My 2 and a half year old son Max is our little bundle of joy - but every day he suffers from hundreds of terrifying micro-seizures. A scary cocktail of synthetic drugs is barely keeping him alive – a world away from the life he should have and maybe could have if only possession of cannabis for medicinal use was decriminalised.

When Max has a seizure, he turns blue, stops breathing, and is overtaken by uncontrollable muscle spasms. Our world turns to a complete nightmare watching his little body go through this trauma. He still can’t go outside for any longer than 15 minutes because the exposure to light triggers massive seizures - we live with the curtains drawn.

We've seen how medicinal cannabis can help change all of this for other families. This might be a new hope for our Max, if politics will get out of the way from blocking access.

The mix of synthesised medications he’s on right now is just scary: eppilum, keppra, rivitrol and phennobarbatoin.  They all have shocking side-effects, and will very likely lead to increasingly more and more drugs to try and balance them out.

I’ve seen the Haslam family’s change.org petition in NSW lead to new laws being drafted, and the amazing stories of the parents across the country like the Batten family who are using medicinal cannabis to look after their kids.  It’s those struggles that have shown me we could actually get change here - in 8 other countries, and more than 20 US states, people are using medicinal cannabis - and it’s working.

I’ve also seen that there’s been nearly 30 years of clinical trials done around the world.  It seems like the only thing holding this back, and leaving our children at the whim of drug companies is politics.

We desperately need the government to get out of the way and decriminalise possession of this medicine so children like mine can have a chance. That’s why I’ve started this petition - in the hope that the Napthine government here in Victoria can decriminalise this plant and let us care for our children.  

The government have tried to avoid dealing with this by promising more trials - that does nothing to help kids like my son Max, kids who are suffering right now. There’s already been plenty of committees, and there’s already been heaps of trials - we need action urgently.

Max has hundreds of terrifying seizures every day.  There’s already products available, being used in the US and a heap of other countries and having amazing effect.

Please, if you can imagine what it must be like to be a parent in this situation, sign this petition asking the government to give us a chance.  It might be the thing that makes a difference and gives Max a chance at a life free from hundreds of terrifying micro seizures.