Updated: Saturday, March 28 2015, 11:18 PM EDT By: Bryant Maddrick
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A Central Pennsylvania hospital plans to test cannabis oil as a treatment for epilepsy. The first trial will get started in the next couple months.
News that WellSpan Health would do the trail came as welcome news to parent Mark Knecht.
"I've always said, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when," Knecht.
The announcement gave Knecht hope. His 12-year-old daughter Anna has a severe form of epilepsy that produces seizures.
The issue of legalizing medical marijuana is underway in Pennsylvania. In Colorado, marijuana is already legal. Before WellSpans announcement, the Knecht family considered leaving its Mechanicsburg home to move to Colorado.
"You're paying a mortgage here and rent out there and a lot of things that are not covered here would not be covered out there," Knecht said. "So it's a lot more out of pocket expenses for her care. Right now, she has nursing care here in Pennsylvania. We would not have nursing care right away out there. So yeah, the cost is significant both physically and financially."
Numerous treatments for Anna have failed and her parents want to try cannabis oil.
"There's no guarantees that it would work for her, we just want to opportunity to try it for her. It has been successful for other kids like Anna with similar syndromes so it's our desire to have that opportunity to try it," Knecht said.
Knecht says legalizing medical marijuana is the "right thing to do."
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Cannabis oil testing gives hope to parents of epileptic children