Spectrum Disorders



AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS


Some physicians and parents have embraced cannabis as a treatment to calm severely agitated and violent autistic children. This use of oral cannabis to treat children and adolescents with autism remains controversial. In 2013, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that state legislatures issue tighter restrictions on the use of medical marijuana by children, primarily to counter a growing trend of parents using cannabis to treat their autistic-spectrum children. But everyone agrees that more research needs to be done on the uses of cannabis with autism spectrum disorders.



Historical Uses


Bernard Rimland, in the early 1960s, pioneered modern research into childhood neurobehavioral disorders, including autism. He later became an early advocate of the use of cannabis with autism spectrum disorders. According to Rimland’s Autism Research Institute, cannabis has successfully reduced some autistic children’s aggression, anxiety, panic disorders, tantrums, and self-injurious behavior. In the Internet age, parents of autism spectrum children have taken to the blogosphere to chronicle their experiences using cannabis medicines. In the summer 2010 issue of O’Shaughnessy’s, Harvard professor Lester Grinspoon, MD, wrote an argument supporting future research into the uses of cannabis to treat autism spectrum children, but also supporting the rights of parents to try experimental treatments in the hopes of helping their severely ill children.23


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Jun 24, 2016 | Posted by in PHARMACY | Comments Off on Spectrum Disorders

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