Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1482660
20 adovcate focus cannabis patient care | vol. 3 no. 3 cannapatientcare.com was no use to try it. He did not want to take that risk. We talked to the state and the state talked to a palliative care doctor who finally bent and approved the medical card for the child. The child's life was extended for about a year and also eased her painful spasms, giving her family more time with her. The fam- ily will write to us once in a while still to this day to thank us." This case happened soon after Rylie's Law was passed. Where to Go for Help and How to Advocate With such a large need for education and resources, Rylie contin- ues to help connect parents and their children with the resources they need. "We have a lot of information on my foundation's web- site, RylieSmileFoundation.org," Rylie explains. "We have classes and we have doctors and consultants that parents can speak to. A lot of parents will come to the foundation and we'll give them an introductory course to cannabis as medicine. They take a course that certifies them and helps give them the basics. But if they want specific information about their child's ailment, that's when we connect them to a doctor or a nurse or even a researcher to explain more to them in detail as to how they can support their child medically with cannabis. When we were starting out, it was a lot of having to take pieces of a puzzle to put it together." In response, Rylie and Janie continue to advocate and con- nect parents with the resources. "Some kids don't have that luxury of time like we had," Janie explains. "So, when par- ents call us we will do everything we can to connect them to safe access, connect them to who they need to talk to for their medical card and for support in their own state, and then to connect them with some type of medical advisor so that they know the steps that they need to take with their child." Equally important is the need to share stories. Rylie's ad- vice for anyone interested in joining their efforts for advoca- cy and education is to do your research and share your story. "Speak to as many medical people as you can. Go to confer- ences and share either your story or what you know about cannabis and do your best to educate as many people as pos- sible, especially medical professionals. Because the more people who are educated on it, the more the stigma of canna- bis will go away, and the more widely accepted it will be, and the more people will be willing to learn about it. Help peo- ple feel comfortable that you're not there to go against them, you're just there to talk and share your story." What the Future Holds Where does Rylie's journey go from here, what is she working on now, and what does she hope to accomplish in the future? One thing is for sure: Rylie is still actively advocating for others. "Currently, people living in government housing cannot access a medical card even if they live in a medically legal state, just because they live on government funded property, and they abide by federal laws instead of state laws," Rylie explains. "I'm speaking to federal legislators to see what we can do about that and see if we can get people living on government property who need cannabis as medicine a way to access it because it's not fair that they can't." Even after accomplishing so much for so long, Rylie plans to keep pushing forward in the future. "I'm definitely going to keep doing my work because there's always more work that can be done in medicinal cannabis, especially when it comes to legislation and education," Rylie explained. "In the future, I hope to see more acceptance, legalization, and reschedul- ing of cannabis so it can be more widely accepted as any oth- er medicine or any other pharmaceutical." "But my dream job, although it may not be realistic, is act- ing. That would be something that I would love to do. When I go to college, I plan on minoring in acting, and I don't know what I want to major in yet, but I might get into public policy and international affairs." For someone who has already accomplished so much be- fore the age of 18, any future plans are within the realm of re- alistic, thanks to a little help from medical cannabis. Reference (1) https://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/hsp/medmaroclaw.html. Rylie Maedler speaking on a pediatric panel discussion at Cannabis Science Conference East in 2022.