"Cannabis Saved My Child's Life"

Great Moments in Weed History

David Bienenstock

Tv & Film, Comedy, History

4.8 • 659 Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2021

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When prominent author Marie Lee published an essay titled "Why I Give My 9-Year Old Pot" in 2009, it set off a media sensation. Years before CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta ever touched the subject, Lee's vulnerable and defiant description of desperately seeking relief for her severely ill son—and finding it in cannabis—struck a nerve with parents worldwide. Now a teacher in the creative writing program at Columbia University, Marie Lee joins Abdullah and Bean to relive her son Jay's difficult, rewarding journey using medical cannabis to treat severe autism and other debilitating conditions. Including the life-saving help they got along the way from Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, underground marijuana growers, and the weed community writ large. We also get an update on Jay, who is doing great! SUPPORT "GREAT MOMENTS IN WEED HISTORY" ON PATREON Sign up for our Great Moments in Weed History Patreon for special bonuses and fun surprises. PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSORS! This episode is brought to you by Tweedle Farms, Northwest Oregon's premier, family owned hemp farm, specializing in farm-to-table, terpene rich, high CBD hemp flower, concentrates, vapes, edibles and topicals. Use promo code “greatmoments” for 25% off your next order shipped anywhere in the United States. MARIE LEE'S NEW NOVEL Marie Lee's next book—The Evening Hero—is forthcoming May 2022 from Simon & Schuster;

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, how's it going, folks? It's Abdullah and Bean. And welcome back for another episode of great
0:07.0	moments in weed history. This week, we have a very special guest. Her name is Marie Lee,
0:13.9	and she teaches in the creative writing program at Columbia University, where she's a writer in residence
0:19.9	and serves on the faculty at the center
0:22.5	for the study of race and ethnicity. She's also a novelist whose next book, The Evening Hero,
0:29.0	is forthcoming May 22 from Simon & Schuster, and she's a co-founder of the Asian American
0:34.9	Writers Workshop whose nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times
0:38.6	and the Washington Post. And you're probably wondering, what's the cannabis story with this lady?
0:43.8	Because none of the stuff we just said has anything to do with cannabis, but she is best known for a series of
0:48.9	essays that she wrote for Slate, starting in 2009 titled Why I I Give My Nine-Year-Old Pot.
0:56.5	Yes, that's right. And close to our hearts, the essay opens with a comedic,
1:02.0	Socratic question. Question. Why are we giving our nine-year-old a marijuana cookie?
1:09.3	Answer, because he can't figure out how to use a bomb.
1:12.9	Hey, hey.
1:14.3	Yeah, some lot classic joke structure there from Marie Lee, nice one.
1:18.9	But of course, the story is very serious at its heart because Marie's son, Jason, has
1:24.9	suffered from autism his entire life.
1:31.8	And it has resulted in a lot of difficulties and obstacles for him.
1:37.8	She had a real time trying to find the right doctors, trying to find the right medicine.
1:39.4	And nothing seemed to work.
1:46.0	There were all kinds of horrors and tragedies until she came upon medical cannabis. And despite the discouragement and the stigma at the time around cannabis, she powered through. And it is just
1:52.0	so moving to hear her talk about her struggles as a mom and her journey as a cannabis provider
	...

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