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Scientific studies have shown that medicinal cannabis can help relieve the symptoms of many diseases, from epilepsy to depression to chronic pain. A study published in Scientific Reports now adds autism to the list.
Technically, medicinal cannabis describes any type of cannabis or derived product prescribed for health reasons, but it is often taken in the form of cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) oil. In this case, 188 children under the age of 18 years (mean age: 12.9 ± 7.0 years) with autism were treated with cannabis for medicinal purposes for six months between 2015 and 2017, the majority using cannabis. Cannabis oil containing 30% CBD and 1.5% THC.
At the end of six months, only 15% of patients reported little or no change in symptoms. About 30% reported significant improvements and 53.7% showed moderate improvements.
"Overall, over 80% of parents reported a significant or moderate improvement in their child," said Lihi Bar-Lev Schleider, co-author of the article, from the Cannabis Research Institute. BGU-Soroka clinic, in a statement.
In terms of quality of life, 66.8% of participants responded affirmatively after treatment, compared with 31.3% before treatment. In the meantime, 42% of parents reported positive mood before treatment and 63.5% reported positive mood after treatment.
There was also a noticeable improvement in participants' ability to dress and shower independently after treatment. Just over a quarter (26.4%) did not report any difficulties before, but 42.9% saw an improvement thereafter.
During this time, the good sleep went from 3.3% before the treatment to 24.7% during the active treatment and the concentration went from 0% before the treatment to 14% during the active treatment.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in every 59 children is somewhere on the autism spectrum. This study should be interesting news for them and their parents. Much remains to be done to better understand the effect of the drug on children with ASD, but the results so far are promising.
Not only has the treatment been effective in relieving some of the symptoms of ASD, but there also appear to be few side effects and those that exist are relatively modest. For example, 1.6% reported drowsiness, 1.6%, poor taste and smell of oil, 0.8%, agitation, 0.8%, reflux and 0.8% , a lack of appetite.
"While this study suggests that cannabis treatment is safe and can improve the symptoms of ASD and the quality of life of their patients, we believe that double-blind placebo-controlled trials are essential for a better understanding of the disease." Effect of Cannabis on ASD "Dr. Victor Novac of the BGU-Soroka Clinical Cannabis Research Institute.
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