WIKIMEDIA, LAURIE AVOCADOLauren Scott has been fighting undifferentiated soft tissue sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, for more than 3 years. After a brief period of remission, Lauren’s cancer, in recent months, spread to her lungs, where a large and inoperable tumor makes daily activity, and sometimes breathing, difficult.
When morphine could not ease her pain without causing severe nausea, Lauren turned to marijuana for relief. She is 16 years old.
Her mother, Cherri Chiodo, says medical cannabis—which for Lauren comes in the form of an oil that is especially rich in cannabidiol (CBD), the chemical that contains much of marijuana's medicinal properties, and low in THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive chemical that makes people “high”—is “the only thing that helps.” While the drug is primarily used to manage Lauren’s pain, Chiodo noted it also helps stimulate Lauren’s appetite and reduce the “anxiety that comes from facing a terminal cancer.”
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use medical marijuana in patients with qualifying medical conditions—from cancer to chronic pain—and all but ...
