Chloe Grauer-Lea, TN 3-Year-Old, Dies Waiting for CBD Oil

In what is more than likely a problem that is happening with far too much frequency, a sweet 3-year-old Tennessee girl has died.

The girl, Chloe Lucille Grauer-Lea, reminds me of Charlotte Figi. Charlotte made headlines a couple of years ago, when she became the most widely publicized face of treating childhood epilepsy with cannabis. Since using CBD oil, Charlotte has gone from a catatonic child who would have several hundred seizures a day, to a healthy, happy child who now only has a few seizures a week, if that.

Chloe was not as fortunate. She laid in a hospital bed, while her parents lobbied Tennessee law makers to approve CBD oil for use in the state. Characteristically, politicians did a whole lot of nothing and literally wasted Chloe’s life with grand pontifications and little action.

On December 10th, Chloe suffered a massive seizure that damaged her brain to the extent where she was taken off life support, without ever being able to try the CBD oil that could have potentially saved her life. It is estimated that in just 3 years of life, Chloe suffered over 75,000 seizures.

Though I am sure the lawmakers will dither and dodge blame, this little girl’s death falls on their shoulders. Did they give Chloe epilepsy? No, that would be ridiculous to assert. But what they did, or rather, what they didn’t do, cost Chloe her life.

It seems that many in the anti-cannabis crowd will only change their minds when they, or someone they love, is affected by a condition that only cannabis can help alleviate. I’ll bet that if Chloe was the daughter of a Tennessee congressman, she’d be alive and privy to all the CBD she needed.

What we need is top-down reform. Cannabis needs to be rescheduled. This is not just for convenience or to protect the rights of recreational stoners. Federally legal cannabis (or even appropriately scheduled cannabis) would be open to medical/scientific research and there would be no need to lobby state politicians for CBD specific legislature.

Beyond Chloe and Charlotte, sick people are getting legitimate relief and curative properties out of using cannabis. This is no longer relegated to the realm of anecdotal outliers. More and more, medical cannabis success stories are showing up by the day. It is inhumane and inhuman to deny people help simply because those in power either don’t like cannabis, or just don’t want to get their hands dirty on such a contested issue.

Chloe’s relatives are still pushing for cannabis access in Tennessee. Her grandmother plans on going to all the hearings and giving her thoughts. Most people cannot afford to just uproot their families and move to a place where they can get the care they need, so there needs to be a better system and it absolutely has to include a federal rescheduling of cannabis.