I have Tourette Syndrome and am looking for information on Medical Marijuana

Hello! Iâ??m a 24-year-old living in Minnesota whoâ??s interested in obtaining medical marijuana to treat the symptoms of Tourette Syndrome. As a kid all the way through my early 20s, doctors prescribed me many different pharmaceutical medications to counteract the symptoms of TS yet all the medications became ineffective after a period of time, and many of them proved more harmful than helpful.

Lately, life has been very difficult, partly because of circumstances beyond my control, and when this is the case, the symptoms of TS increase (both in intensity and frequency), which makes interacting with others difficult for me and often for those with whom Iâ??m interacting. The catch-22 is Iâ??m also unemployed and looking for work and marijuana is the only thing that has ever treated my symptoms satisfactorily; if I donâ??t use it, my symptoms will be apparent during job interviews and Iâ??ll probably be less likely to get hired because people tend not to understand TS and its symptoms and probably wonâ??t want someone working for them who exhibits verbal and physical tics that tend to distract others. Even though TS is a verifiable disability and itâ??s illegal to discriminate based on disability, I still fear that Iâ??ll end up in a job interview and my tics will act up and the interviewer will disqualify me as a candidate on that basis and then state another reason for why he/she chose not to hire me. If I do choose to use marijuana regularly before interviewing (but not the day of), I think Iâ??ll be fine, yet Iâ??ll probably have to take a urinalysis and then Iâ??d fail and wouldnâ??t get the job.

There have to be so many others who are in situations similar to mine. Iâ??m hoping someone can point me in the right direction in my search for information/options. Does anyone know where I could go to find out if, specifically, medical marijuana is available for Minnesota residents who want to obtain it from doctors within the state, and if it is not obtainable from doctors within the state, can it legally be obtained from doctors in others states where doctors are able to prescribe it?

Per State by State Medical Marijuana Laws - Medical Marijuana ProCon.org, it appears as if there is no medical marijuana program in Minnesota but I figured someone might have some more up-to-date information. I know very little about medical marijuana and its availability and I figured this would be a good place to come to at least find a starting point. Please excuse me if Iâ??m overlooking something obvious or if I should have known to check elsewhere first. I thank you all kindly for your time and attention.

I wondered about this.,.....I dunno if I have a mild form of this,I never asked a doctor cause its kinda strange.
But I found that I blurt out really obscene stuff,but not all the time,its mostly while I am driving alone or at home or around people like my brothers.I figured it wasnt since I dont do it around everybody,But I am kinda shocked to hear the stuff I say.It's like a Sudden Burst of Energy thats uncontrollable,Feels like Im gonna explode and I just yell stuff.But now that you mention it,I havent experienced that in awhile,probably since I started smoking weed.

Minnesota unfortunately does not have laws protecting medical marijuana users from prosecution, but I know they're making progress. A bill was introduced last year - HF-655 - but according to Minnesota Cares, has yet to be passed.

You aren't going to find any doctors in the state that will prescribe MMJ to you. I'm fairly certain that you'd have to be a resident of a compassionate state in order to obtain a license to grow or a recommendation from a doctor, and were you to bring it back to Minnesota, it would still be considered possession of an illegal substance. Luckily, in your case, you have state laws that aren't quite as harsh on possession penalties as many other states are... but, sadly, it's still illegal in the eyes of the state until the bill passes.

Here's another good website you can check out to see how state laws may affect you: Minnesota - NORML Be sure to check out the rest of the site, too. There's a lot of good information in there that will help you to stay informed.

Take care. :jointsmile:

If you want MMJ, you will have to move. In California, you'd get a rec easily! Other states vary. In the meantime, give your doctors these.... May as well educate them!

Treatment of Tourette's Syndrome With Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol
Treatment of Tourette's Syndrome With Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol -- MÃ?LLER-VAHL et al. 156 (3): 495 -- Am J Psychiatry

THC is effective in the treatment of tics in Tourette syndrome
Clinical Studies and Case Reports

Treatment of Tourette's syndrome with Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol
Clinical Studies and Case Reports

Cannabinoids: possible role in patho-physiology and therapy of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.
Clinical Studies and Case Reports

THC effective in Tourette-Syndrome
AAMC: THC effective in Tourette-Syndrome

THC effective in Tourette syndrome in a 6-week trial
IACM-Bulletin


Good luck! - Granny:hippy:

thanks for the input so far, its something I've known has helped me for a while and i started researching it more recently as i have stopped smoking for work related issues, and have noticed my tics coming back ten fold and a lot more intense.

I suffered from Tourette's as a child until I started smoking marijuana. Today I lead a normal life, and my Tourette's never came back.

Here is a transcript of my message on my religious forum explaining my stance on medical marijuana.

Growing up I suffered from a neurological disorder known as Tourette's syndrome. It really made my life a living hell. The schools had some kind of deals with doctors and pharmaceutical companies, and they put me on every medication you could think of (a lot worse drugs than marijuana) -- medicine to keep me awake, medicine for ADD, medicine for Tourette's, and medicine to counteract side effects of every medicine I was taking, even medicine to counteract side effects of the counter side effect medications. We're talking 14+ various prescriptions. The stuff they gave me for Tourette's made my ADD worse, and the medicine they gave me for ADD made my Tourette's worse, and so on and so on. It was a nightmare!

Thus I was robbed of my education. I had to go back later in life and literally teach myself how to read and write, and everything else I missed out on in public school.

Needless to say, I started doing drugs because I was depressed. My drug of choice was marijuana. I probably smoked pot every day until my early 20's. One day I woke up and realized that my Tourette's had disappeared. I checked into Emory University for neurological studies, and they determined that the marijuana must have corrected the chemical imbalance in my brain.

Once more, even after I quit it never returned. Thus, contrary to popular myth, marijuana actually helped me lead a productive life. It didn't make me stupid. I'm a computer science major, and I will soon be starting my internship for NASA.

Before my experience with pot, I couldn't go to movies, I couldn't attend worship meetings, I couldn't do much of anything -- especially have a social life. People thought I was nuts. So IMO, I had always supported medical marijuana:jointsmile:

Rock on...sanoski...:thumbsup:...congrats