Child Marijuana Seizure Treatment Study Results Promising

Seizure disorders in children are more common than many people realize. They are also one of the scariest conditions parents of any child have to deal with. When a child has a seizure, unlike an adult, there is serious risk of brain damage and other bodily injury. In some situations, seizures can last for hours and parents may be helpless to stop it.

In some of the worst cases, the child will suffer from prolonged seizures and reach a stage of the illness known as status epilepticus. There a variety of treatment options, but often the only thing parents can do is to give benzodiazepines such as Klonapin or Valium, and hope this stops the seizures from occurring, or if they do occur, lessens the severity of the seizures. However, these anti-seizure medications do not always work, and they are also very powerful habit forming drugs that many parents do not want to give to their young children.

There is, however, an alternative to conventional drugs. This alternative is medical marijuana. Parents have seen that giving their children a few drops of THC oil a day can seriously reduce the number and frequency of seizures. Many parents are not able to legally acquire the THC oil due to where they live and must buy marijuana illegally and render the oil at home.

In an effort to gain more widespread acceptance, some researchers are experimenting with a chemical known cannabidiol or “CBD” as it is often called. CBD is made from marijuana and has the same benefits of medical marijuana in some cases, but is not known for causing the psychotropic effects of medical marijuana with THC. It should be noted that the TCH is necessary in medical marijuana in many cases, such as the strains taken by cancer patients.

According to a recent news feature from WVTM, the University of Alabama medical center has conducted a study that involves giving CBD to children with seizure disorders, and the preliminary results are very promising. The study involved giving CBD to 51 patients, and half of them experienced sustained improvement in their seizure disorders. Among these patients, many saw a decline in the number of seizure events, and two of the patients were completely symptom free.

Researchers agree that these results show a lot of promise but want to caution people it is still very early in the research process, and say they still have a lot of work to do before they confirm some of these findings. One of the main tenants of scientific research is that the studies have been peer reviewed and the results are repeatable. If they are not repeatable, this may represent an anomaly rather than a causal connection.

One of reasons here haven’t been a lot of studies, as our Orange County medical cannabis attorneys can explain, is that it is hard to conduct research on human subjects who are using an illegal drug. Since many of these studies are done at universities that receive federal student aid, it is a violation of federal law to perform much of the research.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:
UAB releases preliminary results of medical marijuana study, March 4, 2016, By Sarah Killian, WVTM
More Blogs:
Medical Marijuana Laws in CA More Liberal than in NY, Jan. 27, 2016, Los Angeles Marijuana Lawyer Blog