The Epilepsy Foundation has strongly endorsed medical marijuana as a treatment option for the seizures that strike 2.3 million Americans, and has called on the federal government to change how it classifies pot. <div> </div>“The Epilepsy Foundation believes that the end of seizures should not be determined by one's zip code,†CEO Philip Cattone and board chairman Warren Lammert said Thursday in a statement. legal for treatment of seizures? The two foundation leaders urged the feds to: – Reschedule marijuana from its status as a Schedule I drug, the same as heroin, in recognition of properties that help patients of multiple illnesses. – Support state laws that allow for the use of marijuana for the relief of pain, laws that now apply in much of the West, including California, the nation's most populous state. – Support medical marijuana as a treatment option. “This is a very important, difficult and personal decision that should be made by a patient and family working with their health care team,†said Cattone and Lammert. The Huffington Post reported late Thursday that more than 100 families have relocated to Colorado, where marijuana is legal for both medical and recreational purposes, specifically to developed a specially cultivated pot called Charlotte's web. It is low in THC content. “The Epilepsy Foundation supports the rights of patients and families living with seizures to access physician directed care, including medical marijuana,†added Cattone and Lammert. “Nothing should stand in the way of patients gaining access to potentially life-saving treatment if a patient and their health care professionals feel that the potential benefits of medical marijuana for uncontrolled epilepsy outweigh the risks.†About 1 million epilepsy patients in America do not respond to conventional treatment; Epilepsy Foundation leaders want medical marijuana available to them. http://blog.seattlepi.com/marijuana/2014/02/20/epilepsy-foundation-medical-marijuana-must-be-treatment-option/
Another nail in the coffin of prohibition. Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.
That's great. So long as their action supports legal open access and cultivation rights. GW Pharma has their Epidiolex CBD based epilepsy medication and has been working on the FDA for approval. What would be completely unacceptable is for them to try what they're doing in Europe: GW pharma products are legal, but cannabis is not. This research is amazing but it needs to support open access and breeding; more strains available to the public high CBD low THC. Not more proprietary patents from groups like GW, charging ten times more than a disp would for the same damn tincture.
In the future, people will make an insurance copay for their prescription just like other medications. Dispensaries are on their way out.
That charlottes web strain has so much love behind it. Just reading it here almost brought me to tears Sent from my iPod touch using Grasscity Forum
That's a sad thought... But I wouldn't be surprised to see it. The medical complex is jumping all over this because legalization is wanted by the people. So now it's wanted even more because the corporations want in. I agree with you because once cannabis goes into the doctors office, the doctors/hospitals/pharma groups and FDA will likely want cannabis out of the disp. Who would spend two hundred for sativex when you can spend fifty or less from the disp? On the other hand... Potentially the local dispensaries could continue to increase their experience and retain great 420 doctors. More specialist breeders like what the Charlotte Web guys did. It will be an interesting show to watch unfold. IMO it mostly comes to the will and awareness of the people. Will they care enough if dispensaries got shut down? Out here i feel they do... I know also how the pharma groups operate and am sure they want as much as they can get. GW original giloma patent had to be reworded because it was too vague. They were trying to patent the application of treating all cancers via cannabinoids, in ratio of 1:1 - 1:20 THC: CBD Cheeky bastards!
My wife and I go through an oz a week, which would be $800 to $1200 per month at a dispensary, vs say $40 in copay per month. I'd consider stopping growing if the pharma products worked adequately.
Isn't there a cannabis-based Epilepsy drug that just entered final FDA approval testing? Curious timing, no?