Dear Gov. Corbett,
Thank you for meeting with our family to discuss our daughter Anna’s life-threatening seizure disorder and our new hope as children like Anna trade wheelchairs and hospice for bicycling and skiing by trading their pharmaceuticals for non-psychoactive cannabis oil.
We were encouraged by your efforts to find a workable solution, your compassion toward Anna, and your initiative in sending your Physician General and Secretary of Health to visit patients who need this treatment.
We’re concerned that recent headlines may not accurately reflect the position you’re developing as you research the issue.
We understand your need to protect your family, and we don’t want you to make public policy decisions under pressure from reporters. We’re asking you to continue to pursue this issue with the broadminded, thoughtful attention you gave it during our meeting.
As we approach the upcoming election, conservatives in favor of medical cannabis now face a tough decision. The Democratic candidates support medical cannabis. Friends across the state say they plan to vote Democrat because of this key issue.
In fact, 85 percent of Pennsylvanians – Republicans and Democrats – favor its legalization according to the Quinnipiac poll. They are represented by the thousands of parents and families across the commonwealth who are mailing you letters and postcards this week.
Regrettably I, as Anna’s mother, won’t be able to vote for you or any candidate in Pennsylvania because I’m now registered to vote in Colorado.
As you know, my husband Mark and I have made the painful decision to divide our family's residency between two states, Colorado and Pennsylvania so that Anna can safely and legally begin treatment there. He'll remain here to support our family, while Anna and I begin urgent treatment for her condition in Colorado.
Sadly, I'm learning that our family is not alone in making this heartbreaking choice, because we want our children to live.
This year, Anna’s birthday wish is to receive this life-changing treatment here in Pennsylvania, so she won’t have to say goodbye to her home, her grandparents, her church family and everyone she’s ever known.
Thankfully, you’ve shown yourself to be a states’ rights advocate. You upheld Pennsylvanians’ interests above the federal agenda to use state driver’s licenses as federal IDs. You exercised the sovereignty of the Commonwealth to deviate from the federal policy on Medicaid.
The federal government has granted states the authority to regulate medical cannabis through the Cole memo, which instructs the Drug Enforcement Agency not to enforce federal law as long as state laws are followed. I trust that you will accept this responsibility and not suggest passing it back to the federal government.
I value your efforts as a strong advocate against drug abuse and for recovery. You have an opportunity to counter the growing problem of pharmaceutical addiction by freeing physicians to replace their patients’ highly-addictive pharmaceuticals with non-addictive and less addictive strains of medical cannabis. Standing between doctors and their patients will not prevent illicit drug abuse.
Let’s be clear. We are not talking about “recreational marijuana” bred specifically to produce a high, or children smoking marijuana. Those myths must be dismantled.
We are talking about physician-prescribed, medical grade cannabis in its God-given form. We are talking about placing a drop of cannabis oil under children’s tongues so we can wean them off pharmaceuticals as addictive as heroin, that cause speech loss, blindness, unprovoked rage, and even death.
This urgent need can’t wait until after the election. Anna’s neurologist has warned us again that she’s at high risk of sudden death and that the only remaining option is medical cannabis. The success rate of cannabis oil in controlling seizures is 84% according to a Stanford University survey. Anna’s chance of any pharmaceutical controlling her seizures is 2 percent to 4 percent.
Gov. Corbett, we urge you to consider any pathway to provide this life saving treatment. Please thoughtfully review Sen. Mike Folmer’s bill, or recommend specific ways you might be able to support the bill if amended.
If you are unable to support legislative change, we urge you to find another way to provide this treatment. Would you consider taking emergency action to make this treatment available now to those who so desperately need it?
Sincerely,
Deb Knecht
