You can smoke it, vaporize it and eat it, but you probably didn’t know marijuana can thwart seizures and comfort those with epilepsy.
On Monday night, members of the community joined at the Harrisonburg City Council Chambers for a public hearing on medical marijuana. Specifically, the hearing’s presentation centered on methods of treating Dravet Syndrome — a rare form of epilepsy affecting more than 5,400 people in the United States. Melissa Rhoden, a member of Virginia Parents for Medical Marijuana, has a 7-year-old daughter named Lucy who suffers from the rare disorder and has been frequently hospitalized and heavily medicated as a result. Rhoden gave a presentation during the hearing about her own experiences with Dravet Syndrome, as well as the stories of patients like Jennifer Collins and Tommy Elder.
