A mom speaks out as lawmakers again tackle medical marijuana

ATLANTA (CBS46) -

It seemed like a slam dunk. Lawmakers overwhelmingly supported it.

Allen Peake, the state representative who introduced the bill to legalize medical cannabis, better known as medical marijuana, was confident that Georgia’s General Assembly would pass the measure that could save the lives of kids who suffer life-threatening seizures.

“I’m compelled to use every political influence I have to provide relief for these families,” Peake said during last year’s legislative session.

Parents, like Kelli Hopkins whose three children Mary Elizabeth, Michala and Abe lived with severe seizures, were optimistic.

“We thought there’d be a possibility here for our children to get help,” Hopkins said. “We were excited about the possibility.”

Hope, however, crashed headfirst into politics on the last day of the session when the bill died without a vote.

Hopkins and so many parents like her were disillusioned. “Awful, very disappointed, very let down,” Hopkins said.

The children would have to wait until next year for help. The parents of the children whose lives hung in the balance feared their kids may not make it until next year.

Hopkins did not think her children would be one of them, “I didn’t have the fear it would be Abe’s last seizure,” Hopkins said.

Other parents’ fears became Hopkins’s reality.

Hopkins and her husband Mike had just gotten home from a long road trip. When they checked on their son, Abe, his skin was blue.

“When I went to get him out of the car, he wasn’t breathing,” Hopkins said.

Abe, who was just  6 years old, suffered his final seizure.

“He was already gone at that point and we lost him,” Hopkins said. “The worst day of my life.”

Hopkins believes Abe could still be alive if lawmakers had acted.

“Chances are, yeah, it could’ve been avoided. He never had a chance because it didn’t pass,” Hopkins said.

Lawmakers on Wednesday afternoon will hold a special hearing at the state capitol as they prepare to draft a new bill that would legalize medical marijuana.

Kelli and Mike Hopkins, who are preparing to move to Colorado where medical marijuana is legal, will not attend.

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A mom speaks out as lawmakers again tackle medical marijuana