“I’m not asking that a three year old smoke marijuana,” Melissa Crowder Rhoder joked as she presented her case for legalizing medical marijuana in Virginia.

Crowder Rhoder is an English professor at Blue Ridge Community College. However, what makes this topic so important to her is the real-life implications that it has for her daughter.

Her three year old daughter, Lucy, suffers from Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. This catastrophic disease causes seizures that typically last from 3-5 minutes, although Crowder Rhoder notes that Lucy has undergone episodes lasting a full day.

Although this disease is rare, there are many children suffering from it.

“In 2013, she had over 800 seizures,” Crowder Rhoder said of a young girl named Haley. “There is no FDA approved drug for Dravet Syndrome yet. Haley is out of options. The next drug that she has to try comes with a black box warning.”

In the United States, 23 states have legalized medical marijuana, along with Washington D.C. Since Virginia is not one of these states, people with syndromes like Dravet often need to go to other states for appropriate treatment or continue on inefficient drugs.

Another obstacle for research of medical cannabis is the federal law against any use of it. Because of this law, it is extremely difficult for organizations inside the country to do research on the effects of it.

Multiple HHS students attended the meeting on September eighth so that they could learn more about legalizing medical marijuana in Virginia.

“I thought [the presentation] was really interesting,” said senior Nicole Downey. “I learned a lot about all of the types of diseases that could be helped. I definitely think it should be legalized.”

Senior Neal Perrine also thought that it should be legalized.

“I’m completely for it, but I wish I knew more about the science of it,” said Perrine. He admitted that the seminar didn’t discuss the negatives about medical marijuana very much, which disappointed him.

“It wasn’t encompassing the parts of the discussion […] in terms of how it doesn’t work or what people actually have against it.” said Perrine.

Senior Jasmin Rose shared Perrine’s opinion.

“Most of it was talking about examples of kids in Virginia and how they had to go to Colorado. I thought it was going to be talking more about what the benefits of medical marijuana can do for everyone, not just kids with epilepsy,” Rose said.

Crowder Rhoder is a member of the group Virginia Parents for Medical Marijuana, which aims to legalize the drug.

Currently, Virginia only allows medical marijuana in treatments for cancer and glaucoma, something that the organization is trying to change.