Family-friendly cannabis club offers alternative to prescription medicine

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – From the outside, you wouldn't be able to tell it's where kids are getting pot.

On the inside, you'd have to search for the signs that it's a California medical marijuana dispensary.

Kids like 8-year-old Zoe Ridenour, who suffers from ADHD, say the drug is improving their lives.

"I went up four grade levels in school," she said.

Her mother, Sherry Poe, says Zoe's life was drastically different on prescription drugs.

"She started getting tics, crying all the time; at one point, she told me she didn't want to live anymore," Poe said.

But just a few drops of the cannabis-infused oil a day, and a year and a half later, there's been a vast improvement.

"She sleeps, she's gained weight, she's happy, she smiles, she laughs," Poe said.

A similar outcome is shared by many families who came here Monday.

"His seizures have reduced by 90 percent," another parent said.

"What it does is called neuro-psycho physiology. It makes the neurons go back and forth and communicate. There's no other medication in the world that does that," Jason David said.

David is the president of Jayden's Journey, a dispensary named after his son, and one that caters to kids.

"If it doesn't work, throw it away. But have you tried to change the rest of your life like it changed my son's life?" David said.

One of his youngest epilepsy patients, Zya Mao, just turned 6 months old. Her father, Jhoson Mao (Joe Son), believes it is a better alternative to prescriptions.

"We notice she feels present, her eyes are not as wobbly as they used to be," Mao said.

Mao says his daughter's doctor is not advising against it.

"But she's not totally against it. Help anybody they can," Mao said.

"A quarter of a million people die a year from pharmaceuticals - the same ones we give our children and nobody says a word. When a child is sick, the whole family is sick. Someone has to make a change," David said.