0:00:17.492,0:00:19.507
What goes through your mind[br]when I tell you

0:00:19.507,0:00:23.708
that my 11-year-old twins[br]are using marijuana?

0:00:24.197,0:00:26.528
Do you think to yourselves,

0:00:27.012,0:00:30.306
"Oh my god, the drug problem in the U.S.[br]is worse than I thought"?

0:00:32.598,0:00:36.268
How is it possible that 11-year-olds[br]get access to pot?

0:00:37.527,0:00:40.197
Maybe some of you thought,

0:00:40.197,0:00:43.367
"Geez, I wonder what[br]medical condition these kids have."

0:00:44.079,0:00:45.388
The truth of the matter is,

0:00:45.388,0:00:49.907
most of us don't think about medicine[br]when we hear the word "marijuana."

0:00:50.927,0:00:54.338
I admit - I'm embarrassed to admit[br]that up until two years ago

0:00:54.338,0:00:57.586
I was completely misinformed[br]about marijuana,

0:00:57.586,0:00:59.847
and I think many[br]of our population is today.

0:00:59.848,0:01:04.128
I remember vividly in sixth grade[br]being ushered into the auditorium

0:01:04.128,0:01:08.740
to see a government-sponsored[br]"documentary" about marijuana.

0:01:08.740,0:01:11.018
It was the most scary thing[br]I'd ever watched.

0:01:11.306,0:01:15.929
People jumping off buildings,[br]car crashes - it was mayhem.

0:01:15.929,0:01:19.138
But not once was there[br]a mention of the possibility

0:01:19.138,0:01:21.777
that cannabis was useful as medicine.

0:01:24.038,0:01:25.386
To be honest, in retrospect,

0:01:25.386,0:01:29.289
I'm a little angry about the propaganda[br]that our government is putting forth;

0:01:29.289,0:01:31.059
it's even happening today.

0:01:33.418,0:01:39.037
My big idea worth sharing[br]is that medical cannabis can be

0:01:39.427,0:01:42.466
the healthcare success story[br]of our lifetimes

0:01:42.838,0:01:46.590
but only if we all engage[br]in learning the truth

0:01:46.880,0:01:50.337
and ask our federal government[br]to end prohibition of cannabis.

0:01:53.007,0:01:56.149
I'd like to introduce you[br]to my twins, Addison and Cassidy.

0:01:57.009,0:01:59.080
Believe it or not, today's their birthday.

0:01:59.080,0:02:02.756
Eleven years ago today,[br]only a mile from here,

0:02:02.756,0:02:05.758
they were born and came into our lives.

0:02:06.038,0:02:11.397
Happiest day of my life -[br]I love the date too: January 23, 2004.

0:02:11.738,0:02:14.208
1, 2, 3, 4.

0:02:17.170,0:02:22.149
Unfortunately, Addie and Cassie[br]suffer from a very rare genetic disorder

0:02:22.149,0:02:24.277
called Niemann-Pick Type C .

0:02:24.597,0:02:28.970
This horrible disease[br]is more commonly called,

0:02:28.970,0:02:31.389
or what we call it,[br]is childhood Alzheimer's.

0:02:32.669,0:02:34.920
Their little brains[br]are drowning in cholesterol.

0:02:34.920,0:02:37.998
They're missing a protein[br]that allows them to process cholesterol

0:02:37.998,0:02:40.017
both in and out of their brain cells.

0:02:40.549,0:02:42.877
The cause is neurodegeneration.

0:02:44.488,0:02:47.680
They can no longer walk,[br]and they can no longer talk.

0:02:52.328,0:02:58.190
We were told the Addie and Cassie[br]would be lucky to see their 12th birthday.

0:02:58.869,0:02:59.886
(Sniffs)

0:03:03.168,0:03:07.320
After reeling with[br]this devastating diagnosis,

0:03:07.320,0:03:10.269
my wife and I dedicated ourselves

0:03:10.269,0:03:13.187
to finding treatments[br]for our twins in their lifetime.

0:03:13.649,0:03:17.538
We gave up successful[br]high tech careers in Silicon Valley,

0:03:17.879,0:03:21.069
and we became research philanthropists[br]raising money for research,

0:03:21.069,0:03:24.325
and ultimately, we became[br]biotechnology entrepreneurs

0:03:24.325,0:03:26.248
developing a compound.

0:03:28.887,0:03:30.757
The compound we found was cyclodextrin,

0:03:30.757,0:03:34.949
and we found it with an amazing group[br]of scientists, researchers and physicians

0:03:34.949,0:03:39.149
from all over the world,[br]including right here in Reno.

0:03:39.999,0:03:42.488
Every week the girls get an infusion.

0:03:46.457,0:03:49.058
It's eight hours long -[br]it goes into their bloodstream,

0:03:49.058,0:03:50.216
the cyclodextrin.

0:03:51.137,0:03:54.648
Every other week, like yesterday,[br]the girls go to the hospital

0:03:54.648,0:03:57.259
and they get a lumbar[br]puncture in their spine

0:03:57.539,0:04:01.339
in order to get the cyclodextrin[br]to reach their brains directly.

0:04:02.708,0:04:05.869
We think that the combination[br]of those two routes of administration

0:04:05.869,0:04:08.268
are slowing down[br]the neurodegenerative progression,

0:04:08.268,0:04:11.008
and hopefully, maybe even stopping it.

0:04:12.838,0:04:15.037
Addie and Cassie were[br]the first little pioneers

0:04:15.037,0:04:16.407
to try this scary treatment.

0:04:16.407,0:04:18.268
I can tell you as a parent,

0:04:19.218,0:04:21.516
with no one in front of you[br]paving the way,

0:04:21.516,0:04:23.808
it truly is a scary moment.

0:04:25.788,0:04:29.369
Thankfully, a couple dozen[br]kids around the world,

0:04:29.369,0:04:31.068
including a few at the NIH,

0:04:31.068,0:04:34.937
are now engaged[br]in further science and research

0:04:34.937,0:04:37.317
on this experimental treatment.

0:04:40.057,0:04:44.519
But the treatment doesn't seem[br]to help with their seizures.

0:04:44.519,0:04:48.610
As a result of the neurodegeneration,[br]my kids have seizures almost daily.

0:04:49.697,0:04:51.978
A couple years ago[br]they were way more than daily,

0:04:51.978,0:04:53.758
they were many a day.

0:04:57.628,0:05:04.369
We started giving the kids[br]traditional pharmaceutical medicines

0:05:04.369,0:05:05.768
for their seizures.

0:05:06.237,0:05:09.247
And they worked - some of them worked,[br]some of them didn't work,

0:05:09.247,0:05:10.367
but the big problem was

0:05:10.367,0:05:13.868
most seizure drugs cause[br]your kids to become zombies.

0:05:13.868,0:05:15.306
The whole purpose of the drugs

0:05:15.306,0:05:19.799
is to essentially take away the stress[br]or the triggers that cause seizures.

0:05:20.687,0:05:24.579
We had heard about a father in California[br]that was treating a young son

0:05:24.579,0:05:28.251
who has intractable seizures,[br]seizing constantly, all day long,

0:05:28.251,0:05:30.287
and he was using cannabis medicine.

0:05:30.287,0:05:32.096
We became interested.

0:05:32.096,0:05:35.010
We contacted him;[br]we learned more about the drug.

0:05:36.268,0:05:40.008
Ultimately, we decided[br]to pursue cannabis in earnest.

0:05:40.348,0:05:42.438
Did you know that the cannabis plant

0:05:42.438,0:05:48.668
was used as early as 2900 BC[br]in China as medicine?

0:05:48.668,0:05:52.208
Did you know that we in America[br]were using, in the 1800s,

0:05:52.208,0:05:56.680
for a century, we were using cannabis[br]to treat a number of afflictions.

0:05:57.189,0:06:00.128
Unfortunately, in the early 1900s,[br]as you all probably know,

0:06:00.128,0:06:01.978
cannabis was prohibited

0:06:02.376,0:06:06.617
and subsequently demonized[br]and turned into a war.

0:06:07.696,0:06:10.539
It's a shame. It truly is a shame.

0:06:11.060,0:06:13.357
But we became convinced[br]that the oil would work.

0:06:13.357,0:06:16.420
So we set out to find[br]a supply of oil, certainly -

0:06:17.920,0:06:20.360
Cannabis has been legal[br]in the great state of Nevada

0:06:20.360,0:06:21.367
for almost a decade,

0:06:21.367,0:06:24.646
surely we could just go out[br]and buy some oil and give it to our kids.

0:06:24.646,0:06:29.319
Not true; there was no oil[br]available in our great state.

0:06:29.527,0:06:31.759
So we set out to do it ourselves.

0:06:32.240,0:06:36.722
First we got physician approval[br]to do the treatment of cannabis,

0:06:36.722,0:06:38.175
and then we became caregivers,

0:06:38.175,0:06:40.197
licensed caregivers[br]in the state of Nevada,

0:06:40.197,0:06:43.439
which allows us to cultivate[br]and make extractions,

0:06:43.439,0:06:46.388
oils from the cannabis plant[br]to give to our kids.

0:06:48.898,0:06:52.531
Every day - three times a day -[br]the girls get a little oil,

0:06:52.881,0:06:54.576
like what you see here.

0:06:54.576,0:06:57.258
This oil is extracted[br]from a very special cannabis plant

0:06:57.258,0:07:01.895
that's high in cannabidiol,[br]or CBD as we call it.

0:07:04.248,0:07:09.529
Unfortunately, this oil, by itself,[br]doesn't even completely, for our children,

0:07:09.529,0:07:14.199
stop their seizures, so we still use[br]a small amount of pharmaceutical medicine,

0:07:14.199,0:07:17.977
but we use less - we've reduced[br]the number of drugs the kids take,

0:07:17.977,0:07:22.537
and we've reduced the amount of dose[br]from the few drugs we do give them,

0:07:22.537,0:07:26.467
and consequently our kids[br]are not only having fewer seizures

0:07:26.467,0:07:27.830
and shorter seizures,

0:07:27.830,0:07:31.465
they're also bright eyed[br]and happy children again,

0:07:31.465,0:07:33.548
they're no longer little zombies.

0:07:35.828,0:07:39.348
This was great progress,[br]but I thought to myself, holy cow,

0:07:39.348,0:07:44.738
there are two million epilepsy or seizure[br]disorder sufferers in the United States,

0:07:44.738,0:07:46.949
who's going to help those folks,

0:07:46.949,0:07:50.176
those kids, those adults[br]with these disorders?

0:07:50.406,0:07:52.278
And at that moment we decided

0:07:52.278,0:07:55.018
to take what we had learned[br]for our children

0:07:55.018,0:07:58.178
and turn it into a commercial business[br]here in the state of Nevada,

0:07:58.178,0:08:00.832
which was just preparing[br]to allow that to happen,

0:08:00.832,0:08:03.809
and as Kylie mentioned,[br]we've endeavored to do so

0:08:03.809,0:08:06.869
and are now licensed[br]to grow, extract and sell,

0:08:06.869,0:08:11.037
dispense cannabis here in Nevada,[br]in the state of Nevada.

0:08:13.949,0:08:18.339
Someday the federal government[br]will end prohibition.

0:08:18.339,0:08:20.665
But how many lives[br]will be lost, potentially,

0:08:20.665,0:08:24.258
or severely affected in the meantime?

0:08:24.258,0:08:28.108
How many kids with seizures like mine[br]will move their families,

0:08:28.108,0:08:32.620
will uproot their homes to move to[br]Colorado or Nevada to get these medicines?

0:08:32.620,0:08:35.449
How many cancer patients[br]will be denied access

0:08:35.449,0:08:37.616
to inexpensive and effective medicine

0:08:37.616,0:08:42.021
to treat the side effects like pain[br]and nausea that come with chemotherapy?

0:08:46.269,0:08:50.881
There is a groundswell of folks like me[br]who understand the potential of cannabis,

0:08:51.196,0:08:53.040
and I'm grateful for that.

0:08:53.040,0:08:55.940
The ironic thing is[br]some of my family and friends,

0:08:55.940,0:08:58.582
including, most particularly,[br]my own mother,

0:08:58.582,0:09:00.448
are still not convinced.

0:09:00.888,0:09:02.016
My mother is worried

0:09:02.016,0:09:07.179
that free access to cannabis[br]is actually a threat to society

0:09:07.179,0:09:11.360
and that perhaps the medicinal value[br]doesn't outweigh that threat.

0:09:12.580,0:09:15.710
And she sees the medicinal value[br]in her grandchildren.

0:09:16.489,0:09:18.467
The problem, I think, is that, really,

0:09:18.467,0:09:21.910
we just don't have enough hard evidence[br]yet to convince the skeptics.

0:09:21.910,0:09:24.070
There just isn't enough[br]science and research

0:09:24.070,0:09:27.210
to back the foundation[br]that the medicine's working,

0:09:27.210,0:09:31.510
the medicine's effective, that it's useful[br]for large populations of people.

0:09:32.060,0:09:34.228
That's not to say[br]that research doesn't exist,

0:09:34.228,0:09:38.008
there's a mountain of evidence[br]that the cannabis plant is useful.

0:09:38.008,0:09:42.250
But there's not a lot of clinical science,[br]hard clinical science to that effect.

0:09:42.530,0:09:45.191
That's the conundrum;[br]that's the chicken and egg problem.

0:09:45.191,0:09:48.601
Until the federal prohibition[br]of cannabis ends,

0:09:48.601,0:09:52.743
until we take cannabis[br]off the schedule of harmful drugs

0:09:52.743,0:09:58.001
like LSD and methamphetamines[br]that have no medicinal value,

0:09:58.001,0:10:00.080
until we remove cannabis from that list,

0:10:00.080,0:10:03.578
which is insane that[br]it's on that list to begin with,

0:10:03.578,0:10:07.380
until we remove it from that list,[br]research can't take place.

0:10:07.380,0:10:12.019
If I came to the University of Nevada,[br]Reno Medical Center tomorrow

0:10:12.019,0:10:15.640
with a million dollar grant[br]to study cannabis,

0:10:16.260,0:10:18.547
I would likely not have success.

0:10:18.547,0:10:21.308
It's not that the scientists[br]don't want to study the plant,

0:10:21.308,0:10:24.699
it's that they are fearful[br]of losing federal funding.

0:10:25.349,0:10:28.398
It's because they'd[br]have to deal with the DEA

0:10:28.398,0:10:30.818
and other regulatory agencies[br]at the federal level,

0:10:30.818,0:10:33.277
which is a complex and expensive process.

0:10:34.359,0:10:39.019
This is one of the many tentacles[br]of the prohibition of cannabis

0:10:39.019,0:10:41.609
that actually prohibits us[br]from moving forward.

0:10:41.609,0:10:44.681
My own personal experience with cannabis[br]along with the evidence,

0:10:44.681,0:10:46.309
the science that I know about,

0:10:46.309,0:10:49.089
makes me absolutely certain[br]what I shared with you earlier.

0:10:49.089,0:10:50.410
Cannabis has the potential

0:10:50.410,0:10:55.040
to become the big healthcare[br]success story of our lifetimes

0:10:55.040,0:10:56.753
but only if we allow it.

0:10:59.398,0:11:02.019
Here are Addie and Cassie[br]in a more recent picture.

0:11:03.029,0:11:05.708
For those of you who are still skeptical,

0:11:05.708,0:11:07.618
perhaps for those of you like my mother

0:11:07.618,0:11:10.687
who still worry about[br]the societal downside of cannabis,

0:11:10.687,0:11:13.560
I ask you to look at this picture[br]and consider the following:

0:11:13.560,0:11:17.379
By limiting access to cannabis[br]for parents like myself,

0:11:17.379,0:11:19.129
you're forcing me to make a decision

0:11:19.129,0:11:21.309
between the lives[br]or well-being of my children

0:11:21.309,0:11:22.991
and going to jail.

0:11:23.640,0:11:29.799
How is that a fair or rational[br]set of thinking in modern society?

0:11:30.869,0:11:34.301
Our 16th president,[br]the famous 16th president,

0:11:35.011,0:11:37.079
had very strong feelings[br]about this subject.

0:11:37.079,0:11:40.216
He said, "Prohibition ... goes[br]beyond the bounds of reason

0:11:40.216,0:11:44.564
in that it attempts to control[br]a man's appetite by legislation

0:11:44.839,0:11:47.739
and makes a crime out of things[br]that aren't crimes ...

0:11:47.739,0:11:51.059
A prohibition law strikes a blow[br]at the very principles

0:11:51.059,0:11:53.219
upon which our government was founded."

0:11:53.219,0:11:54.659
This was Abraham Lincoln.

0:11:54.659,0:11:57.578
And he said these words[br]before we had the experiences

0:11:57.578,0:12:01.540
we had with alcohol prohibition[br]or with cannabis prohibition.

0:12:03.703,0:12:06.738
Someday the federal government[br]will spend the money on research.

0:12:06.738,0:12:11.438
Someday the NIH will actually be actively[br]pursuing cannabis as a treatment.

0:12:11.438,0:12:16.760
Until that day comes, a large group of us[br]have come together and formed a nonprofit

0:12:16.760,0:12:21.458
to organize and fund clinical research[br]in cannabis in the private sector

0:12:21.458,0:12:23.491
until we can use[br]the academic institutions.

0:12:23.491,0:12:30.238
We call the foundation PeopleCann,[br]in honor of advocates like myself

0:12:30.238,0:12:34.222
who over the last several decades[br]have been saying what I'm now saying

0:12:34.222,0:12:38.828
and whose words I didn't listen to[br]until my own situation demanded it.

0:12:39.149,0:12:45.038
Never in her wildest imagination -[br]excuse me - would my wife have thought

0:12:45.038,0:12:47.799
that today she would[br]be a cannabis advocate.

0:12:47.799,0:12:52.562
She was also "misinformed,"[br]let's say, about the plant

0:12:52.562,0:12:55.202
until we needed to learn.

0:12:55.922,0:12:58.929
Neither my wife nor I would ever believe[br]that our young children

0:12:58.929,0:13:02.271
would become the next generation[br]of cannabis advocates.

0:13:04.308,0:13:05.919
(Exhales)

0:13:07.349,0:13:09.063
I'd like you to meet them.

0:13:09.331,0:13:14.690
Please give a birthday welcome[br]to my wife Chris - excuse me -

0:13:14.690,0:13:17.803
and my daughters, Addie and Cassie Hempel.

0:13:17.803,0:13:19.800
(Applause)

0:13:23.520,0:13:24.649
Hi.

0:13:24.649,0:13:25.973
(Applause)

0:13:51.939,0:13:55.470
Would it be unkind to ask[br]if we can sing Happy Birthday?

0:13:57.059,0:14:00.883
(All singing) Happy Birthday to you.

0:14:01.071,0:14:04.571
Happy Birthday to you.

0:14:04.812,0:14:09.242
Happy Birthday dear Cassie.

0:14:09.472,0:14:13.633
Happy Birthday to you.

0:14:13.633,0:14:17.561
Yay! Good girls!

0:14:17.561,0:14:18.950
(Applause)