‘From Five Minutes Of Agony, It’s Now Just Seconds,’ Says Brazilian Mother Celebrating Free Access To Her Child’s Life-Saving CBD Medicine
In 2023, São Paulo enacted a law enabling the dispensing of cannabidiol (CBD)-based medicines across public and private health facilities associated with the Brazilian Unified Health System in Brazil’s most populous state with more than 44 million people. The law made CBD-based medicine accessible and free.
The reform happened thanks to Brazilian mothers who fought for a decade for their children’s life-saving medicine. They used every means they could think of – civil disobedience, court petitions, marches and politics, writes Gabriela Sá Pessoa for the Associated Press.
Janaína Silva is a mother of a four-year-old boy, Murillo, who has Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a rare, complex and severe type of epilepsy that is usually diagnosed before the age of four. She shared the story of how CBD has helped reduce his seizures.
“From five minutes of agony, it’s now just seconds,” Silva said. Only a few months ago, Murillo’s seizures would have lasted much longer and would have been more intense. Now, thanks to a regular dose of liquid CBD acquired for free through the state public health system, his seizures are significantly reduced.
In a drugstore, a 30-milliliter bottle of CBD that Murillo uses costs around 800 reais ($180), which is more than half of his mother’s monthly wage as an office assistant. The federal government has not made CBD-based medical products accessible for free at the national level. More moms are pushing hard to change this.
Maria Aparecida Carvalho, 56, a former bank employee is …