Driven

From TBI Sufferer to Medical Marijuana Advocate

By Abby Meaux Conques

“Some of my fondest memories are spending time with my grandfather at the state capitol.” She mentioned this as I sat across from Katie Mayers, a Louisiana medical marijuana patient and professional cannabis advocacy consultant.

“My grandfather was in the oil and gas industry in the 80s. I have a special needs sister and my grandfather would drive her to her treatments in Baton Rouge which we couldn’t hang around for, so he’d attend oil and gas meetings and legislature and I’d accompany him,” Mayers said. “So between the ages of 7-13 years old, I was taking notes. I started writing letters to politicians calling for different changes and my reasoning for suggesting those changes,” she continued. “I’ll never forget his words, ‘Never stop writing,’ he told me.”

Mayers would pick up her writing pen once again as an adult, still advocating for change, but this time for her health and in support of the health of others.

Mayers had suffered multiple injuries in multiple car accidents in her adult life, resulting in major chronic health problems. Her first accident resulted in neck surgery, where an array of opioids, nerve medications, muscle relaxers, antidepressants and steroids were prescribed post-surgery. Mayers was left with a double plate in her neck, countless physical therapy hours, severe nerve pain, trouble sleeping, severe nausea, trouble digesting foods and trouble going to the restroom regularly. She was hospitalized multiple times for dehydration and no appetite. She knew that the existence that she was experiencing wasn’t the full life she hoped to live.

On a visit to a legal marijuana state, she tried cannabis, and saw notable results from the first time she used it.

“The first thing I noticed was that my appetite was there, knowing that food is also a form of medicine, this was big for me,” she said. Eventually she would notice an elevated mood and a jovial quality to her mornings. Upon returning to Louisiana, she was driven to do everything in her power to get access to this alternative plant medicine; for herself and for others.

“I was always fascinated with the science behind why it helps so differently. I started getting in touch with doctors and university researchers who would speak to me about it. I spoke with researchers at over 20 different universities. I started gathering all this data and information, and eventually, people began coming to me with questions on how this could help them,” she explained.

“When Louisiana’s medical marijuana program started to pop up in legislation, I knew it was my duty to become involved and to help people with chronic health issues like myself get safe access to this alternative medicine. I started writing those letters again, just like my grandfather told me to do,” she said. “I was determined to break the stigma, to educate people...I knew there were human beings in this state who could benefit greatly from this and had no legal access to it,” she said. From the beginning, Mayers advocated for safe access and a consistency in product.

During this time, Louisiana’s legal medical marijuana program was approved, but suffered many setbacks and roadblocks, creating emotional roller coasters for prospective patients in desperate need but stuck in the government’s red tape.

While working in legislation, ten years after her first neck surgery, Mayers was hit again in a car accident, and this time suffered two hematomas on each side of her brain, resulting in a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and brain surgery. This injury and surgery resulted in many more symptoms and problems.

“I lost sensation, I lost bodily movement, I couldn’t walk, I lost some vision,” she said. As a chronic pain sufferer, TBI sufferer, and seizure and spasticity sufferer, along with Louisiana’s topsy-turvy winding road to legalizing and dispensing medical marijuana, Mayers was finally able to make her way through the now-legal state medical marijuana program and was legally prescribed the medicine she knew could help her from years ago.

“During my time working in legislation, I formed a lot of relationships with doctors who helped me navigate the program and aided in the correct dosage that my body needed,” she said.

As an official medical marijuana patient, and after all of her health setbacks, she was able to obtain positive results with her prescription. “I was able to get rid of all daily opioids; a script I’d use daily would now last me 6 months or more as an emergency method. I’m off all other meds and only take medical marijuana and an antidepressant,” she said. Other noted positive effects for Mayers included a reduction of brain swelling from her TBI. This resulted in various cognitive improvements including better processing and comprehension, better quality sleep, a more joyful approach to life, better digestion, and she even started to produce saliva again, a sensation she lost after her brain surgery.

“Everything is better tuned in my body now, it’s actually very weird. I forgot that my body was supposed to function this way! “she exclaimed. Marijuana even uncovered a vision problem she obtained from her TBI that she was unaware of. With the improvement in vision, she was alerted to an underlying problem, and is now undergoing vision treatment. She reports that her pain levels are much more manageable, and the anti-inflammatory properties of marijuana with no harmful side effects aid her in her everyday movements.

“Of course, everything is not for everybody, but I would encourage anyone suffering daily to try it out. There are doctors who can walk you through the treatment to see if it’s right for you. If it enhances your daily living, it’s worth every penny,” she said. There are currently 9 pharmacy dispensaries in Louisiana where patients can get their medical marijuana prescriptions filled. Mayers uses the Lafayette dispensary, the Apothecary Shoppe. “They’re very knowledgeable about dosing and they care about the whole person. Their establishment also serves as a platform for art therapy, another modality for healing for chronic pain sufferers, TBI patients, seizure sufferers, etc.”

With a simple google search for Louisiana medical marijuana doctors and dispensaries, you can take your first step in finding an alternative or supplement to traditional pharmaceuticals.

Mayers is still active today in the legislature, is a professional consultant, more of an advocate than ever, and is still writing those letters with no desire to stop.

KATIE MAYERS (FAR RIGHT STANDING) WITH GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS ADDING AUTISM TO LIST OF QUALIFYING CONDITIONS FOR THERAPEUTIC CANNABIS (MAY 2018)

KATIE MAYERS, 2020