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Web End = Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep (2015) 15: 65
DOI 10.1007/s11910-015-0586-5
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Web End = EPILEPSY (CW BAZIL, SECTION EDITOR)
Marijuana Use in Epilepsy: The Myth and the Reality
Kamil Detyniecki1 & Lawrence Hirsch1
Published online: 25 August 2015# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract Marijuana has been utilized as a medicinal plant to treat a variety of conditions for nearly five millennia. Over the past few years, there has been an unprecedented interest in using cannabis extracts to treat epilepsy, spurred on by a few refractory pediatric cases featured in the media that had an almost miraculous response to cannabidiol-enriched marijuana extracts. This review attempts to answer the most important questions a clinician may have regarding the use of marijuana in epilepsy. First, we review the preclinical and human evidences for the anticonvulsant properties of the different cannabinoids, mainly tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Then, we explore the safety data from animal and human studies. Lastly, we attempt to reconcile the controversy regarding physicians and patients opinions about whether the available evidence is sufficient to recommend the use of marijuana to treat epilepsy.
Keywords Marijuana . Cannabinoids . Epilepsy . Cannabidiol . Tetrahydrocannabinol
Introduction
For nearly 5000 years, cannabis has been used widely to treat a variety of medical conditions. These include nausea, anorexia, glaucoma, pain, muscle spasticity, asthma, depression,
anxiety, among many others [1]. Marijuana has been a particularly interesting candidate for epilepsy treatment. Some of the first attempts in using marijuana to treat epilepsy date back to the nineteenth century when prominent English neurologists, Reynolds and Gowers, described anecdotal successes. [2, 3]. From the late nineteenth century till the mid twentieth century, there is a paucity of data regarding the use of cannabis to treat seizures in the English language medical literature. By World War II, the US 1937 Marijuana Tax act virtually terminated all research on cannabis. As the political climate has changed and many states have recently allowed the medical use of marijuana, this has led to increased interest in research. A few pioneer studies in the late 1970s and 80s showed...