The Epilepsy Foundation acknowledged medical marijuana as an effective epilepsy medication in 2014.

The Epilepsy Foundation acknowledged medical marijuana as an effective epilepsy medication in 2014 after the former chairman, Warren Lammert, saw how medical marijuana helped his daughter suffering from daily epilepsy seizures. Lammert’s daughter Sylvie was treated with a cannabidiol at a clinical trial at New York University.

Sylvie had been treated previously with special diets and implant devices, having seizures since she was less than a year old. She has to attend a special school because the seizures has affected her development, and nothing else had controlled her daily seizures.

Lammert said that cannabidiol helped his daughter, saying that he felt blessed finding cannabidiol and wants the same for other parents. He added that parents shouldn’t have to move to Colorado to receive treatment as hundreds of families were forced to do.

Lammert wants more research into medical marijuana, but researchers are unable to get federal funding because it is classified as a Schedule I drug by the federal government.

The Controlled Substances Act defines a Schedule I drug as having no medical use and being highly addictive. LSD and heroin are also Schedule I drugs. Lammert says that it is evident that cannabidiol, which has no psychoactive side effects can ease the severity of and prevent seizures and should be available.

More than 2.3 million people have epilepsy nationwide and 1 million have not had any success with traditional treatments. The Epilepsy Foundation says that more clinical research is vital and supports patients using medical marijuana for relief.

The Epilepsy Foundation has requested that the DEA reclassify marijuana so that medical research can be conducted. The Foundation has also advocated for changing state laws to legalize medical marijuana for pediatric epilepsy patients and were successful getting epilepsy listed as a qualifying condition in states that do allow medical marijuana.

Source: The Weed Blog

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