A Mother's Journey with Cannabis Dr. Annabelle Manalo-Morgan

With the very asymmetrical laws regarding cannabis across the country that vary greatly based on state, city and even local municipality, millions of Americans still live in states with prohibitive laws surrounding medical cannabis. Even if there is a legitimate medical need for cannabis and the plant has undeniably proven to help in a way that pharmaceuticals don’t, there are still a decent number of states that prohibit any cannabis use whatsoever. Instead of waiting around for stubborn or indifferent career politicians to take any legislative action on cannabis reform, citizens of those states still living in prohibition have begun packing up their lives and moving to states with options for access to legalized cannabis.

Sometimes called “medical refugees'', thousands of Americans have had to relocate to other states with medical cannabis laws due to the restrictive nature of their home state. The majority of these Americans are far from the Cheech and Chong stereotype. They’re involved and give back to their community in innumerable ways, yet haven’t had a single bit of relief from the laundry list of pharmaceuticals that are medically legal on the federal level. Even more tragically, many of the families that have relocated to other states did so because one of their very own children were the ones who needed medical cannabis.

One notable example of a medical refugee suffering from severe epilepsy who’s family moved from Texas to Colorado and became a strongly dedicated and frankly legendary cannabis activist in the process is Alexis Bortell. After moving to Colorado, cannabis proved to be the only medicine that stopped Bortell’s seizures. By using her story of true medical relief through cannabis and with the assistance of her family among which is her father US Navy veteran Dean Bortell, she became a nationally known cannabis advocate being interviewed by America’s biggest news stations.

And remarkably at only 12 years old, Bortell wrote a book entitled “Let's Talk About Medical Cannabis: One of the Earliest Medical Communities Seen Through the Eyes of its Youngest Advocate.” Even more notable on the federal level, Bortell was a co-plaintiff in a groundbreaking 2017 lawsuit against the Justice Department, then helmed by everyone’s favorite Drug War-obsessed Keebler elf turned Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.

Especially in the following years and subsequent legalization measures since that lawsuit, the parents of children who’ve become medical cannabis patients have become among cannabis’ strongest advocates. The stress of your child having a condition as serious as intractable epilepsy is already horrible enough, but it’s an unimaginable further challenge when the only medicine that truthfully helps your child is illegal in the state that you’ve lived in since long before you had your first child. That combined stress and horror of watching your child suffer have turned these parents into dedicated medical cannabis advocates and they’ve used their

BY JOSH KASOFF

experience for considerable change and awareness regarding cannabis.

One such example of one of these parents whose child found undeniable medical relief through cannabis is Dr. Annabelle Manalo-Morgan. An esteemed scientist by day, ManaloMorgan began her doctoral studies at Georgetown University in neuroscience and received her PhD in Cell and Development Biology from Vanderbilt University where her studies focused on “genetic mutations that mimic the offset effects that chemotherapy has on heart disease.” Due to her extensive education in scientific fields that are very relevant towards the study of the medical possibilities of cannabis, Manalo-Morgan has served in a variety of prestigious research-based roles for many high-profile multi-state and even international operators. One such company that she served as the Chief Scientific Officer for the Israel-based cultivator Tikkun Olam for over three years. Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors of Flora Growth, a multi-state operator listed on the NASDAQ. Dr. Monalo-Morgan even serves as a visiting scientist at her alma mater of Vanderbilt and concurrently as Scientific Advisor at plant research company Quanta Inc.

“From Israel to South Korea to Africa to South America and more,” Dr. Manalo-Morgan recollected, “I’ve consulted on research initiatives for cannabis at the government level and have collaborated on a handful of clinical trials.”

Originally though, the cell and developmental biologist didn’t have a strong passion to study cannabis in as detailed of a manner as she does now.

“I had no special interest in studying cannabis.” Dr. Manalo-Morgan explained. It’s not that I didn’t want to, it just never came across my desk nor was there a funding opportunity to do so. Scientifically, compounds from cannabis are no different than others we use in the lab but again, the opportunity just never came up.”

However in 2016, Dr. Manalo-Morgan and her husband experienced a deeply troubling nightmare that no parent should ever have to endure. Their son, Macario, essentially experienced a stroke when he was being born and due to this traumatic brain injury, would have up to 200 seizures a day all while in only the first weeks of his life. While this would be horrifying enough for any parent in this situation, not a single one of the pharmaceuticals that the doctors could use proved to be useful in stopping Macario’s hourly seizures. Eventually at only a month old, the doctors trying to treat him were forced to perform a daunting procedure.

“At 28 days old, Macario had 38% of his brain removed.” Dr. ManaloMorgan recounted. “He was predicted to never walk, talk, or even eat on his own. The pharmaceuticals never “failed” my son, he just wasn’t developing at all. As a 6 month old, he was no different than a newborn.”

The diagnosis for the future health of her son seemed dire given the substantial amount of his brain that was removed, yet the brilliant scientist would soon find compounds that are entirely organic to treat her son’s condition and give him a chance at a quality life that all children deserve to live uninterrupted by such a serious health issue.

Seeing obvious proof of the cannabis plant given the profound impact the plant’s medicines had on her son’s condition with an emphasis on cannabidiol, Dr. Manalo-Morgan would become one of cannabis’ most passionate scientists. Within only days of utilizing CBD-based medicines for her son’s condition, she began to see improvements. He began to express proper emotions and was even up walking by 14 months.

“Now a happy and healthy toddler, Macario is living proof of the power of science.” the website for Dr. Manalo-Morgan reads.

Since the miracle that cannabis-based medicines provided for her son, the scientist has spoken at several conferences across the country for many different organizations with a plethora of causes. From the Thinking Autism International Conference in 2019 to the Holistic Health and Wellness Forum for Multiple Sclerosis and even the American Society of Cannabis Medicine. To dedicate herself further to the medicine that drastically improved the quality of her son’s life, Dr. Manalo-Morgan even founded her own CBD brand called Masaya Medical in 2019.

“I firmly believe I was chosen.” she explains on the website for Masaya Medical. “This was meant to happen so I could give everything that I gave to Macario to people across the world. This is now my passion and my purpose.”

To tell the miraculous story of her son receiving improvement from cannabis-based medicines to a country that is deeply entrenched in the battle for medical cannabis access and patient rights, Dr. Manalo-Morgan published a book through ForbesBooks entitled “Mighty Flower: How Cannabis Saved My Son.” In the captivating book, she discusses how terrifying her son’s condition and the prognosis from the doctors were but also the many risks that she took in ensuring that her son had an opportunity to have as normal of a life and fulfilled childhood as possible.

“Mighty Flower defines the cannabis plant that this book is all about,” the preface of Mighty Flower reads. “a plant that has so much power and so much potential. It’s time to let cannabis bloom into everything it could be.”

Scientists who are as established and as published as Dr. Manalo-Morgan will undeniably be very influential in the advent of medical cannabis and the acceptance of the plant in the medical professional community. As a major pillar of cannabis’ Schedule I status on the Controlled Substances list is that there’s no “acceptable medical use” for the plant, the thorough research of cannabis scientists and doctors will provide concrete evidence into the thousands of tales of personal medical efficacy of cannabis, a sentiment that the scientist would certainly agree with.

“The scientific data is the medical backbone for the thousands of anecdotal reports that we hear about daily. If we invest into science, we become stronger in the unveiling of the power of cannabis.”

Dr. Manalo-Morgan recently hosted a book signing and question and answer session event in Las Vegas with Jardin Premium Cannabis Dispensary. At the very informative event, she spoke to about two dozen Jardin employees about her very seasoned experience in the intricate world of cannabis science vs. pharmaceuticals and the triumphant story of her son Macario. As Jardin is primarily a women-led dispensary with a considerable amount of the employees being mothers themselves, Dr. Manalo-Morgan’s message and story resonated very empathetically among many of the employees.

While she’s incredibly knowledgeable and influential in the field of cannabis medicine and science, Dr. Manalo-Morgan is also a mother to five children, so motherhood is another subject she speaks about with an equivalent amount of experience in. Beyond just cannabis medicine advice and research, the scientist gave ample advice on both parenting in general and specifically how parents can properly process when their child is going through a terrifying medical episode such as the one that Macario lived through.

Jardin has hosted an impressive lineup of undaunted cannabis speakers, professionals and educators over the past year, so the inclusion of Dr. Manalo-Morgan given her status as one of medical cannabis’ most dedicated and decorated scientists was certainly necessary. However, medical cannabis as necessarily thorough and federally funded as what will be needed to undoubtedly show cannabis’ medical potential can’t truthfully be completed given cannabis’ unexplainable Schedule I status.

Dr. Manalo-Morgan believes that there may only truly be one way that this research could be completed on the federal level, and it’s by descheduling on that very powerful level.