Cannabidiol Oil: A Glimmer of Hope
By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, Staff Writer - San Antonio Express News
When the seizure begins, Conrad Tullis’ frail body cramps up in a painful contraction.
The 12-year-old who suffered a severe brain injury a decade ago endures spasms that can last five minutes or more, his head craning hard to the right. Sometimes he whimpers during the convulsions, which can strike 10 to 15 times a day.
Afterward, the seventh-grader is exhausted, unable to interact with the world in even the minimal way he’s learned since falling into his grandfather’s swimming pool when he was 2.
A host of traditional seizure medications haven’t helped Conrad — indeed, they’ve likely hurt the boy, with their cascading roster of debilitating side effects.
Now, mother Liz Tullis hopes that two bipartisan bills before the Texas Legislature will become law so Conrad and other children with uncontrollable epilepsy might have access to a substance some have deemed a miracle drug — cannabidiol oil, or CBD oil.
A compound extracted from the marijuana plant, the oil is legal in more than a dozen states; a number of others are weighing legislation to make it so. Proponents, which include a growing cadre of parents of kids with intractable epilepsy, emphasize that CBD oil, which is administered orally and not smoked, is “noneuphoric” because it’s very low in THC, the psychoactive component of pot.
“This is not about getting children high,” said Tullis, who is among a small battalion of Texas parents and epilepsy advocates lobbying for passage of the Texas Compassionate Use Act. “It’s about relieving them of these devastating seizures, which can be life-threatening.”
Now, possession of any amount of CBD oil in Texas is illegal, causing great frustration among parents who decry what they believe is a fundamental injustice: They’re barred from giving a possibly life-altering medicine to their suffering children simply because they live in the wrong state.
Read the full article: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Parents-lobby-for-miracle-drug-that-comes-6209126.php?t=145ae0fc72a24b0ba0&cmpid=twitter-premium