THE NEW FACE OF MEDICAL CANNABIS

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By Grey Feathers

June 1, 2014 (San Diego) -- An 18 month old girl with a form of Juvenile Epilepsy died in New Jersey, Chris Matthews reported on MSNBC’s Hardball.   The girl suffered as many as 90 seizures every day.  Children to young adults diagnosed with this disease are destined to suffering with little or no chance of surviving.  Immediately parents are looking to alternative medicines and treatments to save their children.   The latest treatments are effective for only about half of the one million or so people who have uncontrolled seizures.  The side effects of these artificial drugs are almost as bad as the disease says Christopher Dimascio, “I feel like I’m moving through Jello.  I hate the feeling.”

 

In Colorado a young woman whose daughter is 90% seizure free credits her remarkable improvement to a cannabis oil derived from the hemp plant.  The derivative called cannabidiol or CBD is shown to be an anticonvulsant in peer reviewed clinical studies in Europe.   The refined oil from this strain of hemp has near zero THC the “high” producing part of marijuana.    

The life deciding difference is Zip Codes.  The Colorado mother had access to life saving medicine the North Carolina mother did not.  She looked horrified and traumatized when MSNBC’s Chris Mathews questioned her on his TV show.  She had the eyes of a mother who had just watched her daughter die.

In New Jersey, miles of paperwork that included letters from pediatric doctors, juvenile neurological specialist, a primary care physician, the Governor’s signature and even a psychiatrist (for the parents - to certify they weren’t just after the drug for their own use).  Time ran out.  A twelve hour long seizure ended in death for the girl. 

2.3 million Americans live with epilepsy, a neurological condition that includes recurring seizures. More than 1 million of them live with uncontrolled seizures. Some of these people may be helped by surgery   or other non-drug treatments, but for many, no answers have been found yet. People with uncontrolled seizures live with the continual risk of serious injuries and loss of life.

Treatments for epilepsy with any form of medical cannabis comes with risks.  Much is not known about its effects. The availability of consistent formulations needs to be addressed. Though caution is appropriate, treatment resistant patients with uncontrolled seizures are desperate for relief from the convulsions that could result in injury or even sudden death. 

Existing therapies have real side-effects both known and unknown.  Terminal patients have the compassionate right to choose.   Just as there are risks with any treatment, every day without seizure control is a risk to life. Every seizure can bring injury, pain, cognitive impairment or sudden death. 

Advocates for patients say it’s important to provide access to this potentially life-saving treatment. In addition, to develop more solid evidence, they are calling for data from randomized controlled trials where potential biases of companies, doctors, patients and parents are meticulously removed.

But as long as the Drug Enforcement Agency classifies marijuana and all its derivatives as a Schedule One drug along with heroine, Crystal-meth and crack – serious clinical studies are nearly impossible.  That is, unless you want to prove some negative about the schedule one drug – then grants and funds from the DEA are available.  But positive research by scientists at hospitals and universities do not have access to the strains and derivatives that may unlock treatments never imagined because of the overly restrictive scheduling of cannabis.   

Every year an average of 16,000 thousand people die from NCAIDS or Advil.  In five thousand years of recorded human history not one person has died from cannabis even though for at least that long cannabis has been used as a medicine.    

 


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Comments

time for change

todays society gas most people convinced that cannabis is all bad for you. seems like you never get to hear anything good about cannabis. everyone sits around sipping on their wine or guzzling their beer and everything's ok. how is it that people can drink and die and little or nothing is done to prevent this. cannabis is great for many ailments and it feels good to boot. do yourself a favor and learn MORE about cannabis and how the government is trying to cover these facts from you so they can sell more booze. TAKE THE TIME