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  • The Therapeutic Role of Medical Cannabis for the Treatment of Epilepsy

    Description:
    Cannabis sativa, commonly known as marijuana, was once widely coveted for its medicinal properties in the ancient world. However, over the past several centuries, marijuana rose to notorious fame to claim the title as the world’s most illicit and stigmatized drug. Due to its criminalized status, its use declined dramatically as the world turned its back on all the medicinal properties that the cannabis plant has to offer. In recent years, tremendous support from the public and several state legislatures worked to reverse marijuana’s stigmatized past by instating laws to decriminalize and legalize the recreational and medical use of marijuana in some states. Because the marijuana laws in many states still reflect those enacted during the cannabis prohibition at the end of the 20th century, the necessary procurement of cannabis for research purposes remains restricted, which results in limited clinical data on the safety of medical cannabis use for the treatment of ailments such as epilepsy. As one of the most common non-communicable neurological condition, epilepsy reduces the quality of life of all affected individuals. In addition, one-third of epileptic patients is drug-resistant and develops adverse side effects when they take conventional antiepileptic drugs.Therefore, an efficient drug with few side effects is urgently demanded for many epileptic cases that respond poorly to certain conventional treatments. The non-psychoactive component of medical cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), has proven to have antiepileptic effects. Recent clinical trials discover that patients who are treated with higher levels of CBD have decreased the frequency at which their seizures occur. The goal of this paper is to provide a quick overview of the history of medical cannabis and current medical cannabis laws in conjunction with the introduction to the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and the mechanisms of CBD. Hopefully, the literature review will positively rebrand marijuana by conveying the efficacy at which medical cannabis can be used to effectively treat drug-resistant epilepsy and improve the quality of life of patients.
    Creator:
    Ly, Thu Anh
    Contributor:
    Dr Daniel Fried, Thesis Advisor
    Owner:
    lsquillante@saintpeters.edu
    Publisher:
    Saint Peter's University
    Date Uploaded:
    10/23/2019
    Date Modified:
    10/23/2019
    Rights Statement:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Research Paper