Scotland To Trial Cannabis Based Medicine For Children

Epidiolex is a treatment based on cannabidiol (CBD), which is a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant. In previous cases reported in the US, it has been successfully used to treat epilepsy and experts are hoping that it will also help children in Scotland with seizures they cannot control. CBD oil is already available as a nutritional supplemenet, but there could be a much more useful advantage to the substance on the horizon.

Many children with serious forms of epilepsy do not respond to the medications that we currently have available. We need new means of treating these conditions so that we can give back some quality of life to these children and their families. Dr Richard Chin, director of the Muir Maxwell Epilepsy Centre Some patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, will be given Epidolex, while others will be administered a placebo to measure the effects of the new medicine. Depending on the success of the trials, this could be the start of a serious process of consideration for using medical marijuana in the UK. It's not the first time the illegal drug has been successfully used for medicinal reasons. One father has spoken about how medical marijuana gave his seriously ill son a new lease of life.