One of the biggest reasons some take medical marijuana is in order to prevent seizures from happening. A clinical trial has recently shown that treating patients who have epilepsy with a compound that’s derived from marijuana can significantly reduce, if not even eliminate, seizures that occur in children and young adults.
The study, which was published on May 24th in the New England Journal of Medicine, is among the first to provide solid evidence that medical marijuana is a viable treatment for some who suffer from epilepsy.
In the trial, young adults and children who suffer from Dravet syndrome, which is a rare form of epilepsy, where given doses of marijuana extract called cannabidiol. They had half as many seizures in a month than those who were given a placebo.
Considering that there are no medications that can control seizures completely in children with this rare syndrome, this could be earth shattering evidence to the world that medical marijuana should be more accepted.
Dr. Orrin Devinsky, the director of NYU Langone’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and a co-lead author of the study, commented, “I can’t say enough about the importance of these kinds of medical trials. People have a sense that if 10 people say it works and it’s a bad disease like cancer or epilepsy, then it’s safe to use. That’s just false.”
“Just because it’s natural and just because there may be anecdotal support from people, doesn’t mean it’s effective and safe.”