ORDEAL OF BOY'S VIOLENT BEHAVIOR FINALLY ENDS

In July 2001, Debbie Jeffries of Rocklin faced that nightmare of every
parent raising a child with severe behavioral problems: Child Protective
Services wanted to place her son in an institution. The reason: Her
7-year-old son, Jeffrey, had attention deficit disorder and an array of
related maladies that she was treating with marijuana.

The marijuana was the first thing that had aided Jeffrey's condition. She
had tried all manner of therapy and 19 powerful drugs prescribed by a parade
of doctors to alleviate his agony. He had been diagnosed with attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress
disorder.

Eventually, the judge ruled in Jeffries' favor, and today, Jeffrey has just
finished sixth grade on the honor roll at his public school in Rocklin. He
no longer uses marijuana, but the intervening years have been anything but
smooth for the family.

Jeffries and her mother, La Rayne Jeffries, have written a book, "Jeffrey's
Journey," about the ordeal.

Jeffries said Monday's ruling on medical marjiuana by the U.S. Supreme Court
is a terrible mistake in light of the experience she and her mother have had
with Jeffrey.

"In Jeffrey's case, I think he'd be dead by now if we hadn't used the
marijuana treatment," she said.

Marijuana came into the picture only when Jeffries was at the end of her
rope, under an order either to find an effective medicine for her son or see
him locked away in a residential treatment program, probably out of state.

His behavior was so bad he had been banned at age 4 from all day care
facilities in Placer County, and he soon was rejected from any school or
program he tried.

"I didn't know anything about marijuana, but I was desperate," said
Jeffries, who had moved in with her parents at that time. (Jeffrey's father
is dead.)

She and her parents all had voted against Proposition 215, the 1996 ballot
measure that legalized medical marijuana. But a mention on the Internet of
marijuana therapy for behavioral problems caught her interest. She
eventually connected with a Santa Cruz collective that grew medical
marijuana.

Grandmother La Rayne Jeffries is an inventive cook who devised a way to bake
marijuana-laced muffins and later a way to bake the marijuana with butter to
make a powder that could be put into capsules.

The results were dramatic.

"The first time, I gave him a quarter of a muffin. When I was driving with
Jeffrey I had to hold his hand to keep him from hitting me or doing
something dangerous, but that first morning, I suddenly felt his hand relax.
For the first time ever, he said 'Mommy, I love you.' "

Things improved markedly over the ensuing months, even through her ordeal
with Child Protective Services. Then, federal drug agents raided the farm
that supplied Jeffrey's marijuana.

Jeffrey's violent behavior returned. Mental health professionals were at a
loss. Some predicted that he was destined in the next few years for run-ins
with the law and, eventually, prison.

Desperate, Jeffries arranged for Jeffrey to be placed with a Utah family
that operates a remote ranch, where he spent two years without medication of
any kind.

"It was a different kind of program. It's a working ranch with a lot of work
to do. Instead of sending Jeffrey to a quiet room when he misbehaved, they'd
have him shovel horse manure," she said.

"Whatever they did, it worked. He's still not using any medication."

But firm as Jeffries is in her conviction that marijuana was the key to
Jeffrey's turnaround, such an idea is counter to usual practice in dealing
with the disorders with which he has been diagnosed, said Dr. Robert
Hendren, a specialist in serious emotional disorders and executive director
of the MIND Institute at the UC Davis Medical Center.

He said marijuana would not be a likely drug to use for attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder.

"Perhaps it relieved his anxiety, but it would not be expected to help with
his inattention - just the opposite," he said. "But it's hard to draw
conclusions."

The combination of disorders described for Jeffrey would make him a rare
patient indeed, less than one in a population of 100,000, Hendren said,
whereas ADHD by itself is found in six of every hundred girls and nine of
every hundred boys.

"You can tell this is a most difficult case," he said. "Difficult for him.
Difficult for the mom. Difficult for the treating physicians."