Marijuana stops child's severe seizures

[Type Username Here]

By most standards Matt and Paige Figi were living the American dream. They met at Colorado State University, where they shared a love of the outdoors. After getting married, the couple bought a house and planned to travel the world.

They did travel, but their plans changed when their first child was born in 2004.

Max was 2 when they decided to have another child. The couple got the surprise of their lives when an ultrasound revealed not one but two babies. Charlotte and Chase were born October 18, 2006.

"They were born at 40 weeks. ... Charlotte weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces," Paige said. "They were healthy. Everything was normal."

Seizures and hospital staysbegin

The twins were 3 months old when the Figis' lives changed forever.

Charlotte had just had a bath, and Matt was putting on her diaper.

"She was laying on her back on the floor," he said, "and her eyes just started flickering."

The seizure lasted about 30 minutes. Her parents rushed her to the hospital.

There are eight medical conditions for which patients can use cannabis -- cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, muscle spasms, seizures, severe pain, severe nausea and cachexia or dramatic weight loss and muscle atrophy.

Everything had been tried -- except cannabis.

Paige had consistently voted against marijuana use. That was before Dravet Syndrome entered their lives.

Matt, now a military contractor spending six months a year overseas, used his spare time scouring the Internet looking for anything that would help his little girl.

He found a video online of a California boy whose Dravet was being successfully treated with cannabis. The strain was low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the compound in marijuana that's psychoactive. It was also high in cannabidiol, or CBD, which has medicinal properties but no psychoactivity. Scientists think the CBD quiets the excessive electrical and chemical activity in the brain that causes seizures. It had worked in this boy; his parents saw a major reduction in the boy's seizures.

By then Charlotte had lost the ability to walk, talk and eat.

She was having 300 grand mal seizures a week.

Her heart had stopped a number of times. When it happened at home, Paige did cardiopulmonary resuscitation until an ambulance arrived. When it happened in the hospital, where they'd already signed a do-not-resuscitate order, they said their goodbyes. Doctors had even suggested putting Charlotte in a medically induced coma to give her small, battered body a rest.

She was 5 when the Figis learned there was nothing more the hospital could do.

That's when Paige decided to try medical marijuana. But finding two doctors to sign off on a medical marijuana card for Charlotte was no easy feat. She was the youngest patient in the state ever to apply.

Scientists don't fully understand the long-term effects early marijuana use may have on children. Studies that show negative effects, such as diminished lung function or increased risk of a heart attack, are primarily done on adult marijuana smokers. But Charlotte wouldn't be smoking the stuff.

Childhood is also a delicate time in brain development. Preliminary research shows that early onset marijuana smokers are slower at tasks, have lower IQs later in life, have a higher risk of stroke and increased incidence of psychotic disorders, leaving some scientists concerned.

Is medical marijuana safe for children?

"Everyone said no, no, no, no, no, and I kept calling and calling," Paige said.

She finally reached Dr. Margaret Gedde, who agree to meet with the family.

"(Charlotte's) been close to death so many times, she's had so much brain damage from seizure activity and likely the pharmaceutical medication," Gedde said. "When you put the potential risks of the cannabis in context like that, it's a very easy decision."

The second doctor to sign on was Alan Shackelford, a Harvard-trained physician who had a number of medical marijuana patients in his care. He wasn't familiar with Dravet and because of Charlotte's age had serious reservations.

"(But) they had exhausted all of her treatment options," Shackelfordsaid. "There really weren't any steps they could take beyond what they had done. Everything had been tried -- except cannabis."

Paige found a Denver dispensary that had a small amount of a type of marijuana called R4, said to be low in THC and high in CBD. She paid about $800 for 2 ounces -- all that was available -- and had a friend extract the oil.

She had the oil tested at a lab and started Charlotte out on a small dose.

"We were pioneering the whole thing; we were guinea pigging Charlotte," Paige said. "This is a federally illegal substance. I was terrified to be honest with you."

But the results were stunning.

"When she didn't have those three, four seizures that first hour, that was the first sign," Paige recalled. "And I thought well, 'Let's go another hour, this has got to be a fluke.' "

The seizures stopped for another hour. And for the following seven days.

Paige said she couldn't believe it. Neither could Matt. But their supply was running out.

CONTINUED IN SOURCE

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

 

[Type Username Here]

 

[Brown Ant]

Yeah, but you smoke marijuana, which is BAD for your heart and health.

 

[Good Guy Guevara]

Marijuana won't be legal until the baby boomers start dying off. Their the ones who keep voting these fear mongering close minded pricks into office.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

I'ma smoke sumn to that...

 

[Type Username Here]

Marijuana won't be legal until the baby boomers start dying off. Their the ones who keep voting these fear mongering close minded pricks into office.

They've been saying that for decades. There is some hope in the legal side of it and polls, so you might be right.

 

[No1]

They've been saying that for decades. There is some hope in the legal side of it and polls, so you might be right.

It means nothing if the federal government keeps prosecuting it regardless. For all the good Holder's Department of Civil Rights has done, their attacks on marijuana are a joke. I don't see a candidate who can win on the horizon that will dial that back and no politician with clout is going to fall on the sword to propose decriminalizing it. You got people like (I think it was Pat Kennedy) running around with campaigns completely against it. It's a joke.

 

[Type Username Here]

It means nothing if the federal government keeps prosecuting it regardless. For all the good Holder's Department of Civil Rights has done, their attacks on marijuana are a joke. I don't see a candidate who can win on the horizon that will dial that back and no politician with clout is going to fall on the sword to propose decriminalizing it. You got people like (I think it was Pat Kennedy) running around with campaigns completely against it. It's a joke.

I agree, it will have to happen at the State level until the pressure reaches Washington and the Federal Government, a la Gay Marriage.

 

[The_King_of_Everything]

 

[No1]

I agree, it will have to happen at the State level until the pressure reaches Washington and the Federal Government, a la Gay Marriage.

Yeah, what I mean is that the federal government will just continue to preempt state law.

 

[babylon1]

they should have given the child alcohol and cigarettes instead.

sin,

politicians

 

[Hiphoplives4eva]

This is actually a beautiful story. This girl might be the angel that gets that mary jane finally legalized!

 

[Dirty_Jerz]

Cool story

 

[LebronsHairline]

*Is currently high*

I've heard this story before and it didn't surprise me then either.

 

[Type Username Here]

*Is currently high*

I've heard this story before and it didn't surprise me then either.

The anecdotal stories, scientific studies and recommendations from Medical institutions have been widely documented. I can't think of one honest reason why it at LEAST hasn't been classified as providing medical benefits (it's now labeled a Schedule I drug, which means the Government deems it not to have any medical use) except to appease Big Pharma and keep the Drug War alive ( a lot of arrests are marijuana related).

Even the government holds a patent on medical benefits of cannabis

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN/6630507&RS=PN/6630507
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6630507.html