Even Republican Christian Moms in Texas Are Fighting for Medical Weed

Don't let Gump Sessions give you the wrong idea. Conservatives, even the God-fearing ones, are also pushing for easier access to medical weed.

Weed + pill bottle
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Image via Mark on Flickr

Weed + pill bottle

Hate to break it to ya, Jeff Sessions, but even many of your fellow God-fearing conservatives know that weed is most certainly notcomparable to heroin. Mothers Advocating Medical Marijuana for Autism (MAMMA), for example, is now fighting for the "legalization of therapeutic cannabis" across multiple states. As revealed in a Vice feature this weekend, MAMMA's founding members identify as both Christians and "political conservatives."

AmyLou Fawell, MAMMA co-founder and current executive director, estimated that "hundreds" of parents in Texas are turning to weed after finding little to no success along the prescription drug route. Fawell toldVice's Serena Solomon that the group's decision to advocate solely for medical weed, not recreational, "goes a long way" in the traditionally conservative state.

Current medical weed laws in Texas are too restrictive for many patients, capping oils at a low THC count and providing them only for those with "severe epilepsy." Though Sessions and other high-profile Republicans may disagree, Fawell said that pushing for the loosening of those restrictions—in Texas and beyond—actually makes a lot of sense as a creationist. "If God made it and our bodies need it, then that is the Christian argument," Fawell told Vice.

MAMMA was founded back in 2014 as a united effort aimed at addressing the "growing epidemic of autism with therapeutic cannabis." The group, as outlined in its vision statement, is pushing for a future here in the U.S. in which families and caregivers of those with autism spectrum disorder will be able to safely and legally access organically grown cannabis for medicinal purposes. MAMMA's Texas team is currently pushing for the passage of a bill that would give patients in the state greater access to medical weed. In the years since its inception, MAMMA has expanded to include additional chapters in Georgia, Illinois, Arizona, and more.

A Gallup poll from October 2016 found that 42 percent of Republicans are now totally cool with people using legal weed. Though 42 is still a relatively low number when compared with the Democrats' approval percentage of 67, the signs are there: Your average, non-lame, non-old person is most likely fine with weed.

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