wbjournal.com | September 17, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate,
higher education)
Staff Writers
Zachary Comeau,
zcomeau@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing)
Emily Micucci,
emicucci@wbjournal.com (Health care)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub
Livia Gershon
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Associate Art Director,
Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Events Intern
Mikayla Cambell, events@wbjournal.com
Distribution and Database Coordinator
A Guide to STUFF, a publication
of New England Business Media
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
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MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA.
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WBJ
M
y son, Desmond, loves
toys. He has hundreds
of diecast cars from the
three Pixar "Cars" movies
and can tell you all their
names and what scenes they appear in, even
those not named in the movie and only
appear on the screen for a split second.
Desmond also has a mean streak. He
was diagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder before he turned 2, which has
lead to a multitude of communication and
development issues. About four years ago,
he had the hardest time being around his
younger sister any time she cried. Ever
since then, he struggled to be in the same
room as her. If he can't escape the room, he
would lose control of his body and violent-
ly lash out – flipping over tables, breaking
TVs and putting holes in our wall.
His neurology specialist, Dr. April Levin
from Boston Children's Hospital – which
is the best pediatric neurology department
in the country – thinks he might have an
underlying issue, like a seizure disorder. To
treat the symptoms and get him to a safe
place, we cycled through two or three pre-
scription drugs. All they did, though, was
turn him into a zombie with little aware-
ness of his surroundings. He was calmer,
but gone was the part of my son who
recreated "Cars" movies on my phone.
Dr. Levin then suggested we look into
CBD oil, which is short for cannabidiol. It
is a marijuana extract with the THC taken
out of it. Essentially, the parts of the mari-
juana plant that get you high are removed
and what is le are the medical benefits.
Since all parts of the marijuana plant are
still illegal federally, Dr. Levin couldn't
prescribe it for Desmond, but she pointed
us to a company that could ship it to us.
e results were amazing. By taking him
off the prescriptions, the part of Des-
mond's mind that was fun and engaging
came back, but a daily dosage of the CBD
oil took the edge of his tantrums. It's not
that he doesn't get angry ever, but he no
longer loses all control over his body when
he gets upset. His teachers remarked how
much calmer and happier he is at school.
To get this miracle oil, my wife has to
mail-order it from a Colorado company,
and a one-month supply costs about $200.
I know there is still trepidation around the
Massachusetts marijuana industry, but I
My 9-year-old uses marijuana extract
I N T H I S I S S U E
see the benefits of marijuana every day in
my son. People getting high on THC is
probably a big selling point for the indus-
try, but there are other benefits far beyond
that. It helps people. It helps me.
- Brad Kane, editor
W
Knowledge +
Experience +
Trusted Advice.
It all adds up.
Large enough to serve the
needs of most businesses
and individuals; small
enough to offer the
personal attention you
expect and deserve.
Greenberg, Rosenblatt, Kull & Bitsoli, PC
Certified Public Accountants
306 Main Street, Suite 400 • Worcester, MA 01608
508.791.0901 • www.grkb.com
NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
14 Focus on Banking & finance
19 The List: Top credit unions
21 Know How
22 Movers & Shakers
23 Photo Finish
24 Business Leads
25 Opinion
26 Shop Talk: Liz Myska, Visions Consulting
10 Help needed
Massachusetts has the largest construction
worker shortage in the nation.
20 A beauty queen and a BBQ king
saved my soul
The Struggle is Real columnist, Renee
King, says how getting advice from small
business owners stopped her from ruining
her personal life.
