Annapolis MD mom was at heart of medical marijuana reform

In the fight to gain access to medical marijuana for her 4-year-old son, Logan, who suffers up to 10 seizures a day because of epilepsy, Gail Rand put herself at the heart of the debate.

Expanding Maryland‘s fledgling law on medical marijuana proved to be one of the key issues of the just-completed General Assembly session, and an Annapolis mother proved to be a key player in the reform bill that passed the House and Senate.

In the fight to gain access to medical marijuana for her 4-year-old son, Logan, who suffers up to 10 seizures a day because of epilepsy, Gail Rand put herself at the heart of the debate, starting at the opening gavel of the 90-day session when she was on hand to lobby House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.

“It was a pretty powerful part of the last couple months for me,” Rand said of the assembly session.

Legislators passed a medical marijuana bill that effectively overrides last year’s failed program. The state’s earlier effort approved distribution of the drug through medical centers conducting research, but regulations were never approved and no such centers came forward to participate.

This year’s law, instead of relying on academic institutions to administer the drug, will allow for private growers and dispensaries. The program will be overseen by the state’s medical marijuana commission.  Read more here.

Enterprising Marijuana Moms Balance Cannabis Career And Family

Brittany Driver is a marijuana critic and “Pot and Parenting” columnist for the Denver Post’s marijuana website, The Cannabist. As part of her job responsibilities, Brittany tests different strains of marijuana and writes knowledgeable and experiential reviews to provide the reader with an unbiased critique. Brittany also writes a “Pot and Parenting” column in which she details what it’s like to be a marijuana-using parent in hopes of providing insight for those who might have a skewed view on what a pot smoker truly is. This all comes second of course to her favorite job as a stay-at-home mom to her 2-year-old son.

Four more moms share their stories in the slideshow here:

Keeping The Faith

By Sandy Thompson Soderberg

I have faith. I have faith in myself. I have faith in people. I have faith that people want to be educated with truth. Unfortunately, most people have been educated in a system that doesn’t always teach truth.

You may have read my last article. For those that didn’t, here’s a brief synopsis and the follow up about mine and my child’s experience when my child’s teacher asked her “does your mother smoke a lot of marijuana?” based on my political posts on Facebook regarding hemp.  I spoke to the teacher as well as the principal the day after the incident. Both were very open to talking as well as meeting to discuss the situation.

Does medical marijuana equal bad parenting?

By Stephanie Smith, CNN

 Shawnee Anderson’s son, Sage, was removed from his parents’ custody and spent 12 days in foster care.

Shawnee Anderson’s voice is shrill, quavering — on the edge of desperate. She clutches her 11-month-old son, Sage, while trying to comprehend the situation unfolding in front of her.

Her boyfriend — Sage’s father, Aaron Hillyer — is in handcuffs.

“Why are you doing this?” she pleads with police officers standing on the lawn outside her home.

“Your baby doesn’t need to be subjected to marijuana,” an officer replies, in an audio recording made by Anderson on her cell phone.