Hearing set on adding autism to medical marijuana list

Hearing set on adding autism to medical marijuana list

Published on 5/22/15

Children with epilepsy are starting to become more prominently prescribed medical marijuana as it has been shown to be the only thing to truly stop the seizures and return to them their childhood. For Noah, a 6-year old boy in Michigan, it has not only treated his epilepsy, but also his more reckless symptoms of severe autism. Noah's mother is able to give him marijuana oil because of his epilepsy, but his autism alone is not enough to receive medical marijuana. Before having tried medical marijuana, he couldn't control many of his outbreaks of kicking, punching, and pulling hair, but now his mother says he is more calm and focused. This week a committee of health officials will hear the arguments for adding autism to the state list of medical marijuana qualifying conditions.

“It seems to work. ... Wouldn’t that be better than giving them all these psychiatric drugs?” Chugani said. “Not every autistic kid would take this, but if your behavior is wild and you have to be institutionalized, I as a physician would prefer to try medical marijuana. I have at least 50 patients on multiple drugs and still their behaviors are not controlled.”

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