12-Year-Old Sues Attorney General Jeff Sessions to Legalize Medical Marijuana

Nearly anyone who has been educated on cannabis and how it reacts with people of many different illnesses are fully aware of it's medical benefits, but the federal government of the United States of American stands by it's judgement of cannabis and it's Schedule 1 classification in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Perhaps the man who stands by that judgement the most is Attorney General Jeff Sessions who is now being sued by a 12 year-old girl who uses cannabis medically everyday to counteract her seizures. As a 9 year old she was forced to leave her home of Texas for Colorado as it was the only place where her cannabis medicine was legal and readily available. But with the divide between each state on this simple decision that cannabis can be medicine she is left unable to travel to many places that are important to her. Her emergency cannabis medication is illegal in many states including her home state and family of Texas. It's also illegal on military bases which both of her parents spend time at and she cant visit national parks, or even disneyland. She just wants to be a normal kid, but this government stigma that cannabis could never be medication is stopping her from living a normal life. 

A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York in July says that Alexis ran the gamut of prescription pills, all of which failed to control her seizures before she was left with two options: brain surgery or cannabis.

Marijuana has prevented Alexis from having a seizure for about three years, her family says, and although she’s able to live uninhibited by seizures, she is still restricted by federal law.

“She didn’t just lose her state," Dean Bortell said. "She lost her home.”

Because marijuana is a "schedule one" drug, categorized with other drugs like heroin by the federal government, Alexis can’t use her medication on federal property.

Additionally, Alexis can’t spend Christmas with her elderly grandparents in Texas. If she returned to Texas with her Cannatol Rx, Alexis' parents could potentially lose custody of her.

Alexis and her family hope if the suit is successful, national parks and holidays in Texas will become part of her reality.