Brian Lyman

Montgomery Advertiser

Caden Jackson wears a helmet to protect him from the atonic seizures that began when he was 5.

“He just limps, and his head is the first thing to hit the ground,” his mother Meggan said Wednesday evening while Caden played on a tablet in a wheelchair.

The seizures cost him his speech and required him to use a feeding tube. Sometimes he can’t walk. “It took everything,” Meggan Jackson said.

Her hope, like so many other families’, is that access to cannabidiol (CBD), an oil derived from marijuana, will help bring those seizures under control. Jackson made the 31/2-hour drive to Montgomery from her home in Limestone County to see the Legislature vote on a bill doing that.

“We’re out of options besides brain surgery,” she said.

The Alabama Legislature on Wednesday gave final approval to the bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Ball, R-Huntsville, that would decriminalize CBD possession for those with debilitating conditions. The Senate voted 29 to 3 for the bill. The House concurred in the changes on a 95 to 4 vote a few hours later. The Montgomery County delegation in the House and Senate all voted for the bill.

“The public got it, and the public got it in a hurry,” Ball said after the vote. “The mere presence of those families in the State House and those children just really made a huge difference.”

The legislation goes to Gov. Robert Bentley. A message seeking comment was sent to Bentley’s office Wednesday.

In 2014, the Alabama Legislature approved Carly’s Law, which authorized a study of CBD’s effects at UAB and allowed families to enroll for study.

Preliminary results released by UAB in March showed about half those enrolled in the program seeing significant improvements in controlling seizures.

But not everyone who fought for the law was able to enroll. Amy and Wayne Young, whose daughter Leni suffered a prenatal stroke and dealt with hundreds of seizures a day, moved from Alabama to Oregon to get CBD, which they say has led to significant improvements in her condition.

“I’m overwhelmed and teary,” Amy Young said in a message Wednesday evening. “I can’t wait for families in Alabama to be able to have the same chance that we’ve had and hear about how their lives have changed.”

Some families are ready. Kari Forsyth took her 11-year-old daughter Chesney to see Young in Oregon late last year and says she already has a medical marijuana card, in the hopes of stopping the seizures her daughter experiences.

“It’s also known to help other things like muscle spasms,” she said. “She’s bad as far as muscle spasms and tone.”

Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, who handled Ball’s bill in the Senate, said it would allow families using oil to treat conditions to do so without fear of prosecution.

“This is really an opportunity to add some sunlight,” he said. “They don’t want to feel like criminals. They know they need something like this.”

The proposal ran into some opposition from physicians and law enforcement officials at a Housecommittee hearing in March. While sympathetic to the families’ plight, many suggested more time was needed to study the clinical results and determine enforcement before moving ahead. Some senators Wednesday echoed those concerns.

“It’s not matured to the point that the Legislature should take action on it,” said Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, who voted against the measure. “We’re standing in the shoes of doctors saying it’s the right thing to do.”

CBD contains little THC, the substance in marijuana that leads to highs. But the proper amount of THC proved a sticking point. A House committee substituted Ball’s original bill in committee to lower the THC content from 3 percent to 1 percent. The Senate version returns to the first House version and brings the THC content back to 3 percent. Sanford said they had to “educate” legislators about the issue.

“You can’t get inebriated or intoxicated on this stuff at 3 percent unless you ingest a gallon of it, and then it has the effect of castor oil,” he said.

The Senate version also replaces language that would have limited the use of CBD for seizures with “a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition including one that produces seizures for which a person is under treatment.”

Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, who has a disabled son, supported the bill on the floor.

“If it gives people hope and some relief, and even if it’s a sense they’re able to do something for their children, it’s a not a whole lot to ask,” he said.

Jackson said they planned to use CBD, though she noted Caden had just had the feeding tube installed and was on a change of diet.

“We’ve got to get it straightened out before we add too much,” she said. “But he’s on 15 milligrams of valium a day, which is more than an adult dose. Giving marijuana to him is the least of my worries.”