Pueblo West mother founds Jara Elements after being inspired by fighting for her son

Jan. 26—In 2014, Jamie Kropp, a single mother of two, was living in Phoenix, AZ, witnessing her youngest child undergoing intense therapy four times a week — with little to no improvement.

Kropp's son, Kolt was only two years old when he was diagnosed with autism, a rare skin condition mastocytosis and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Shortly after the diagnosis, Kolt was in applied behavior analysis therapy, food therapy, speech therapies, occupational therapy and physical therapy — just to name a few.

After coming home one day with a handful of prescription medications needing to be filled for Kolt; Kropp knew there had to be another way to help her child.

"He was just a little boy locked inside of himself," Kropp said. "So, I said if I could find one parent treating their child with cannabis, I was going to try it."

Against critics who repeatedly told her she was crazy and going to lose her son, Kropp was determined to help Kolt. She found a mother in Washington who was seeing improvement in her son who had both an autism diagnosis and cerebral palsy by utilizing medical marijuana.

"That was all I needed," Kropp said. "Living in Arizona, it was an illegal treatment, and I didn't want to risk losing Kolt or my older daughter. So, we packed up our three-bedroom house and two dogs and came to this wonderful state of Colorado."

At the time, Kropp said she thought the move would be an easy transition, but the reality was much different.

"I thought we'll just get Kolt his card and experience this wonderful thing that everyone thinks Colorado is," Kropp said. "When finally getting here, we ended up living in a hotel for eight months, the housing market wasn't what I thought it was going to be. My background followed me, which made some trouble for us getting into a house."

Eventually, Kropp found an apartment in Colorado Springs for the family of three, but the obstacles were still arising.

"When I went to get Kolt a medical card so he could become a cannabis patient, I found that in Colorado at the time autism wasn't a qualifier," Kropp said. "I knew right then and there that was something that needed to change. With all of these children and adults deemed disabled by the Federal Government, we shouldn't need to be fighting within our own state."

While autism wasn't a qualifying condition to receive a medical marijuana card, Kolt was able to become a cannabis patient because GERD and masocytosis were. Kolt received his card just after his seventh birthday.

The first step of starting Kolt on a new form of treatment, Kropp said, was finding a personal medical marijuana caregiver.

After joining various support groups, Kropp met Dan Brandt, a longtime believer in plant medicine who ultimately became Kolt's caregiver.

In his testimonial about Kolt's story, Brandt said when he and Kropp first began talking, he told her he had very little knowledge of what Autism is or how to treat it.

"I know what cannabis can do and firmly stand behind it," Brandt wrote. "I'm willing to trial and error until we see results we like. My goal wasn't to cure anything, I just wanted to make Kolt's life a little easier."

Brandt met with Kolt for the first time in May of 2015, and the improvement in Kolt's quality of life began to skyrocket.

"I went from having a child that was banging his head against the wall, completely non-verbal ... Kolt would never use a fork, wouldn't drink water for me," Kropp said. "I was the parent that had seven boxes of cereal on top of the fridge and countless gummies just to get a smile or some kind of happiness out of him.

"After a week of using cannabis, Kolt pointed at the TV and read the bottom ticker out loud. He read me a full sentence. That's when I knew there was somebody inside of him this entire time, I just needed to slow his brain process down."

Knowing there were still thousands of families who were navigating life with a loved one diagnosed with autism, Kropp founded a non-profit, 420autism.

Originally, Kropp said the organization was to let families know there were other treatment options available.

Once the organization began gaining traction, Kropp said, her and Kolt were asked to make the trip up to Denver to aid in advocating for previous Governor John Hickenlooper to sign cannabis legislation bills HB 1263.

Kropp and her son were present in the governor's office the day he vetoed the legislation.

"We sat there for eight hours, and he waited until everybody left then vetoed our bill," Kropp said. "My son sat in a room in the governor's office with him, and he saw all of the amazing things that these children can do — he could have had the decency to tell us he was going to veto the bill. But he waited until we were all gone."

Knowing that Jared Polis was running for governor, and that he was holding a breakfast Q&A in Pueblo. Kropp attended the event with the intent of asking the candidate if he were elected if he would support cannabis legislation.

"He said this is something he fully supported," Kropp said. "I then asked him not to use our children as a voting tool, and he was more than true to his word."

After being elected, Gov. Polis invited Kolt to the capital on World Autism Day and signed the HB 1263 bill which allowed Coloradans with Autism to receive care using cannabis.

"As of (Friday) I believe there are 376 people on the registry with Autism and getting a cannabis card," Kropp said.

Now, the organization has expanded; helping families navigate the world of plant-based medicine.

"We raise funds for local families to obtain legal access, pay for medical cards so they are able to go to the current cannabis doctor and get the right guidelines, help them find affordable dispensaries," Kropp said. "We also help with things that other non-profits may not think about like tires on the car so that mom can keep going back and forth to therapy, or insurance — just those little things, especially now with COVID."

Throughout this process, Kropp was still looking for a residence she and her children could call home.

Kropp said when she discovered Pueblo West is one of the only school districts that has an Autism program within their special needs program, that she knew this was where her family needed to be.

"It was a Godsend for me, bringing Kolt here and to be able to have such a close-knit community that understands Autism," Kropp said. "We've just been extremely welcomed by the community. In Pueblo West, we have been able to be open and honest and people have been very open, especially with us using plant medicine."

Brandt, who is now Kropp's partner in business and life, runs a CBD manufacturing lab in Pueblo West and was working one day when Kropp went to visit him. Another local business owner stopped by and after talking with Kropp, he asked if she would like to take over his lease on the building next door, and another opportunity arose.

"I found it would be a perfect opportunity to bring plant medicine to Pueblo West in an apothecary, meet the person who is making your medicine way," Kropp said.

With that, Jara Elements, a retail outlet for plant medicine, was born.

"We formulate our products specifically for each person," Kropp said. "We're not going out and selling you a bottle of the same thing. We've found that with this plant, we can really narrow our products down to the elements specific to each body."

Kropp opened the store with the help of Brandt, then the coronavirus pandemic hit, causing the two to pivot and overcome yet another obstacle.

"We decided to go deeper into health, wellness, body, and connecting with people," Kropp said. "A good friend of ours became a licensed massage therapist and began using the salves we make in house on local clients."

After a complete remodel of the store, Jara Elements now has a massage and wellness center.

Kropp said when she started this journey, she never expected it to lead to what it has become and has advice for people who may be hesitant about plant medicine.

"Once I saw him open up, I knew there were millions of other children and adults that could have the same quality of life as him," Kropp said. "A lot of people get snubbed in groups talking about it, it's not the scary plant it's perceived to be. There is really good information and medicine that can be found not only in CBD and cannabis, but with all plant based medicine."

Chieftain and Pueblo West View reporter Alexis Smith can be reached by email at asmith@chieftain.com or on Twitter @smith_alexis27.

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