Enlarge / Medical marijuana growing in a facility in Canada. (credit: Getty | Richard Lautens)
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial—the gold-standard design—a component of marijuana called cannabidiol (CBD) reduced seizures in children with a rare and devastating form of epilepsy.
The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, provide the first solid evidence that marijuana can be used to treat epilepsy, something some patient groups and advocates have argued for years. It also adds to mounting data supporting the medicinal value of the controversial plant. The Drug Enforcement Administration currently lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which are those with no accepted medical use but a high potential for abuse.
A landmark review of marijuana research, released in January by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, concluded that marijuana can effectively treat chronic pain in some patients. But for other conditions, including epilepsy, the data is still inconclusive. Earlier trials on epilepsy, for instance, were small or suboptimal, and provided mixed results.
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