At 10 months old, Oliver Osborn was suffering from as much as 100 seizures a day as a result of partial migrating epilepsy, a condition which rarely sees children living past their seventh birthday. The remarkable success of Colorado native Charlotte Figi, who developed Dravet Syndrome and suffered up to 300 grand mal seizures a week, and was later treated with a cannabis extract (dubbed Charlotte’s Web) high in cannabidiol (CBD) and low in THC after conventional medicine fail, has given hope to Oliver’s family. The cannabis oil available to Charlotte has helped to control her seizures, but it is not available for use in Peterlee, County Durham in the United Kingdom where Oliver resides with parents Rik Osborn and Danielle Coils.
Charlotte’s Web
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This cannabis treatment has led Oliver’s desperate parents to seek out this alternative form of medicine in a bid to save the life of their child. Expressing his willingness to try cannabis treatment Rik Osborn stated: “'It is a strange route to take, but at the end of the day, when you're up against the wall, when surgery is not an option, it's got to be something to consider….When other medication isn’t working, it’s something we’ve got to go for…. At the end of the day you want what’s best for your child and for them to be with you for as long as possible.” Source
Cannabidiol (CBD) has also been proven to reduce the number of convulsive seizures in children with a severe and
... count in dope smokers 2. Possible malformations in children because of deformed sperm C. Womens bodies are seriously altered because of dope use VII. CBD is a good treatment for epilepsy A. Does not have psychoactive effect B. Best used in pill form VIII. Ending
Wingerchuk, Dean. "Cannabis for Medical Purposes: Cultivating Science, Weeding Out the Fiction." The Lancet 364.9431 (2004): 315-16. Print.
JJ is a 7 year old boy. He has post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and impulse control disorder. He has been thrown out of numerous preschools and admitted to several hospitals for psychiatric issues. His mother has pursued all forms of medical and behavioral help for her son’s hyperactivity and aggressiveness. She came across medical marijuana while trying to research JJ’s problems and after discussing it with his doctors decided to give it a try. She took him off all his medications and put the marijuana in a muffin in amounts prescribed and monitored by the doctor. JJ’s behavior issues declined almost immediately. He is polite, eager to learn and interacts well with teachers and students at school. Now he talks through his questions and problems instead of acting out due to frustration. Marijuana has been used by people throughout the centuries and its use has provided many benefits. Therefore, it should be legalized for medical and recreational use in today’s society (O’Brien & Clark, 2002).
Warf, C. (2005). Response to the American Academy of Pediatrics Report on legalization of marijuana. Pediatrics, 116(5), 1256-1257.
With the major and ongoing controversy of the legalization of marijuana, medical marijuana has been thrown into the limelight as an excuse as to why marijuana is “good.” But with medical marijuana’s supposed advancements, more and more doctors are prescribing it to anyone who claims to have a headache and now they are moving their clientele base to young children and teens who are not even old enough to know the long-term damage of the “medicine” their doctors are so willingly prescribing. While many doctors are beginning to jump on the medical weed train, others are continuing to speak against the effects; especially on minors. In order to prevent permanent damage to the young children, medical marijuana needs to be outlawed for anyone under the age of 18.
Schwartz, Richard H. "Marijuana: A Decade And A Half Later, Still A Crude Drug With Underappreciated Toxicity." Pediatrics 109.2 (2002): 284. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Imagine being in an excruciating amount of pain, and doctors have tried everything they could. The doctor recommends marijuana because he knows it will ease the pain. Should that person take the advice and be prescribed marijuana? In a case in Colorado, a girl the age of five became one of the youngest medical marijuana patients. The young girl Charlotte was having seizures throughout her life. She became a guinea pig in a scary experiment involving marijuana. She was given an administrated amount of marijuana to see if it would stop the seizures. When the results came in, they were surprisingly shocking. Paige, Charlotte’s mother, recalls, "When she didn 't have those three, four seizures that first hour, that was
Marijuana can help people. It can help cure illness, and at the very least can be vital in alleviating suffering, as it has for those like young Charlotte Figi, whose constant, life threatening seizures were
David Sheff starts the story of his family with Nic’s birth and goes all the way long to the present days when his son had survived several years of drug abuse, rehabilitations and relapses. Sheff confesses that his son started to use different kinds of drugs when he was very young. At the age of 11 he would try alcohol and some pot. “In early May, I pick Nic up after school one day …When he climbs into a car I smell cigarette smoke. I lecture him and he promises not to do it again. Next Friday after school…I am packing an overnight bag for him and look for a sweater in his backpack. I do not find a sweater, but instead discover a small bag of marijuana.” (Sheff, 200...
Medically, marijuana has proven to be a productive drug. Studies show marijuana has helped dealing with “pain, muscle spasms, seizure disorders and nausea from cancer chemotherapy.” (Weir) Scientist believes these benefits come from a chemical compound in marijuana called cannabidiol. This chemical is not the active chemical that gives marijuana users the mind-altering effects. With the unce...
...ause of the psychoactive ingredient THC can cause paranoia and seizures. The CBD in marijuana may have many medical benefits but until more dispensaries reduce the amount of THC, it is still questionable weather some patients should use marijuana as a medicine. Marijuana can cause damage to premature developing brains and should be tested in a lab before giving to children.
The first patient, Diana Dodson, who has HIV and neuropathy, testified that she used medical marijuana in California and had tried all forms of cannabis, including oils and vaping but found that smoking it was the best way to treat her symptoms. In her case, vaping is 50% less effective, whereas she had to ingest quite a bit more, and that the oils are less easy to control. Conversely, she has
There are many other uses for medical cannabis including treating symptoms of IBS, Chron’s disease and other gastrointestinal disorders, pain relief from cancer and multiple sclerosis, the prevention of Alzheimer’s and helping individuals suffering from ADD, seizures or Tourette’s. Unfortunately, the federal government fails to see the many benefits of cannabis and clear proof shown in the countless peer-reviewed studies done through the years and instead maintains its classification as one of the most dangerous drugs with no acceptable medical benefits. More and more states are taking steps to regain their rightful authority from an over-reaching federal government, and taking the necessary steps to offer relief to many patients suffering from a wide array of maladies.
The legal status of CBD is one of the most misunderstood issues in the medical marijuana discourse. Outside of formal legal opinion, some make the argument that CBD is entirely legal, while others argue that it is illegal. Roughly a half of all U.S states have passed marijuana legislations that permit the use of medical marijuana to treat specific conditions. While this has been the case, the Federal Government has shown no indication that they will reclassify marijuana from its status as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Listing marijuana in this category is a disappointment to many marijuana advocates, as well as medical marijuana users who have found particular cannabinoids to be beneficial in treating their medical