Georgia Parents Arrested for Treating Their Son’s Seizures with Medical Marijuana

While medical marijuana legalization – and support for it – continues to spread throughout the United States, it still remains illegal in some states across the country. One of these more conservative states is Georgia, which has legalized CBD oil, but still has no legal access to the medicine and has not considered expanding the law to include whole plant cannabis. It is this issue that has broken another family, as authorities arrested 2 parents who chose to treat their son’s seizures with medical marijuana.

“Nothing else was working,” Suzeanna Brill told KVUE Austin. “I can’t have my kid dying because no one wants to listen.”

After years of various treatments – some simultaneously – with no positive results, the parents decided it was time to consider other alternatives, like medical marijuana. They started off with CBD oil – which is completely legal in Georgia for some conditions, including epilepsy – however, they found that it didn’t help as they had hoped.

It was then that the Brills decided to go a more old school route for medicating their son David – by smoking medical grade marijuana flower. Surprisingly, after the first treatment, the proof that it was working was almost immediately evident and the boy they described as “having seizures 24/7” didn’t have another seizure for 71 days – until authorities demanded they stop using medical marijuana to treat their son.

“I smoke it first; I know where it comes from,” said Matthew Brill. “I know where it comes from; I know my people. Made sure the bag was good, packed the bowl in my bowl, which I know ain’t been anywhere else, and told him that it was his decision.”

Throughout the entire process, the Brills were openly discussing the new course of treatment with their son’s doctors – from research up until the day Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services showed up. Unfortunately, a therapist that did not see eye-to-eye with the couple when it comes to the miracle success of marijuana treatment reported the couple, who were soon after arrested, their son taken away, and his service dog sent to the pound.

Within 14 hours of stopping the medical marijuana treatment (he had been smoking occasionally throughout the day) David was admitted to the hospital and nearly lost his life to an intense seizure.

“While my son fought for his life, officially in DCFS custody and flatlining 15 times according to medical records, my husband was arrested, they tore me from my baby’s side and told me they were going to take custody of him as I was arrested too. They say he is not safe with me while a medical team tries to start his heart again because they have stopped his treatment by what they know of the law and their opinion,” Suzeanna wrote on their GoFundMe page.

The GoFundMe page was set up for the parents to hopefully raise enough money to hire a lawyer to help the Brills regain custody of their son so that they can relocate him to a state where his medicine is not illegal. They are currently out of jail but are facing charges of reckless conduct – but the parent say they would do it all again in a heartbeat to see their son get to truly enjoy his childhood and to know there is hope for a better quality of life for him in the future, if only they lived where the law would allow it.