What would you do to save your child? Cannabis is still illegal in many parts of the country, with penalties up to life in prison or losing your child. There is significant research showing cannabis benefitting some extreme medical conditions such as epilepsy and autism, yet parents are still risking their lives to get medicine—in many cases the only medicine that offers their child relief and the ability to function.

Medical Kidnapping is defined as the state taking away children from their parents and putting them into state custody and the foster care system, simply because the parents did not agree with a doctor regarding their prescribed medical treatment for the family.* It is outrageous what these brave parents have to endure to properly care for their children. Please take 5 minutes to check out the trailer below, we all need to be informed and aware. We will be talking with a few of the mothers here in our next issue due this summer.

ABOUT THE FILM

Ask any parent: “What would you do to save your child?” Without hesitation, the answer is almost always “anything.” It is instinctual to do whatever it takes to make sure your child is healthy, safe and most of all, alive. But how far would you really go if this wasn’t a hypothetical question? What if there was a solution to your child’s suffering but getting your hands on it meant breaking federal law and risking Child Protective Services stripping all of your parental rights? Would the answer still come so easily?

Open Water Studios and OAKZ Media introduces you to “Weediatrics: A Covert Medical Mission”. This ground-breaking film follows a group of underground parents who are risking jail time, not to mention the custody of their children, in order to give them medical marijuana. The last effort in their unyielding plight to change their child’s destiny. Doctors have called their mission hopeless. But hope can prove to be much more powerful than a prescription and certainly any prognosis. 

While it may appear the legalization of marijuana is nearly a moot point with more than 30 states having implemented a medicinal program, it is a false sense of progress for parents who have children with extreme health conditions. The dosing levels these kids desperately need exceed what many states laws allow. Even more discouraging? There is a slim chance their kids’ condition even qualifies them for medicinal cannabis even in the most progressive states. Regardless of state laws, marijuana is still federally illegal and most in the medical community views it with skepticism or are simply uneducated about its treatment potential; a potential largely untapped because of government restricted research due to its schedule 1 status. But for thousands of families, it is the only safe option known to stop seizures, prevent children on the Autism spectrum from self-mutilation or easing the violent side effects of children battling cancer. It is the only option that has brought relief and a sense of normalcy to these struggling families.

At the heart of this film are the true victims of this regulatory chaos: families with sick or disabled children who have had their kids taken away from them and who are constantly evading CPS and police. The determination to help their child has left them not choice but to break federal law or uproot their families to get the medicine they need.

This is not a story about marijuana. It’s a story about a life-saving medication caught in a web of old legislation and new science; about progress hindered by politicians who are unwilling to push back against misinformation. It’s about a broken healthcare system; families who will do anything to help their loved ones, and the cultural stigma and personal risk they incur in doing so. Make no mistake, this film is the story of these parents’ plights to save their children and in turn, use the power of a plant to save hundreds of thousands more.

*Medical Kidnapping: A Threat to Every Family in America Today by Brian Shilhavy