The Case Of Cannabidiol ( Cbd )

CBD is a non-psychotropic part that does not have the high. THC is a psychoactive part that gives one the ‘high’ (Greenwell, 2012). In 2012, there was a successful story of a little girl named Charlotte Figi who was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome had frequent seizures. Her first seizure was at three years old and by the time she was five years old she was having “up to 50 generalized tonic-clonic seizures per day” (Maa and Figi, 2014). By 5 years old, Charlotte was out of options. Her parents did a lot of research and found the Stanley brothers. They made a “rare, high CBD strain of cannabis” (Maa and Figi, 2014). Charlie started out on a low dose and increased the dosage. She “experienced seven consecutive days without a single seizure” (Maa and Figi, 2014). By the three months, Charlie had been weaned off her other antiepileptic drugs when she had more than a ninety percent “reduction in GTC seizures and had been weaned off her other antiepileptic drugs…and she has only 2-3 nocturnal GTC seizures” a month (Maa and Figi, 2014). The Figi family tried three times to wean her off of medical marijuana however the seizures returned more severe each time. The nonprofit organization the Stanley Brothers created addresses “the needs of other patients with catastrophic epilepsy syndromes by helping them gain access to consistent, high quality, lab-tested, high-CBD-content cannabis” (Maa and Figi,

Increasingly, more and more evidence shows how cannabidiol (CBD) cannabis is making a positive impact in treating children with rare diseases, particularly seizure conditions. The story of Jayden David, first shown on the Sanjay Gupta’s documentary Weed Wars, is only one of many that deserves to be told, as it highlights just how CBD oil is making a difference in the lives of families that dared to try their luck with an alternative form of treatment. CBD hemp oil, derived from the cannabis plant industrial hemp has been shown to alleviate a myriad of health conditions. Research and personal stories are expanding the dialogue on just how medical cannabis could be beneficial in treating conditions such as Dravet syndrome that plagues Jayden. CBD oil had made an incredible impact in Jayden’s life by reducing the frequency of his seizures and improving his quality of life.

On May 25, 2015, Attorney General Greg Abbott approved the legalization of cannabidiol (CBD) oil, a component of marijuana, that may help epilepsy patients avoid debilitating seizures. Texas is now the 15th state to legalize non-intoxicating cannabidiol oil. The Texas Department of Public Safety is overseeing the program, and at least three operational CBD oil dispensaries should open by September 2017. The law could potentially help 150,000 Texans currently suffering from epilepsy. However, the law has strict standards to obtain a prescription and may leave many CBD Oil seekers without a prescription. Patients who may not be able to afford prescription CBD, who do not meet the strict standards of the Texas law, or who prefer the benefits of CBD combined with THC (which some say is more effective) may attempt to procure CBD oil from untrustworthy sources. While quality non-intoxicating CBD Oil does not cause failed tests, CBD oil from these untrustworthy

A two year old, named Jaqie Angel Warrior had been suffering from several types of seizures ever since she was five months old. Doctors had tried many medications to control her seizures, such as klonopin , and depakote; but all failed to stop these thousands of seizures, resulting in terrible side effects. Jaqie’s mother, Brittany had been researching other potential cures, when she came across cannabis oil. Soon after, they moved to a motel in Colorado, and began using high-CBD oil, which also contains high levels of THC. Levels higher than any other states CBD-only bill allows. Since they began using the cannabis oil, Jaqie’s seizures have reduced by 90%, and Brittany ceased use of any dangerous pharmaceuticals. (Patient Success)

An example of the success of this treatment is a five year old girl who suffered from Dravet’s Syndrome. She would have three hundred episodes weekly, people would normally think that prescribing cannabis to child is complete unacceptable, but in this instance it could not have been a better blessing. The medical marijuana brought down her seizures from three hundred a week to only once. Now forty other children in her state are using the same strand of marijuana to treat their syndromes and it has been a positive outcome.

The article “Marijuana Stops Child’s Severe Seizures” by Saundra Young reveals an unusual solution to a child’s illness. Starting from a young age, Charlotte Figi started getting frequent seizures. The seizures lasted from two to four hours and often required Charlotte to be hospitalized. After doing several tests, the doctors were not able to find the exact cause for Charlotte’s seizures. They eventually diagnosed Charlotte with Dravet Syndrome. Following the diagnosis, the doctors decided to start treatment which proved to be unsuccessful. The next step they took was to implement a ketogenic diet which worked for two years with some side effects. Finally, Charlotte’s parents decided to try using medical marijuana that has low THC levels. The medical marijuana used proved to be successful in reducing Charlotte’s seizures drastically.

Charlotte’s seizures started when she was three months old. She was not diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome until she was 2 ½ years old. Charlie was put on a ketogenic diet which helped decrease the seizures, but it had terrible side effects on her. Two years after starting the diet, the seizures came back and Charlotte’s parents turned to cannabis oil. Charlotte could not walk, talk, and eat until she was started on cannabis oil. She was also suffering from 300 grand mal seizures a week says Brian Resnick, in the article “The Case For Legalizing Medical Cannabis for Kids.” Immediately the cannabis oil took effect and decreased her seizures to just two or three seizures a month. Charlotte began to talk and eat again after taking cannabis oil. Not only did cannabis oil help decrease Charlottes seizures, but it helped take Mykayla off of

The last option for the hospital was to induce a coma, but Charlotte’s parents were against the idea. Finally, after many therapeutic interventions, they decided to attempt Cannabis, or marijuana. They found that researchers think cannabidiol (CBD) “quiets the excessive electrical and chemical activity in the brain that causes seizures” (2013). A marijuana strain with high CBD and low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which causes the psychoactive “high”, is difficult to find because of the higher demand for THC’s psychoactive effects, according to the Stanley brothers, one of Colorado’s largest marijuana growers and dispensary owners (qtd. in Young 2013). Because the normal Cannabis plant is high in THC content, growers had to cross-breed repeatedly to end up with a high CBD content. Nonetheless, after finding the strain, extracting the oil, and starting her out on a small dose, her seizures stopped for eight days; subsequently, they occur two to three times per month. As reportedly the youngest applicant for medical marijuana, the high CBD, low THC marijuana extract was named “Charlotte’s web” after

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive extract from the sativa plant that needs to be used in the medical field. The sativa plant produces both, cannabidiol and marijuana. However, cannabidiol is very different from the psychoactive drug, marijuana. The difference, marijuana contains a larger amount of the famous active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Which produces the psychoactive high in marijuana, but cannabidiol does not. Although, cannabidiol is the complete opposite of marijuana, for the very reason of THC it is a controversial product. Hemp Cannabidiol could be used for a very beneficial purpose: medicine in seizures. The level of THC in hemp cannabidiol is minor, though many people are still against the use of this extract for medicine because of the controversies and little research. According to the peer review, “What makes a Good Home Based Nocturnal Seizure Detector? A Value Sensitive Design”, by Judith van Andel, Frans Leijten, Hans van Delden, and Ghislaine van Thiel, all from the University of Medical Centre Utrecht, demonstrates that “Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological disorders…” (1). Hemp CBD from the Sativa plant needs to be used more within the medical field because it has the potent for curing seizure illnesses, a new hope, and boosting the economy.

Epilepsy affects 50,000,000 people worldwide (Cure Epilepsy). Almost 500 new cases are reported each day in the United States. Thirty percent of these cases are from children (Cure Epilepsy). Instead of living a life of happiness, these children are fighting for their lives, hoping they can see the next day. However, it does not have to be this way. There is a possible cure for epilepsy,but many countries have banned the use of this product. Some countries now allow their citizens the use of marijuana oil, more commonly referred to as CBD, or cannabidiol. CBD is believed to cure certain terminal illnesses. Many scientists are now

Charlotte Figi, an eight-year-old girl from Colorado with Dravet syndrome, a rare and debilitating form of epilepsy, came into the public eye in 2013 when news broke that medical marijuana was able to do what other drugs could not: dramatically reduce her seizures. Now, new scientific research provides evidence that cannabis may be an effective treatment for a third of epilepsy patients who, like Charlotte, have a treatment-resistant form of the disease.

I was uneducated and didn’t even know CBD existed. However, I had the opportunity to witness this drug saving a life. On March 22, 2014, a baby boy named Liam Bartleson was born into a family that I know very well. Immediately after birth, he began having apneic episodes and doctors decided to send him to the University of Iowa’s Children’s Hospital for further care. His condition was unknown for over a year, then he was finally diagnosed with an extremely rare form of epilepsy called Malignant Migrating Partial Seizures of Infancy. Every single day he would suffer 100-150 seizures, some days up to 200. Every other week, he was rushed to the hospital because the seizures were out of control. His oxygen dropped to life threatening levels causing him to turn black and blue. Liam was on over 25 narcotics that were supposed to help his condition, but none of them worked and had terrible side effects. After countless failed anti-seizure medications, narcotics, and diets, his doctors decided that no medicine could fix him. MMPSI causes major health problems and most individuals with it don’t live past infancy or early childhood. Fortunately, his neurologist had seen one other case in her career. She was also in charge of a trial case study for Cannabidiol which seemed to be showing great success. She wanted to use Liam for the study. At first his parents were against it, especially since his father is a police officer. But none of the countless drugs Liam was on were helping and he was going to die. Because of the severity of his epilepsy, he was approved for the trial case study, but wouldn’t be able to continue using it legally in Iowa once the trial ended. The only way they could get the medicine was to move out of the state. The thought was devastating as their entire family was in Iowa, but they were willing to do anything to help their child. After a rough battle, the Medical Cannabidiol Act was

A 2014 survey at Stanford University resulted in good reports of parents who used cannabidiol to treat their children’s seizures. According to the study 84 per cent of the parents reported that their children’s seizures were reduced with the CBD. 11 per cent reported total freedom from seizures, 42 per cent reported an 80 per cent reduction in frequency of seizures, and 32 per cent reported 25 to 60 per cent seizure reduction. Other reported benefits included better mood, enhanced sleep, and a boost in alertness. The commonly reported side effects were fatigue and

In epileptics, marijuana has been proven to help control, or even temporarily stop the seizures all together. A study was conducted by “Robert J. Delorenzo” of Virginia Commonwealth University in which he administered marijuana extract, as well as synthetic THC to epileptic rats. The rats went without having a seizure for ten straight hours. The results of this study were published in the Journal of

Opponents also support that marijuana may affect brain development and irritate the heart and the lungs. It may be true, but it is not a reason for criminalizing the use of marijuana since we know that smoking cigarette causes lung cancer and many heart diseases. Moreover, mental diseases such as the Parkinson’s disease and the Multiple Sclerosis can be treated with marijuana thanks to two substances it contains called cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, which permit to reduce inflammation, control spasms, and even prevent neurological damage. For instance, an Australian mother Cheri O'Connell revealed in a report of Herald Sun News about the benefits of liquid marijuana, which she says saved her epileptic daughter Tara who was only given months to live. In fact, Tara could barely walk or talk, and she slept as much as a newborn. She endured more than 20,000 seizures every year; her condition left her parents and siblings, exhausted and scared for the future. Running out of options, they met another family, who had lost a similar battle. This family advices the O’Connell’s to try Marijuana. Then, they did so, and Tara is now seizure-free, walking, running and even dancing after one year of treatment. Cheri says, "We didn't see her having a future at all. But I can now see us being able to