Medical Marijuana for Children With Serious Medical Conditions

Parents of children with epilepsy or other serious seizure disorders have started turning toward medical marijuana as a legitimate treatment option, according to recent news article from Fox News. Having a child with a seizure disorder can be one of the scariest things imaginable. The parents have to watch their young children suffer through seizures, which could cause permanent damage, with nothing they can do to stop it.

The conventional treatment for seizure disorders in adults and children is administering powerful benzodiazepines like Klonapin, Valium, or even Xanax on a regular basis to prevent seizures.

These medications are highly addictive, cause extreme drowsiness, and can damage the liver. Patients can also develop a tolerance fairly easily, so they are having to take higher and higher dosages on a regular basis. This is the accepted treatment, and, as strange as it sounds, there is very little controversy over the treatment, because these medications come from large drug makers.

Aside from the dangers associated with giving a small child Valium on regular basis, as it turns out, these drugs don’t always work. At this point, they can switch to neuroleptics, which are extremely powerful anti-schizophrenia medications, and even then they do not always work. At this point, a parent is facing a difficult situation with no valid medically approved options.

However, there is another option, and that option is medical marijuana. Parents have found that giving medical marijuana to children has proven very effective at controlling and even stopping the seizures without all of the problems associated with Klonapin, for example. Illogically, but not surprisingly, this is very controversial. The reason this is very controversial is because marijuana is Schedule One drug on the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (meaning that it has no medical use) and Klonapin is scheduled lower.

First, it should be noted that parents are not having their young children smoke marijuana. Instead, parents are making or purchasing THC oil and either administering it via an eye dropper on the child’s tongue, or putting it in juice or water and having the child drink it. This is perfectly legal in most jurisdictions where medical marijuana is legal. Obviously, you should consult with your child’s doctor before starting any treatment, but you should also speak with an experienced medical cannabis lawyer in Los Angeles to make sure you are not breaking any laws. While medical marijuana is legal in California, there are a lot gray areas that lead to trouble if you are not careful.

However, it may be difficult to speak to your child’s doctor about this issue, because some doctors feel it is too controversial to give a child medical marijuana without further studies. The reason there are not studies is because most researchers get federal funding, and it is impossible to do some of these studies without losing that much needed funding. Drug companies that make conventional seizure disorder medications are also against anything that would cut into their profits, and they have lobbyists working to make sure that doesn’t happen. These companies are often far more concerned about profits than your child’s health.

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

Additional Resources:

Pot for tots? Parents turn to medical marijuana for child’s treatment, February 15, 2016, By Crystal Haynes, Fox News
More Blog Entries:
California to Earn Huge Income from Taxes Should Legalized Marijuana Pass, Jan. 18, 2016, Los Angeles Marijuana Lawyer Blog