BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The Birmingham-area father of a 2-year-old girl with a rare neurological and epileptic disorder has started an online petition asking Gov. Robert Bentley and other state lawmakers to allow use of a marijuana-derived substance that could help control violent, frequent seizures.

Dustin Chandler, a Pelham police officer, has been raising awareness of the rare genetic disorder known as CDKL5 afflicting his daughter, Carly, who is unable to walk, talk or feed herself. Recently, Chandler with his wife, Amy, and their daughter visited Bentley to ask for his support of medicinal marijuana and other issues.

The online petition focuses on the substance called CBD, or cannabidiol, which comes from marijuana but does not produce the drug's intoxicating effects. Proponents say medication derived from CBD could treat a laundry list of symptoms including inflammation, pain, anxiety and even diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

In Carly's case, the substance could treat her violent seizures that occur multiple times a day that pharmaceutical medications cannot control.

"The main fact that we want people to understand is we're not trying to get our 2-year-old high. They won't get stoned. This is a natural treatment ... that might have great benefit in helping her seizures," Dustin Chandler said today. "The life that she has, I'm trying to give the best quality to her."

The push for legalization of marijuana for medical purposes is about health benefits that people in Alabama deserve to have, Chandler said.

"Listen, this is an educational thing for the people of Alabama. We're not pushing for straight across-the-board legalization of marijuana," he said. "We're talking thousands of children and people that it's going to help with epileptic disorders and help control their seizures."

Groups including Project CBD and others are touting the health benefits associated with the cannabis-derived substance. CNN in August reported on a case in Colorado that involved a girl suffering from more than 1,000 seizures a month who experiences just a few now after taking CBD oil twice-daily in her food.

The petition to Bentley and other state lawmakers at Change.org has two sentences: "Please have compassion and seek legislation allowing the use of CBD Oil as a treatment option for Epilepsy. For some of us this treatment is our last option to give our child a better quality of life."

Chandler said doctors can prescribe legal pharmaceuticals that carry side effects including a fatal rash and vision loss and may not even affect the seizures or reduce their frequency. "We're talking about some serious drugs and pharmaceuticals that they'll let us take that have such high-risk side effects and no guarantee," he said.

"It's kind of a no-brainer to me. It's an educational thing and a parents' rights thing to me," he said.

Chandler acknowledged arguments that he and others could move to other marijuana-friendly states that provide the treatment legally. "It's not fair to the people of Alabama that we don't have a way of using these treatments and we would have to move into another state and find another job just to be able to try something we should be able to try here," he said.

"My daughter has got a severe disorder," he said. "Allowing us to use this treatment and allowing the residents of Alabama to use this treatment, the people it could help are exponential. If we could write the proper legislation, it could help thousands of people."

Chandler is planning to meet with lawmakers in the coming weeks throughout the state to promote the cause. "Not even to have the conversation and get serious about it is really just showing, in my opinion, an uncompassionate stance on something that needs to be talked about," he said.