Medical Marijuana and Seizures
The use of medical marijuana for children and adults with epilepsy has been a key focus of the community for the last couple of years. Several cases of children with Dravet Syndrome have improved through the use of CBDs, greatly reducing the frequency and severity of their seizures. The positive results that some people with epilepsy have been seeing from CBD-rich marijuana extracts are giving so many parents what they have been lacking for so long – hope.
Most of the conventional “remedies” for epilepsy include things like mind numbing medications, brain surgeries, invasive implanted electrical devices, diets and others, with little to no relief of the symptoms.
CBD rich strains of marijuana, usually administered in an oil form, have been rapidly gaining popularity in the past several years as a natural alternative treatment of intractable forms of epilepsy. A growing number of high-profile success stories have been chronicled by the media, and continue to drive the excitement of medical marijuana use. One of the most popular stories of success came in mid-2013 when an oil supplement product that become subsequently known as “Charlotte’s Web” was used to treat Charlotte Figi for epileptic seizures. Charlotte’s Web was first featured in the CNN documentary that massively increased demand for CBD rich products, “Weed”. One of the selling points of products like Charlotte’s Web is that it does not induce the “high” associated with marijuana. This makes it a very attractive treatment for children who suffer from seizures regularly and require relief without an impairment from their medication.
Marijuana and its derivatives are still federally illegal, but as more instances of people plagued by seizures successfully treating their conditions surface, hopefully that won’t be the case much longer. With any luck, more clinical studies will be allowed to proceed in the near future, and the mainstream will adopt the obvious benefits of medical marijuana.