Jacqueline Patterson, a Missouri mother of 4, has been in the media spotlight ever since she shared her story with the world in the 2007 documentary, In Pot We Trust. Patterson has suffered from cerebral palsy from a young age, a debilitating neuro-muscular disorder that has set the stage for her lifetime of struggles. Fortunately, this all changed after Patterson started smoking pot.
Patterson’s diagnosis found her with painful muscle stiffness, as well as a severe speech impediment which restricted the pronunciation of her words to the point where they would literally seem stuck at the tip of her tongue. The condition normally affects body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. People with cerebral palsy may also experience visual, learning, hearing, speech, epilepsy and intellectual impairments.
“I hate my speech so much,” she said at her marijuana possession trial hearing in Missouri, The Pitch reports. “I drrr- … I dr- … I drove my husband to suicide, you know.” The widow believes their arguments and her inability to forgive him for making fun of her stutter is what caused him to hang himself in their basement.
In 2007, Patterson almost lost custody of her children due to marijuana possession. In retaliation Patterson headed to California, where medical cannabis is legal, to plead her case with successful avail. Patterson says that marijuana has changed her life.
“I — I — I smoked cannabis for the first time when I was 14,” Patterson said to the Pitch. “For the first time, my muscles were not tense. And words slid from my mouth, from gggghhh — from me at a fluid pace instead of sssss-stuck on my tongue like a g-ghh — like a train wreck.”
Patterson says her medical smoking habit is mainly for her kids, so that she can be the mother they deserve her to be.
“I’d be half the mother I am without [marijuana] because I’d be in too much pain,” she said. “I smoke to be the mother to my children that they deserve.”
The video below showcases the powerful suppressing ability of medical cannabis on Patterson’s cerebral palsy. Within seconds of smoking, her speech impediment drastically improves.
[youtube id=”v3pTZmHCyM4″]
The fact that someone suffering from a debilitating condition ever has to face challenges treating their symptoms with cannabis is completely backwards. Any government willing to take someone’s kids away for smoking a naturally occurring plant absolutely needs a re-evaluation from its people.
Today Patterson spends her time as a medical cannabis advocate living out of California. “It’s been nice … to not worry that I’m going to get a knock on the door for Child Protective Services,” she said to legislators. “It’s nice to not be treated like a criminal.”
Although Patterson now lives without worry of losing her own children for her marijuana use, she knows this isn’t yet the case for many others suffering from debilitating conditions across the U.S. and other parts of the world. Patterson continues to push for the extended legalization of medical cannabis with high hopes.
Do you know of anyone who has treated their cerebral palsy or debilitating condition with medical cannabis? Share your story with us below!
Thank you for your courage, honesty, and love!
My sister was treated with marijuana before she died of cancer but it was in pill form.I dont think its right to expose children to any drug legal or illegal if u dont have to.So why doesnt she just get the pills instead of smoking it?
Its not that easy in kansas city, mo to find exotics like pills and oils, I bet its hard for her just to find it in herb form. I wonder though how you feel about parents who drink alcohol or smoke, my point being if she is responsible and doesn’t do it in the presence of her children how is this different?
I totally agree with TDizzle. If she can be responsible then who are we to judge? I don’t even drink alcohol at all. But many people do it daily in front of and with their kids. Cigarettes are TOXIC and people smoke in front of and all around their children daily. Many people are prescribed dangerous narcotics like oxycodone legally and many of them have children.
Different forms work differently for different health issues. Smoking may work best for her condition.
OR… she should just be able to decide for herself “how to do it” – we all deserve that kind of freedom in this country!
Nabilone ( synthetic Marijuana ) is more like using a cbd strain . Different strains treat various ailments differently It is not fast acting .Adverse effects of nabilone include, but are not limited to dizziness/vertigo, euphoria, drowsiness, dry mouth, ataxia, sleep disturbance, dysphoria, headache, nausea, disorientation, depersonalization, asthenia and increased appetite .
Synthetic “maraijuana” is NOT AT ALL like the real herb!! It kill people every day is is very dangerous~ Please seek out the real medicine and do NOT consider this fake as an alternative~
If you are taking about actual synthetic marijuana, aka NOT pot….
That shit is HIGHLY DANGEROUS!
unlike regular cannabis from the marijuana plant.
nabilone almost gave me a stroke, induced massive panic attacks and put me off weed, then I found it wasnt weed. Got a new guy to go to and am fine ever since. it has CURED my asthma.
as I said in a earlier reply it doesn’t work the same in pill form, or spray, etc. As for why it doesn’t, I don’t know. ive have tried many different perscriptions in the past 25 years and smoking pot is the only thing I’ve found that works for my muscel spazams. im a paraplegic(in a wheelchair) since im 15.
amazing
In Israel tgey created i kind of marihuana without the addiction and brain damage effects that legally is more easy to manage without any concerned.
Marijuana isn’t addictive and it doesn’t damage the brain……
Why do people continue to perpetuate the myth of addiction and brain damage? Such a shame, as the postives far outweigh any negatives!
There are a lot of myths about marijuana. These myths come from the countless erroneous “scientific studies” who were most likely funded by people who wanted marijuana illegal for their self-interests *cough* big pharma *cough*.
Here are the myths that have been scientifically put to rest :
Myth: Marijuana Leads to Harder Drugs
Myth: Pot Kills Brain Cells
Myth: Prohibition Reduces the Harmfulness of Pot Smoking
Myth: Pot is Ten Times More Potent and Dangerous Now Than in the Sixties
MIT Research article (http://www.mit.edu/~thistle/v13/2/myths.html)
The newest myth is that marijuana impairs driving. There is no scientific evidence that proves marijuana impairs driving, but there is ample of scientific evidence that proves that frequent pot smokers actually slightly drive better high than sober.
Here’s the proof: (http://norml.org/library/item/marijuana-and-driving-a-review-of-the-scientific-evidence)
“Education is the most powerful way in which you can change the world” Nelson Mandela
yeah we have that here too. god made it. idk what your talking about with the stuff thats addictive and causes brain damage
“yeah we have that here too. God made it” that was awesome 🙂
She’s a pretty mom. I envy her courage and her determination.
THC doesn’t cause brain damage, but carbon monoxide does, and that’s an inherent risk of smoking it. Smoke of any kind has carcinogens and other chemicals that are bad for you. THC pills, pot edibles and using a vaporizer are healthier alternatives.
they might be healthier alternatives but they don’t always work, as they didn’t for my muscel spazams.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96vow07OJc
The important history behind this so called drug is a miracle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96vow07OJc
i know it saved me from addiction. i was a violent drunk and when not drinking i always seemed to find my way to heroin. my life was a mess, my wife didn’t like me and was afraid of me as well as my children. i managed to get it together with the help of that wonderful plant. i’m not the same guy i used to be.
*VOTE YES on 2 November 4, 2014* to support the medical use of cannabis for doctors to recommend to their patients living with debilitating disease.
For more info about the amendment, please visit http://www.unitedforcare.org
Print-ready infographic: http://bit.ly/UFCInfographic
Print-ready yard sign: http://bit.ly/UFCYardSign
Try chelating and detoxing from heavy metals could have been exposed to as a child !! this may help this condition!!!
I agree.
Cannabis works for me and I’m glad to use it for my RA pain. I found my cure why should I even hope another cure exists? Glory be to GOD!
CP is related to birth trauma, more than heavy metals.
It is from nerve damage.
That laws prevent/ed so many people from accessing cannabis to decrease symptoms, for so long, is criminal.
It also helps decrease seizure activity.
KEY: use high CBD forms, to allow better waking states and less head-trips.
It breaks my heart that a single mother has to go through all this trouble to buy medicine. I send out my blessing to all the people who have to go through this unnecessary, illicit process of buying marijuana. This single case alone should have made marijuana legal across the whole country.
Truly amazing . I wish her all the best for the future and everyone else that suffers needlessly when there are readily available naturally occurring medicines . This world is based on money and making you pay for things that don’t help you from pharmaceutical company’s that will take you to the grave . When is it enough ? I’m sick of what little freedoms we do have being slowly stripped away. How do we break the machine? DMT is natural but we are not aloud . Next you will need a permit for growing your own vegetables.
Thank you so so much for posting this.
I was in a fishing boat accident in 72 got hit in the head with a ten ton skiff went 402 ft under water it was hard but I made it 6 lived 6 died. 3 months after my first seizure lasted 8 hours . went S.F. marine hospital they said I had photic seizures it only takes 37 rpm to through you into one no more fishing . I was busted for marijuana in 67 I was just turning 21 when I was busted with a key 1,500 fine 5 years probation and no nam. that’s another story. my blood brother was killed there and I swore I wouldn’t go. besides that I’m not a land lubber even though my lady thinks I am now, I’m 67 now and still think like a sea dogie that’s also beside the point . I still cll the kitchen a galley and a head a head still tie my lines for strong winds and if it has to move like pipes and stuff like that , it pretty much stay’s tied down. a lot of land lubbers don’t know how two tie stuff down, it shocks me.!! how in the hell did you people get around with out using a rope or cable to tie things down with !? even on the tv the farmers tied knots that broke loose most of the time but I did find out one thing on the farm that I tried to work on off a season of fishing !, don’t tie a slip knot around a calf’s neck, he he me and the calf went through a barb wire fence we got lucky we weren’t cut up bad a few scratch marks on both of us but nothing bad but like I said we got lucky.!!! But back to marijuana I went back to smoking after I got hurt and they started me on these anti convulsion pills they were brothers to the barb drugs when they pulled me off at Seattle marine hospital the shrink looked at me we became good friends and said do you know what heroin is I told him yes I had friends who od on it he told me it was a baby dose for me and the crap backed up my kidney I had the surgery in 78 in Idaho and 79 to 83 in Seattle, in the mean time they pulled me off the pills and started smoking pot full time it’s working and it’s still working. I feel the feeling or they call it an aura and take 3 or 4 hits it goes away I can go about my business weather it be driving or what ever it knock’s it down so I can get on with life. and again I got lucky a friend and I got busted in his house of course the officer lied and when I told the court that was my pipe the officer took and my name wasn’t on the report this happened 9 months before mmj was legal the Judge looked at my buddy and asked your using it for medication yes he said he already knew I was having hat and sunglasses on in the court room he made a court order these gentle men will not be bothered with this again and we haven’t been.
P.S. I feel for the lady she’s doing the right thin for herself if it works do it.
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