Should Medicinal Marijuana be used to treat Epileptic disorders?

Although medicinal marijuana is a highly controversial topic in America,there is new light being shined on its benefits in treating pain, cancer and many different disorders, specifically Epilepsy. The research and proven benefits of medicinal marijuana in treating epilepsy disorders is hard to ignore. There are around 2.2 million Americans who are afflicted with some type of epileptic disorder which causes seizures. These disorders disrupt life and are devastating for not just the person it affects but also the family and friends involved. So, what is Epilepsy you ask? Let’s find out.

According to the Epilepsy Foundation, Epilepsy is the 4th most common neurological disorder. What is a neurological disorder? According to Wikipedia, a neurological disorder is any disorder of the nervous system. The symptoms include, paralysis, muscle weakness, seizures, confusion, pain and altered levels of consciousness. Neurological disorders can be the result of a genetic disorder but can also be caused by trauma to the head. Epilepsy, specifically is when then there is excessive and abnormal brain cell activity which causes the body to seize. According to the Epilepsy Foundation there are 3 phases of a seizure. The first phase, the Aura, is not experience by all but is a warning that a seizure is happening. It can be sensed as changes in taste, smell, sounds, feeling of panic or fear. Sometimes a person doesn’t suffer any of this and falls unconscious without any warning. This can be dangerous because a person can fall and hurt themselves or can hit their head and cause death. The middle phase is called the Ictal Phase. The Epilepsy foundation lists the numerous symptoms of this phase. A few of the more serious symptoms include: loss of consciousness, loss of vision, numbness, tingling, or electric shock like feeling in body, arm or leg, unable to swallow, repeated blinking of eyes, convulsion (person loses consciousness, body becomes rigid or tense, then fast jerking movements occur), losing control of urine or stool unexpectedly, and biting of the tongue (from teeth clenching when muscles tighten). The last phase, postictal phase, is the recovery phase of the seizure. This phase is different for each person and the type of disorder has an effect on how long this phase takes. When a person is in this ending phase, they will experience being sleepy, confused, scared, anxious, slow to respond and may have difficulty talking or writing. Now that we have a good idea of what a seizure disorder is, let’s talk marijuana and what it is.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), defines marijuana as the greenish-gray mixture of the dried, shredded leaves and flowers of Cannabis Sativa-the hemp plant. Marijuana is also referred to by numerous slang terms like weed, pot, ganja, and Mary Jane. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has classified marijuana as a schedule 1 drug which means it has no current medical use and high potential for abuse by users. NIDA explains how the chemical THC and other cannabinoid compounds found in the cannabis plant are similar to compounds that are naturally occurring in the human body. Because of this, these cannabinoids are able to affect the brain receptors and cause feeling of euphoria and affect a person’s attention and memory. Specifically, THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, creates an effect that is referred to as being “high”. This is the reason cannabis is classified as a schedule 1 drug and is federally illegal in America. In the last several years, independent research has been conducted on a chemical compound found in marijuana called Cannabidiol (CBD). This compound is non-psychoactive and is being found to have great medical benefits. It has been found to ease pain, stop nausea, stop seizures, help with inflammatory disease, and is even being researched for its effects on cancer. Since marijuana is illegal on the federal level, research is hard to fund. There are 28 states that have passed legislation on the state level for medicinal marijuana. For those states, luckily, the federal government has recognized a states right to legalize this plant and not busted them for using it. So, what exactly does the CBD compound in marijuana do to help treat Epilepsy disorders?

We have to get a little technical to try and explain how CBD affects the brain and how it helps seizure disorders. Cannabinoids found in the human body are called endocannabinoid and cannabinoids found in plants are called phytocannabinoids. There are also synthetic cannabinoids which are lab created. Throughout the body there are cannabinoid receptors which make up the endocannabinoid system. They are found in the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells. Each one performs a different task but all in all they work together to maintain homeostasis. What is homeostasis? The maintaining of a stable internal environment despite any external disturbances. It’s this balancing act that is believed to be what helps in a seizure. When the brains neurons start over acting and firing rapidly, causing seizures and any of the previously listed symptoms, CBD is administered. CBD is extracted from the marijuana plant as an oil. To point out, there is a difference between CBD oil from medical marijuana and CBD oil from industrial hemp plants. The CBD from medicinal marijuana does contain higher levels of THC which can cause the user to have a “high” feeling. CBD from industrial hemp has almost no trace of THC which is more beneficial for medical use. CBD oil, from either type, is administered as an oral dosage like a spray or added to food, and as a roll-on dosage that is applied to the skin. Once the CBD is administered, it is absorbed in the body, binds to the receptors and counteracts the negative reaction. It restores homeostasis to the affected area. Now we are going to meet a child and hear her story of living with epilepsy and how CBD oil has impacted her life.

CNN did a great article highlighting a little girl named Charlotte Figi. Charlotte, also called Charlie, was born in 2006. She was a twin. Charlie and her twin brother Chase were 3 months old and were healthy babies. Then one day, Charlies father, Matt Figi was changing her diaper when he saw that her eyes were flickering uncontrollably. Charlie was rushed to the hospital where they ran test and couldn’t find anything wrong. She was sent home and a week later it happened again. Charlie was taken to the hospital and again no answer as to what was happening. From this point on Charlie began having seizures on a regular basis. Charlies parents had been told by doctors that she would probably grow out of this but that wasn’t the case. She would have seizures that lasted anywhere from 2 to 4 hours at a time. Charlie was on a battery of drugs to help with her seizures. Her family wasn’t sure if it was the drugs or the seizures that were taking their daughters cognitive abilities away. All they knew is they were slowly watching her fade away. When Charlie was around 2 ½ years old, her parents took her to see a neurologist at the Children’s Hospital in Colorado. The doctor tested her for a specific gene mutation called SCN1A. It took 2 months to get the results, which came back positive and they finally had an answer. Charlie has Dravet’s Syndrome. Charlies was sent to a doctor who specialized in treating Dravet’s syndrome and was treated with a specialized diet. The diet seemed to work for a while for the seizures but there were several undesirable side effects. Bone loss, behavioral changes, and her immune system was shutting down. The worst part was that 2 years later the seizures came back in full force. Her parents had tried everything they could but it all stopped working. By this point, Charlie was having up to 300 Grand Mal seizures a week. There are 2 types of seizures, Petite Mal and Grand Mal. Petite Mal are less severe and Grand Mal are very severe seizures. She had lost the ability to walk, talk and eat. There were even times when her heart would stop and her mother would have to perform resuscitation efforts until an ambulance would arrive. Her father began researching on the internet and came across an article about a boy in California who was being treated with CBD oil for his epilepsy disorder.

Charlie was 5 years old when her parents decided to try medical marijuana to help treat her seizures. This would prove to be a hard task because even though medicinal marijuana was legal in Colorado, a person had to have 2 doctors sign off and Charlie was the youngest person ever to apply for this type of treatment. Charlies parents were told no repeatedly. They searched until they found Dr. Margaret Gedde, who agreed to meet with the family. Matt and Paige Figi were able to tell the devastating story of their daughter and all she has suffered. Dr. Gedde agreed that their child had suffered so much damage from her disorder and most likely her medications so she signed off for the treatment. The next doctor they found was Dr. Alan Shackelford, a Harvard-trained physician, who was familiar with medical marijuana treatment but had reservations about treating Charlie because she was so young. Charlies family plead their case and Dr. Shackelford realized they had exhausted all means medically to treat her, except for using marijuana. Once Charlie was approved, her mother found a cannabis dispensary and found a strain that was low in THC and high in CBD. She bought all they had and took it home. A friend helped her extract the oil and that’s when the magic started happening. Paige dosed Charlie by putting it in her food. In an hours’ time, normally, Charlie would have had 3 to 4 seizures. The first hour, nothing. Paige thought this can’t be true, but then another hour went by and still no seizure. She continued to dose her daughter through her food and a week passed without a single seizure.

Charlie’s parents had heard of the Stanley brothers. They were the largest growers and owned the largest dispensary in Colorado. The Stanley brothers were already crossbreeding a strain of marijuana that was low in THC and high in CBD. The problem was nobody wanted it and they didn’t know what to do with it. Charlies parents reached out to them and told them that strain was exactly what they were looking for. It took a minute for the Stanley brothers to jump on board because of Charlie’s age but when they met her they realized they had to help. This new strain is now affectionately called “Charlotte’s Web”. The brothers have now started a non-profit foundation called “Realm of Caring Foundation” that provides cannabis to adults and children suffering from many different disorders and disease.

CBD oils from marijuana are making a big splash in the medical world. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore that there is a visible and tangible benefit from using CBD’s to treat epilepsy disorder along with many other things. There will always be 2 sides to the story because there is the potential for abuse in marijuana use but there is also a medical use that shouldn’t be ignored. There are countless articles and websites on this controversial subject and a lot of knowledge to be learned about it. At one point in time the prohibition of marijuana made sense but now that we know what it is capable of doing it is time for this outdated law to be lifted and the medical benefits of amazing plant to be studied and used. It has the potential to save so many lives with little to no side effect versus what is available from big pharmaceutical corporations. That’s another topic for another day.