Alabama Shakes No More: Traditionally Conservative Southern State Making Great Strides In Research On Treating Seizures With CBD Oil
Of the many U.S. states where progress toward a sane policy on medical and recreational marijuana use is ongoing, one surprisingly progressive state is Alabama. Researchers in the conservative southern bastion have been making great strides in showing how CBD oil can be used to treat seizures.
Cannabidiol, or CBD oil is derived from the marijuana plant, and is thus an illegal treatment option in Alabama. However what is being called “Leni’s Law”–named after a four-year-old named Leni Young whose family was forced to move from Alabama to Oregon in order to gain access to CBD oil to treat her seizures–has authorized limited use of CBD oil to treat seizures.
Another benefit of the law is it has engendered a study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to look at the uses of CBD oil in treating seizure disorders.
An offshoot of a similar, earlier law called Carly’s Law–named after another girl suffering from seizures whose family petitioned the Alabama State House to allow a prior round of testing of CBD oil at UAB.
That study has shown some promising early results, with 50 percent of the 51 participants showing sustained improvement in seizure control, with the declines in seizures ranging form 32 percent to 45 percent.
The study has since been expanded to encompass 95 participants, and abstracts have been submitted to the American Epilepsy Society.
But for the Young family and Leni, the proof of CBD oil effectiveness is something they get to witness every day.
Her mother, Amy Young says that Leni’s seizures have declined from hundreds a day to a total of six since September. The girl began taking CBD oil in August.
“Leni is great,” Young said. “She is spectacular. She is using her body more and more and doing new things every day.”
However the opponents of Leni’s Law are not finished. The Medical Association of the State of Alabama fought it’s adoption. Ironically, the medical group sought to invoke the laws of science and testing to oppose the law–this, despite the fact that without the passage of the law, the UAB studies would have been legally suspect and probably not approved by university brass.
“The practice of medicine is evidence-based whereby the treatments and procedures we use are extensively researched and tested to make certain they are as safe as possible for the patients under our care,” read the letter the doctor’s group submitted to the legislature.
That…sounds like exactly what the researchers at UAB are doing.
For their part, the Young family has all the research they need, in the form of the healthy and happy Leni,
“Leni is proof enough for me,” Young said. “I understand that other people need to have a lot more documentation.”
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http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/07/alabama_parents_say_newly_lega.html