All language subtitles for A Life Of Its Own The Truth About Medical Marijuana 2017 3_English

[Helen] All right...

Do-do you want me to tell you
well, how it all started?

-Is that... All I'm seeing is...
-That's it.

So, I got a call one day asking me
to do this story on medical marijuana

and I thought, OK.

The city will remain...

I've been a reporter for 20 plus years,

I've seen a lot of human tragedy,

I've seen, unfortunately,
natural disasters,

I've seen a lot of death and destruction.

And I've got to admit that my perceptions
around marijuana were not great.

But I went into this story
and I never expected it to change my life

as profoundly as it did.

I went to Tamworth...

and I met a 24-year-old boy
called Dan Haslam.

And he was...

not a typical 24-year-old.

[Helen] Can you take us back
to the day of-of diagnosis?

-You're only... twenty?
-Twenty, yeah.

[Helen] Tell me.

Um...

I was in Sydney for a festival
and a friend called me.

The doctor said he might have bowel cancer
because he noticed a bit of blood.

And I'd noticed a bit of blood.

So, I thought, you know, sugar.

Just what am I doing?

So, I've organized colonoscopy.

Anyway, I had it...

and then...

Yeah, the doctors just said,
"We've found a large bowel tumor."

We saw the surgeon here
and he said, "Look,

I don't really think
there's anything I can do for Dan."

And it took a long time to sink in.

[Dan] Chemo is...

absolutely awful. [sniffles]

It's, um...

you know, it's poison, you get poisoned.

It's just goes straight into your heart.

[Lou] He would leave the clinic
on the Wednesday

he would be as sick as a dog.

He wouldn't eat for five days,
he would lose weight.

His condition would just fall away.

This is no good for a cancer patient.

Dan wasn't coping with it very well.

He wasn't coping with chemotherapy.

Um, they were calling
the chemotherapy a rechallenge

but they were running out of options.

[Helen] The family were then offered
the option of using marijuana

to combat the nausea.

[Lucy] I was just like everybody else...

Just like the general population
and-and I thought it was, you know,

uh, demon drug and...

it'd have been vilified for so long.

But I was desperate
by that stage, I thought,

"Wow, great. Yeah, let's do it."

[Helen] And what grabbed
the public attention

was the support of Dan's dad.

A retired policemen
who'd headed up anti-drug squads

during a 35 year career in the force.

As soon as he was introduced to cannabis,

he had a smoke
before he went to the clinic,

he wasn't sick.

He had his chemo, he came--
He went out that evening.

We had steak and eggs.

That evening, I can't believe it.

And-And... a smoke,
that's all we're talking about here.

[Lucy] It was as close to a miracle
as I've ever seen.

He wouldn't eat, normally,
for at least three days.

During chemotherapy,
it was just the opposite

and we just all sat and looked
at each other in stunned disbelief.

[Dan] So, I've still got
the side effects...

-Yeah.
-...I've still got the ulsers

and the upset belly and--
But I'm not sick.

I'm don't burn my throat,

I don't lose weight,
I don't spend days in hospital.

So, it's changed my life.

Like, the first time I ever tried to smoke
when I finally thought I'd give it a go.

I ended up lighting my mustache on fire.

Um...

I just coughed, I splutter,

I made...
everything about it just look so uncool.

Um...

Yeah, it's a big learning curve.

[Lucy] When we came out publicly
in the local paper

it was like a domino effect really.

All of a sudden you'd open the paper
and here a bit of story about

the local mayor supporting you,
the deputy mayor

all of the councilors

then the local police superintendent
which was huge.

You know, the first thing I thought was,
"Wow," you know, like...

Surely, it can't be that simple,
you know, that...

there's something that, um...

you know, with Lou and all I prosecuted
people for for many, many years.

I had no idea...

that, uh, cannabis...

could be used for medicinal purposes

in the why that I've now
learned that it can be.

And hearing about Dan, about Dan's story,
and that's what changed it for me.

[Helen]
So, it changed your entire perception.

Yeah. Almost over night.

[Lou] You know,
we-we're not making this up.

We're not pulling it out of the...
out of the sky.

-Basically doing what any dad would do.
-Yeah, absolutely.

[Lucy] It's like, this little repel effect

was getting wider, and wider, and wider,
and right at the middle of it was

Tem Rath, which was a really
conservative, um, you know,

very straight, kind of,
conservative country town.

[Helen] And what it did
was quite extraordinary.

I'd have opened up a huge amount
of compassion for the issue

but it also opened...

I think the way for lot of Australians
to finally have some courage

to tell their story...

and one by one we started to see that.

We started to see
this huge picture emerging,

it wasn't just for pain relief.

And Dan ended up becoming
this unbelievable catalist

for the rest of the nation.

[Dan] We're not trying to end the ban
on recreational drug use,

we're just trying
to get treated as medicinally.

[Lucy] We-we were considered
criminals in our own country

for just trying to care and love someone.

[Dan] I'm calling all
...all the other cancer patients and...

carers that have been around me,

be strong and-and help.

I don't like this,
I don't like the media attention.

Now we just need some other people
to get in there and help me along

'cause I'm struggling a bit.

And I don't want to feel
like a crook for it

and I don't want
all the old cockies up at oncology

that are just...
I don't want to break the law.

But they're suffering, I want them
to be able to go and...

treat themselves and help themselves

and help their families
and not watch them just die

and suffer.

[Lucy] It was Dan's story
to start with...

but I think that was the turning point

and now it's Australia's story really.

Um...

And the story, literally,
took on a life of its own.

[Helen] What's the difference
between cannabis and marijuana?

[??] Well, marijuana
is really a contrive name,

cannabis is really the botanical name.

And marijuana was the name
used by the-the Mexicans

and was the name
that the Americans stuck to it.

And indeed, they even spelt it two ways.
They spelt it with the American "H"

and with the Spanish "J."

So, they are a bit ambivalent about it

but it really is a contrived American name
that derives from that period.

[Helen] The use of cannabis
for medical purposes

is not a recent phenomenon.

It's medical origins
date back 5,000 years.

It was first introduced
to western medicine in 1841

when cannabis resin
was successfully used by physician

to treat a child's convulsions.

And for most of the 1930s,

American pharmaceutical company

sold extracts of cannabis as medicine,

until it fell under a blanket
of drug prohibition law.

In the 1920s, American physicians wrote
three million prescriptions a year

that contained cannabis.

In 1937, there were 28
over the counter preparations

that contained cannabis.

I mean, cannabis use
was widely used medically

up until about 60, 80 years ago.

Um, it fell out of favor,
it became illegal,

and fell out of the armamentarium
of treatments

that doctors have a available to them.

[Helen] How would you describe
the difference between

recreational cannabis
and medicinal cannabis?

Well, it's actually simpler
than people think.

Recreational cannabis
is designed to help people get high.

Um, a whole bunch of different compounds
in the plant cannabis.

The compounds
that recreational consumers chase

is Tetrahydrocannabinol
or Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.

The plants which are breed
for recreational consumption

are either hydroponically grown
or indeed genetically breed,

uh, for TCH levels above 20%.

Um, and this ain't the weed
that your mama smoked.

Uh, this is a very different product.

The product that we want
has a much higher concentration of CBD

and a much lower concentration of THC.

[Helen] The product is known
as Cannabidiol.

For the parents of children diagnosed
with a chronic form of epilepsy

known as intractable,

it's given cannabis a whole new status
as a possible treatment alternative.

[David Stevens]
Deisha first started getting, um,

seizure activity when she was about three.

And from there it just began
to spiral out of control.

To the point,
we were finding her unconscious,

and not breathing in bed.

The night time seizures
were probably the most important ones

because those are the most dangerous.

She wouldn't have a huge
tonic-clonic seizures through the day...

-[Helen] What's that?
-A tonic-clonic means

they're full jerking
and the whole body is moving.

Deisha was unique that
she wouldn't actually get one of those

until she's fall asleep.

[David Stevens]
We'd done a trip to Melbourne,

we had seen professors
of neurology in Sydney

um, we have alarms on her bed,
we have monitors in the house.

We had done everything possible...

you know, under convention medications.

[signs] To see your daughter just, um...

slowly regressing all the time

was the most heartbreaking thing,
you know.

To see things that she used to be able
to do and she wasn't doing it

and she was either getting
brain damage from the epilepsy

or she was like a zombie
from all the convulsions.

I mean, if you and I took
the equivalent of what she was taking

we'll be not there for a week.

We needed an answer and we went getting
an answer from anything else we tried.

[Helen] So, when did you
find about medicinal cannabis?

[David Stevens] Uh, good old Dr. Google.

And looked at America where they've got
a thing called charlotte's web

[Helen] Charlotte's web
is a strain of cannabis

named after Charlotte Figi
from Colorado.

It's rich in CBD,
the non-psychoactive compound.

Cannabis oil reduced
Charlotte's seizures dramatically.

And her story lead to medical marijuana
legalization across several US states.

We had a decision to make,
either we sit back and do nothing

and watch Deisha
continue to regress or die,

or we find an answer for ourselves.

So, we just started
on a low dose of recommendation

of just a one mil three times a day

and we've built it up over couple of days.

But within three days

we started Deisha become--

Come alive, you know,
there was just this personality

you start seeing coming out and...

And doing things
that we hadn't seen for years, basically.

[laughing]

[laughing and playing]

Let's get a bunch of yellow shells,

also, pink ones...

To be honest
when it started I was horrified

probably as a conservative
medical practitioner.

I thought this is really
not good for my patience

because that's my primary interest
is I want to make my patience better

and help them to get better.

[David Stevens] Did you want to do this
yourself or you want me to do it?

-You!
-OK. All right.

Ready. So, one, two, three, open.
Or you're gonna do it quick.

-No. What's this.
-It's your medicine.

-You know exactly what it is.
-It's sour.

You're being difficult now. Quick, open.

Good girl. Is it all gone? Show me.

-Gone.
-Good girl. High five.

[phew]

If we have had medicinal cannabis
three to four years ago

the amount of brain damage
we would have saved Deisha from

would have been astronomical,
you know, um...

So, other few people
can save their children from that,

they need to know about it.

Are you encouraged by her result?

I'm encouraged by the fact that
it certainly helped some of the patients

and that's what we have to explore,

which patients that makes
a big difference to.

But the reality is in the children
with these very severe epilepsies

often nothing works.

[David Stevens] These doctors
who have given Deisha this diagnosis of,

you know, either they're gonna continue
to regress or-or die from this.

And all of a sudden
there's this is miraculous turnaround.

Wouldn't they...
or shouldn't they want to know why

and investigate that further.

Someone needs to take a stance
and see these kids

and see the difference
that makes to their families.

Look, if you want to come
and study Deisha,

come and study Deisha.

I think the euphoria around the panacea

is whats make it so difficult to deal with

and the fact
that none of the data is filtered

so that, we don't really see in the media

the 10 children where it didn't work
as well as the one child where it did.

The media only is showing us
about the good news cases.

[David Stevens] To this day
we've had no seizure activity at all.

And that's just opened up so much
for us, for Deisha, um...

you know, she-she couldn't read
or write before,

she could now read, she can write.

It's opened up her world,
it's opened up our world

and her brothers and sisters as well.

[Helen]
What's been the biggest difference?

[Chuckles]

Getting my Fathers day card.

She actually wrote me a Fathers day card

with "Happy Fathers day" on it,
"Love you, Deisha."

And just those little things
that means so much that...

people take for granted,
we didn't have that and now we do.

In your time as a specialist,
have you ever seen anything outside

the existing paradigm and medication
that's given

received this amount of attention?

No, I have not seen any area
that I've ever worked in

have so much media attention.

And I've been telling my patience,
it's trial by media.

And in fact its changed
the whole equation.

But I don't feel we have
real research studies yet,

at double blood placebo
randomized control trials.

We need those and then we will have
a clear cut answer.

[Nick Talley] As a physician
if medicinal cannabis becomes available

in a way that's different
to the current model.

We'll have to the implementers,
the prescribers for cannabis

in this situation.

And that's terribly important
we prescribe safely and effectively

and that's where the data are so thin

or even lacking.

The problem probably is that
there is not a lot of information

that's widely available on this,
one does have to go digging for it.

And that's not accidental.

One has to emphasize
that any research into cannabis

has been effectively blocked
for the last 100 years.

[Helen] But researching cannabis
in the US remains difficult.

It's still classified
as a Schedule 1 substance.

In this category it's both illegal
under federal US law

and considered to have no value
as a therapeutic agent.

Clinical investigations
are also hampered by the access

to actually obtain research grade cannabis
from the national institute of drug abuse

which is subject
to rigorous approval processes.

The national institute of drug abuse

has, number one, lied,
and number two, distorted,

uh, the science and number three,

they don't fund science that shows
the medicinal benefit of cannabis.

The good folk at Noida
and the Unites States

have spent a long time producing studies
that merely demonstrate

the harmful aspects of cannabis.

Even in the context
of blocking good research

there's still enough evidence,
uh, for these medical cannabis

to advocate forward.

And what people are angry about is...

this is basically a harmless substance.

If your kid is having
100 of seizures a day

like with dravet syndrome

and you give them
a non-psychoactive CBD containing extract

they'll go from 100 of seizures a day

develop mentally disabling
to one or two a week

one or two a month.

And our government...

and I mean, our governments
are preventing parents from doing that.

One of the reasons we're in a mess
with medicinal cannabis around the world

is that, it's been so difficult
to get the research done

it's been difficult to get funds,
it's been difficult to get ethics approval

and then if you got funds
and ethics approval

to conduct the research,
it's been almost impossible to get...

cannabis to actually...
do the research with,

not just in Australia
but in the United States

where most of the medical research
in the world is carried out.

And so, this has affected the whole world.

[Helen] One place where research
has been quietly carried out

for decades is Israel.

And more specifically Jerusalem.

Here in Jerusalem,
some of the most compelling signs

about the properties of the cannabis plant

and it's largely due
to the pioneering work of the man

who's come to be known
as the Godfather of medicinal cannabis.

-Professor Raphael Mechoulam.
-OK.

[Helen] Because of his findings
this ancient medicinal plant

has a new life.

Professor Mechoulam
began studying cannabis

at a time when nobody else
in the world was.

In the early 1960s.

His start was an unconventional one.

[Raphael Mechoulam] We got some cannabis
from the police, five kilos of cannabis.

They were very nice.

They broke the laws and we broke the laws,

it turned out that they were not allowed
to give us the-the hashish

and I was not allowed to take it.

So, if this had happened in the States

I would have ended in the prison but...

Israel is a small country,
so, I went to the ministry of health

who were in charge of these things,
I said, "I apologize,

I won't do it again, I'll go through you."

[Helen] Within months his work
was noticed by the world.

Famously he discovered
the only psychoactive compound

in the plant, THC.

He was also the first scientist
to discover what would come

to be recognized
as another significant compound CBD.

For almost half a century,
his work was funded by US grants.

They never interfered
with what I was doing.

I had to apply, of course
and tell them what I am doing

and why it is important.

They never interfered,
they were very, very liberal

with the research,
uh, my lab was doing.

That's how I was able to do research
with cannabis for almost 50 years.

Now morphine was isolated
from opium about 200 years ago.

In cocaine was isolated from coca leaves

150 years previously.

And yet the structure
of the active compound

or active compounds
in cannabis was not known.

There were a few others
that turned out to be very interesting.

Another one was cannabidiol
which is a major one.

And the compound
does not causes any side effects,

the compound does not have psychoactivity.

Completely innocuous compound
if you wish.

[Helen] The next step
was learning how cannabis reacts

to the body's own system.

And the professor and his team found
it was through two cannabinoid receptors.

In other words how body responds
directly to the plant,

researchers dubbed
these receptors, CB1 and CB2.

CB1 receptors are expressed
mainly in the brain

CB2 receptors mainly in the immune system.

[Raphael Mechoulam] And people will know
about CB2 a lot in the next 20, 30 years.

It's sitting there doing not much

but if needed...

it all of a sudden starts...

uh...

uh, it's producing much larger amounts

and it is a protective mechanism
for our body.

[Helen] Collective work on the plant

has now lead
to the most significant discovery of all.

A major physiological mechanism
in our body

known as the Endocannabinoid system.

It turns out
that this maybe extremely important.

Very important in human disease states.

[Helen] Do you think
the majority of people understand this?

Well, uh, I hope
that the physicians will understand it.

[Helen] So, why aren't there
clinical trials to support this research?

[Raphael Mechoulam]
Well, it's very complicated.

The regulations are such that one needs...

a lot of...

backing and there is a lot of...

background knowledge in cannabinoid field.

But one needs also
a lot of clinical trials.

Clinical trials cost a lot of money.

And as the...

pharma companies are not doing that...

there is nobody to do it.

In Israel, we have...

uh...

a change.

Many years ago the ministry of health,
about 10 years ago,

decided we should go slowly ahead.

[Helen] It's resulted in Israel conducting
the largest human trials in the world.

Where medicinal cannabis
is administered to patients legally.

Dr. Michael Dor heads the program.

I gathered together
all the prominent physicians in Israel...

asked them to do the homework
to examine the evidence

and then decide together
what is the indication...

that we allow it to be used.

[Helen] Doctors are not limited
by the diagnosis

which means they can treat
a wide range of diseases,

from chronic pain syndromes
to digestive ailments.

Basically, we are allowed to treat pain

which is symptom,
not a diagnosis or disease.

[Helen]
So, you're treating symptoms only?

Uh, yes. Basically those are symptoms.

Those symptoms can be any disease.

[Helen] Since the medicinal
cannabis program

was introduced in 2007,

more than 20,000 patients
have been treated.

The program even subsidizes soldiers

suffering from post traumatic
stress disorder.

[Michael Dor] Now, we know the directions
it's going into.

How many more will it be?

I really don't know.

Forty, sixty thousand,

depends upon the research

but the tendency is upwards.

Absolutely.

[Helen] Across Israel,
a number of licensed farms

have been established
to grow specialized strains of cannabis

targeting specific ailments

from tourette syndrome to epilepsy

and even neurological condition
such as multiple sclerosis.

The first and the largest of these farms
has been set up here in Israel's north,

it's called Tikun Olam.

In Hebrew, it means, "Healing the world."

[Roy speaking Hebrew]
We are standing here in the greenhouse

which is the genetic bunker.

All the production of different
strains in done here.

[Helen] Tikun Olam
is one of eight government approved farms

which produce specialized designer strains
at the female cannabis plant.

It's these plants which contain
the medicinal properties of cannabis.

[Michael Dor] What we need is to check

every plant or every plantation,

how much of every ingredient is inside.

[Helen] Australia's setup
is a remarkable contrast.

It's fertile ground for hemp,

one of the world's most durable fibers.

It's legally grown under license
for industrial purposes

and doesn't contain THC.

But medicinal cannabis
in Australia is illegal

and the only way of obtaining it
is through a black market.

One of Australia's most outspoken
cannabis oil producers to the black market

is Dr. Andrew Katelaris.

He was deregistered in 2005

for refusing to stop recommending
and supplying cannabis to patients.

[Andrew] I've been working
with medical cannabis for now, 25 years.

I really became involved
because of the failure

of the hospital based medicine.
I was working in a hospital,

tertiary referral hospital.

And became very aware
of the short comings

of the allopathic drugs, the opiate,

and the other drugs used in chronic pain.

[Helen] How many children
would you estimate

that you're currently treating?

[Andrew] I'm treating
about 24 children currently.

And that's only for lack of material,
I could certainly multiply that

by orders of magnitude
if we had more material.

[Helen] One of Andrew's
biggest success stories has been Deisha.

[Andrew] In some of them,
it's nothing short of dramatic.

Even if only 30%, and it's probably
at least twice that respond in the way

we've seen our best responders,

that's reason enough.

Right? It's unequivocal.
It has become a life changing medication.

[Helen] And you speak
from first hand experience?

[Andrew] Absolutely.

[Helen] Were you ever scared
about giving her the oil?

[Cherie] At first
I thought of it, I was...

like anybody,
is my daughter gonna get high.

[Helen] Cherie Dell turned
to medicinal cannabis

when she felt she had run out
of treatment options

for her daughter Abby,

diagnosed with a rare
neurological condition.

[Cherie]
When she was eight months old

we got a diagnosis of CDKL5.

Basically the kids that have the condition
can usually can never walk, talk,

or feed themselves.

And the have uncontrolled seizures,
low muscle tone,

possible scoliosis,
most of them illegally blind

due to cortical visual impairment.

And they didn't know
what gonna happen with her,

how long she had to live?

You know, yeah,
and then on top the seizures

that can take her at any moment as well.

[Helen] That was a seizure then.

A small one, yeah.

That's nothing
compared to what they have been.

[Helen] How does it feel relying
essentially on a black market?

Horrible.

At any minute I could run out
of her cannabis and potentially lose her.

It shouldn't be that way.

These kids need this, it's not...

It's not something that we want,
it's something that she needs to live.

If she doesn't have it,
she'll more than likely die.

[Abby exhales]

[Helen] But even for parents
who've had success with the oil,

their single biggest worry remains
being forced to access a product

that have no way of identifying.

I have lots of concerns,
especially this year

where it has become more mainstream,
and it's more in the media...

that there are a lot more...

backyarders jumping on the van

waving and selling people
who are desperate,

you know, some type of oil,
whether they're getting

the right oil or anything else
they don't know.

And I've heard of cases, like they were,
you know, been-been selling canola oil.

This troubles me greatly,
the unregulated market that we live in.

Uh, and the patience of being sent
cannabis oil but nobody knows

which compounds are in it,
how much THC there is in it,

how recently it's been tested.

It should be on the regular market,
so, it can be properly regulated

so that it's not on the black market

'cause it's when you have
things on the black market,

then you get the quality control issues.

[Helen] It's the quality control issues
which have lead some parents

of children with epilepsy
to take matters into their own hands.

And set up grow rooms in their own homes.

One frustrated parent recently posted
this video filmed in his kitchen

instructing parents
how to make their own cannabis oil.

Even so, growers say,
there is still many people

who rely on them for help.

[Mark]
Now, this is a cannabidiol tincture.

And a cancer patient would use this for...

controlling metastasizing cancers
or also for, um, bone cancers

this is very, very effective.

This is a sativa.

[Helen] Mark Heinrich is another
cannabis oil producer in demand.

The majority of people
he's contacted by are cancer sufferers.

How many people would you say
you have assisted so far?

Hundreds.

Not just cancer patients
but people with serious illness,

but I, over the last five years probably,
um, it will be well over a thousand.

-And that's the last five years.
-[Helen] And then that was rising.

[Mark] It is every day.

I'm very emotional when I talk about this
about these cancer patients

How when they, uh,
they're just beautiful people.

-Beautiful people.
-What makes you emotional about them?

[sighs]

That I'm able to do something profound
for them that doesn't involve money.

[Helen] How many people,
would you estimate, contact you?

[Andrew] It'd be at least a 100 a week.

And lot of people have given up, too,
even the once that have contacted,

when we don't have the supply,
but, yeah, they are hundreds.

Now that the knowledge
of the therapeutic efficacy of cannabis,

and not only an epilepsy but in a range
of other conditions is becoming obvious,

there is a deluge of people seeking help

and this is the only practical way
they can actually achieve that help.

This is Taylor. He's eight years old.

He has uncontrolled epilepsy.

My son Lindsey, age 16
has a brain tumor epilepsy aspergers.

We were told that
there was nothing more

that could be done medically
to treat her seizures.

He has had a massive reduction
in his seizures

when he's been in the US
on this treatment.

Medicinal cannabis holds
significant potential for so many.

Step up, Australia.
These kids deserve better.

That's great.

[Helen] But there are some families
who've had to face the consequences

of using an illegal substance
to treat their child.

-Are you all right there?
-Yeah.

[Helen] Casey and Rhett Batten
were inspired to speak out

about using the cannabis oil
to treat their epileptic son

after Dan Haslam shared his story
to a national TV audience.

I don't wanna cry in there,
but I can't stop crying.

-It's all right.
-[Helen] But shortly after,

they were raided by police

and their entire supply
of cannabis oil seized.

Oil, they say, was dramatically reducing
their son Cooper's seizures.

It took six months
before they were cleared.

Thanks to a change of government,

and a new Victorian premier who issued
an exemption on behalf of the government.

Around the country, the raids continue.

What the political masses
have to understand

is that a month is a long time for someone
with intractable epilepsy,

a year, it's an eternity
and five year is a death sentence.

Remember, they die
at a rate of 15% a year.

One in seven children
with intractable epilepsy

die as a result of that disease.

This isn't a disease where the clock
stand still, it marches on.

And we have to keep up with that.

[Helen] There might be some people
out there that...

have set a more cautionary approach
to treating children

'cause it is a grey area
in terms of the medicine around it.

What would you say to them?

It's only a grey area here.

I mean, if you look overseas to Israel
and other places in Europe and America,

they've been doing it for,
I mean, especially Israels been doing it

for a long, long time.

So, it's only a grey area here,

and this only a grey area
because they make it a grey area.

We use it as a medication.

We don't use it as a drug.

I look at it...
as another medicine.

[Helen] Professor Tally Lerman-Sagie
is the head of pediatric neurology

at Wolfson Medical Center at Holon,

just south of Tel Aviv.

It's one of four hospitals in Israel
involved in medicinal cannabis trails

treating childhood epilepsy.

There's no parent
that I haven't been able to convince

that it would-- This would be
the right step for their child.

And I have very orthodox patients.

[chanting]

[Tally]
So, even in the orthodox world

where you can't even talk about,
you know, marijuana,

they're ready
to give it to their children.

What we explain to the patients
and the parents, of course

is that the only side effect that we see

is drowsiness.

It's also only in the beginning

and after they get used to it,
it goes away.

And that it's not psycho-active,
it doesn't cause hallucinations

it doesn't cause them to be high.

And it has a medical logic.

[Yael speaking Hebrew]
He was four months old.

He had a seizure at home.
We took him to the hospital.

They ran checks
and he was diagnosed with epilepsy.

All of a sudden he would just fall

often he would hit his head or somehow
physically harm himself...

...and sometimes he would lose
control of his bladder

and urinate through the seizure.

What happened was Eyale's seizures
were becoming more frequent...

...due to the medications
his body lost control.

Until it got so bad that we were
admitted to ICU for five days.

[Helen]
When he started using the cannabis

did you have any results from it?

[speaking Hebrew]
He started two months ago,

we started one drop...

...and we have now ramped up to 20 drops

at night time and 13 in the day.

He's a lot more alert and attentive
and his speech has improved.

He has a better interaction with people
and his surroundings.

He's more quiet and less hyper.

At night he still has seizures...

Much better than it used to be,
but not perfect yet.

[Yael] It's a new boy.

It's new Yalli. [chuckles]

[Helen] Wow.

You must be very happy.

Yes, I'm very happy.

But... we need now, in the night.

-So, still at night, there's seizures.
-Yes, yes.

But in the day, he's very good.

[Tally] Every different
kind of seizures, I've used it.

And what I've found is
that you can't predict.

You can't say it only works on one kind.

It can work on
any kind of epilepsy or not.

So we're learning as we go.

It's not a wonder drug.

It's not what is called the magic bullet.

It doesn't treat all epilepsy.

I don't want parents to think that, uh,

this is the cure
of their child's epilepsy.

It's not.

It works but it works
like another medication.

So I would consider it
another medication for epilepsy.

It should be offered early,
because it has so little side effects.

[speaking Hebrew]
He's simply a new boy.

It's easier to communicate with him now,
teach him new things.

He understands more and speaks more.

[Helen] Do you wish that you'd known
about the cannabis, earlier?

[Yael speaking Hebrew] Yes, I do wish
I had accepted it earlier because...

...all the other drugs
we had given to our child

had so many negative side effects.

We are trying hard with the doctors
to see how we can reduce...

...the number of other drugs he is taking
so we can just use the cannabis.

[Tally] We're using medications

sometimes that have really
severe side effects.

That, uh, there are drugs
that can harm your liver

and have caused aplastic anemia,

and patients have died of it.

And we're using them,

we continue using these medications
on these intractable patients.

There's medications that we give

that have caused patients
to lose their eyesight.

And we're still using them.

So, why hesitate using a medication
that has relatively no side effects?

[Nick] There's a public debate,

an important debate
about medicinal cannabis.

Certainly, I'm advised by the experts,

many patients who try this,

this is medicinal cannabis now, for pain,

often find the, the side effects
a real problem.

You know, their mental changes, et cetera.

They find that a problem
and that can be a real issue for people.

I believe, certainly, there's an attitude

that says that, uh, this can't be good

because we're dealing
with a substance of abuse.

And that's a real problem in itself.

[Alex] Eh, in the case of schizophrenia,

um, despite what some people say,
the jury's not out on this,

there are reputable researchers

who say that there is
a clear risk of schizophrenia

but there are also others
who say that there isn't a risk

or that the risk is very small.

The reality is that

cannabis is a very safe preparation,

if used in, in modest dosage.

[Helen] According to a UN report,

Australians, along with the United States
and New Zealand

are the world's greatest users
of cannabis per head of population.

But one thing is for sure,

as cannabis consumption
has been increasing,

schizophrenia hasn't been increasing.

[Helen] The link between schizophrenia
and cannabis use

is the most contentious part
of the medicinal cannabis debate.

Large volumes of research
have been dedicated,

to the issue, over the years.

And one common conclusion

is that frequent use of cannabis
between the ages of 15 and 25,

can lead to psychosis
or an unmasking effect.

Aggravating existing schizophrenia,

particularly on the developing brain
of young males.

But the evidence is largely based

on heavy cannabis abuse
over a long period.

Which typically involves
high levels of THC.

Medicinal cannabis is generally,
only administered twice a day

and contained to a modest dosage.

Compared to the amount used
by a recreational user.

And they can titrate
the right dose for them,

that is, they can, uh,

work out when they've had enough cannabis

to relieve their symptoms

but not too much
to get unwanted side effects.

What is interesting,
about a lot of the evidence,

regarding the harms
of recreational cannabis

is that some of the more, uh... rigorous

and intimidating studies,
which are true and real,

uh, come from the last ten years.

The last ten years has seen, uh,

a very well documented
and well accepted rise

in the quantities of THC,

in the cannabis that's being marketed in,
uh, recreational cannabis.

And so, one has to assume that, you know,

many of the problems that we're seeing,
particularly with regards to psychosis

are associated with the higher THC strains
of cannabis,

uh, which just wouldn't figure
in the treatment of medical problems.

Cannabidiol is an outstanding compound.

It is present in cannabis.

It is very active
in whole lists of, uh... diseases.

And it should be administered as such.

At the moment, it is not.

Cannabidiol, for some strange reason,

acts against a huge,
huge number of diseases.

Most drugs,
do not act on so many diseases.

Most drugs act on something specific.

[Helen] So revered
is the professor's work,

that farmers have named
their epilepsy strain after him.

Based on years of his research

identifying the compounds
of the cannabis plant.

[speaking Hebrew] This is a mother plant
of the strain Raphael

It's one of the richest CBD strains
that we have.

It has 17% CBD and just under 4% THC.

What's special about these plants,
Raphael and Avidekel,

They are both strains that are earmarked

for the treatment of children
with Epilepsy.

[speaking Hebrew] We produce CBD oil
and it's a very complicated process

There are many stages to the process.

We learnt it through
Professor Raphael Mechoulam.

In simple terms using the crystals
we are able to control

the ratio of THC to CBD.

[Roy speaking Hebrew]
What we do is take the flower or the bud

and we extract from it an oil.

[Noa speaking Hebrew] We tailor-make
a medicine for each child

based on that patient's prognosis.

For example some children
that have epilepsy

also have physical disabilities.

By increasing the ratio of THC
it helps to calm them.

[indistinct chattering]

[Weisberg] The main patients
that we treat, are, uh, chronic pain

that have not been responsive
to other medication

and have been treated for over two years

in a pain clinic.

And the rest are cancer patients,

uh, and this treatment
is not for the cancer itself

it's for the palliative care.

[indistinct chattering]

[Inbal] We teach the patients
how to use cannabis

and then we choose the kind of the variety

that we believe that's going to help them.

It's very important
to make them not feel guilty

because they're using cannabis.

Some of them come here to the consulting

and say, "Maybe I will become stoned

and very worried about drugs,"

but then already use opiates everyday

and still they're very worried
from drugs, cannabis.

And you see I'm a nurse
and I'm talking about medical cannabis.

It's all right in using.

It's exactly like all the medication
that you're gonna...

found already in your life

but it's a flower.

[Helen] One of Tikun Olam's patients
is Elsa Efrati.

She suffers from a painful condition
known as spinal stenosis.

A compression of the spinal cord.

[speaking Hebrew]
Pull on this to show how it works.

Two years of conventional pain medication
have failed to work.

So specialists referred her to Tikun Olam.

Which then prescribed
a preparation higher in THC.

In Elsa's case,
only a few inhalations are required.

The pain relieving effects
were almost immediate.

But it was what happened next
that took us by surprise.

[laughing]

[speaking Hebrew]
I only got up to go to the toilet.

Well done, you're walking, great!

[Helen] Oh, so she can get up.

You're kidding.

That's what a difference it makes.

She can do everything.

So your wife is dancing now.
She's dancing.

Now we stop in there...

But that's a big difference, right?

[woman] She used to be under agitation,
she used to scream.

[David Efrati speaking Hebrew]
No pill worked like the cannabis.

Nothing, any tablets she tried,

no... never helped her here,
until the cannabis.

That's what we continue to see.

So every... all this kind.

[Helen] So your wife used to take these?

-Doctor give this.
-Yeah.

Another doctor bring this.

Another doctor...

[Helen] How many medicines is this?
One, two...

three, four, five, six, seven, eight...

-Ten, ten, ten pieces.
-Ten? Ten medications?

-Everyday. Everyday.
-Everyday?

Cannabis... 10 minutes.

-Ten minutes?
-Ten minutes until it works.

Ten minute, fifteen minute...

[speaking Hebrew]
It's something from the heavens.

He said it's from God.

He said it's a present from Gods.

The cannabis. That's what we believe,
it is a present from God.

[Yedidya] I can still feel heat,
I can still feel the-- the cold.

I can still feel the pain
in most of the body.

Most of my body but...

but I'm paralyzed,
I can't move from the neck down.

Only a little bit my head.

Yeah.

[Helen] Yedidya Kenuff also traveled
a similar path with opiates.

They proved ineffective after a time.

And came with unwanted side effects.

24/7, I was thinking about death.

And it was strong, it was very strong
and difficult to handle with it.

So I went back to the doctors and...

and told them that the opiates
were not, not doing so well for me.

[Helen] What sort of difference
has it made

in terms of the pain relief

that you experienced on the opiates?

It's, uh...

It's very different
'cause when I used to take the opiates,

it also, it numbs the pain
but also it numbs you.

I would just sit at home,
lying in bed in front of the TV,

not, not motivated...

Medicinal cannabis makes you happy
and makes you, your appetite.

You wanna go out,
you wanna go to the restaurant,

you wanna go meet your friends...

It's a different change, a huge.

A huge change, before I took the pills
and then took the cannabis.

So...

So for me it's...

it's like a different world, you know?

[man] Arm up.

[Helen] A symptom of Yedidya's paralysis

is a spinal reflex
which results in uncontrolled tremors.

I start feeling the effect
about a minute after I take.

It takes about 15 minutes

to feel the, the full impact,
the full, uh...

After 15 minutes, I'm relaxed.

Yeah.

[breathing heavily]

Come, pick up my hand. You see?

You get the difference?

So you are more loose?

My body,

if I waited five minutes more,

my body will be fully relaxed.

You understand the difference?

If I, if I didn't take this,

just a little touch at me,

all my body spasms.

I shake like this.

Then after I take it,
you can touch my body,

I can take a shower, relaxing.

You see?

When I was in the accident,
when I was hit by the car,

they came to me, the paramedics,

I was in pain, screaming away there.

And they gave me morphine.

I wa- I was very happy for that.

Now I am happy more that
I can take the cannabis

that doesn't make any side effects,

so I thank God that

they-- they approved it here in Israel
and they had this common sense.

[whizzing]

[Moshe] It should come to the receptors
that are in the brain.

You have to take it into your mouth,

to think about your head,

and to pass it to your head.

Then it works wonderfully.

Cancer patients on chemotherapy

or in terminal states

need everything we can do to help them

or enjoy the last days

or to overcome chemotherapy side effects.

You know, I see how they suffer.

And if I can help some of the suffering,

I did my job.

[Helen] And in Israel, you led the way?

[Moshe] Sure.

Did you have to be courageous to do that?

No, empathic.

-Just empathic?
-Yeah. Not courageous.

-It wasn't a difficult decision for you?
-No.

It's not a difficult decision, no.

I'm not the patient.

I'm sitting
in the right place of the table.

[Michael] It's not treating cancer,

but if a cancer patient who cannot eat
or cannot sleep

gets the cannabis, he eats better,

he sleeps better,

and then it improves his whole life.

So it's not treatment of cancer,

but it is really, really helpful
to those patients.

[Helen] Improving quality of life.

Quality of life

and maybe a little more,

because if he gets a good nourishment

and he sleeps good,

his whole disease [clicks tongue]
maybe is progressing less.

[Helen] There are some stories
emerging around the world,

anecdotal evidence, largely,

that the cannabis oil
is helping to cure cancer.

[exhales] Here we have a story.

Uh... First of all,
cancer is not one, one disease.

Uh, breast cancer in a woman

is not like a prostate cancer in a man.

Two completely different diseases.

Both of them have cancer, cancer cells.

Eh, cannabidiol has been shown

to be active in both cases in mice.

Never, there has never been
a clinical trial,

a large-scale clinical trial,

with either THC or CBD
in any cancer disease, period.

Uh... Nothing.

[Helen] The professor has conducted
a small-scale clinical trial,

but not in the area of cancer.

His study focused on alleviating
the symptoms of chemotherapy

in young patients.

[Raphael] So the children
were crying all the time.

They were in a bad shape.
The parents were in a bad shape.

And we decided we have to do something.

And we decided we'll be great scientists,

we'll do a clinical trial
with children that get the material

and children that don't get the material.

After a week, the physician comes to me,
and "I can't do it," she says.

I know exactly who is taking it
and exactly who is not.

Those that are taking it...

Although she is not supposed to
know who is taking it, I can see.

Five children do not vomit
and five children do vomit.

So she started giving all the children
in her department THC.

She gave it 400 times.

And we didn't have
a single case of vomiting,

a single case of nausea,

completely clean.

And we published that.

-And nothing happened.
-And when did you publish that?

Twenty years ago.

The moment...
The doctors are getting open to that,

the moment the patients see that

it doesn't harm them

and they hear from another patient,

my treatment was so easy,

because they used cannabis,
they are coming to us.

So they are hearing anecdotal evidence

-from one another...
-No, not... [stammering]

Not anecdotal.

Anecdotal is everything once in a while.

-That's not happening once in a while.
-Hmm.

All right,
so it has gone beyond anecdotal?

Yeah.

It's clinical observation, for you?

It's clinical success.

[Helen] What's it like before and after?

I'm shaking uncontrollably,

I can't get peas onto my fork.

[chuckles]

Spilling my soup [chuckles] down me.

And afterwards, it calmed me down.

And I've even taken to
knitting and sewing again.

[Helen] So it really has
a noticeable improvement for you?

Oh, vast, yes.

[Michael] I was a victim
of a car accident,

in which I suffered multiple broken bones,

including a fractured skull.

I take four prescription drugs.

-[Helen] Painkillers?
-[Michael Bennett] Yes.

[Helen] So you were introduced
to cannabis tincture.

What were you hoping
it would achieve?

Relieve my need for the medication.

And at the moment,
it looks like doing that.

[Cherie] She's doing everything
that they said she wouldn't do

from smiling, rolling over,

holding her head
for short periods of time.

Um...

You know, body-weight bearing,

that's one thing that they said
she'd never do without a standing frame

and she did it the other day.

So it's-- it's really amazing.

She's alive.
She's not just a body anymore.

[Attie] The worst of the worst
of this illness is the pain.

Um, it's like...

I can talk about it now,
because I haven't got it, right,

because now I'm on the oil.

But it's like somebody hitting you
with a sledgehammer.

And now I haven't got a mountain
tall enough to stand on,

[laughs] to scream to the world.

Um...

[sighs]

It's given me the next 20 years.

It's that simple.

[Helen] Has there been merit

in the anecdotal evidence
presented so far?

That's a good question.
Ultimately, we need to know

what anecdotal evidence
is actually helpful and what isn't

and we will only know that
by having these further trials

and investigations performed.

There is some evidence that cannabis can,

as a supplement,
reduce pain for some people.

Yes, there is some evidence
along those lines,

although I'd like more evidence to help us
and to guide us.

[Alex] We have over
100 randomized controlled trials

on medicinal cannabis.

Uh, now, I find the evidence overwhelming,
as Laurie does.

Overwhelming
that this is an effective drug

for many symptoms, certain conditions.

I am at a loss to understand

how some senior doctors, senior academics,

can say there's no evidence
that it's effective

and that it's highly dangerous.

Frankly, I think that's nonsense.

It would be wonderful

if the information available
was sufficient already.

But one of the credos of a doctor
is do no harm.

And at the moment
we don't know for certain

that the cannabidiol
will not harm the child's brain.

Take the epilepsy example.

Smoking the raw plant of cannabis
actually makes epilepsy worse

and it's a well-documented,

you know, fact around neurologists
around the world.

But when we start to look at
some of the anecdotal evidence,

they are looking
at the parts of the plant,

but also the different
delivery mechanisms,

such as vaporising it
or oil-based products,

which is very different to smoking it.

So we want to know,
what's going to be the best answers?

[Helen] In terms of epilepsy,

though, I don't think
any of the children do smoke it.

They do ingest the oil themselves,

-so there's a difference.
-And that's exactly right,

but we know that we need to be smarter
about how we approach all of this

and get the right answers
to get the best outcomes.

[Caldicott] This is in fact
a paradigms shift,

really, for medicine in its entirety

because what we are asking here is,

uh, to be able to advise

and advocate for a product,

in many cases,
uh, the crude cannabis product,

um, which has not been processed at all.

Um, which really removes
a great deal of control

out of the medical professionals hands

and that's not somewhere that
medical professional people like to be,

generally speaking.

So, as a doctor,
all you ever get taught about cannabis...

Um, you get taught very little,

but the little you do get taught
about is cannabis as an illicit drug

and the harms associated
with cannabis use.

So there isn't any contemporary
medical education

around any of the potential
therapeutic effects of cannabis.

[Helen] So do you believe
that more doctors need to be educated

about medicinal cannabis?

Well, at the moment we need to
know what the answers are to it

before we start to educate,

because at the moment, it is a case of,
it's an illegal product,

obtained illegally, and people
don't have the experience with it.

With great respect
to my colleagues in the AMA,

um, the AMA is not an expert body

of, uh, forensic people
or neuropsychologists

or addiction specialists.

They are a trade union.

And they are there to stand up for us.

Um, but it doesn't represent, um, eh...

An expert opinion, if you like.

Um, it's an opinion
and it's an important one.

What's frustrating for me as a doctor

is that here is
preventable misery and suffering,

uh, endured by people
with serious illnesses,

endured by their loved ones,
their families,

and we can't use all the weapons

that are potentially at our disposal

to relieve misery and suffering.

What-what's wrong with us?
Why can't we do this?

Most physicians

are open-minded, I hope.

And if there are a few that, uh,

that know about these things,

and do not do it just for the profit,

I mean, in the US you have sometimes

somebody going from place to place
and there are 200 people waiting in line,

"Yes, sir, I have pain. Here is it. $200.

Next one, please."

That's not the way to do it.

I think it's about medical habits.

We have, uh, the habits,
we are trained to use

only medication that were approved,

that we know every side effect, dosage,

especially exact,
eh, composition of the drug.

What's happening with the cannabis,

we don't have good research.

To develop a new drug
needs a lot of money.

And the drug companies
are not ready to invest, not a cent.

That may well represent
an extraordinary conflict of interest.

If you accept that big pharma
has the degree of influence on society

that big tobacco and big alcohol does,

um, this may be the biggest Rubicon
that we need to cross.

We've got so much faith
in what we're doing

and the people that are supporting us,

have got faith in us as well so...

I got an email a couple of days ago

about an Australian woman
who moved to America,

because her young boy
has got a brain tumor.

And they've ended up on the oil

and his tumor has halved in size.

[Helen] How do you feel
when you hear stories like that?

Like, I don't have a brain tumor, but...

It's still... it's hope.

Yeah, it's enough faith for us.

That's-- that's enough evidence for us

-to just give it all we've got.
-Try.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

[Helen] Australian momentum
on the medicinal cannabis debate

began in earnest with Dan Haslam.

And within weeks of his story airing,

his mother Lucy
was compelled to coordinate

the country's first ever symposium
on medicinal cannabis,

determined to educate families

who may find themselves
in a similar position.

-Welcome.
-Thank you.

You're up there...

[Helen] She was backed
by the State's Premier.

What was it that moved you
about their story?

[Mike] You could see the eyes,
you could see the pain.

You could see the, the difference,

there was a determination
and an assuredness that

this was making a difference to them.

[Helen] A very warm welcome
to the Premier.

So, friends, I-- I encourage you today,
uh, to-- to think big.

And I know that some will have differences
or difference of opinion,

or will argue that
the government is not doing enough

and not-- not moving fast enough.

And I say to you,
we will continue to push.

Cannabis allows individuals
to be independent of the medical system,

which has largely failed them for decades.

And, really, we have to look at cannabis

as an independent medicine
as well as an allopathic medicine.

[applauding]

What I want to share with you
are the underpinnings

for everything else that you hear.

You know, there is a reason
that cannabis works

and the reason that it is

and it's not simply
because somebody said it should be there.

The patients, uh, need to apply
with the commendation of a specialist

to the Ministry of Health

that usually issue

or does not issue
a license to use cannabis.

The change in attitudes
that are going on in the US,

uh, which are not too dissimilar
from the changing attitudes

that you've seen here in Australia,
uh, in the last six months.

[Lucy] It's been really wonderful
and, uh...

you know, I'm-- I'm really proud that
this has happened like this,

um, this is exactly what I envisaged.

[Lucy] It was, it was amazing.

And it's just so nice
when people come up to you

and there's sort of not actually words,

they just hold your hand
and look in your eyes and,

you know, and you can see that there's
words that want to come out that won't

and you know that
that person has got a story,

and they're just saying thank you
with their eyes.

And there was lots of that.

It's not about money.

It's not about, you know,
which side of the law you are on.

We've got both here.

[crowd chuckle]

It's just about working together
to help each other out so...

It's the best thing so...
So thank you, all.

[applause and cheering]

[Justin]
There's a real sadness around today.

Last night I got a text
telling me that Dan Haslam had died.

And even though
we knew the day was coming,

it didn't make it any easier.

Dan Haslam was an incredible bloke.

A lot of people get the chance
to change the world,

but not many people take it.

But he took it.

We've come here today for a celebration

of Dan's short life.

We were overwhelmed, all of us,
the nation was overwhelmed.

He sought
to alleviate the suffering and pain

for those who may be enduring
what he was enduring

is an extraordinary act
of selfless courage.

[Justin] So he told his story

and he pushed the government

and with his mother Lucy
really shook this place up.

They wanted other people
to get the benefit of medicinal cannabis

without having to break the law.

We are here to hug you,
uh, but most importantly,

we are here to continue
that journey with you.

The journey has a long way to go.

And we'll march
and we'll march very quickly

and as hard as we possibly can.

[Justin] So, with hundreds
of other people today,

I am heartbroken
that the cancer finally won.

But not before
Dan Haslam's story was told.

I will miss him every minute
of every hour of every day,

and in his honor,
I will continue his legacy

to reduce the unnecessary suffering
of thousands of fellow Australians.

Thank you.

[applauding]

[Helen] And Dan's legacy
is already a rich one.

Inspired by Lucy's drive
to stage a national symposium,

Australian grandparents
of a young girl with epilepsy

donated a record of $33.7 million
to cannabis research.

This is ultimately
a story about love and hope.

It's a great day
for the University of Sydney.

It's a great day for the people
of Australia and the world more generally.

On behalf of this state and country,
thank you.

Uh, this act is something that's going to
reverberate around the world.

[applauding]

[Helen] And beyond research,

it's Lucy's hope that the shift
will also take place in public perception.

[Lucy] We've all been hoodwinked, I think.

Um, I feel a bit stupid
that I had the attitude

that I had, that it was so bad and...

Yeah, it was, it was like an education.

And probably, if-- if Dan didn't get sick,

I wouldn't have had the reason to go
and to learn.

I guess I'm on that journey
that so many people go through.

[Helen] How much of this
is wrapped up in stigma?

A lot of it.

And it requires some- something

outside the-- the general,
uh, consensus of the medical profession

to-- to trigger people
to be willing to look at it

and to understand it

and understand
that there are sensible constraints

that can be put in place
through regulation that make it safe.

I think the death of people my generation
or older will be very helpful,

uh, in removing that stigma.

Well, I think the way to overcome
any stigma associated

with medical cannabis,
is to have clear information about

when it's beneficial,
in whom it's beneficial

and what conditions it's going to help.

[David] Unfortunately,
we are a conservative profession

and we do take ourselves, sometimes,
uh, very seriously.

Sometimes overly seriously.

Um, in a world where fewer
and fewer resources are being devoted,

uh, to looking after patients,

um, and our budgets are being
constantly cut back,

it is important that we earn the respect

that has been traditionally afforded to us
as doctors

and stand up for patients
across the board,

um, including involving issues
that may not be overly palatable,

uh, to our profession.

What's the name?

It's called down syndrome.

[David Stevens] Looking back at it now,

if you had said to me
at the start of this year

where our journey would be now,

I would say, "No, come on.
You are joking me."

You know, "We wouldn't even
think about doing that."

But at the end of the day,

you'd go anywhere
and do anything for your child.

You go and get an opiate,

you know, and that's legal,
but it's lethal.

And you can give that to a child.

But yet you can't give something
that's non-psychoactive

and it's not reacting in-- in her

except for making her better.

I think that's ridiculous.

What's more dangerous?
Giving your child protozoan

that could kill her, give her a stroke,

could have paralysis down one side,

or glaucoma, kidney failure,
liver failure?

Or medicinal cannabis,
and we've had no side effects whatsoever?

To me, it's a no-brainer.

There's an urgency
and an emergency about it.

There's an incontestability about it,

I think, that means
it's something that we could and should

and must deal with separately
and immediately.

And, hopefully, with medical cannabis,
we can see the error of our ways

and we can say, actually,

uh, there are some substances

which are of benefit to some people
in the community

if used in the right setting.

Let's stop blanket prohibition.

Can you see any whales out there, Deisha?

No?

[Helen] In the backdrop of all of this,

you've had your own personal problems
to contend with this year?

[David Stevens]
Yeah. I got diagnosed with cancer

and, you know,
I didn't pick a good one to get.

So, I'm just dealing with it the way
I'm dealing with it

but my priority is my family

and I want to make sure
things are right for them.

[Helen] How do you feel,
knowing that your son's actions

are most likely bringing about
an enduring legacy?

[Lucy] Uh, I am very proud of him.

But it's just...

There's not a lot of joy there.

This is a sad battle, really.

Yeah.

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Om namah Shivaya ♪

♪ Om Shakthi ma ♪

♪ Shakthi ma ♪