC oil,
or maybe 10 times as many drops of CBD as THC, or maybe close to equal drops of
both,” the article reads. “She had a rough idea of the dosing, but the plan was
to be evasive. She believed the technique kept Preston from building up a
tolerance to a specific dose. She also began giving him his traditional seizure
medicines spread out over three doses a day instead of two, and Preston was
also receiving intensive therapies for speech and life skills. Somewhere in
that mix, a harmony emerged.” The article goes on to explain that while these
new treatments do not completely return Preston to normally, they work better
than anything else the family has tried.

While the Colorado journalists were only finalists—the prize was taken
home by a piece on tax dodging from U.S. corporations—a Pulitzer nomination is
a huge honor, and the fact that an article about medical cannabis got nominated
speaks volumes about strides this country has taken over the past few years. It
was not so long ago that journalism decrying cannabis as evil and dangerous was
praised, and that the only cannabis-centered story that could earn a Pulitzer would
be one about a  major drug bust, or
taking down a cartel. Let us celebrate these small victories, as we move
forward into an era of health, wellness and fair reporting in the cannabis
world.