MY son Haiden is 6 years old. For him, access to medical cannabis is a matter of life-and-death.

Haiden has Dravet syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy. Haiden used to suffer from frequent seizures of all varieties — sometimes more than 100 a day, despite taking five prescription medications, all at the maximum dose our neurologist would allow.

Today, Haiden receives two daily doses of medical cannabis with 100 milligrams of cannabidiol, also called CBD. His medicine has almost no THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis. It has dramatically transformed my son, and by extension our entire family.

In November 2013, Haiden lost the ability to use language. Today, he has gained it all back and is learning new words. We used to go to the ER at least once a month for the seizures his rescue medication could not stop. Since he started using CBD, we have not had to use any rescue medications for Haiden and he has not been to the ER once. [Read more from the Seattle Times]