Will Jeff Sessions put an end to medical marijuana?

DRUGS

BY MELINA DELKIC

@MelinaDelkic

GREEN LIGHT More than 90 percent of Americans support medical marijuana, according to an August poll—and more than 60 percent support fully legalizing weed.

JAN FRIES/EYEEM/GETTY TOP RIGHT: GETTY

“It’s a lesson for the old dinosaurs still kicking around as heads of state in Africa.”

TEARS STREAMED DOWN CLAUDIA JENDRON’S face as her doctor patted her hand. “This is going to work”, the doctor said. Eight years ago, a spinalfusion-gone-wrong left Jendron—a 66-year-old resident of Rochester, New York—ailing. She’d tried a number of options—acupuncture, opioids, epidural shots. Anything to relieve the pain. She wished to sit comfortably at her grandchildren’s birthday parties, but nothing worked. Now, the doctor wanted to try a new treatment, one involving medical marijuana.

To Jendron’s surprise, her doctor was right. Two days after starting a tincture (a liquid cannabis extract dropped under the tongue), her crushing pain subsided to something more manageable. “It’s just. It’s amazing”, she says, “I can lean over and hug my grandkids without screaming anymore.”