Subscriptions - Maximum Yield Cannabis USA September/October 2020 | Page 91

July 2018 was historic as the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) approved the first cannabisassociated
medication. The medicine,
called Epidiolex, created by GW
Pharmaceuticals, is 98 percent CBD oil.
The FDA allowed the medication for
two rare types of juvenile epilepsy, and
the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
removed the Schedule 1 classification
for any medication approved by FDA.
This approval came after clinical
trials with 517 patients using Epidiolex
along with their normal anti-seizure
medications. In these trials, about
half of the patients saw a reduction
of seizures to 50 percent of the
pre-Epidiolex use, and 6.7 percent
became seizure free. A year’s supply of
Epidiolex costs about $32,000 and even
more at a higher dose.
CHARLOTTE FIGI
AND CDB FOR EPILEPSY
The credit for the CBD discovery in
treating epilepsy probably belongs to
the grandfather of the late Charlotte
Figi, a girl with Dravet Syndrome
(a lifelong form of epilepsy). She
was having up to 300 seizures a
week when her grandfather found
research suggesting marijuana might
help. Taking this information to the
Stanley Brothers in Colorado, they
tried a cannabis plant with low THC
and high CBD. With that plant, and
extraction, they created Charlotte’s
Web, a CBD-based product that helped
Charlotte become seizure free. Since this
discovery in 2011, thousands of patients
have used Charlotte’s Web CBD.
“ The wild
hemp plants,
without THC, seemed to help
a bit, but smoking did not
work, so I started making a
tea with fresh leaves.”
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY
I am a 70-year-old hydroponics
enthusiast. I was first diagnosed
with epilepsy when I was 20 years
old. I have spent 50 years on and off
epilepsy medications to control my
seizure disorder. I can go years without
seizure activity and then have seizures
again. I have a long history of trying to
treat my disorder with just about every
remedy imaginable.
I now have osteoporosis, caused
partly from using Dilantin as a
seizure medication. This has resulted
in new disability issues related to
broken bones. In the past year I have
broken five ribs.
Additionally, I have been
experimenting with live hemp and
marijuana plants for at least 50 years.
The use of smoked marijuana did not
help me; in fact, it caused vertigo.
The wild hemp plants, without THC,
seemed to help a bit, but smoking did
not work, so I started making a tea
with fresh leaves.
To maintain a seizure medication,
the body should have a relatively
stable amount of the medication in
your system. When taking Dilantin, for
example, a typical prescription is a
certain amount taken four times a day.
With most seizure medications, there
are difficult side effects. The way they
make you feel is a sort of a kicked-back
feeling, and by the time the medication
controls seizures, you are likely to be
operating in a diminished capacity.
Thirty percent of the people with a
seizure disorder do not respond to any
seizure medications. These people
are called intractable and could use a
new medication. Because most of the
seizure medications do not work for me,
I am considered either intractable on
non-compliant. Because of this history,
I am not allowed to drive.
Maximum Yield 91