Fort Walton Beach attorney Coy Browning, a former highway patrolman, seems an unlikely supporter for legalization of a form of marijuana.
But Browning and his wife have a young daughter whose life has been compromised by almost constant seizures brought on by Dravet syndrome, a cruel form of epilepsy.
The Brownings were one of several families in Tallahassee on Thursday who argued for legalizing cannabidiol, or CBD. They believe it can greatly reduce the number of seizures their child must endure and give hope for a life approaching normalcy.
Browning told members of the state House Criminal Justice Subcommittee he’s seen his child pumped so full of drugs to control her seizing that she actually stopped breathing.
“We hold our breath every day wondering when she will have another seizure, because she will. These children, they do, this is progressive, it doesn’t go away,” Browning said.
CBD is a compound found in marijuana with THC, which is responsible for the “high” users feel.
In Colorado where marijuana now is legal, strains of the weed rich in CBD and extremely low in THC have been grown and successfully used to treat children.
Although supporters swear the plant produces no high, it is illegal to possess in Florida.
Browning’s arguments for allowing CBD treatment was bolstered by the appearance of Paige Figi of Colorado, whose daughter Charlotte has been featured in a recent news documentary about CBD.
Figi told the subcommittee, chaired by Fort Walton Beach Republican state Rep. Matt Gaetz, that her daughter’s seizures were reduced by 99 percent — from 300 a week to “one or two a month” — since the family began using CBD as a treatment.
Like some of the subcommittee members, she said she was skeptical about CBD at first.
“This was the last crazy thing I tried,” Figi said. “It worked in an astounding way.”
Figi told the legislators she traveled from Colorado to Tallahassee without her daughter because Charlotte depends on CBD. Bringing it to Florida would have made her a drug smuggler, she said.
Browning told the subcommittee he wants to see that changed.
“This is innocuous,” he said. “No one is going to get stoned here. There’s no harm in trying this.”
Also appearing at the hearing was a representative of the Florida Medical Association, which opposes allowing the use of CBD in Florida.
Gaetz asked the FMA representative why her group opposes CBD when it doesn’t oppose the sale of similar supplements like the multi-vitamin Centrum Silver.
When the representative couldn’t answer the question, Gaetz dismissed her and told her to go back to her bosses and return with answers.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials were brought in to test products sold over the counter in Florida for the presence of THC in amounts similar (about 0.05 percent) to those of CBD medications sold in Colorado.
Some of products yielded positive results for THC. That prompted Gaetz to question why some products containing THC are legal and others are not.
In the end, Gaetz said he intends to refer the CBD discussion to House Speaker Will Weatherford in hopes a committee bill can be approved for consideration by the Legislature.
“We’re attempting to reach a consensus regarding this process,” Gaetz said after the meeting.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.