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Cannabidiol Slashes Seizures in Kids With Rare Epilepsy, Study Finds

  • May 29, 2017

New research published in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that children with a severe form of epilepsy had a decrease in seizures when they were given cannabidiol, an active chemical in marijuana, CNN Health reports. The study was what is considered the “gold standard” of medical research — randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled.

Also known as CBD, cannabidiol does not provide the “high” that has made marijuana famous, and which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) uses as the reason for keeping marijuana in all forms on its Schedule 1 controlled substance list.

This, despite the fact that CBD has no psychoactive component. The decision is so beyond irrational, the only justification I can see is that the DEA is influenced or controlled by the pharmaceutical industry. Making CBD — a non-psychoactive, non-toxic component with medicinal value — a schedule 1 drug benefits no one except the drug companies that have to compete against it.

So, while the DEA plays games with a compound that has real medicinal use, people who could benefit from it for pain relief, nerve stimulation and muscle spasm and seizure control continue to suffer. It’s time for federal officials to admit the medicinal benefits of marijuana.

Even former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy stated marijuana may be helpful for certain medical conditions and symptoms. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) even updated their policy statement on marijuana, saying it "may currently be an option for… children with life-limiting or severely debilitating conditions and for whom current therapies are inadequate." Physicians across the country agree, including pediatricians who could legally prescribe CBD to their patients, if only the DEA would get its head out of the sand.