“When your kid’s got cancer, the rule book goes out the window,” says one of the characters featured in “Weed the People.” Abby Epstein’s new documentary explores how the government is doing parents, children, and medical professionals a disservice by making cannabis off-limits as a form of treatment and subject of research, despite its anti-cancer properties.

“Armed with only these laboratory studies, desperate parents obtain cannabis oil from underground sources to save their children from childhood cancers,” the film’s synopsis describes. “‘Weed the People’ follows these families through uncharted waters as they take their children’s survival into their own hands.”

As one parent explains, “I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t explore everything that there was.” Another adds, “I just find it staggering to accept that [there are] billions of dollars spent on cancer research, [but] the medicine we were relying on was made in someone’s kitchen.”

Epstein’s previous credits include “The Business of Being Born” and “Until the Violence Stops.”

“Weed the People” premiered at SXSW earlier this year and hits theaters October 26. Ricki Lake is among the project’s producers.

Check out the trailer to see why one character describes accessing and producing cannabis oil as “the Wild West.”