Sebastien Cotte fights to legalize medical cannabis for his son, 8-year-old Jagger

Despite the recognition of the therapeutic benefits of cannabis in 33 states, the U.S. federal government, and in particular the Drug Enforcement Agency, still refuses to remove cannabis from the most restrictive category of the list of controlled substances. In response to this inaction, several patient advocacy groups and medical cannabis activists have filed lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Justice. Among them is Sébastien Cotte, a French expatriate living in the United States and the father of a young boy who is treated with medical cannabis.

Sébastien's Testimony

It was with great emotion that Sébastien Cotte shared with us his testimony during Cannabis Europa. Sébastien is the father of little Jagger, who is now 8 and a half years old. Jagger was diagnosed before his first birthday with a mitochondrial disorder—Leigh syndrome—a degenerative and incurable disease. It’s a devastating diagnosis, as 95% of children diagnosed before the age of 2 do not live past age 4. The fact that Jagger is now 8 years old is thanks to cannabis and his parents’ courage.

It all started in 2013 when Sébastien came across a documentary about Charlotte Figi, a young girl with epilepsy whose parents discovered that CBD oil helped calm her daily seizures. While living in Georgia, the Cotte family decided to move to the Colorado, where cannabis has been legal since 2012 so they could treat their son with cannabis, as they are among those designated by the government as «medical refugees.».

The first doses of cannabis brought about noticeable changes in their son’s behavior. Three days after the first dose of CBD, Jagger started smiling again—a first victory for the couple. «We saw a huge improvement right away,» explains Sébastien. «He started smiling again… His seizures have decreased, his pain has subsided, and we’ve been able to stop giving him morphine and OxyContin, two extremely potent medications.».

The success of this treatment for Jagger prompted Sébastien to campaign and lobby to change the laws in his state, Georgia, which has since legalized medical cannabis. However, Georgia’s law is problematic: it allows for the possession of cannabis but does not permit its sale. Patients are therefore only partially within the law. What’s more, the threat of federal enforcement constantly hangs over them, and they generally cannot travel from one state to another with Jagger’s treatment.

A Lawsuit Against the Government

In 2017, a group of patients and activists—including Sébastien—sued the Department of Health in court to compel the DEA to reconsider cannabis’s classification as a controlled substance in order to allow its medical use. The lawsuit was originally directed against Jeff Sessions, but after his resignation The new attorney general is being targeted, as is Charles «Chuck» Rosenberg, the director of the DEA.

The court that filed this complaint initially refused to hear the case, arguing that the DEA had jurisdiction over the matter and that the group should first address the agency directly—a process that could take up to nine years, according to the group’s attorney. The group therefore decided to appeal. «We simply want a chance to prove and demonstrate that cannabis has medical properties and that it can help patients and children like Jagger,» explains Sébastien. Standing alongside him are: the father of a little girl with epilepsy, a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a former player for the National Football League and Cannabis Cultural Association, a nonprofit organization.

The hearing took place on December 12 Finally, according to Michael S. Hiller, the plaintiffs’ attorney, it went rather well. In his view, the questions posed by the three judges revealed a genuine interest. They discussed the recent FDA approval of Epidiolex or because the government holds patents on medical cannabis. He also pointed out that the ban on medical cannabis was unconstitutional because it directly violated the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which stipulates that the government must protect the life and health of its citizens.

If the appeal is granted, the case will be returned to federal court and a trial will be held. Otherwise, the case will be sent to the Supreme Court, which accepts only 10% of the cases submitted to it.