Since May 2017 when Senate Bill 16 was signed into law, Georgia has recognized medical cannabis as a treatment for epilepsy, among other illnesses, although there is not way to produce or obtain a CBD cannabis extract in Georgia to treat seizures.
For this reason, the parents of a 15-year-old boy with severe epilepsy allowed their son to smoke marijuana, which successfully controlled his epileptic seizures.
Regardless, David Brill was forcibly takenfrom his parents, Matthew and Suzeanna Brill, who were then charged with reckless conduct.
The state of Georgia claims the Brills endangered their son’s “bodily safety” and committed “a gross deviation from the standard of care, which a reasonable person would exercise.”
It was no secret to David’s doctors why he was suddenly doing so better; they did not object. It was David’s therapist who told the authorities about the Brills, which led to a visit by local deputies who demanded that David stop using marijuana, so he did.
“We complied, and within 14 hours of complying we were rushing our son to the hospital,” Suzeanna Brill toldThe New York Times. “It was one of the most horrific seizures I’ve ever seen.”
Prior to last February when David started using MMJ, he was having several seizures a day; his prescribed epilepsy drugs were not working. After David started smoking medical cannabis, he went more than two months without a seizure.
“For 71 days he was able to ride a bike, go play, lift weights,” Matthew Brill said, per the Times.
Since being uprooted from his home, David has been living in a group home for a month now – away from his parents, his medicine, and his dog who is trained to detect imminent seizures.
The Brills are fighting to get David back home and fear the process could take up to a year. Meanwhile, David is likely having horrible seizures, say his parents.
The Brills have set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to cover their legal expenses. They are more than halfway toward their goal of $30,000.
“We saved our son. This is our job as parents, to protect our child even with our own lives,” writes Suzeanna Brill on their GoFundMe page.
