Local Teen With Autoimmune Disease Backing Bill To Allow Medical Marijuana Inside Maryland Schools
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- A new bill in Maryland is being backed by a teenager who said if it wasn't for medical marijuana, he wouldn't be able to have a life outside of a hospital.
Connor Sheffield has a condition known as Gastro-Intestinal Dysmotility, an autoimmune disease, that keeps him from digesting food properly.
Two years ago, Sheffield was confined to a bed, hooked up to feeding tubes with his body pulsing in pain. Now, however, Sheffield is happy, healthy and doing what he loves most. He credits his turnaround to cannabis.
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WJZ's Annie-Rose Ramos: "How do you take it?"
Connor Sheffield: "I put it on my tongue, take a swig of water, and that's it."
Sheffield is one of nearly 200 children certified to use medical marijuana in Maryland. Now, he is fighting for a new bill that would allow him to take the drug in small doses at school.
WJZ's Annie-Rose Ramos: "How important is it for you to have it every few hours?"
Connor Sheffield: "I need it every few hours. It's the difference between life and death."
It's called House Bill 331; or Connor's Courage, and would allow him to take medical cannabis on school property in a nurse's office.
Currently, cannabis on school campuses is illegal in Maryland, so Sheffield has to leave school to take it.
"Some days we travel for work, so we're out of town," Connor's father said. "So those days he just has to go without his medication, and it hurts his schooling. He's not focused."
Sheffield said without medical marijuana, he can hardly get through a school day.
"You can take opioids, or you know, pain killers in the nurse's office," he said. "But I can't take my cannabis which would help me get through the day."
