Mom faces 2 years in prison for saving son's life with cannabis oil

(NaturalNews) A Minnesota mother is facing two years in prison after she treated her son -- successfully -- with cannabis oil, a substance which is against the law to possess or use in the state.

According to CBS News, the mother, Angela Brown, traveled to Colorado in March to buy the cannabis oil to treat her 15-year-old son who has been in agonizing pain since an accident three years ago. The act of what she says was merely one of a mother's instinct to save her son could wind up landing her in jail.

"I broke the law, but I did it to save my son," Brown told the news network.

It wasn't something that came to her mind first, however. As CBS News reported:

For years, the Minnesota mom searched for a way to end her son's chronic pain.

Trey appeared healthy, but a baseball accident in 2011 led to a build-up of pressure inside his head.

A line drive to Trey's head caused bleeding in an area of his brain the size of a golf ball. Doctors feared he wouldn't survive.

But when he finally woke from a medically induced coma, his mother said the old Trey was gone.

'It's not fair'

"He's just a shell of himself," Angela Brown said. "He's in so much pain, and that causes depression."

And with his depression came daily migraine headaches, uncontrollable outbursts and often severe muscle spasms.

"I cry like every day before I go to bed," Trey Brown told the news network, adding that his pain was very intense.

"Like my brain is about to blow up, 'cause there is so much pressure," he said.

To try to ease their son's pain, Angela and her husband tried 18 different medications, but to little avail; Angela said she even believed that some of the drugs made her son feel suicidal.

"He told me, 'Mom, I don't want to live, I can't do this anymore,'" Angela said. "It's not fair, it's not fair. I have been so angry."

Still, throughout the entire ordeal, Angela Brown said she has tried to remain upbeat and positive -- though that has been a struggle.

"People keep saying, 'Oh you're so strong,'" she said. "No I'm not! I begged him and I said, 'We will find an answer.'"

In desperation, Angela Brown said she began investigating the health benefits of medical marijuana; that led the family to Colorado and the purchase of the cannabis oil -- which is legal in that state but not in Minnesota.

After just a few drops, Angela Brown said her son's pain dissipated. "It was a miracle in a bottle," she told CBS News. But it was not one that would last.

"It stopped the pain and stopped the muscle spasms," Trey Brown said. "It was helping me go to school until it then got taken away and then school was really hard again."

The oil -- and the miracle -- dissipated as quickly as Trey's pain after Angela explained to his teachers why he was suddenly doing better in school.

"I said 'Well, I gave him an oil that we'd gotten from Colorado,'" Angela Brown explained to CBS News. "'It's derived from a marijuana plant.' And then you could feel the tension in the room."

More irony

Just a week later, the sheriff's department came and confiscated the cannabis oil. That was followed by charges from the county prosecutor's office -- charges of, ironically, child endangerment, which then required child protective services to respond as well.

If she is convicted, CBS News reported in late October, she faces two years in jail and a $6,000 in fines.

"It's asinine," Angela said. "I didn't hurt my son; I was trying to prevent him from being hurt."

And while she says she gets that the substance is illegal in her state, she added that it is "not illegal in other states."

CBS News said it reached out to the county prosecutor, law enforcement and Trey's school district, but none of them would speak on the record, saying the case is still pending.

Angela Brown said if she winds up going to prison, she fears the most for her kids.

More irony: In May, Minnesota became the 22nd state to approve some forms of medicinal marijuana -- but the law does not take effect until next year.

Sources:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com

http://www.healthfreedoms.org

http://www.cbsnews.com