Pubdate: Wed, 17 Dec 2014
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Copyright: 2014 The Scotsman Publications Ltd
Contact: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/contactus.aspx
Website: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/406
Author: Rhiannon Edwards

SCOTS TO TRIAL CANNABIS AS AN EPILEPSY TREATMENT

CHILDREN with severe epilepsy could be helped by a new treatment 
derived from the cannabis plant which is to be trialled in Scotland.

Doctors in the UK have been given the go-ahead to test the medicine, 
which does not contain the ingredient that produces the high 
associated with recreational cannabis use.

The treatment, called Epidiolex, is based on one of the 
nonpsychoactive components of the cannabis plant, called CBD.

Early studies in the US have shown treatment may reduce the frequency 
and severity of seizures in children with severe forms of epilepsy.

The new trial marks the first time the treatment has been tested in 
the UK. Patients are being enrolled for a trial of the treatment at 
the University of Edinburgh's Muir Maxwell Epilepsy Centre, at the 
Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, and Great Ormond 
Street Hospital. The Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow is 
also participating in the study.

Centre director Dr Richard Chin said: "We need new means of treating 
these conditions so that we can give back some quality of life to 
these children and their families."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom