Medical Marijuana May Help Treat Intractable Epilepsy: Study

New research investigates the potential of medical marijuana or medicinal cannabis for treating patients with epilepsy, in which seizures doesn't come under control with regular anticonvulsant treatment. The findings of the study are published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

The authors note that cannabidiol the most researched compound of cannabis may have modest efficacy and be appropriate for children with severe epilepsy, but attention must be paid to potential side effects and drug interactions.

‘Clinical trials are essential to study the potential cannabidiol compound in marijuana to use it as an antiepileptic drug since no concrete evidence is available.’

There is no evidence to guide physicians in ranking cannabidiol among current antiepileptic drugs, and it will be important to continue studying its potential through rigorous clinical trials.

"The emergence over the past 12 months of the first successful double-blind, randomized controlled trials of cannabidiol is good news for some desperate families of children with severe epilepsy.

These studies are a reminder though that this drug is no miracle, and we still have much to learn," said co-author Dr. John Anthony Lawson, of Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, in Australia.

Source: Eurekalert