An extract of medical marijuana shown considerable promise as a treatment for young people epileptics because it could reduce seizures in children with severe epilepsy who do not usually respond to other treatments, according to a study by the Langone Comprenhensive Epilepsy Center at the University of New York (USA) and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The study is based on the use of cannabidiol extract, the main component of this plant and which, unlike the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is not psychoactive, so it has no direct effect on the central nervous system or change its functions or perceptions.

In the experiment, 213 patients participated, among young adults and children with an average age of 11 years and diagnosed with severe epilepsy (leading convulsions with which to live life), which were administered orally cannabidiol. During the 12 weeks of the study, researchers found that seizures were reduced in children an average of 54%.

At the beginning and end of this experimental treatment by the FDA (approved US Food and Drug Administration), 6% of the participants had to abandon the race due to the side effects of this medicinal form of marijuana: diarrhea, drowsiness, fatigue or decreased appetite.

Either way the results are encouraging, according to scientists, since the medical application of this non – psychoactive component of marijuana could help other than epilepsy, for multiple sclerosis, anxiety disorders or schizophrenia.

“So far there are few formal studies on this component of marijuana. These results are of great interest, especially for children and parents seeking an answer to reduce seizures, ” says the leader of the study.