PEYTON, Colo. -- The reason the Olivers are the last of Georgia's medical marijuana refugees in Colorado resides inside a little white bottle that singes your nostrils when it's opened.
Seven-year-old Tripp's medicine carries an overpowering aroma that would not be out of place at a concert or college dorm room because it is a marijuana derivative that can get you high if heated for a period of time. But Tripp does not get high because he takes it at room temperature, swallowing the fragrant olive oil mixture twice a day to forestall the seizures that have plagued him since he was 6 months old.
The Olivers' story is similar to those of more than a dozen Georgia families who moved out to Colorado to get cannabis oil to treat childhood seizure disorders, and whose advocacy played a big role in Georgia passing its first medical marijuana law this year.
What's different about the Olivers is Tripp's medication, known as THCA, which remains illegal in Georgia. The 7-year-old with Dravet Syndrome has tried CBD -- the popular medication legalized in Georgia this year -- but it did not quiet his seizures the way THCA does.
State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, who has led the charge on medical marijuana in the legislature and heads up a commission on the subject, said it is his mission to bring the Olivers home. But it will be a tough political lift.
"It's hard to explain that in the legislative process that: 'OK guys, we need to have a higher level of THC, but it's in the form of THCA non-heated, and therefore not psychoactive,'" Peake said. "It's a hard sell to my colleagues."
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