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Meds Autism - Aspergers - OCD - Spectrum Disorders and MMJ

ddave

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
To feel different, to see things differently, to always feel out of place. Like you were born on the wrong planet. :hmm:

I read of fantasy.
Of dragons and knights,
Goblins and ghosts.
I read of science
With ships in space and guns.
I read of mystery,
Of murder and deceit,
Or trickery and lies.
I read of many things.
Why can't I read your eyes?
- Lawrence HSU, age 15.


A quote in dedication of those misunderstood, who can never understand. Those both gifted and cursed. They call us Aspies.


s_978-0307395-98-6.jpg



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Medical Marijuana can be used to alleviate the negative symptoms and accentuate the positive aspects of Asperger's Syndrome.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) are the two main cannabinoids found in marijuana. THC is psychoactive, causing the "high" associated with marijuana use. CBD is non-psychoactive and has a calming effect. Aspies should choose high quality medical marijuana that has a high CBD to THC ratio. Use tinctures and edibles for long-lasting effects. Smoke or vaporize marijuana for a quick fix. Mix buds and leaf together to get more CBD's in your medicine.
Anxiety issues can make it impossible to lead a productive life. CBD's calm the body and mind to relieve stress. but beware of high THC concentrations that can cause severe anxiety and panic attacks.
Aspies are often ruled by their emotions and can have temper-tantrums well into adulthood. Smoke or vaporize marijuana as soon as you feel the anger rising and you should be able to calm down enough to talk about your feelings.
Sufferers of AS can have stress management issues due to their inability to control emotions. This can lead to disorders of the gastrointestinal system, such as ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and Crohn's Disease. Marijuana has pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties that can ease discomfort. If you are malnourished, use marijuana to stimulate your appetite.
Stress and depression can make it impossible to get a good night's sleep. Marijuana can help you fall asleep and stay asleep.
Aspie brains can race out of control making it difficult to concentrate and communicate. Marijuana slows down your thought processes, enabling you to think clearly and focus on one subject at a time.
Marijuana can alleviate social phobias, allowing you to leave the house and interact with the world without worrying about feeling different.
Medical marijuana may not work for everyone diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. You may have to experiment with the THC to CBD ratios and methods of ingestion to find a treatment plan that works for you.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Quick Aspie Test: http://rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Welcome :hug:
 
I just took the test! I am very likely neurodiverse! Yay?


Thank you for filling out this questionnaire.

Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 142 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 82 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)


poly10a.php

Similar to my results.

FOttyps.jpg


What brought you to this thread and to take that online test?

For me, if I had to sum it up in one statement the largest factor would be a need to understand why I saw things differently than everyone else.

Welcome to the thread!

This is what makes me who I am.
It is both my curse and my blessing.
It is both the cause of my bliss and the cause of my sorrow.
It is both what leads me to make mistakes and what leads me to do great things.
It is both the founder of my past and my pathway to my future
This is what makes me amazing
It is what gives me my talents and achievements
It is what gives me my intelligence and ideas
It is what gives me my humor and individuality
It is what gives me passion and dedication
This is what makes me flawed.
It is what makes me confused and anxious.
It is what makes me exhausted and frustrated.
It is what makes me uncertain and complicated
It is what makes me lonely and depressed
This is what makes me different
It is what makes me both distant and compassionate.
It is what makes me both tired and creative.
It is what makes me both sassy and awkward.
It is what makes me both fairly normal and completely insane at the same time.​
 
What brought you to this thread and to take that online test?

Honestly just simple curiosity ddave! I just read this thread by chance but when I read what you listed in this thread, on top of what I read you talking about in the why I medicate thread the other day all I could think of was, "man I can relate". I've never gone to a psychologist and been diagnosed with AS(As I child I was diagnosed with tourette's and ADD/ADHD, although I eventually grew out of both) but I honestly can just relate on so many levels of what you talk and say.

As for you wanting to understand why you see things differently than everyone else, I think I can relate to that too, though not wholly maybe. I don't think I ever really pondered why I see things differently than most. I mean I know I do but I guess it's something I never really think or thought about. When I was young I thought I was odd for the way I thought. Even when it felt like I fit in it felt like I didn't. Like whenever I was in conversation I would have a lingering feeling that whatever words were coming out of my mouth weren't the right words, whatever they were. I would be thinking of a hundred things to say and all the while I couldn't decide on a single thing and while I wanted to say a hundred things I would remain silent because I couldn't decide on a single one. It's a hard thing to explain but that's the best way I can explain it. I just rewrote this paragraph like ten times and I think that's the best way for me to articulate it.

I've learned to work on that over the years and THC has definitely helped me. I don't mean that a constant dose of THC like medicine cures me for anything but it helps me slow things down. It lets me focus on where I am and what's in front of me better. I don't trail off nearly as much anymore, although I can't say that I'm innocent from it completely. I do have the occasional space oddity still when I'll be talking to somebody and trail off in the middle of a conversation only to have to be snapped back into reality, but trust me I have gotten a lot better with that! Anyways I'm getting to the point of blathering but your post really hit a chord with me. I don't know if I'm an Aspie like you or not, all I know is that there is a lot that I can relate to here personally and that's all that really matters to it all.
 
Honestly just simple curiosity ddave! I just read this thread by chance but when I read what you listed in this thread, on top of what I read you talking about in the why I medicate thread the other day all I could think of was, "man I can relate". I've never gone to a psychologist and been diagnosed with AS(As I child I was diagnosed with tourette's and ADD/ADHD, although I eventually grew out of both) but I honestly can just relate on so many levels of what you talk and say.

As for you wanting to understand why you see things differently than everyone else, I think I can relate to that too, though not wholly maybe. I don't think I ever really pondered why I see things differently than most. I mean I know I do but I guess it's something I never really think or thought about. When I was young I thought I was odd for the way I thought. Even when it felt like I fit in it felt like I didn't. Like whenever I was in conversation I would have a lingering feeling that whatever words were coming out of my mouth weren't the right words, whatever they were. I would be thinking of a hundred things to say and all the while I couldn't decide on a single thing and while I wanted to say a hundred things I would remain silent because I couldn't decide on a single one. It's a hard thing to explain but that's the best way I can explain it. I just rewrote this paragraph like ten times and I think that's the best way for me to articulate it.

I've learned to work on that over the years and THC has definitely helped me. I don't mean that a constant dose of THC like medicine cures me for anything but it helps me slow things down. It lets me focus on where I am and what's in front of me better. I don't trail off nearly as much anymore, although I can't say that I'm innocent from it completely. I do have the occasional space oddity still when I'll be talking to somebody and trail off in the middle of a conversation only to have to be snapped back into reality, but trust me I have gotten a lot better with that! Anyways I'm getting to the point of blathering but your post really hit a chord with me. I don't know if I'm an Aspie like you or not, all I know is that there is a lot that I can relate to here personally and that's all that really matters to it all.
Very cool. For me, having a reason for why things were different allowed me to move past the need to understand, and allowed me to move into the "how can this be advantageous" phase...

What you say about over-thinking during a conversation and getting lost... man that hits home! Been there, did that, kept the TShirt! ;)

================================
On a separate note, a dear friend once shared this with me.... it works...

m8zUmWR.jpg
 
Marijuana may be a miracle treatment for children with autism

MODI’IN, ISRAEL — When Noa Shulman came home from school, her mother, Yael, sat her down to eat, then spoon-fed her mashed sweet potatoes — mixed with cannabis oil.

Noa, who has a severe form of autism, started to bite her own arm. “No sweetie,” Yael gently told her 17-year-old daughter. “Here, have another bite of this.”

Noa is part of the first clinical trial in the world to test the benefits of medicinal marijuana for young people with autism, a potential breakthrough that would offer relief for millions of afflicted children — and their anguished parents.

There is anecdotal evidence that marijuana’s main non-psychoactive compound — cannabidiol or CBD — helps children in ways no other medication has. Now this first-of-its-kind scientific study is trying to determine if the link is real.

Israel is a pioneer in this type of research. It permitted the use of medical marijuana in 1992, one of the first countries to do so. It's also one of just three countries with a government-sponsored medical cannabis program, along with Canada and the Netherlands.

Conducting cannabis research is also less expensive here and easier under Israeli laws, particularly compared to the United States, which has many more legal restrictions.

Autism is one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders, affecting 1 in 68 children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its debilitating symptoms include impaired communication and social skills, along with compulsive and repetitive behaviors. Autism typically emerges in infancy or early childhood.

Advocates for combating the disorder are calling attention to it by declaring April National Autism Awareness Month.

Noa's mother has to feed and bathe her and change her diapers. Noa is unable to speak and often behaves aggressively. Yael, a mother of three with a full-time job in this city halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, has tried to find caretakers to help, but they don’t last long.

Only two medications have been approved in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration to treat the symptoms of autism. Both are antipsychotic drugs that are not always effective and carry serious side effects.

When Noa took them, “she was like a zombie,” Yael said. “She would just sit there with her mouth wide open, not moving.”

Noa is part of a study that began in January at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. It involves 120 children and young adults, ages 5 to 29, who have mild to severe autism, and it will last through the end of 2018.

Adi Aran, the pediatric neurologist leading the study, said nearly all the participants previously took antipsychotics and nearly half responded negatively. Yael desperately pushed Aran and other doctors to prescribe cannabis oil after a news report aired about a mother who illegally obtained it for her autistic son and said it was the only thing that helped him.

“Many parents were asking for cannabis for their kids,” Aran said. “First I said, 'No, there’s no data to support cannabis for autism, so we can’t give it to you.'”

He said that changed about a year ago after studies in Israel showed that cannabis helped children with epilepsy by drastically reducing seizures and improving behavior for those who also have autism. Epilepsy afflicts about 30% of autistic children, Aran said.

Mounting anecdotal reports of autistic children who benefited from cannabis also led Aran to pursue more scientific testing. After seeing positive results in 70 of his autistic patients in an observational study, Aran said, “OK we need to do a clinical trial so there will be data." (cont)
 
It's seems like forever since I've had time to lay out a rap! Too long!
=======================================================
"Mod Man Walking"
(feat. DDave & DJ Vape)

[Verse 1:]
Everybody make way for The Mod Man
I said to the vapers
And all they said
Is back to the lab
With ya scientific modding muddle
I'm vaping herb even though I break off some crumble
Let me vape forever and have a nice dream
Cause IF I combust
You're gonna hear me scream,
Trust me , you will not be a friend,
If I find your un-modded vape dumped on the west end
I'm a mod-man watchin' you vape to vape
Shiiiit!
My weed breathe so strong
You can taste it.
(Look out... here I comes)
(Oh my God it's him)
I vape when I walk
Modding makes me feel like I'm 6 feet 10
I be a mod-man walking
Always vapin'
Be ready when I drop by so you can vape me out
No doubt I'm a vape you out
That's what I'm talking 'bout
Everybody shout

[Chorus:]
Vape it out [x4]
Vape Vape Vape it out [x2]
Vape it out [x4]
Vape Vape Vape it out [x2]

[Verse 2:]
This mod man walks between evil and good
The purgatory I'm livin in is misunderstood
Through his blood shot red eyes
Devil's watchin' The D.D.A.V.E Brotherhood.
But the mod man will walk it out, yeah walk it out.
So blazed, I be walking side steps
Got up and stepped into
The combuster's crib
So they came knocking at my crib
Until I finally came out
Rose up above them
And snuffed their flame out
The vape in my hand ready all the time
Check the Ouija board my spirit flying high you'll find
Chasing weed wasting demons that slipped through the vale
And won't go back
They'll pull tha vape out ya hand
And won't give it back
I be a mod man walking
Forever vapin'
Be ready when I drop by so you can vape me out
No doubt I'm a vape you out
That's what I'm talking 'bout
Everybody shout


[Chorus:]
Vape it out [x4]
Vape Vape Vape it out [x2]
Vape it out [x4]
Vape Vape Vape it out [x2]


[Verse 3:]
I've modded vapes all the way around this planet twice
Lookin' for a way of how to end vaping blithe
All across the deserts and over all terrains
If I'm vaping why do I feel so much pain
I Be a mod man walking
Still creatin'
Be ready when I drop by so you can vape me out
No doubt I'm a vape you out
That's what I'm talking 'bout
Everybody shout
 
In pioneering study, Israeli researchers target autism with cannabis

Parents of children who suffer from the neurodevelopmental disorder are lining up for the new trial — the first of its kind worldwide

Sitting on cushions in the corner of a brightly decorated room in Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, 11-year-old Eitan anxiously watched the sliding door leading to the hallway outside. Each time someone entered the room, he rushed past the hanging mobiles and flowers painted on the walls to make sure the door was shut securely.

Eitan was at the hospital with his parents to receive extracts of cannabis that researchers hope will help treat his severe autism. The project, which will test the effects of cannabinoids on 120 autistic children and young adults, is the first of its kind worldwide, said Dr. Adi Aran, the director of the hospital’s neuropediatric unit. The study is made possible by Israel’s progressive approach to research on cannabis and has generated interest in the scientific community and among families of children with autism.

“Our waiting lists are full. Many, many families want to participate and they come from all over Israel,” Aran said. “They hope and they heard from their friends and other families that it might help.”

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose symptoms include impaired communication and social skills, and compulsive and repetitive behaviors. The disease usually appears in infancy or early childhood, and can be debilitating. Eitan, for instance, cannot speak at all. The causes of the disease are poorly understood and there is no known cure. It affects roughly one percent of the population in Israel and worldwide, Aran said.

Most autistic children are currently treated with antipsychotic medications, which are not always effective and can have harmful side effects. Eitan’s father, Aviv, said that Eitan became obese after previous medications caused him to eat compulsively. Some medications aggravate him and cause him to throw tantrums, Aviv said.

The impetus for the current study was prior research on epilepsy and a smaller trial in which Aran administered cannabis extracts to around 70 young people with autism, which saw some positive results. The extracts were found to be safe and effective for the treatment of epilepsy, which also afflicts around 20% of autistic children. Researchers studying the effects of cannabis extracts on epilepsy realized that the compounds helped participants deal with some symptoms of autism as well.

Despite interest from families and the medical community, there was a lack of evidence that cannabis products could be a safe and effective treatment, which made it hard to move forward.

“The dilemma was not only our dilemma,” Aran said. “Many physicians in the world are in the same position, that the families ask for cannabis because they have heard, they read on the internet that it really helps but the physician has no evidence” to support the treatment, Aran said.


Dr. Adi Aran, director of the neuropediatric unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, March 2, 2017. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The Health Ministry has taken a progressive, scientific approach to medical uses for cannabis, though, opening the door for further research, said Dr. Tamir Gedo, CEO of Breath of Life Pharma, the company producing the cannabis extracts used in the study.

“The Ministry of Health in Israel has channeled a lot of energy here in order to examine all the evidence based medicine, and is willing to take that approach. Other ministries of health around the world are hesitant,” Gedo said.

Aran said it was easier than expected to get approval for the study from the Health Ministry.

Israel also has a critical mass of scientists and clinicians familiar with and open to medical uses for cannabis, a strong biotech industry and researchers in leading medical institutes and universities who support the work, Gedo said.



Pharmicists supply patients with prescribed medical marijuana at the ‘Tikun Olam’ outlet in Tel Aviv. The company has been operating under license from the Ministry of health since 2007. April 10, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Breath of Life is able to break down the cannabis plant to extract different chemical compounds, called cannabinoids, for use in research and medicine. There are about 140 cannabinoids, the most well-known of which is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana.

There are few facilities that can carry out the extraction process worldwide, Gedo said, and most can only do it on a small scale.

“We can basically take all the cannabinoids and isolate and amplify them,” Gedo said said of his company. “It’s not a cannabis facility, it’s a drug facility that by accident is producing cannabinoids.”

There are tens of thousands of strains of cannabis worldwide, including over 100 in Israel, Gedo said, and the variation in the levels of cannabinoids can be huge within a single batch. This makes a precise and reliable extraction process crucial. Clinicians and researchers can test what specific compounds and ratios of compounds are most effective, and regulators will only approve a drug with a consistent chemical profile. Gedo hopes that, if the results of the study are positive, they could receive FDA clearance in a

bout a year or a year and a half.


Marijuana bags ready for use are seen at the BOL (Breath Of Life) Pharma laboratories in Israel’s second-largest medical cannabis plantation, near Kfar Pines in northern Israel, on March 9, 2016. (Jack Guez/AFP)

The researchers at Shaare Zedek are mostly administering a cannabinoid called cannabidiol, or CBD, which is one of the two main cannabinoids in the plant, along with THC. CBD is not psychoactive and acts as an antagonist to THC; in medical strains of cannabis, the level of CBD is relatively high, while in plants used recreationally or sold on the street, THC levels are much higher. Participants in the Shaare Zedek study will receive a mixture of CBD and THC dissolved in olive oil at a ratio of 20 parts CBD to one part THC, which is a level deemed safe for children. A small amount of THC may amplify the effects of the CBD, Gedo said.

It is unclear how CBD and other cannabinoids could positively affect people with autism and other disorders. CBD could be decreasing anxiety and depressive systems by affecting serotonin receptors in the brain, Aran said. It may be more effective when paired with THC because the two compounds work on similar receptors, and when the CBD antagonizes the THC it may prolong the amount of time the compound is affecting the synapses involved.

Cannabinoids’ side effects, which depend on the specific compounds and ratios used, are mild and can include drowsiness, increased sleep and diarrhea.

Participants will receive pure cannabinoids, in other words, THC and CBD isolated from any of the other dozens of cannabinoids, or a whole plant extract, which will also contain CBD and THC in a 20:1 ratio. The whole plant extract, which will include cannabinoids besides CBD and THC in low concentrations, may be more effective due to synergy among the chemical compounds in what is known as the “entourage effect.”

“Nobody knows right now what cannabinoids or what active ingredients are enhancing the others. There are a lot of theories currently. It’s an unknown issue,” Gedo said.



Dr. Adi Aran holds a dropper with a cannabinoid compound at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, March 2, 2017. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The participants will receive one of the two mixtures, or a placebo, for 12 weeks, then go through a four-week washout period, then take the second mixture or a placebo for another 12 weeks. The placebo will contain only flavored olive oil. Participants are aged 5 to 29 and suffer from moderate to severe autism. Some engage in self-harming behaviors and about 40% do not respond well to existing medication. They will be evaluated before beginning the study, after the first treatment period, after the first washout period, and after the second treatment period. Caregivers and teachers will also report on the subjects’ behavior. It is a double-blind study, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers will know which mixtures the participants are taking during the study. So far, 13 participants have started treatment.

The researchers hope to eventually determine which compounds, and at which ratios, are most effective, and who will benefit most from the treatment.

For families of autistic children in Israel, hopes for the treatment are high. Eitan was at the hospital for evaluation and would be starting to take one of the mixtures, or the placebo, later that day. His father, Aviv, became interested in the treatment after seeing a television show about a similar treatment. The treatment was illegal, and the families and participants had their faces hidden to conceal their identities. Aviv followed up by researching online.

“We have a lot of information from television and news,” Aviv said. “Everyone who spoke, either it didn’t improve them or it was amazing. No one talked about a decline.”

They were referred to the Shaare Zedek study through a psychiatrist. Eitan’s mother, Varda, said psychiatrists had prescribed Eitan a variety of antipsychotic drugs, but they had been ineffective and had caused detrimental side effects.

“It got to the point where, at his school, they didn’t know how to cope,” Aviv said.

The family is from the town of Azor in central Israel and is in touch with other parents of autistic children in Israel.

“Other families are talking about it, in conversations and correspondences and all kinds of forums, in WhatsApp groups this thing is always coming up. How to do it, where to find it, how it’s possible, how to find a permit,” Aviv said.

The families discuss whether to try the treatment legally or illegally, Varda said.

“Me personally, I have lots and lots of hope,” Aviv said. “We have a lot of hope, and if it doesn’t work — we tried.”
 
In pioneering study, Israeli researchers target autism with cannabis

Parents of children who suffer from the neurodevelopmental disorder are lining up for the new trial — the first of its kind worldwide

Sitting on cushions in the corner of a brightly decorated room in Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, 11-year-old Eitan anxiously watched the sliding door leading to the hallway outside. Each time someone entered the room, he rushed past the hanging mobiles and flowers painted on the walls to make sure the door was shut securely.

Eitan was at the hospital with his parents to receive extracts of cannabis that researchers hope will help treat his severe autism. The project, which will test the effects of cannabinoids on 120 autistic children and young adults, is the first of its kind worldwide, said Dr. Adi Aran, the director of the hospital’s neuropediatric unit. The study is made possible by Israel’s progressive approach to research on cannabis and has generated interest in the scientific community and among families of children with autism.

“Our waiting lists are full. Many, many families want to participate and they come from all over Israel,” Aran said. “They hope and they heard from their friends and other families that it might help.”

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose symptoms include impaired communication and social skills, and compulsive and repetitive behaviors. The disease usually appears in infancy or early childhood, and can be debilitating. Eitan, for instance, cannot speak at all. The causes of the disease are poorly understood and there is no known cure. It affects roughly one percent of the population in Israel and worldwide, Aran said.

Most autistic children are currently treated with antipsychotic medications, which are not always effective and can have harmful side effects. Eitan’s father, Aviv, said that Eitan became obese after previous medications caused him to eat compulsively. Some medications aggravate him and cause him to throw tantrums, Aviv said.

The impetus for the current study was prior research on epilepsy and a smaller trial in which Aran administered cannabis extracts to around 70 young people with autism, which saw some positive results. The extracts were found to be safe and effective for the treatment of epilepsy, which also afflicts around 20% of autistic children. Researchers studying the effects of cannabis extracts on epilepsy realized that the compounds helped participants deal with some symptoms of autism as well.

Despite interest from families and the medical community, there was a lack of evidence that cannabis products could be a safe and effective treatment, which made it hard to move forward.

“The dilemma was not only our dilemma,” Aran said. “Many physicians in the world are in the same position, that the families ask for cannabis because they have heard, they read on the internet that it really helps but the physician has no evidence” to support the treatment, Aran said.


Dr. Adi Aran, director of the neuropediatric unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, March 2, 2017. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The Health Ministry has taken a progressive, scientific approach to medical uses for cannabis, though, opening the door for further research, said Dr. Tamir Gedo, CEO of Breath of Life Pharma, the company producing the cannabis extracts used in the study.

“The Ministry of Health in Israel has channeled a lot of energy here in order to examine all the evidence based medicine, and is willing to take that approach. Other ministries of health around the world are hesitant,” Gedo said.

Aran said it was easier than expected to get approval for the study from the Health Ministry.

Israel also has a critical mass of scientists and clinicians familiar with and open to medical uses for cannabis, a strong biotech industry and researchers in leading medical institutes and universities who support the work, Gedo said.



Pharmicists supply patients with prescribed medical marijuana at the ‘Tikun Olam’ outlet in Tel Aviv. The company has been operating under license from the Ministry of health since 2007. April 10, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Breath of Life is able to break down the cannabis plant to extract different chemical compounds, called cannabinoids, for use in research and medicine. There are about 140 cannabinoids, the most well-known of which is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana.

There are few facilities that can carry out the extraction process worldwide, Gedo said, and most can only do it on a small scale.

“We can basically take all the cannabinoids and isolate and amplify them,” Gedo said said of his company. “It’s not a cannabis facility, it’s a drug facility that by accident is producing cannabinoids.”

There are tens of thousands of strains of cannabis worldwide, including over 100 in Israel, Gedo said, and the variation in the levels of cannabinoids can be huge within a single batch. This makes a precise and reliable extraction process crucial. Clinicians and researchers can test what specific compounds and ratios of compounds are most effective, and regulators will only approve a drug with a consistent chemical profile. Gedo hopes that, if the results of the study are positive, they could receive FDA clearance in a

bout a year or a year and a half.


Marijuana bags ready for use are seen at the BOL (Breath Of Life) Pharma laboratories in Israel’s second-largest medical cannabis plantation, near Kfar Pines in northern Israel, on March 9, 2016. (Jack Guez/AFP)

The researchers at Shaare Zedek are mostly administering a cannabinoid called cannabidiol, or CBD, which is one of the two main cannabinoids in the plant, along with THC. CBD is not psychoactive and acts as an antagonist to THC; in medical strains of cannabis, the level of CBD is relatively high, while in plants used recreationally or sold on the street, THC levels are much higher. Participants in the Shaare Zedek study will receive a mixture of CBD and THC dissolved in olive oil at a ratio of 20 parts CBD to one part THC, which is a level deemed safe for children. A small amount of THC may amplify the effects of the CBD, Gedo said.

It is unclear how CBD and other cannabinoids could positively affect people with autism and other disorders. CBD could be decreasing anxiety and depressive systems by affecting serotonin receptors in the brain, Aran said. It may be more effective when paired with THC because the two compounds work on similar receptors, and when the CBD antagonizes the THC it may prolong the amount of time the compound is affecting the synapses involved.

Cannabinoids’ side effects, which depend on the specific compounds and ratios used, are mild and can include drowsiness, increased sleep and diarrhea.

Participants will receive pure cannabinoids, in other words, THC and CBD isolated from any of the other dozens of cannabinoids, or a whole plant extract, which will also contain CBD and THC in a 20:1 ratio. The whole plant extract, which will include cannabinoids besides CBD and THC in low concentrations, may be more effective due to synergy among the chemical compounds in what is known as the “entourage effect.”

“Nobody knows right now what cannabinoids or what active ingredients are enhancing the others. There are a lot of theories currently. It’s an unknown issue,” Gedo said.



Dr. Adi Aran holds a dropper with a cannabinoid compound at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, March 2, 2017. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The participants will receive one of the two mixtures, or a placebo, for 12 weeks, then go through a four-week washout period, then take the second mixture or a placebo for another 12 weeks. The placebo will contain only flavored olive oil. Participants are aged 5 to 29 and suffer from moderate to severe autism. Some engage in self-harming behaviors and about 40% do not respond well to existing medication. They will be evaluated before beginning the study, after the first treatment period, after the first washout period, and after the second treatment period. Caregivers and teachers will also report on the subjects’ behavior. It is a double-blind study, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers will know which mixtures the participants are taking during the study. So far, 13 participants have started treatment.

The researchers hope to eventually determine which compounds, and at which ratios, are most effective, and who will benefit most from the treatment.

For families of autistic children in Israel, hopes for the treatment are high. Eitan was at the hospital for evaluation and would be starting to take one of the mixtures, or the placebo, later that day. His father, Aviv, became interested in the treatment after seeing a television show about a similar treatment. The treatment was illegal, and the families and participants had their faces hidden to conceal their identities. Aviv followed up by researching online.

“We have a lot of information from television and news,” Aviv said. “Everyone who spoke, either it didn’t improve them or it was amazing. No one talked about a decline.”

They were referred to the Shaare Zedek study through a psychiatrist. Eitan’s mother, Varda, said psychiatrists had prescribed Eitan a variety of antipsychotic drugs, but they had been ineffective and had caused detrimental side effects.

“It got to the point where, at his school, they didn’t know how to cope,” Aviv said.

The family is from the town of Azor in central Israel and is in touch with other parents of autistic children in Israel.

“Other families are talking about it, in conversations and correspondences and all kinds of forums, in WhatsApp groups this thing is always coming up. How to do it, where to find it, how it’s possible, how to find a permit,” Aviv said.

The families discuss whether to try the treatment legally or illegally, Varda said.

“Me personally, I have lots and lots of hope,” Aviv said. “We have a lot of hope, and if it doesn’t work — we tried.”
@momofthegoons
Awesome information! Thank you for sharing it and taking time to format the post cleanly!!!!

Most important statement in the entire post is quoted below.....

and if it doesn’t work — we tried.”
 
Medical Cannabis For Autism

By Travis Burnett
July 14, 2017

Medical Cannabis For Autism
Medical Cannabis is the twenty-first century’s bad boy wonder drug. This herbal medicine has a long history of illicit drug use, and is only legal for medical prescription and consumption by some states in the union.

However, cannabis’s ability to fight off the symptoms and side effects of a plethora of conditions and treatments is garnering a lot of attention in the medical community. Once considered a contraband herb, cannabis is getting new life as a chemotherapy aid to ward off the ill effects of this cancer treatment and as a psychotherapeutic drug to combat the psychological distress that PTSD victims cope with on a daily basis.

For these purposes – and many more – cannabis is far more than a plaything for frat boys looking for something to do on Friday night. cannabis is now respected by legions of doctors and scientists who understand the positive impacts that cannabis has on the patients that they treat.

When it comes to treating the effects of autism, cannabis holds a lot of potential for helping individuals living with the disorder to experience relief from the psychological and mental symptoms that autism causes. Studies worldwide offer hope for autism patients – and their parents – to imagine life beyond autism.

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Medical Marijuana Infographic

What is Medical Cannabis?
Medical cannabis is concentrated cannabis that is used for treating a variety of illnesses. Medical cannabis is used to treat conditions across the spectrum of known medical ailments, including:

  • AIDS
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Arthritis
  • Asthma and other breathing disorders
  • Cancer and chemotherapy-related side effects
  • Crohn’s, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and other gastrointestinal disorders
  • Epilepsy
  • Glaucoma
  • Hepatitis C
  • Migraines and other conditions with persistent headaches
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Chronic and acute pain
  • Psychological conditions, including:
    • Eating disorders
    • Autism
    • PTSD
    • Depression
    • Bipolar disorder
  • Tourette Syndrome
  • Terminal illnesses
The effectiveness of treatment for these conditions vary, as do the administration methods of the medical cannabis. For starters, let’s look at how medical cannabis is derived, the compounds that you can get and how they interact with your body systems to deliver the desired effects.

  • Cannabidiol (CBD) – this cannabis compound delivers many of the positive effects of cannabis without the less desirable side effects, like increased drowsiness and psychoactive high. It’s useful for treating conditions that don’t benefit from an added level of psychoactivity and for older patients who have negative feelings toward cannabis, but need its healing properties.
  • Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – this cannabis compound is one of the unique factors that makes pot, well, pot. Of course, in the medical cannabis world, the power of THC can be used to help calm patients, stimulate appetite and provide a variety of other powerful healing properties that patients suffering from a variety of illnesses can benefit from.
Many autism patients find relief from some combination of both CBD and THC, depending on their specific symptoms and their severity. Additionally, as children age and mature, different combinations might become more or less effective as their brain chemistry, hormones and autism severity adjusts to the growing body.

Medical cannabis is administered in many different forms, which are:

  • Combustibles (flowers, oils, concentrates) that are smoked
  • Non combustibles, such as vaporized THC, which is inhaled through a vaporizer
  • Edibles, tinctures and herbal drinks
  • Topical applications, including sprays, creams, and analgesics
Most parents report the best success with using THC and CBD oils and buds in a premixed combination that can be added to food, like mashed sweet potatoes or cookies.

The Arguments for Medical Cannabis
There are both anecdotal and medical support for using medical cannabis to treat autism. Many of which are becoming more mainstream as medical cannabis comes into the forefront.

Parents are championing the cause of getting access to medical cannabis to help their children who are suffering from autism. Here are some of their stories:

  • Noa Shulman – a 17-year-old from Israel – is part of a large Israeli medical research cohort that is evaluating the effects of medical cannabis on children and young adults who are suffering from autism. Noa’s mother feeds her oil mixed with mashed sweet potatoes daily and notes that there are some days where Noa is much more relaxed and happy, which is a considerable improvement in her behavior from before.
  • Mieko Hester-Perez’s son, Joey – a 10-year-old from California – began feeding her son cookies with medical cannabis in them once every couple of days to help him gain back his appetite after he had lost a significant amount of weight from decreased appetite. Traditional autism medications had left Joey with a severely diminished appetite so Hester-Perez began treating him with medical cannabis after getting a prescription from her son’s doctor. She says that Joey’s appetite is significantly improved and that his behavior is also much better than it was prior to beginning the medical cannabis regimen.
  • Marie Myung-Ok Lee began treating her son with medical cannabis cookies after a synthetic cannabis prescription failed to adequately treat his autism symptoms. After beginning the medical cannabis treatment, Lee’s son shows remarkable behavioral improvement.
  • Debbie Hosseini began giving her 15-year-old son, Kevin, medical cannabis to help him with worsened behavioral issues that cropped up after puberty. Since beginning the medical cannabis treatment, Kevin is much more verbal and is able to sleep through the night and eat normally again.
There is also suggestion that medical cannabis can prevent autism-related seizures, which negatively impact the quality of life of autism patients. Hemp oil, is particularly helpful when combatting seizures that can trigger tantrums and worsen other autism symptoms.

Daniel Coury, the medical director of Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network believes that hemp oil – which varies slightly from actual cannabinoids THC and CBD – treats the part of the brain that controls the spastic behavior that leads to seizures and autistic outbursts.

The Arguments Against Medical Cannabis
There is some caution for parents interested in using medical cannabis for their children with autism.

Culturally, the acceptance for parents giving their children medical cannabis is very stymied. Though there are plenty of activists and autism families working to combat the stereotype that cannabis leads to other drug use and addictive behavior, it’s an uphill battle to get widespread acceptance of children with autism using medical cannabis.

Doctors, too, are unsure of the long-term effects of children with autism using medical cannabis. While cannabis use is considered to be safe, and there are no documented fatalities associated with cannabis use – medical or otherwise – it’s still an ethical grey area for doctors prescribing medical cannabis for children.

How to get a Prescription for Medical Cannabis
In order to access medical cannabis, you need a prescription so that you can shop at your local medical cannabis dispensary. While autism has not previously been considered a condition for which medical cannabis can be prescribed, some doctors work around this, either by taking advantage of liberal state laws (California has the most progressive legislation in this area) or by pointing to an autism symptom as a condition that needs treatment.

You need to work closely with your doctor to get a medical cannabis prescription. Detail symptoms and episodes so that he or she can understand the needs that your autistic child has. Understanding is the key to a medical breakthrough, so be honest, but don’t be afraid to switch to a doctor who can prescribe you medical cannabis when another one won’t.

You’ll then need to work with local and/or state agencies to get a medical cannabis ID card that allows you to shop at a dispensary. This will involve paperwork and your prescription so that you can get the access that you need.

Wrapping it Up
As you can see, there are many ways in which autism patients can benefit from medical cannabis use. Many diseases and treatments find partial or complete reversal from cannabis therapy, and parents who have experimented with medical cannabis as treatment for their autistic children have only positive things to say about their experience.

If you’re interested in finding a way to treat your child’s autism with medical cannabis, talk to your child’s pediatrician, neurologist or autism specialist to learn more about this treatment. Don’t be deterred by doctors who disregard the suggestion, and advocate for your child’s rights by patiently working through information on medical cannabis with your child’s doctor or by finding a more supportive practice to treat your child.

Additionally, even once you get a medical cannabis prescription, it may take some trial and error to determine what works best for your child. Persistence is key here, just as it is when working with your doctor. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or try different strains and serving methods. While medical cannabis may not cure your child’s autism, it can help your child and you to live a more enjoyable and connected life together.
 
Israel's Booming Medical Marijuana Industry Now Offers Hope to Autism Patients

Thanks to the country’s liberal research policies, two studies are progressing that could dramatically improve the lives of autistic kids and their families

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Abigail Dar and her son Yuval Noam Dar

A 10-year-old autistic boy named Einav and his family were spiraling to a dangerous low point a year ago. The parents soldiered through their son’s rages and obsessive behaviors, not to mention bends that would last entire days into sleepless nights. He would hit them and even throw stones at them. He would also harm himself by cutting his skin and trying to swallow objects. Once he almost electrocuted himself.
His spent parents, who live in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip, traveled with him to Jerusalem to meet Dr. Adi Aran, who heads the neuropediatric unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center.



In January, Einav became one of Aran’s patients and research subjects. Aran is working on a pair of clinical trials to test medical marijuana oil for children with autism – including children like Einav who experience severe autism.
Some of his patients are nonverbal and prone to extreme outbursts.
“The strain of marijuana Einav receives relaxes him. Here and there outbursts occur, but it’s nothing compared to what we experienced last year,” says his mother, Ronit.

“Autism is still there, it’s part of him. But there’s no doubt: the marijuana saved us.”

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An employee sorting freshly harvested cannabis buds at a medical marijuana plantation in northern Israel, March, 2017.NIR ELIAS/REUTERS

The attempt to find a way to help children and young people with autism is part of a larger story: the growing area of medical marijuana research in Israel. The country has been positioning itself as a leader in the field, bolstered by a Health Ministry that encourages research, and an increase in the number of growers, who also collect evidence on which strains and compounds seem to work best for patients with specific conditions.
Officials like to point out that Israeli researchers are not constrained by the limits in the United States, where the study of medical marijuana is limited because of its classification as a dangerous drug. Israel’s relatively liberal atmosphere for research has also been drawing attention as it attracts international investors looking for a way to get these potential treatments to market.
Researchers, growers and Israeli health officials prefer the term medical cannabis to medical marijuana; they say they’re trying to move away from the stigma associated with the word marijuana.
Confusing cannabinoids
Researchers caution that marijuana is a complicated plant. It has tremendous potential for a range of health problems, but science is still in the early stages of understanding how cannabinoids work.
Aran is working on a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on 120 autistic children with the results expected next year, after a full year of research has been conducted.

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A school for autistic children in Ashdod. Early results suggest medical marijuana oil lessens extreme outbursts in autistic children. Ilan Assayag

Einav is also part of parallel research: an “open label” clinical study of 60 children and young adults where all the patients have been given the oil. This type of trial is considered less scientifically rigorous since both the researchers and patients know what they are receiving.
In both instances, the patients are given a strain of medical marijuana developed by the Israeli company Breath of Life Pharma, also known as Bol Pharma. This strain is made up mostly of cannabidiol, known as CBD, and a small amount of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the main compound in cannabis). Unlike THC, CBD is not psychoactive.
In recreational use of cannabis, THC is usually at a high level. But the oil blend that the children and young people are receiving in this study is 20 parts CBD to one part THC; drops of the oil are usually placed under the tongue.
From the preliminary – still anecdotal – evidence, a majority of the patients in the open label study have reported less anxiety and fewer outbursts. And about one-third have reported that communication has improved.
Aran notes that patients who have both autism and another condition (or conditions) have so far responded less favorably than those who only have autism.
“This is the only research of its kind in the world, though lots of others are beginning to try,” Aran says. “We are lucky to have access to medical-grade marijuana and a regulatory system that enables and allows for its study.”
Because of the lack of federally funded research, U.S. physicians find themselves in a bind when it comes to advising patients. Although they can authorize a medical marijuana card for patients, they cannot give prescriptions for which varieties and strains might work best for specific conditions and diseases.
Those patients are dependent on the advice of staff at medical marijuana dispensaries, who are often well informed but not medical professionals.
That is beginning to change in Israel. The Health Ministry is leading training sessions in hospitals for physicians, giving them guidance on which specific strains and blends of medical marijuana might work best for a patient’s condition, according to Dr. Michael Dor, who heads the ministry’s medical marijuana research unit.
It was Dor who approved Aran’s study in conjunction with Bol Pharma. It grew out of research that found that medical marijuana was helpful for treating children with epilepsy, some of whom also had autism and whose autism-related behavior also improved.

Start of a long road
“Lots of research still needs to be done,” says Bol Pharma CEO Tamir Gedo. “We need to see why it works on one person and not another. This is going to be the first of many trials,” he says, adding he has been encouraged by the results to date.
The Volcani Center, the home of Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization, is home to several studies on medical marijuana. One of its researchers, Dr. Hinanit Koltai, a plant molecular biologist, is examining the possible use of medical marijuana for breast cancer and digestive illnesses.
“When you go to get a medicine, even antibiotics, you know exactly what you are getting,” Koltai says. “We want medical marijuana to be the same.”

Prescribed medical marijuana oil from an Israeli hospital. Moti Milrod
Abigail Dar, from the Tel Aviv suburb Ramat Hasharon, treats her nonverbal autistic son Yuval, 24, with medical marijuana and says she has seen markedly fewer aggressive outbursts.
She has become an outspoken advocate for the cause and something of a guru among the parents of autistic children in Israel looking for guidance. She hosts a Facebook page for parents, leads a WhatsApp group and gives lectures trying to educate people about medical marijuana as a possible treatment option.
“What interests me is what really works for the kids,” Dar says. “I’m gathering data and tracking who got what and how he responded to a given strain. For me, this is the way to really understand the cannabiniods and how to really work out what works for our kids.”
As for her own son, Yuval, she says she doesn’t “have to be afraid of him having outbursts anymore. I’m worried I sound terrible. I adore my son, but there were outbursts you could not live with.”
She fears the recent media attention will sell parents a dream that two drops of marijuana oil will cure their child of autism – and that's not what’s happening, she says. “But it does make everything more manageable. We are talking about our kids having less anxiety, restlessness and outbursts, a real game-changer for the quality of life of people with autism and their families and caregivers,” Dar adds.
For Tanya, the homeschooling mother of Leia, a nonverbal, low-functioning, autistic 10-year-old, medical marijuana offers some hope for relief in the form of medication that has already been tested and proved effective.
“We want to get the right treatment for her,” Tanya says. “I’m not expecting miracles. I want it to help Leia sleep, that’s what I want it for. I have no idea what to expect, so I want to give it a try in an organized way.”
 
Treating Autism With Cannabis Now Has Scientific Support
By Joshua Kaplan | Oct 16, 2017

New research suggests that the cannabis-extract cannabidiol could help treat autism.

Autism is challenging to treat pharmacologically because there’s no single cause. Autism can be caused by genetic factors, environmental factors (e.g., pesticide exposure) or a combination of both. Depending on the underlying cause, the severity of symptoms ranges across a spectrum, thus leading to the classification of autism as a spectrum disorder.

But a recent study suggests that cannabidiol (CBD) could offer relief for people on the spectrum. Here's why.

A Broken Gate
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by communication deficits, aberrant social behavior, and restricted and repetitive motor behaviors. In many cases, ASD symptoms are the result of reduced inhibition in the brain. For instance, genetic causes can lead to the reduced activity of inhibitory brain cells, thus tipping the brain’s balance towards excitation. This is reflected in hypersensitivity to stimuli, such as to lights, odors, noises, or tactile stimuli that makes the individual act “abnormally” in social situations.

The individual who retreats from a social situation may be doing so because they’re overwhelmed by a strong odor, anxious from direct eye contact, or a host of other reasons brought on by an insufficient inhibitory gate in the brain. In about a quarter of ASD cases, the reduced brain inhibition is so profound, and the resulting increase in brain excitation so great, that seizures result. These cases, in which epilepsy and ASD co-occur, generally reflect the severe end of the spectrum and what scientists are seeking to treat.

Restoring inhibition in the brain thus seems like a reasonable approach to treatment. In mice that were genetically altered to express autism-like behaviors, scientists from Stanford University used a technique called “optogenetics” to increase the brain’s level of inhibition. The researchers could activate inhibitory brain cells by turning on a light-emitting diode (LED) in the brains of mice. When the light was off, the mice avoided social interaction. However, when they flipped the light on, the mice engaged in normal social behavior. Unfortunately, at this point we can’t use optogenetics in humans yet. So we need a new strategy to restore the brain’s inhibition.

CBD to the Rescue
Our research team at the University of Washington sought to similarly treat a mouse model of autism, but instead of using light, we used CBD. CBD has gained recognition and respect in the medical community for its success in treating seizures in children with Dravet Syndrome, a severe childhood epileptic disorder characterized by frequent seizures and autism. While these clinical trials showed that CBD was an effective anti-epileptic in these patients, they never investigated CBD’s effects on ASD. In fact, no clinical study has ever looked at the potential for CBD to treat ASD. To date, there’s only one clinical study being conducted in Israel, but it’s not expected to be completed until 2019. And there’s never been a study of CBD in animal models of autism…until now.

Nearly a decade ago, our lab created a genetic mouse model of Dravet Syndrome by mutating the same gene that causes the disorder in humans. And just like humans, mice have spontaneous seizures and exhibit autism-like behaviors. My colleagues and I used these mice to test whether CBD could treat not only seizures, but autism as well.

Autism is a human disorder, so how do you test autism in mice? Of course, there’s no perfect test, but scientists can model certain common aspects of autistic behavior such as preference to engage in social interaction along with the quality of that interaction. In one test, a mouse chooses between interacting with another mouse or an inanimate object. Generally, mice prefer spending time with the other mouse over the object. But autistic-like mice, such as our Dravet Syndrome mouse, are indifferent, and spend an equal amount of time interacting with the mouse as the object. We gave these mice CBD and the amount of time they spent interacting with the other mouse shot way up (notably, we only needed to give them 10-20% of the anti-epileptic dose to achieve this effect).

Looking at the quality of the social interactions, we found that our autistic-like mice tended to dart away from a social interaction and huddle in the corner of their testing box. This escape can be thought of as social anxiety, perhaps because they’re overcome by socially-related sensory stimuli. However, CBD reduced the frequency of these escapes and improved the quality of their social interaction. So in both of our measures of autistic-like social behavior in mice, CBD improved performance.

To understand how CBD was treating autistic-like behavior in our mice, we recorded the electrical signals in individual brain cells. We found that CBD increased brain inhibition and restored balance by blocking a brain receptor called GPR55, which affects how brain cells communicate with one another. GPR55 is one of CBD’s many brain targets which makes it such a diverse therapeutic tool for treating everything from pain to autism.

Social behavior in mice remains an imperfect model of ASD in humans. But as long as the federal government cannabis classifies alongside heroin as a Schedule I drug — a classification reserved for dangerous substances that have no accepted medical use — then it’s unlikely that we'll see large-scale human trials of CBD and ASD in the United States anytime soon. So for now, we hold our breath as we await the results of Israel’s clinical trial, but can sleep easier knowing that we’re finding success…at least in mice.

 
Autism: The Next Big CBD Breakthrough
October 29, 2017


The concept of cannabis as a medicine took a big leap forward with breakthroughs in pediatric epilepsy. Stories from all over the globe about children finding miracles through CBD therapy are helping push cannabis and marijuana reform forward. If science delivers, the medical marijuana industry may just get another boost into mainstream, as new studies out of Israel are starting to show the same miraculous results for children suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism is a mental condition, developed in early childhood, characterized with communication difficulty, trouble forming relationships, and problems with using language and abstract concepts. The Centers for Disease Control estimates 1 in 68 children in the United States are afflicted with some form autism. Children with autism have challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as unique strengths and differences.

Current Treatment Options Failing
Just two medications are currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, antipsychotic drugs with troublesome side effects. Although these medications may help manage high energy, focus issues, depression, and seizures. Parents are often faced with the question, “Are the side effects any better than the affliction?”

Antipsychotic medicines, such as haloperidol and risperidone work by changing the effects of brain chemicals, but these medicines can have side effects, including sleepiness, tremors, and weight gain. In an article in USA Today, one mother spoke of her experience while treating her daughter’s autism with pharmaceutical medications, “She was like a zombie,” she said. “She would just sit there with her mouth wide open, not moving.”

Israeli Cannabis Research – Leading the Way
Despite the US Patent on the medicinal properties of CBD, little research is being conducted in the United States. Thankfully, an Israeli pediatric neurologist is paving the way in researching the effects of CBD on autism. Dr. Adi Aran, head of the pediatric neurology department at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem is leading a two-year clinical trial using CBD to treat autism in children and young adults. The first trial of its kind, which received approval from Israel’s Minister of Health in January, involves 120 patients aged five to 29 with mild to severe autism. Patients are using either one of two different cannabis oil formulas, or a placebo, in tincture form.

Preclinical studies for CBD and autism are promising, as Dr. Aran conducted an observational study on 70 of his own autistic patients which demonstrated significant improvements with CBD. Some began communicating better, while other stopped hurting themselves or throwing tantrums.

The success has other parents rushing to get in on the study, hopeful for a breakthrough of their own,

“Our waiting lists are full. Many, many families want to participate and they come from all over Israel,” Aran was quoted in the Times of Israel. “They hope, and they heard from their friends and other families, that it might help.”

Once again, science is finally starting to unlock the secrets of the endocannabinoid system to provide hope for children and their parents. As legalization continues to spread worldwide, and research reveals the depth of the endocannabinoid system, how many other children and adults will find an all-natural, life-changing treatment option for autism, epilepsy, and myriad of other chronic conditions and diseases through cannabis?

Autism Speaks
Organizations like the Green Roads World and Autism Speaks Foundation are dedicated to the awareness, treatment, and especially research of this condition to better understand it an help those find hope and restore happiness in those who have been affected. Consider donating to Green Roads World and Autism Speaks Foundation to advance the research on autism to help understand how the secrets of the endocannabinoid system may be the key to advancing knowledge on this condition.


 
New Study on Cannabis and Autism Supports Parents’ Longtime Claims

Parents of some autistic children have long reported that their kids calm down with cannabinoids, are better able to communicate, and can do more tasks by themselves. But because of the restrictions on cannabis research in the United States, there have been precious few real-world studies to confirm those anecdotal reports.


A recent study out of Israel, which approved cannabis research in 2007, gives parents new evidence to back up those claims. Published Jan 17. in the journal Nature, the study found that yes, cannabis can relieve some of the symptoms suffered by many autistic people, including seizures, restlessness, and rage attacks.

“Cannabis in ASD patients appears to be well tolerated, safe and effective option to relieve symptoms associated with ASD.”
The study, “Real Life Experience of Medical Cannabis Treatment in Autism; Analysis of Safety and Efficacy,” followed 188 autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients over a six-month period. The subjects were mostly male (81.9%) and had a mean age of 12.9 years, with 14 of the participants younger than five, 70 patients between six and 10, and 72 patients between 11 and 18. Their autism symptoms included “restlessness, rage attacks, agitation, speech impairment, cognitive impairment, anxiety, incontinence, depression and more.”

“Although many with autism are being treated today with medical cannabis, there is a significant lack of knowledge regarding the safety profile and the specific symptoms that are most likely to improve under cannabis treatment,” wrote the study’s authors, Lihi Bar-Lev Schleider, Raphael Mechoulam, Naama Saban, Gal Meiri, and Victor Novack.



The aims of the study were straightforward: “to characterize the patient population receiving medical cannabis treatment for autism and to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this therapy.”

Its conclusion is emphatic: “Cannabis in ASD patients appears to be well tolerated, safe and effective option to relieve symptoms associated with ASD.”

Treatment and Findings
Parents have often reported that cannabis and CBD help calm their autistic children and help them focus. And for children who suffer from epileptic seizures, cannabis can help decrease the frequency. Parents such as Brandy Williams, a cannabis activist in Arizona, gave cannabis to her autistic son Logan, who experienced epileptic seizures, and noticed significant changes. He stopped rocking back and forth, and he was able to communicate more clearly.



Most of the subjects in the Israel study were given cannabis oil (30% CBD and 1.5% THC). One month into the trial, respondents were asked to rate their quality of life using the Likert scale “ranging from very poor to poor, neither poor nor good and good to very good,” and report side effects to provide a better yardstick for the final results.

At the end of the study’s six-month course, 155 subjects of the original 188 were still in active treatment. Others had dropped out or began a different treatment option. Of those 155 patients, 93 had been assessed through questionnaires.

Of those 93 patients, 28 (30.1%) reported a “significant” improvement, 50 patients (53.7%) reported a “moderate” improvement, and six (6.4%) reported a “slight” improvement. Only 8 patients (8.6%) showed no change in their condition.

Roughly a quarter of the assessed patients (25.2%) experienced some form of side effect, but most were minor. The most common was restlessness, which was reported by 6.6% of subjects. Others included sleepiness (3.2%), a psychoactive effect (3.2%), increased appetite (3.2%), digestion problems (3.2%), dry mouth (2.2%) and lack of appetite (2.2%).



The patients reported that their quality of life—that is “their mood and ability to perform activities of daily living”—had improved in six months. Prior to the study, 31.3% said they had a good quality of life. After, that figure more than doubled, rising to 66.8%.

“Quality of life” isn’t some nebulous thing. It has real-world meaning. For instance, the subject’s parents found that patients could dress themselves more easily after six months, an improvement of 21.5%.

Autism and Epilepsy
Nearly a third of autistic people are diagnosed with epilepsy—a condition that has been shown to respond well to cannabis treatment.



In the Israeli study, 14.4% of the participants had epilepsy. As in many studies involving autism, the subjects were usually taking other medications, which can make it more difficult to assess the effectiveness of cannabis treatment. Some of the patients in the study, for example, were also taking antipsychotic, antiepileptic, and antidepressant drugs.

Of the 93 patients who responded to the final questionnaire—about a third decreased or stopped some of those medications. After six months, 11 of the patients had stopped taking antipsychotic medication altogether.

Dosing Depends
The doses were not a one-size-fits all application—some patients received a drop of oil three times a day that contained 15 milligrams CBD and 0.75 mg THC. Others received up to 20 drops of oil three times a day.



Though the study is a step forward for demonstrating that cannabis can help autistic people, the researchers believe more work needs to be done. “While this study suggest that cannabis treatment is safe and can improve ASD symptoms and improve ASD patient’s quality of life, we believe that double blind placebo-controlled trials are crucial for a better understanding of the cannabis effect on ASD patients.“

 
I wish it was helping with my NVLD. It does help with the related stress though.
MMJ doesn't help us Aspies in understanding communication that isn’t verbal either. (That includes body language, tone of voice and facial expressions.)

But definitely with you on the stress-relief part!
 
Can medical marijuana help kids with autism?

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(HealthDay)—Medical marijuana extracts appear to help children with autism, reducing their disruptive behavior while improving their social responsiveness, a new Israeli clinical trial reports.


Kids treated with either a whole-plant cannabis extract or a pure combination of cannabidiol (CBD) and THC experienced a significant improvement in their symptoms, compared with a control groupgiven a placebo, researchers said.

But parents of kids with autism should still wait for more data before trying to treat them with medical marijuana, warned lead researcher Dr. Adi Aran, director of the pediatric neurology unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

"Thousands of parents already are treating their kids with cannabis based on rumors of this study," Aran said. "I don't want it to be even more."

For the study, 150 children with autism were put in one of three groups. One group received a placebo, another was treated with a whole-plant extract of marijuana, and the third received a pure blend of CBD and THC at a 20-to-1 ratio.

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the compound that produces intoxication when one uses marijuana.

CBD is a compound in marijuana that does not produce intoxication, but does appear to interact with cannabinoid receptors in the brain. One CBD-based product, Epidiolex, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in treating epilepsy.

CBD has been shown to help anxiety in several studies, so researchers thought it might aid in treating behavioral problems in kids with autism, Aran said. These include acting out and violence towards others.

The THC was included in the pure blend because "we believe the THC might be important for improving the social deficits as well," Aran said. "THC is known to impact the social area."

The whole-plant extract included not only CBD and THC, but many other compounds also found in cannabis, Aran said.

The kids were treated for two four-week periods, with a four-week break in the middle.

Kids taking a cannabis extract improved 49% and 53% on two scales in which doctors and parents measure autism symptoms and disruptive behavior. That compared to 21% and 44% improvement, respectively, in kids on the placebo.

The children treated with marijuana also showed 50% improvement on a scale that tracks core autism symptoms, compared with 22% for kids taking the placebo.

However, children treated with marijuana were more likely to suffer from decreased appetite, sleepiness and disturbed sleep.

Simon Baron-Cohen is president of the International Society for Autism Research, and reviewed the study. "From the brief information, we must advise those considering this as a form of treatment to use caution, given the report of significant rates of unwanted side effects," he said.

"The authors are to be commended for collecting this evidence and for transparent reporting of the results, since this allows parents and autistic people to make informed choices, understand risks and manage expectations," Baron-Cohen added.

Researchers plan a follow-up clinical trial that will include more children from different countries, Aran said.

He cautioned against becoming too excited about this potential therapy.

"It's not a miracle treatment," Aran said. "It might be another tool in our toolbox."

These findings were presented last week at the International Society for Autism Research's annual meeting, in Montreal. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
 

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