People living with autism make up approximately 1 percent of the global population. As of the year 2014, out of every 68 births in the United States, one child is autistic. That’s why researchers are strongly considering the use of medical marijuana for autism.
Autism, also referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of complex brain disorders, described by National Autistic Society as a lifelong development disability that affects how a person communicates and relates with others, and how they experience the world around them.
How it all began
Debra started to notice Roger’s autism symptoms at the age of three when he continuously failed to articulate his words and regularly threw tantrums. On critically looking at him, she noticed a dull look in his eyes and some occasional clumsiness where he could all of a sudden swing his arms involuntarily.
At first Debora thought it wasn’t anything serious and that Roger would soon grow out of it. Little did she know that this was just the beginning of her troubles of having to live with a child suffering from autism.
As a mother of a child living with autism, Debra Perkins always had to look out for her son Roger who had become a home-bound because his levels of cognition were far much lower than those of his age mates. For this reason, he could not go to school.
Need close attention
Autistic people have a tendency of self-injuring and so they always have to be under the care of someone. For this reason, Debra, who was by then working, had no choice but to give her work a break for a month as she sought of a way she could have her son well taken care of.
Soon enough, Debra was able to enroll Roger in a school for children with autism. With the doctor’s recommendation, she started him on a dosage of drugs for improving the mood and curbing psychotic behavior, although these presented some negative effects like sleeplessness and tremors. He also lost appetite and by age seven, he had lost a lot of weight.
What fellow parent has to say
One day as Debra picked Roger from school, she met a parent, also having a daughter there and he shared with her the wonders of cannabis as concerns autism. “I was delusional at first because I had grown up knowing that marijuana was like a drug for the most notorious people in society.” Worse still, Debra could not imagine introducing a narcotic to her little boy’s system.
After trying several therapeutic treatments, all seemed to be worsening and by the age of six, Roger had quite a number of scars from injuring himself. “He would frequently hit his head on the wall, or even tree,” Debra recalls, “It always broke my heart to see him like that!”
There is hope
Out of desperation, she decided to give it a shot – offered Roger a pot cookie. Alas, his behavior intensely improved; he became more relaxed, threw fewer tantrums and reduced on the self-injuring.
Discovering cannabis was a great breakthrough for Debra. Something she took for a street joke actually turned out to be the biggest reason for her smile. Roger is now on a dosage of cannabis tablets and it suffices to say that he’s moving proof of the wonders of the drug.
The dysfunction in the production of proper levels of endocannabinoids, the body’s own healthy molecules very similar to phytocannabinoids like Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) present in cannabis, may be one of the primary causes of autism.
Studies show that the cannabinoids from cannabis regulate emotional states and focus by redirecting the neurons in a way that is more manageable for the autistic. This way, symptoms such as anxiety, mood swings and hostility are dealt with. As earlier noted, autism is a life-time disorder. Despite this fact, the lives of thousands of people can be changed if they are to give cannabis a shot.
Source: Medical Marijuana Blog
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