5-Year-Old Ariz. Boy Gets Medical Marijuana for Seizures

Caused by brain defect

MESA, AZ—By next week, a Mesa family hopes to be giving their 5-year-old son a drug treatment that's controversial even for adults.

They plan to use medical marijuana to treat their son's seizures caused by cortical dysplasia, a genetic brain defect.

Jennifer and Jacob Welton have three little boys. When their second son Zander was nine months old, he had his first seizure. Now five, Zander continues to have seizures weekly.

His parents say some are only noticeable in his eyes when they start to twitch. Others are more severe. His body stiffens and Zander stops breathing sometimes causing him to turn blue. In that case, Zander's parents worry each seizure could be his last.