Face of Medical Marijuana Amelia Weaver dies
Posted by Sagar Satapathy on August 19, 2018.
Hibbing girl Amelia Weaver, the face of the medical marijuana movement in Minnesota, died this week. She was 12.
Amelia’s parents had started the campaign for medical marijuana in Minnesota as she was fighting with a rare form of epilepsy.
The Weavers helped shape Minnesota's medical cannabis law, which went into effect in 2015.
Amelia's mother, Angie, called her "Warrior Amelia." She had Dravet Sydrome, which is a severe form of epilepsy. Before the medical marijuana, Amelia would have 30-50 seizures a day.
"What Pamelia has gone through, her suffering, no child, no one should have to go through that," Angie Weaver said in 2014.
After Amelia’s parents found that the effects of Medicinal Cannabis were extremely positive to help control Amelia’s condition, they had considered moving to Colorado with an aim to have legal access to medical cannabis. However, they decided to try and bring a change in Minnesota first. And they were successful in their attempt.
"This means the world to our family. This is going to change my daughter's life and thousands of lives in Minnesota," Angie said at a press conference after medical marijuana was passed and signed into law by Gov. Mark Dayton on May 29, 2014.
But, the Weavers had experienced frustrating delays as the legalization didn't take effect until July 1 of the following year.
The Weavers were able to get Amelia her medicine from Leafline Labs, one of the state's two medical marijuana suppliers, as she had seizures which were one of the nine conditions with which patients could legally be prescribed marijuana.
The health condition of the 12-year-old, however, gradually worsened from this summer. Her family posted on Facebook that she was in "rough shape" on August 8 and was airlifted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Thursday night, they shared the news she had passed away, posting, "We did not take one single moment with our Amelia for granted. It was the greatest privilege of our life's to be Amelia's parents. There are no seizures in heaven sweet girl."
The Weavers are also going to organize Amelia's celebration of life, details about which will be released later, they said.
