Cannabidiol (CBD), a compound found in marijuana, has become popular for treating a wide array of disorders. In May of 2020, researchers will present a preliminary study at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology on the benefits of using pharmaceutical CBD to treat epilepsy in children. The researchers will discuss the advantages of pharmaceutical CBD over artisanal CBD.
The big difference between the two is that pharmaceutical CBD does not produce a “high,” whereas artisanal CBD contains CBD and THC. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of pharmaceutical CBD for two forms of childhood epilepsy, Dravet syndrome, and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.
According to study author, Dr. Nathan T. Cohen of Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C., “The use of medical cannabis to treat various medical conditions has grown in recent years. While not always legal, artisanal CBD has been available longer, so some people have been using it to treat epilepsy for years. They may want to reconsider because our research indicates that pharmaceutical CBD may indeed be more effective than artisanal CBD.”
The researchers reviewed the medical records of 31 children with an average age of 10 and followed them for about one year. All the children had some form of epilepsy; 32% had Lennox-Gastaut and 6% had Dravet syndrome. 22 of the 31 children took pharmaceutical CBD and the other 9 took artisanal CBD. During the study, the researchers recorded dosages, CBD levels in the blood, the history of seizures in the patient, and if they had experienced any reduction in seizures while taking the CBD.
The researchers found that those taking artisanal CBD had 70% more seizures during the study, compared to the children taking pharmaceutical CBD, who had 39% fewer seizures. 11 children who were taking pharmaceutical CBD did report some side effects like lethargy, loss of appetite, nausea, and diarrhea. Of those 11, more than half of them stopped taking the pharmaceutical CBD because of the side effects.
Says Cohen, “The difference in seizure control is dramatic and is definitely of concern since many people continue to use artisanal CBD. However, a limitation of our study is that it was small. More research is needed to see if similar results are found in larger groups of people.”