Medical Marijuana CBD for Epilepsy? For Real or a Scam?

[John-Forrest]

Lately I've been hearing a lot of claims that Medical Marijuana, specifically strains high on CBD (the beneficial stuff) and low on TCH (the ingredient that gets you high). CBD acts as a relaxing agent. People with MS have been using for years as a way to reduce muscle tremors. Now that Medical Marijuana is "coming out of the closet", we are hearing all kinds of claims that CBD is a major "miracle drug". It can restrain epilepsy, it can cure cancer, it is perfect for mental illness, it is a major antioxidant, etc. etc. Of course, a lot of this is put out by sellers of medical marijuana. All over the country, dispensaries are due to open up within a year or two, already a lot of them in CA. I refer you to "Charlotte's Web" a story about how med MJ cured severe epilepsy in a kid named Charlotte. I can't really see many medical researchers testing this out, probably because of the controversy. You can also get Hemp Oil high in CBD (NOT the hempseed variety) online. The going price is $40 bottle for low grade, and $160 bottle for more powerful content. Just as an experiment, I ordered a $40 bottle online. I tried it out in careful doses; I can verify it makes you stoned for about half hour, but not high and giggly like buds. It is made from industrial hemp the kind they make paper out of, so the only reason they are able to get away with such high prices is the controversy. The dispensaries will sell it for more or less the street prices, $300 ounce. It will be a struggle to get health insurance to cover that, so it's expensive. They may come up with a synthetic CDB, the closet now is called "Marisol". We don't know, but it could be THC helps, they just want to take it out so MJ isn't fun anymore. I am curious if any of you have actually tried it and noted any improvements. I myself noted I could skip a dose or two of all the meds they are now putting in my body, but have not made one iota of difference in my occasional seizures that occur every few months.

 

[Cint]

Lately I've been hearing a lot of claims that Medical Marijuana, specifically strains high on CBD (the beneficial stuff) and low on TCH (the ingredient that gets you high). CBD acts as a relaxing agent. People with MS have been using for years as a way to reduce muscle tremors. Now that Medical Marijuana is "coming out of the closet", we are hearing all kinds of claims that CBD is a major "miracle drug". It can restrain epilepsy, it can cure cancer, it is perfect for mental illness, it is a major antioxidant, etc. etc. Of course, a lot of this is put out by sellers of medical marijuana. All over the country, dispensaries are due to open up within a year or two, already a lot of them in CA. I refer you to "Charlotte's Web" a story about how med MJ cured severe epilepsy in a kid named Charlotte.

This child is from CO, where marijuana is now legal and is said to work for children with this type of severe epilepsy--Dravet Syndrome.

I can't really see many medical researchers testing this out, probably because of the controversy. You can also get Hemp Oil high in CBD (NOT the hempseed variety) online. The going price is $40 bottle for low grade, and $160 bottle for more powerful content. Just as an experiment, I ordered a $40 bottle online. I tried it out in careful doses; I can verify it makes you stoned for about half hour, but not high and giggly like buds. It is made from industrial hemp the kind they make paper out of, so the only reason they are able to get away with such high prices is the controversy.

There are some medical researchers that are trying:

Based on studies showing that CBD can prevent seizures in animals and safety data from patients treated with a drug containing CBD and THC in Europe for multiple sclerosis spasms, we and other academic epilepsy centers are planning a controlled trial with pure CBD. As an initial step, we have approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement to treat children with CBD derived from marijuana plants in order to understand its safety and tolerability and potential drug interactions. This information will help us plan the placebo-controlled trials that we hope will begin in 2014 and will be completed within two years. There is no reason such studies cannot be done with other products derived from marijuana, such as the oil with high CBD and low THC sold in Colorado that was used by Charlotte Figi.

Paradoxically, however, as state governments increasingly make “medical” marijuana available to parents to give to their children, the federal government continues to label the nonpsychoactive CBD — as well as THC — as Schedule 1 drugs. Such drugs are said to have “no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.” This designation hamstrings doctors from performing controlled studies. While it is possible to study Schedule 1 drugs in a controlled laboratory setting, it is extremely difficult to study these substances in patients. For our study, we keep the CBD in a 1,200-pound safe in a locked room, in a building with an alarm system.

To foster research, we need to change compounds derived from marijuana from Schedule 1 to a less restrictive category. It is troubling that while few barriers exist for parents to give their children marijuana in Colorado, there are significant federal roadblocks preventing doctors from studying it in a rigorous scientific manner.

 

[John-Forrest]

Personal Stories?

For all too long, marijuana has been associated with the opiates. Back in the early twentieth century it was associated with gangsters, prostitutes, a counterculture back then, and drug dealers. In the sixties, it was proved ludicrous all the propaganda about marijuana being a dangerous drug, very addictive, and guaranteed to lead to heroin. Of course, there's some people who will abuse ANYTHING, and no laws, however strict, will do anything to stop them.

Aside from research, I'd be curious if anyone actually tried it to the extent where they could completely get off the usual anti-epileptics drugs. In a way, those drugs are addictive to us, because if we were to abruptly cease to take them, we could have life-threatening grand mal seizures. I would place a bet that if you gave someone say Dilantin and Lamactil for a long period of time, they would be epileptics when they quit taking them. I'm sure my brain is completely FU from all those drugs I've been taking for decades.

It would be nice to find something more natural that is also fun and makes you feel good. Though I can't help but feel a slight skepticism that all this is a way to get marijuana legal. For example, to get MJ from the dispensaries, all you have to do is tell the MD you have headaches, aches, or anxiety, and you will get a card that says you can smoke all you want.

So has anyone had any luck with this? Or adverse effects?

 

[Nakamova]

From a recent Boston globe article on the topic:

A handful of small studies have suggested that one primary ingredient of marijuana, cannabidiol, or CBD, might reduce the frequency of seizures, and a study starting soon at MassGeneral Hospital for Children and four other hospitals nationally will test CBD on young patients who have seizures that are not controlled by traditional drugs.

see http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyl...l-marijuana/rslCgjrrId8mJ3SkZJUWKI/story.html

Baby steps, but promising.

 

[John-Forrest]

Again, speaking from my own experience, the hemp drops I tried seem to mellow me out in general, but I haven't used long enough to make any evaluations. As I say, the stuff is WAY expensive. I've been combing net fine-tooth, looking up and down. Reviews on Amazon tend to give better personal experience. I would be skeptical about info from the sellers. I'm following a rumor that raw untreated cacao may have more CBD than usual. Straight cacao powder Hershey's tends to give me a very similar effect as above.