At 13, Macon native Darrell Johns weighed just 40 pounds and suffered at least five seizures a week, his mother and full-time caregiver Leslie Johns said.
“I had to crush 17 pills a day to flow through his G-tube and he was still having seizures,” she said. “And the diastat, that’s Valium, that I would have to give him as a rescue would keep him asleep for days because he was so small and it made him so groggy.”
21-year-old Darrell, who his family calls Peanut, is doing much better, Johns said. He started using medicinal cannabis in 2015 and went without a single seizure for more than a year.
Johns said Darrell, who was born with hydrocephalus and seizures, spoke his first word soon after starting treatment.
“He and my daughter were both in the living room. And I heard “Mom.” And I said, “What, Brianna?” And I heard it again, “Mom.” And I looked around the corner and I said, “What, Brianna?” Well, Brianna was asleep. But I looked over at Peanut and he said, “Mom.” And I just sat on the kitchen floor. And he came down. He can’t walk, but he slides on his butt. He scurried into the kitchen and my husband came out because he heard what was going on. He said, “Peanut, who’s that?” He looked at him and said, “Mom.” It was history from there. I cried for days.”
Johns said Darrell now weighs 100 pounds, speaks about 10 to 15 words, and only has a seizure every two or three months. Johns now only has to give Darrell two pills a day, and the young man has more time to relax and enjoy his favorite pastimes, like taking trips in his father’s sidecar or watching his favorite TV shows – “The Price is Right,” ” Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy”.
But Johns and other caregivers say recent glitches in Georgia have led to problems obtaining or renewing medical cannabis cards.
After years of court and legislative back and forth, the first legal pharmacies opened in Georgia this year. State law allows products that contain small amounts of THC, the chemical that gets marijuana users high.
Patients must be diagnosed with a specific serious medical condition and must renew their license every two years. Johns said she applied for her card to be renewed in April before it expires in June, but despite calls to the Georgia Department of Public Health and the cooperation of Darrell’s doctor, she has yet to receive the card.
Leslie Johns said she created this graphic to share on social media and persuade friends and family who were skeptical about medicinal cannabis.
Johns’ husband also has a card as one of Darrell’s caretakers and she is grateful his renewal came about so Darrell doesn’t have to go without it, but the situation was uncomfortable and stressful.
“It’s frustrating because my husband has a job so he would have to stop what he’s doing to go to the pharmacy when I could actually do it myself because I’m with Darrel 24/7,” she said. “So it’s just inconvenient for Tim to have to add this to his list of things he does throughout the day when he really shouldn’t.”
After the Georgia Recorder reached out to the Department of Health for comment, Johns said she received a call telling her her card was being shipped to Macon and would be available Tuesday.
Steve Vancore, a spokesman for Trulieve, one of Georgia’s medical cannabis companies, said there are many such cases.
“We have heard from many patients, some of whom are very ill, that the process of obtaining a health card is long and cumbersome,” he said. “Not only have they had delays, but the fact that they also have to travel to a location due to the strict qualifying conditions makes it even more difficult. It is important to note that Department of Health staff have worked hard to improve the system and we believe they too recognize the challenges these patients face.”
Georgia Department of Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said the department recently hired new staff to handle the call volume. She said demand spiked to about 1,000 calls a week a few weeks ago but has since leveled off at about 200 a week.
At the end of July, 29,494 patients were enrolled in the registry, up from approximately 27,000 in April.
According to Nydam, as of early August, 558 cards were awaiting approval, some of which were new applications that had not yet been processed, but most had problems with the application or documents.
“For example, if someone hasn’t submitted a copy of their driver’s license, we have to call them to get it,” she said. “Or maybe some information doesn’t match, e.g. B. One address on the driver’s license and another listed as a place of residence. In such situations, we will try to call the person, but if the calls take several days to reach someone, there will be a delay.”
The department has also started sending out cards daily to local health departments where patients can pick them up.
“Cards used to only be sent once or twice a week, now it’s every day except Fridays – health departments have to be open to take the package,” she said. “This reduces the time between printing a card and getting it to the local health department for collection. We’ve also added pickup locations – previously there were 18 counties across the state where cards could be picked up. We now have 42 locations.”
Vancore said it appreciates DPH’s efforts but noted other states have more streamlined processes.
“As you know, Trulieve serves patients in eight states, and those states have various methods in place to allow patients to be properly identified, from using the postal service to allowing patients to download their cards from a secure website,” said he. “We commend the DPH for making it possible for these patients to see a doctor in Georgia via telemedicine and we believe that is a good thing and we hope that some form of remote placement is possible throughout the process, such as a “Opt-in” procedure enables cards to be sent directly to patients.”
