Marijuana has been known to help many diseases and disorders, and the drug could considerably help children who have autism. Many parents have already touted the benefits of marijuana for years in regards to their autistic children.
Lehigh University of Pennsylvania will be partnering with one of the potential growers, BioGreen Farms, in the Lehigh Valley to conduct a study that would evaluate the effect of marijuana on children with autism. Pennsylvania is one of the few states in the U.S. that allow cannabis as a treatment for children with autism.
Lehigh’s Dean of Education Gary Sasso announced on Monday that the university wants to collect some of the first quantitative data on the controversial drug therapy.
The university has already been working with autistic children for years under its Center for Promoting Research to Practice
According to Sasso, the anecdotal evidence is interesting, because marijuana appears to lack the side effects of the psychotropic drugs that are accepted in the treatment of autism. He argues however that because the effect of the drug is unknown, there is a need for the study.
He asked, “does it mitigate some of the major characteristics of autism — social reluctance, language [challenges] and other stereotypical behaviors they sometimes engage in?”
“We have that kind of expertise to do that.”
