When I first started learning about cannabidiol’s use in epilepsy patients back in 2013, the agent was shrouded in taboo with a sprinkling of “homeopathic medicine” vibes. Because of the decades-long war on drugs, marijuana and marijuana plant-derived compounds were considered far too imperfect and far too risky to be used for medical purposes. But there was evidence that cannbidiol (CBD) could work in people with epilepsy from a decades-old study of a very small population of drug-resistant patients in Israel. Evidence in animal seizure and epilepsy models consistently indicated that CBD, albeit not perfectly pure, could work as well as other, FDA-approved antiseizure drugs on the market at the time. So using CBD for people with epilepsy, and in particular children with catastrophic, drug-resistant epilepsy seemed scientifically justified, even if the legal hurdles appeared insurmountable.

But cut to a remarkable story about a little girl, Charlotte Figi, who was suffering from frequent, uncontrollable seizures at the expense of her neurological development. Suddenly, Charlotte was able to gain seizure control without sedation. Her treatment? Cannabidiol extract from a high CBD-containing strain of marijuana plant grown by the Stanley farmers/brothers in Colorado who also happened to be the state’s, at the time, largest weed growers and dispensary owners. It sounds like a movie plot.

The CBD extracts were able to fundamentally transform Charlotte’s life. And thus the story of CBD for epilepsy was born. CBD was approved for Dravet Syndrome by the FDA in 2018 and this later forced the US DEA to change the schedule of CBD from schedule I (most restricted) to no schedule (no restrictions). We now are able to work with CBD without research restrictions allowing more information to come forward.

Our full summary is now in print.