Brazilian mothers lead the charge in securing medical marijuana access for sick kids

(27 Aug 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sao Paulo, Brazil - 10 July 2024
1. Pots of cannabis seedlings at Maria Aparecida Carvalho's house
2. Carvalho handling cannabis
3. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Maria Aparecida Carvalho, 56, mother of child diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome:
“My fight started in July 2013, when I got the oil illegally. My daughter immediately went 11 days without having a seizure, which was impossible before. From then on, my life changed.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Praia Grande, Brazil - 9 July 2024
4. Silva cradling her son on the sofa
5. Silva giving medicine to her son
6. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Janaína Silva, 36, mother of Murillo:
“The main improvement with the drug was the time of the seizures, which went from five minutes to seconds, 15, 30, 40 seconds. So, that was the main thing.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sao Paulo, Brazil - 10 July 2024
7. Carvalho in her greenhouse with cannabis plants
8. Close of cannabis plants
STORYLINE:
Janaína Silva’s 4-year-old son Murillo suffers from severe epilepsy, leading to frequent, prolonged convulsions.

After various medications failed, his pediatricians prescribed cannabis, significantly reducing his seizures.

His shorter — and less intense — seizures are a result of a steady dose of the liquid cannabidiol (CBD) that Silva can acquire for free through Sao Paulo state’s public health system, a step the federal government has failed to take, as legislation to regulate medical cannabis at a national level has stalled in Brazil's Congress for years.

Brazil’s most populous state, home to over 44 million people, was the first to enact legislation making CBD available for free.

The law is also a win for Brazilian moms who have led a decadelong campaign to secure access for their sick children. They have fought through civil disobedience, court petitions, marches and political pressure.

One of the mothers leading the charge is Maria Aparecida Carvalho, 56, a former bank employee whose daughter, Clárian, was diagnosed at age 10 with Dravet Syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy that can cause cardiorespiratory arrests and lead to sudden death.

Her medication caused severe side effects — once she nearly needed hemodialysis from poisoning — and her seizures could last up to one hour.

The family then heard about Charlotte Figi, an American girl suffering from the same disease who became the global poster child for medicinal cannabis. When Carvalho read about her in 2013, she rushed to tell her husband.

She was able to obtain some CBD months later, when her daughter's neurologist smuggled it inside her luggage when returning from an overseas trip.

Later on, with the help of a lawyer, she obtained special court permission to start growing marijuana in her backyard in Sao Paulo city, and has been producing the extract for her daughter and 200 other patients.

Existing legislation in Brazil allows the use of cannabis for scientific and medicinal purposes, says Emílio Rodrigues, a lawyer and member of the National Council on Drug Policy.

However, cultivating marijuana is still illegal, pushing the industry to import raw materials, such as cannabis oil, causing prices to rise dramatically.

Use of medicinal cannabis in Brazil is on the rise.

In 2023 more than 430,000 Brazilians received cannabis treatment, up nearly 130% from the previous year, according to a survey by Kaya Mind, a business intelligence firm.

AP video shot by: Felipe Campos Melo

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