Chilean Activists Protest the Arrest of a Medicinal Marijuana Patient

Mamá Cultiva is one of Chile's most active marijuana advocacy medicinal marijuana organisations. More than 100 families form part of this courageous group of mothers: their children suffer from refractory epilepsy, a serious disease, and their mothers have not hesitated to illicitly grow marijuana to alleviate their children's symptoms.

A few days ago a member of Mamá Cultiva, Paulina Bobadilla, (who, as we have already told you, is the mother of Javiera, a 7-year-old girl who takes two drops of marijuana oil each day to prevent her constant convulsions), protested the “breaking and entering” of her daughter's teacher's home in Huechuraba, where she was growing two cannabis plants for medicinal purposes. 

The foundations Tiagrama and Mamá Cultiva publicly condemned the medicinal cannabis consumer's arrest. “We express our solidarity with the medicinal users of Mamá Cultiva, who feel at risk of being persecuted by the State, instead of being protected,” indicated Gabriela Torres, a psychologist and Tiagrama member. 

“We call upon the State to take action. They cannot continue to look the other way. It is high time we ceased from criminalising people who are only seeking physical benefits through this plant,” added the psychologist. 

Andrea Bello, a spokeswoman for Mamá Cultiva and the mother of a girl who suffers from refractory epilepsy, explained that there have been no discussions with the Government. “We are not talking about a drug, but a medicine. We want President Bachelet to put herself in our shoes once and for all, and remove cannabis from Schedule 1,” explained Bello, thus expressing her desire for marijuana to be classed as a medicinal product. “We are empowered parents and we are doing this to improve our children's quality of life. We cultivate love and hope.” 

The website "No More Prisoners For Planting" [No más presos por plantar] has joined the critics and called for an end to arrests for growing medicinal marijuana in Chile.