Jax’s Cannabis Journey: A New Jersey Mother’s Fight to Save Her Son

If you were to ask any
parent, “what wouldn’t you do to save your child’s life?,”  more often than not, the answer would be
nothing. There is nothing a parent wouldn’t do, no limit to where they would go
and no option that wouldn’t have been exhausted when it comes to preserving the
life of their child. One of the worst things a person can endure is watching
their child’s health suffer horribly, day-in and day-out, trying medication
after medication, hoping for a breakthrough in relief, doctor after doctor,
with no luck. Then, you hear about a single plant that may possibly be the
answer to your prayers. This can’t be the same plant people are talking about.
So you do the research, get in touch with medical professionals that concur
with the evidence; that after all the experimental drugs and narcotics—which
didn’t work at all or made matters worse—the only medication that provides
progress is illegal and means providing it to your child might be a crime.

Would the love for your
child cause you to try an unconventional form of medication? What if it meant
eradicating your child’s cancer completely without chemotherapy or radiation
treatment, or stopping seizures long enough for a good night’s rest? What if
your state legalized this medicine but then made it so restrictive that access
to it remains virtually impossible? Unfortunately, this is the case for many
parents of sick children in the state of New Jersey (NJ) whose quality of life
depend solely on the benefits of this unique plant.

The medical cannabis program
in NJ is disastrous to say the least, and is designed to fail the people it’s
intended to serve while making selfish, uncompassionate politicians seem as if
they know what they are talking about. With expensive registration and doctors’
fees, overly restrictive qualifying conditions, lack of knowledge and extremely
poor quality of cannabis at $500 per ounce plus taxes; to admit that NJ even
has a medical cannabis program is like saying that because the sky is grey, you
can count on rain. In other words, just because NJ may have a “Compassionate
Care Act” on the law books doesn’t mean it’s working—and one mother is fed up.

Meet Jennie Stormes, a
loving mother and registered nurse who has vowed to fight NJ Governor Chris
Christie on his position against cannabis as medicine, as well as his
ignorantly outspoken opposition to improving the program in NJ. Every Thursday,
Jennie Stormes travels from Hope, NJ to the state capital building in Trenton
along with other registered medical cannabis patients and advocates from all
over the state, and when his health is manageable—her reason for this fight—her
loving son Jackson (Jax). Jackson Stormes is a 15-year-old teenage boy who
suffers from Dravet Syndrome, a condition that on good days are somewhat
manageable (anywhere from no seizures at all to a few seizures), but on bad
days it’s a heart-racing emergency room/hospital admittance and severe seizure
type of situation (up to 150 seizures daily). Doctors insist on giving him
pharmaceuticals, even though they don’t do much and can sometimes make the
seizures worse. Jax has been given numerous narcotics such as barbiturates and
benzodiazepines—none of which have helped. After numerous surgeries, hospital
stays and over 50 different combinations of pharmaceuticals, cannabis is still
the most effective medication. For Jax, every day is Russian roulette when it
comes to his day-to-day health; however, cannabis oil helps to stabilize his
system and lessen the seizures, while allowing his mom and older sister more reaction
time as they are often able to quell a seizure before it starts. With all the
medically concrete evidence proving the benefits of cannabis, how could
Governor Christie be so cold and callous as to remain ignorant and
narrow-minded in his position, yet engage in public discussion as if he is
informed or educated on the subject? 

Chris Christie has gone on
record saying that there’s no need to improve the medical cannabis program in
NJ, and the people won’t see it happen as long as he is Governor. Christie has
also made it clear that he views medical cannabis programs as manipulations to
get recreational legalization passed. He completely disregards the evidence of
medical science, while at the same time downplaying the progress and quality of
life improvements made in other states since legalizing, stating NJ residents
don’t want the same quality of life as seen in Colorado (which has been nothing
but positive).

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Meanwhile, crime and
unemployment continue to rise in NJ.  Not
only that but so is the death rate of patients (a lot of whom are children)
whose lives could have been saved. Jax and his family have been faced with
adversity in NJ because according to NJ law, edibles are only permissible to
minors not adults, which means Jax would lose the right to utilize his medicine
the only way he can effectively consume it. Chris Christie would rather let the
sick people of NJ die or move away rather than allow access to alternative
treatment. Jennie Stormes told CULTURE in an interview, that due to Jax’s health
worsening, she and her family are moving to Colorado where Jax can receive the
proper medical treatment that will save her son’s life instead of staying in NJ
where his risk of dying due to medical neglect and incompetence is high. With
citizens leaving the state, moving to more compassionate states, should the
state government be responsible for qualifying patients’ moving expenses or
funeral costs for the families of those who had to wait too long? Jennie
Stormes thinks so and tells us that the fight for better access in NJ is only
beginning.