Alejandro Rangel-Lopez, in a plant-oriented costume, contributed to a panel discussion about reasons for the 2024 Legislature to consider adopting a bill legalizing medical cannabis. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from online forum hosted by Kansas Cannabis Coalition, Loud Light and ACLU of Kansas)
TOPEKA — Delaney Jones’ grandmother, a survivor of European concentration camps during the Holocaust of World War II, suffered from a type of cancer that was often detected late, spread rapidly and had a poor prognosis.
“She got really, really sick with pancreatic cancer late in life,” Jones said. “She said nothing she went through in the camps hurt like this.”
She endured chemotherapy treatment for cancer and striking side effects of prescription pain medications, but relief from agony appeared to be beyond her grasp. The family’s matriarch eventually found comfort in cannabis oil, which contained THC not legal in Kansas but offered in other states in conjunction with palliative medical care or simply for recreational use.