For a mother who had lost her daughter — at least figuratively — to the horrors of modern-day medicine and failed brain surgeries, breaking the law was the least of Anneliese Brown Clark’s worries.

Still, Clark, a St. Johns resident and mother of four, never envisioned standing on a street corner or asking around for marijuana. She was a businesswoman by day and a worried mother by night, suddenly forced to test and transform illegally purchased product in a last-ditch effort to help her youngest, Christina, who suffered from generalized seizure disorder and anmetabolic and autonomic disorder.

"I was sitting in my kitchen, and you know, I have teenage kids, trying to extract oil out of plants while telling them not to do this," Clark recalled. "I bought test kits, I looked like a chemist in a lab."

After spending a decade at doctor’s appointments and traveling the world for stem cell treatment, Clark was at wits’ end. The severity of Christina’s issues and the mystery of their source led to years of misdiagnosis, drugs with dozens of side effects and three brain surgeries, the last of which stripped Christina of her ability to function normally. Marijuana was the last and final option.

Two years and 20 marijuana strains later, Christina is now 12 and receiving a Skittles-sized dab of medical marijuana oil once a day in her food. Clark said her daughter has experienced months at a time seizure-free and has a light in her eyes like never before. There are no medical waivers Clark has to sign, no side effects and far fewer anti-epileptic drugs wreaking havoc on her child’s body.

"Now she smiles and laughs and plays. She can pick up food and eat it and swallow it," Clark said. "All the things she had lost before I started this, and I’ll take that."

Clark was experimenting with the medicinal values of marijuana a little before the drug surfaced on the 2014 election ballot as the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative, otherwise known as Amendment 2. Invigorated by the prospect of buying medical marijuana legally, Clark charged gung-ho into campaigns, organizations and the capital to share Christina’s story.

But the initiative was narrowly defeated, garnering only 57.62 of the 60 percent approval required by the state’s constitution to pass. The amendment lost by 139,000 votes and Clark was forced to hang a "jail plan" on her refrigerator as she resumed illegally buying marijuana to counter Christina’s ailments.

Not long after the 2014 elections, the Florida government enacted the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, a program allowing access to non-smoked, low-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC ) marijuana for cancer and epileptic patients. Several strains high in cannabidiol (CBD), the cannabinoid component with anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety properties, were legalized because they lacked THC, the cannabinoid responsible for the "high" effect.

Clark said the current status of medical marijuana in Florida assumes a one-size-fits-all approach, but patient needs are too broad and unique to be met by one part of the plant’s component. In Christina’s case, high-CBD strains such as Charlotte’s Web proved not only ineffective, but agitating. Clark used a drugstore analogy to prove her point.

"There’s a reason we have Tylenol and ibuprofen and Advil, not just brands, but the ingredients are all different," she said. "That’s because one size doesn’t fit all and what works for one might not work for another."

Amendment 2 will once again appear on the Nov. 8 ballot in Florida, but this time the initiated constitutional amendment promises stricter guidelines and requires the Department of Health to regulate marijuana production and distribution centers as well as issue identification cards for patients and caregivers. The list of patient requirements has also been extended.

Still, the initiation’s revisions and the benefits of medical marijuana aren’t enough to squelch negative messages against the drug, pushed by groups such as the Vote No on 2 Campaign.

In its anti-drug video "Search," the campaign claims the state would need nearly 2,000 marijuana treatment centers to meet patient needs, a claim Politico highlighted as only "half true."

"Why on earth would something this valuable, this usable, be kept from people who are going through pain?" said Roby Baird, a St. Augustine resident and cancer survivor. "The pharmaceutical community hasn’t even made a medicine that’s helped these people as well as cannabis has."

Baird’s first encounter with medical marijuana was in 2004 after his then-wife was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Frustrated by the serious pain chemotherapy was causing her, Baird began researching natural ways to help her cope.

His curiosity led to medical marijuana as a safe, yet illegal, option. After the first round of use, his wife was drinking water and within 20 minutes, asking to eat.

"It was just amazing how quickly it helped her," Baird said. "I remember we went to Mellow Mushroom and she ate half a pizza."

Baird admits he spent a huge portion of his life deeming marijuana as an "evil," but watching his wife overcome cancer while handling pain and regaining her appetite changed his perspective.

Nearly a decade later, Baird had his own brush with cancer. A 15-year tumor in his brain required a surgery that would forever make him a victim of seizures and mind-splitting migraines. Occasionally he’s resorted to marijuana to ease his suffering.

"I’ve made my own oil from illegally purchased product," Baird said. "It’s miraculous how much it’s helped. …But I don’t need to use it recreationally."

He added that he’s hopeful Amendment 2 passes this time around because he wants to break free of the anti-epileptic drug he’s forced to take. He said it’s hard to justify swallowing a pill full of harsh side effects just to counter his condition.

"Especially when we have something miraculous with no side effects that God himself made," Baird said.

St. Augustine parents Michelle and Max Vinzant couldn’t agree more. Their 16-year-old daughter Marlee has suffered from seizures since infancy and after failed trials with 18 different anti-epileptic drugs, stem cell treatments, surgeries and various other medical procedures, the Vinzants are certain medical marijuana is their only safe option.

Marlee was diagnosed with intractable general epilepsy as well as autism. Because the seizures stem from several areas in her brain, she’s ineligible for brain surgery. She averages 13-15 seizures a month and around 20 percent of them result in lifesaving measures.

"As parents, it’s so frustrating to watch your child seize and not be able to do anything no matter what you’ve tried," Michelle Vinzant said.

Vinzant said Marlee’s first experience with medical marijuana was during a year-long clinical trial between the Miami Brain Institute and the University of Florida in which strains of high-CHD, low-THC similar to Charlotte’s Web were used to treat her seizures. Marlee experienced a three-month "honeymoon" period before the strain became ineffective. The study limited the dosage and amount Marlee could receive, so the frustrated parents left the study for a clinic in Jacksonville that could authorize legal prescriptions.

"We were absolutely elated when it first worked in the trial," Max Vinzant said.

But the Vinzants said getting the prescription for their daughter hasn’t been easy. First Marlee has to qualify for the treatment, then she’s placed on a mandatory, three-month waiting period. To make matters more frustrating, many of Florida’s qualified clinics receive their product from out-of-state sources, which means consistency isn’t a guarantee.

"If you consider the drugs that are out there and legal, like Oxycodone, it’s a much more powerful drug that’s killing people more than medical marijuana ever will," Max Vinzant added.

In her photography documentary series "WEED: The Story of Charlotte’s Tangled Web," photographer Jennifer Kaczmarek highlights the misconceptions of marijuana by following the Clark, Baird and Vinzant families through their daily routines.

"To see the parents, it’s really heartbreaking. It’s a very difficult life they’re living. It doesn’t just affect them, it affects everyone involved in the family," Kaczmarek said.

The project is part of an ongoing series for her nonprofit organization, Taking Focus Inc., which conceptualizes social struggles and issues.

"This is reality. People are living this reality, children and adults are suffering," Kaczmarek said. "We have the ability to change that, but people need to be educated."

Clark admits she’s tired of marijuana critics, even though she also grew up learning to fear the "gateway drug." She said pharmaceutical lobbyists are tough competitors to overcome on top of generational barriers and finger-pointing.

At the end of the day, she said, drugs will infiltrate the streets regardless of their legal status.

"Kids already get [marijuana]. Kids can go get it anywhere. Kids are the ones that told me where to go get it when I didn’t know where to go," Clark said. "Kids are never going to get two doctors’ notes and pay taxes to get it the legal way. So this isn’t going to stop kids or encourage them."

But what the passing of Amendment 2 will do is give Clark more happy days with Christina. More kisses, more smiles, more moments she can capture on camera and freeze in a picture frame, just like the one Kaczmarek snapped on a weekday afternoon.

"My favorite picture is when she’s sitting on my lap and kissing me. Jennifer was sitting on the floor and I was looking at her and talking, then I turned my head to look at Christina and she gave me this big old kiss," Clark said. "It makes me tear up every time I see it. That’s what I missed for many years. She never did things like that."