hiatus for two weeks. join us in january for new shows where the end of the game is just the start of the story. good night. people are lighting up all over the country. they call it the green rush. marijuana moved out of the back alleys and into the open. >> i have a cannibas truck, y'all. >> in some states, legal to grow, sell and smoke and could be legalized in a city near you. so easy to get. and many think, so harmless. but when the smoke clears, is marijuana bad for you? or could pot actually be good for you? >> marijuana, better than all of

the pills for you in terms of treating. >> yes. >> i traveled world for answers. what does marijuana do to you. what does it do to your kid? a special investigation "weed." >> our journey begins here in this small town, home nestled in the mountains with a family never allowed tv cameras in before and you will soon learn why. >> so pretty out here. >> yes. >> they live in colorado. one of two states where it's legal to smoke pot medically, and recreationally. but here, it is also taboo to residents like paige and her husband, matt. >> i'm sure it was introduced, by someone, try it. >> no way. not in a million years, no. >> but in this area, marijuana is far from fringe. >> do you want island sweet? >> medical dispensaries are everywhere. people are smoking in private

clubs. and public festivals. but none of this is for matt. he is a military man and marijuana would be a career-ender. >> i grew up in wisconsin, a well-loving family. i was educated that that's a drug. you don't do that. and i never did. >> but decades ago, marijuana was a medication prescribed by doctors and dispense bid pharmacies. >> this is harry j. -- >> but that all changed in 1930. >> henry anslinger, for him public enemy number one. you guessed it. marijuana. >> this guy, saw how he could increase the budget of his department by having this mission going after marijuana. >> saying there's this drug that the mexican migrant works are smoking and it is loco weed and it is crazy and it will make them rape your women. >> he got the message out

through news reports. and then came this -- >> curing the insane. >> refer madness, portraying it as unproductive, crazed. >> people are still afraid of what pot can do to them. >> in many ways, defining our attitudes for 70 years. >> yeah. >> marijuana became illegal in 1937. by 1970, it was a schedule one controlled substances. the government wag was saying, it nod medicinal value and had high potential for abuse. all the reason the figis stayed away from marijuana, until this. and this may be hard for you to watch. >> okay, baby. >> this is their daughter, charlotte.

having a seizure. >> we just thought it was one random seizure. >> nothing to do, no medications, a fluke. >> right. >> a fluke made sense. after all, charlotte, nicknamed charlie, born healthy, fraternal twin to sister chase. >> charlie always had big smiles. >> easy. >> easy. very much so. >> so around three months when you first noticed that charlie had a seizure. >> i was changing a diaper -- well, putting a new diaper off from after a bath ear her eyes started flickering. >> it led to a trip to the e.r. >> this did the whole workup, spinal tap, whole workup, found nothing and sent us home. >> no abnormal scan. >> and normal development. walking and talking, same day as her twin. nothing was behind yet. >> by the time she was two,

though, the seizures became constant and started to take their toll on their once happy, joyful little girl. >> she started to really decline. cognitively. she was slipping away and not keeping up with her twin. >> they finally found an answer. it is severe intractable epilepsy. seizures start during the first year of life and unstoppable. difficult to control and very damaging. >> severe behavioral problems. attention deficit. self injury. banging her head on the floor. pulling her hair out. like a possessed child. this isn't injury perfect happy charlotte. >> it was a race against time. many dravet kids die young, in early child hood. charlotte was almost three. >> for the next two years, the figis tried everything. strange diet. acupuncture. dozens of drugs like valium,

phenobarbital and nothing worked. some medications nearly killed her. >> after one dose she stopped breathing. after two doses her heard stopped. >> did you have to do cpr herself? >> yes. i remember her heart stopped. i felt her pulse and nothing. ambulance was on its way. >> she survived. >> you're okay. mommy's here. >> but now, fall of 2011. and charlotte was five years old. >> when things are at their worst, she will just recedes all night. the kids next door can hear her. seizures come all night. and chase will come in the morning and miss her twin and rub her and hug her and say, i'm so glad you survived through the night last night. >> matt had been deployed to afghanistan. and the only thing he could do to help was start scouring the internet.

and he stumbled on to this video of a child using marijuana. >> how is everything going? >> four days without seizure. >> i'm like, wow, having success. this is interesting. it is natural. >> and while he couldn't ever imagine taking marijuana himself, he was now in the stunning position of recommending it for charlotte. >> i was like, we need do this. >> and i said, i don't know. >> and then, charlotte's condition got worse. >> 300 seizures a week. almost two every hour. she was not talking or moving. basically catatonic. as a last resort, doctors wanted to prescribe a powerful veterinary drug used on epileptic dogs or put charlotte in a medically induced coma so her brain and body could rest. for paige, those were not good options. but maybe, just maybe, marijuana now was.

but she was about to find out how hard that would be. >> this doesn't go to the pharmacy and pick up your medicine. there was no protocol. >> when we come back, what will the figis do? and what would you do if this were your daughter? people don't have to think about where their electricity comes from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions-- it matters. ♪

i need you. i feel so alone. but you're not alone. i knew you'd come. like i could stay away. you know i can't do this without you. you'll never have to. you're always there for me. shh! i'll get you a rental car. i could also use an umbrella. fall in love with progressive's claims service. is caused by people looking fore traffic parking.y that's remarkable that so much energy is, is wasted. streetline has looked at the problem of parking, which has not been looked at for the last 30, 40 years, we wanted to rethink that whole industry, so we go and put out these sensors in each parking spot and then there's a mesh network that takes this information

sends it over the internet so you can go find exactly where those open parking spots are. the collaboration with citi was important for providing us the necessary financing; allow this small start-up to go provide a service to municipalities. citi has been an incredible source of advice, how to engage with municipalities, how to structure deals, and as we think about internationally, citi is there every step of the way. so the end result is you reduce congestion, you reduce pollution and you provide a service to merchants, and that certainly is huge. in controlling yournow overactive bladder symptoms. the new oxytrol for women patch. the first and only over the counter treatment for overactive bladder. put the control back in your go with new oxytrol for women. now in the feminine care aisle.

i had resigned myself. i don't think she's going to survive this. >> we've seen her flat line in the hospital. we've said good-bye. >> you're listening to matt and paige figi, describe their own daughter. what would you do if this were

your child? charlotte figi had an extreme form of epilepsy. her body was so frail that any seizure could kill her. with no traditional treatment to try and the clock ticking away, her parent decided to try marijuana. charlotte was just five years old. >> you need a card in order to get the cannabis from a pharmacy. doctors prescribe it. >> you need two doctors in colorado to get the card for juvenile or child. it was hard. we were the first young child and they said no. everyone said no, no, no. >> certainly her age played a role. >> dr. alan shackleford is a doctor. he knives prescription for medical marijuana for children. when charlotte came into his office, he knew she was this trouble. while seeing her, she had pro seizures. she failed everything. there were no more options. everything had been tried.

except cannabis. >> here is how scientist think it might work. >> marijuana is made up of thc, the part that makes you high, and cbd, also called cannabidiol. the cbd scientists think the electro and mechanical activity that quiet the activity to the brain to help seizures. >> for a long time the work on cannabis and epilepsy was inconclusive. it was only when they started separating it that they saw, yes, cbd seems to really stop seizures. so the figis needed to find something rare, a strain of marijuana low in thc. they didn't want charlotte getting stoned. but also high in cbd to treat her seizures.

and that wouldn't be easy. to dispensaries an growers make their money off strains that are high in thc. >> i'm joel. >> i'm josh. >> no one knows that better than the stanley brothers. they're family business is pot. if you look at these clean-cut guys and what you see surprises you, don't worry. they've heard it all before. >> when we are around the corner, they are like oh, wait a second. did you finish high school? >> they all not only finished high school, but also college app and in some cases graduate school. now, they are some of colorado's biggest growers. and dispensary owners. they produce up to 600 pound of medical marijuana a year and much of that marijuana is high in thc. but here, on the remote farm at this undisclosed locations in the mountains -- >> it takes a lot of plants. they are allowed to grow six per patient. >> they are growing something different. something they call revolutionary. >> greenhouse one.

>> grown house one. welcome to it. welcome to paradise. >> behind closed doors and under tight security we enter what stanleys call the garden of eden. >> there is nothing like this in the world. 21% cbd and less than 1% thc. >> it took years of cross breeding plants to get to this point. >> instead of breeding up the thc, we have bread down the thc. and bread up to cbd. and people said, you're crazy. who is going to smoke that? >> why grow it, then? >> the stanleys also believed in cbd's potential to treat many diseases. >> even they have seen it change lives before. >> meet 19-year-old chaz moore. he uses many different strains of marijuana. many of them high in cbd to treat his rare disorder of the diaphragm. >> i lock up -- >> that's why he is talking this

way. almost speaking in hiccups like he can't catch his breath. it is a diaphragm flutter. >> it becomes painful. >> quickly, i imagine. >> after 15, 20 minutes, i start to really feel it. >> he is about to show me how the marijuana works. he's been convulsing now for seven minutes. >> how quickly do you expect this to work? >> within the first five minutes. >> and i'm done. >> that's it? >> was actually less than a minute. >> depending on the attack and the day, sometimes within the first couple hit -- >> that alack lasted eight minutes but some have lasted much longer. and happen as often as 40 times

a day. and like charlotte, he tried so many things before. by 16, chaz was taking these powerful addictive, potentially deadly, narcotics and muscle relaxants daily. like valium and morphine. >> it would be safe to say that that marijuana, what you have in your hand there, is better than all of those pills there in terms of treating? >> yeah. i'm not as much of a zombie. i've had 16, 17 attacks today and i'm still sitting up talking to you. my first attack on all of these, i would be in the hospital. >> i'm a firm believer that marijuana saved my son's life. >> chaz's father, shawn -- >> his quality of life now is a thousand times better than what it was when he was on the pharmaceuticals. >> quality of life that paige figi desperately wanted for her daughter, charlotte. but she still had one hurdle to cross. convincing dispensaries, like the stanleys, to sell marijuana to a 5-year-old little girl.

>> when they called my brother joel, my brother set a meeting and said, tell us about this patient. she is five years old. we can't do that. why? a fear of the unknown. charlotte is one of the youngest patient at the time wanting marijuana. would it be too much for her? or would it change her life forever? we will find that out later. but first, learn more about what marijuana does to your kid's brain, and yours as well. we're aig. and we're here. to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow. from the families of aig, happy holidays.

[[man] it's nothing but tape... [woman] it's a block. we're havin' a baby! [laughter in background] [woman screams] are we havin' a baby? [ambient crying and laughter]

>> are you smoking weed? yeah! >> april 20th, denver, colorado. tens of thousands from around the country, and the world, lighting up legally. >> cannabis, y'all. >> for some, a lifestyle. for others, a lifeline. >> working with the lupus foundation and rheumatoid arthritis. >> but for all of them, i wondered, what was it doing to their brain. >> my patients call me pot dock. >> pot doc? >> they never meet anyone as interested in their marijuana use as i am. >> dr. stacey gruber is curious about pot. >> i want you to name the number and not read it. >> okay. >> i led her at mclane hospital near boston. she is using high-tech imaging to see what happens in the brain when you smoke. >> when you first smoke, you light up a joint, a blunt, receptors, throughout the brain, respond.

these areas of the brain are responsible for things like pressure, memory, learning, sensation, sense of time and space. coordination, movement. appetite and others drives, shall we say. all over. >> so reward? pleasure. hunger. you have this overall feeling of well-being, they say. that all sounds pretty good. >> it does sound pretty good. >> and it is not just feeling good, but there a phenomenon reported by many smokers over the years, especially famous artist, the ability to be more creative. >> when you feel that high, there is a release of dopamine and your brain sort of has the ability to perceive things slightly differently from the way you might have if you hadn't been smoking pot. what you really see is this reduction in inhibitory function. >> welcome, dr. gupta. >> pretty spectacular. >> less ambition.

that's something that amir says helps him be more creative. his canvass sell for up to $25,000. >> my favorite way to work. >> marijuana? >> yeah. >> he's been painting for 14 years. smoking for even longer. he said it makes him feel more relaxed, but most importantly, let critical of his own work. >> not worrying so much about this and that and just sort of looking and being as present as possible. >> amir does caution that it is a delicate balance for him. >> it would make me very apprehensive, maybe a little paranoid. just too analytical. >> can you get paranoid, have disorganized thinking, disoriented. it can be uncomfortable. it can lead to panic attacks or

anxiety attacks in people. >> how do you know when you've done too much? >> simple tasks become very frustrating. like mixing paint. and then just get into a state of ahhhhh -- you know. >> and why that happens is exactly what columbia university neuro scientist carl harp is investigating. >> exhale. >> research subjects in his lab smoke marijuana and then take a variety of cognitive tests. >> effects will be disruption in memory. disruptions in inhibitory con control. they become slower at cognitive functioning. a wide array of things. they are temporary, but pronounced and clear. >> it is slowly becoming clear to scientists what part of the brain is most effected. the prefrontal cortex.

>> it is very important for planning, thinking, coordinating behaviors. tons of marijuana receptors in this region. we think that marijuana, particularly in the novice, can disrupt all of those behaviors. >> what harp cautions could be dangerous. especially when driving. >> you may prematurely hit your brakes, the gas pedal. you may make a turn without looking more carefully. >> look at the experiment done by cnn affiliate kiro in washington state. subjects smoked marijuana then drove. one was a daily medical marijuana smoker. and another, an infrequent weekend smoker. >> relaxed and buzzed. >> the more the novice user smoked, the more trouble behind the wheel. >> watch yourself, watch yourself. >> but interestingly, the habitual smoker didn't have as much trouble.

>> and that something i witnessed firsthand driving around with 19-year-old chaz moore. the day i spent with him, he had been smoking all day long. >> do you feel impaired at all? >> no, i don't. i feel normal. >> turns out, when you test people who have a lot of experience with cannabis, you don't see many disruptions. but if you test people who have sort of a limited history with cannabis, you can see some clear pronounced disruptions. >> of course, no one thinks that driving when using marijuana is a good idea. but what scientists can't answer is if there is a safe legal limit. and if people who use marijuana daily as a medicine, should be able to drive. how impaired are they? what is more clear, though, is the effect of marijuana on the young brain. >> what we think is a big difference in people who begin to smoke prior to age 16 and those who smoke after age 16. what we call early versus later onset. >> the brain scan shows the

white matter, highways that help the brain communicate from one point to another, are impaired, in those who start smoking early. >> there is underlined white matter. >> that is your concern, sounds like. that those highways, white matter highways, are just more disrupted in people who smoke. >> that's not surprising, given what we know about the young developing brain. >> that's a young developmental time. that's an good time to take any drugs. >> preliminary research shows that early onset smokers are slower at task, higher stroke and increased cognitive disorders. some scientists are still concerned because in 2012, 35% of high school seniors lit up. and that could mean a generation of kids with damaged brains. and many fear something else. >> i never really told myself i

needed help. >> a generation of marijuana addicts. >> when we come back, the truth and the science behind what is being called a growing epidemic. and later, charlotte's story. one of the youngest children to try marijuana in colorado. side-by-side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. that's one smart board -- what else does it do, reverse gravity? [ laughs ] split atoms? [ flo chuckles ] [ whirring ] hey, how's that atom-splitting thing going? oh! a smarter way to shop around -- now that's progressive. call or click today.

this was the day chaz moore almost died. pumped full of drugs like morphine, valium, to quiet a

nonstop 48-hour attack. >> they thought i was going to overdose and, it was pretty bad. >> at his bedside, his father, shawn, watched his son go from being cata tonic to what he calls high as a kite. >> i've watched friends of mine die from taking the same drugs that he took. >> you see, shawn, was a drug addict and he struggled for decades to get clean. >> it was scary. it was very important for him not to take these drugs, if he could avoid them. >> if he can avoid them. i know how addictive they are. i've seen it. it scared the hell out of me. >> but shawn is not scared of marijuana, and neither is chaz. >> this here, i don't get sick. i can't overdose. >> and chaz is right about that. while there are fatal accidental prescription medicine overdoses, every 19 minutes in this country, there are virtually no report of fatal marijuana overdoses.

and perhaps one of the biggest reasons most people think pot is safe. in fact, a new study of children, showed that by high school, only one in five think marijuana in high school. that's the lowest number in more than two decades. and something we have heard over and over as we traveled around the country. >> not really that harmful. >> it has a lot of benefits. not really too concerned about it. >> i think it's safe, if you're a safe person. >> but the experts we spoke to said there is more to the story. >> there are people who compulsively smoke, who want to stop smoking, but they can't stop smoking. >> in fact, 90% of marijuana smokers will become depend ant. like heroin. 23% become addicted. or 17% with cocaine or 15% with alcohol. but it is still approximately one out of every 11 marijuana smokers.

>> there is no longer any scientific debate that marijuana is not just psychologically addictive. but also physically addictive. >> so give me an update, how you doing? >> dr. christian thurston runs one of the biggest youth substance abuse clinics. >> literally, i cried about it. >> marijuana is number one on their list of priorities. they dropped out of life. >> back in the day, i would have been like, my day hasn't started if i didn't get high. >> joe started smoking when he was just 13. by 15, he was smoking more than a dozen times a day. he stopped skateboarding. even dropped out of school. >> i like getting high. i need get high because my brain is telling me. >> adolescents, at about age 13, have a pretty mature brain reward sent are.

they can experience reward and pleasure the same way adults can. but the problem with that is that their prefrontal cortex which helps people think ahead, control their impulses, that's not fully developed until age 24. that explains why adolescents are much more vulnerable. >> there is something else experts believe is likely happening in the brain. when you smoke pot, the feel-good chemicals that make up marijuana, called cannabinoids, force your brain to stop producing their own natural cannabinoids. when you stop smoking be with you don't have them on your own. until your body kick starts production, you feel lousy. so many people smoke again to feel better. and today's marijuana could be more addictive. more of the psycho active ingredient thc than ever before. brain researchers, dr. norah

volkov. >> the thc content will go very fast into your brain. and then that increases, with the rewarding effects. and likelihood of transition into addiction. >> how much stronger is it? >> you see the barbed wire obviously on the fence. >> i travelled to mississippi, where marijuana is illegal. but here, on the campus of one of the country's oldest universities, ole' miss, a huge stash of marijuana is under lock and key. >> this is our vault. >> is pretty tight security. look at this door. >> mamood runs the marijuana potency project. >> what potency is this? >> about 8%. >> for three decades, his team analyzed weed confiscated from drug busts. >> 36% thc. you can smell it. it has good aromatic smell.

>> how much does this worry you, 36% thc, confiscated. >> very, very dangerous material. for someone not experienced, take some of this, and they will go into the negative effects of the high, the psychosis, irritation, irritability, paranoia and all of this. >> and while not all of the plants are this high, there's no question he's seeing a trend. in 1972, the average potency was less than 1% thc. now, nearly 13%. >> are people becoming more obsessed with high thc marijuana? >> i think so. they start out with half percent to one percent. and they get a good high. then as they continue to use that, it doesn't give them the same high any more, so they start smoking more or high potency material. >> it happened to joel vargas. after a couple years of smoking daily, joel eventually ended up in rehab.

where he faced mild withdrawal symptoms. like irritability. insomnia. nausea. >> it certainly isn't anything nearly as dangerous as abrupt discontinuation of alcohol. for someone like joel, it is about learning new behavior, more than the physiological tolerance or withdrawal issues. >> joel's been clean now for six months. but these kinds of risks, they don't scare off charlotte figi's parents. >> people ask us that a lot. lining how did you make that decision? it wasn't a decision. >> it wasn't a decision. >> it was the next viable option. >> and some would say, a radical option. marijuana for a 5-year-old. but it was an option they hoped would change her life forever. >> hi, baby. >> when we come back, matt and paige figi, finally give their charlotte, marijuana. the results are shocking. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open.

open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com.

< we're open to it.

it was january, 2012, afghanistan, about 7,000 miles away from his family in colorado, matt figi received this video from his wife, paige. >> it's horrible seeing these videos when i'm deployed. >> it was his 5-year-old daughter, charlotte, seizing. diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy, she was having 300 seizures a week. each attack so severe, it had the potential to kill her. they had already tried dozens of high-powered drugs. >> we needed to try something else and, at that point in time, marijuana was that natural

course of action to try. >> at home in colorado, searching for marijuana high in cbd, that's the ingredient some scientists think help seizures and low in thc. remember, she didn't want to get her daughter stoned. she found a small amount in the denver dispensary. she was surprised that the owner even wanted it. >> they said it was funny, nobody wants it. nobody wanted it, it didn't have any effect. >> paige paid $800 for a small bag and took it home. >> i had a friend starting a business making medicine. i said, can you help me extract the medicine from this bag of marijuana. i measured it with a syringe and squirted it under her tongue. >> it was exciting and nerve-racking. >> holding charlotte in her arms, paige waited. an hour ticked by, then another. and then another.

>> she didn't have a seizure that day. then she didn't have a seizure that night. >> so you sit there and look at your watch. >> yeah, i thought, this is crazy. >> i remember how happy paige was. and it is really working. i can't believe it. yeah, that was pretty amazing to hear. >> it had worked. but in just a couple of weeks, the excitement was overshadowed by panic. paige was running out of marijuana and the dispensary didn't have any more of that particular strain. even if there was more, the monthly price tag would have been astronomical and not a penny covered by insurance. but then paige heard about the stanleys. the six brothers and their greenhouse of marijuana high in cbd.

he said, i don't know what to do with it. we are trying new things but nobody wants it. it is not saleable. >> i said, don't judge that, because we need that plant. >> at first they didn't want to take the risk of giving marijuana to such a young child. but then they met her. >> tell me about the first time you met matt, paige and charlotte. >> i'm going to get you misty-eyed. >> yeah. you get all of us crying when we start talking about that little girl. >> the figis hit the jackpot. steady supply of high cbd marijuana and they only had to pay what they could afford. >> people have called us the robin hoods of marijuana. and they say that we sell pot so that we can take care of the kids. and the truly less fortunate. charlotte was the first of those kids. late spring, 2012. she tried the stanley special marijuana and again, it worked.

>> i can't tell you what that meant -- what that means to us. >> it gets you a little bit. >> if it doesn't get you, something is wrong with you. she lived her life in a catatonic state. now her parents get to meet her for the first time. what a revelation. >> hi. >> yes, kitty. >> the child who had 300 seizures a week was now down to just one every seven days. >> pitter pat, tiptoe. >> when i first met charlotte, march of 2013, it was one year after that first dose of marijuana. >> achoo! >> after almost two years on a feeding tube, she was now eating on her own. >> yellow. >> she was talking. >> even walking. >> she said please. >> but these stories, they are not without their skeptics.

>> one of the country's two hospitals dedicated to dravet syndrome in florida, they said there is no evidence that cannabis is effective for the treatment of epilepsy. american academy of pediatrics also opposes cannabis as does the national institute on drug abuse. >> it is such an amazing turn of events. that it can't be a fluke. but i do still wonder. >> do you still wonder too, matt? >> hell, no! >> you know it's working? >> it is working great. >> you just look wonderful. >> and charlotte's doctor, alan shackle ford also agrees. yet his commitment to medical marijuana has drawn criticism. he has even been called dr. feel good. >> how important is this to talk about as a physician. >> we are conservative. as a profession and probably individuals, we want more proof. and cannabis doesn't have that. >> and it is why he has traveled the world, to look for researchers who might have the

answers. and that took him to the place many call, the medical marijuana research capital, israel. it might surprise you, but actually research into cannabis and epilepsy started here in the 1970s with studies that showed it could reduce convulsions in rats. today shackleford is hoping to start clinical trials in humans there. >> we need to understand it well enough that they won't be reluctant to, at least, give it a thought. at least try it. >> and it is not just epilepsy. but researchers in israel are studying a variety of illnesses. >> when we come back, what they're finding, up close. and an amazing look inside hospitals and nursing homes with patients are lighting up, courtesy of the israeli government. the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan --

dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com.

they're showing the potential of marijuana to kill cancer cells. it's exciting research and it is still in its infancy and unestablished. this role is still established

and experts say a teaching school for marijuana in other hospitals. >> do you think this could happen in the united states? >> i don't know that there's enough really concrete evidence of cannibus's benefit in that context. i think it's going to come. >> but it could be slow going. >> the fda has been great at approving studies but the national institute of drug abuse has been really stonewalling and blocking any studies looking at therapeutic effects of cannabis and that's not their manifest. >> it's very easy for this organization -- >> dr. norah. >> if you say this is a treatment for drug addiction, they would go to us. if it's cancer, it goes through the cancer institute. if its schizophrenia -- they have a mission with certain

diseases. >> what is clear, there are bureaucratic hoops most researchers simply don't want to jump through. neuroscientists, carl hart. >> there are not many people studying marijuana. it's very difficult to get approval to study marijuana. >> what's nice about israel is the government is helping the research to happen. >> it's research that could give hope to patients like >> i made this. >> scientists in israel are learning marijuana use might actually protect the brain, not damage it. >> they've been able to show it can decrease the amount of brain damage from head injuries in mice? >> to give evidence to reverse some of the injury after damage, that's huge. >> you want to paint your nails? i'll paint your nails. >> i literally see charlottes brain making connections that haven't been made in years. it's almost seeming to build her brain where before it seemed

broken. >> and while scientists are still at the very early stages of knowing if this is actually happening, i can tell you it was remarkable to see her progress. in the three months since we first met her, we saw a change. she was now talking more. >> say puppy. yeah! >> she's horseback riding. >> good girl! >> she even rides a bike on her own. and the special strain made for charlotte is now named for her. it's charlotte's web. >> it is charlotte's plant. >> it is charlotte's plant. not anymore, now, it's for all the children. >> more than 41 children are using charlotte's web here in colorado. all of them are reporting significant seizure reduction and there are dozens more on a wait list hoping, praying a plant could change their lives, just like it did for charlotte. >> i will get you.

>> you both seem very at peace. >> i'm very at peace. very peaceful. >> we've been given a great life. it's unfortunate charlotte has this syndrome and great now that it's working. >> she's doing so great today. this is a drug overdose call. >> every 19 minutes in the united states someone dies of an accidental overdose. >> this is crazy. not a single, solitary one of these people has to die. >> we're used to thinking of it starting here, looking like this. but something happened in this country, and now increasingly it starts here in your own home. >> as we speak, someone died. right now. >> and over the next hour, three people will die. >> he went to sleep, a h