This is the real 'reefer madness'

I first met Meagan Sinclair when I coached her in Lebanon Youth Baseball in the ’90s .

She was a scrappy, lean tomboy, had good height and proved a good first baseman.

She’s still scrappy, but now the Acton mother of a child suffering from epileptic seizures is reaching out for hope for her baby, Addy, with the same dogged determination she displayed blocking errant throws from infielders, focused like a laser beam and not to be denied.

Her married name is Meagan Patrick and soon she’ll board a plane with her husband, Ken, Addy and their 4-year-old son, Colin, bound for Colorado where she’ll pursue her goal of procuring a special strain of marijuana that has proved effective in reducing childhood seizures and not available in Maine. (See Top Story of Saturday, Jan. 11)

It seems to us ludicrous that medical marijuana is available in Maine, that Portland has decriminalized it, police and prosecutors routinely issue just summones for grow house operators and yet this special marijuana strain that coulnd’t give a mosquito a buzz can’t be distributed in Maine to potentially help a 15-month-old baby girl.

According to experts the strain of marijuana the Patricks are looking for to treat Addy has virtually no THC, the compound in cannabis that gets people stoned. It is, however, high in CBD, known as a relaxer and curative agent for children suffering from such seizures. In some cases the miracle pot has been shown to reduce seizures by 99 percent.

Yet the feds don’t allow marijuana to cross state lines. So even though it’s legal in Colorado, the Patricks can’t bring it across state lines to Maine. Marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug, like heroin and cocaine. Beyond being Draconian in the case of the Patricks, it’s just plain dumb.

You mean to tell us it’s perfectly legal, in Portland, to light up a joint full of THC, but you can’t allow a baby to use this miracle pot that has virtually none?

Methinks the feds do protest too much. Wake up and smell the good weed, for crying out loud.

The Patricks are now considering moving permanently to Colorado so they can treat their child and stop her debilitating seizures and dependency on dangerous pharmaceuticals she is currently forced to use to stop her seizures.

Meagan Patrick is a dedicated third-grade teacher in Sanford. Ken Patrick works full time for the city of Somersworth.

Don’t change the rules, and Maine will likely lose two productive, hard-working parents and their kids to Colorado.

We realize the federal government has to take the lead in this, but Maine should do whatever it can as well. That means call your representatives.

Let your voices be heard. Tell them this is absurd.