Over just the last two years, 17 states have passed laws legalizing cannabidiol so that people suffering from significant issues have legal access to it. For intractable childhood epilepsies and other seizure disorders that have permanently encumbered countless lives and devastated families, CBD is proving to be a huge relief for patients throughout the world.
In recent news and legislative forums, CBD has been increasingly viewed as the new frontier in epilepsy treatment, with parents attesting to it managing their children’s seizures after most other treatments failed.
In recent clinical trials in Georgia, CBD sourced from cannabis oil has started to show promising results in treating epileptic seizures. The update came Wednesday during the latest meeting of the state’s Commission on Medical Cannabis, formed earlier this year to study the effect of Georgia’s new medical marijuana law and whether it should be expanded to allow growers to harvest and distribute cannabis oil in-state. While it is still early, researchers said they won’t know for sure until at least the end of next year what strides they have made in the study of medical marijuana.
While this research is still ongoing, there are people throughout the US looking for access to these treatments now. Many advocates say that the easiest solution is for the federal government to recognize the legitimacy of cannabis on a national scale instead of state by state piecemeal legislation.
The New Republic explains that “if cannabis were legalized—the whole plant and all its extracts, no confusing singling-out of specific compounds or anatomical features—then U.S. drug companies would be able to carefully cultivate and research its medicinal properties, and submit their findings to regulatory bodies like the FDA for trials and approval.”
With studies like the current clinical trials in Georgia showing early promising results, it would seem that the legalization of cannabis could be a significant turning point for patients suffering from seizures.
“Epilepsy makes you desperate. Seizures are painful, sometimes debilitating. And then there are the aftershocks: broken teeth, bruises and cuts, lost time, humiliation. People with epilepsy are often depressed, and have more than double the suicide rate of the population at large. Epilepsy is also associated with a syndrome known as Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, wherein a previously healthy person with epilepsy simply dies without warning or explanation.”