Pubdate: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 Source: Times-Tribune, The (Scranton PA) Copyright: 2015 Associated Press Contact: http://www.thetimes-tribune.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4440 Author: Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press MEDICAL POT FOR KIDS REBUKED Pediatricians Group OKs It Only for Sickest Children CHICAGO (AP) - With virtually no hard proof that medical marijuana benefits sick children, and evidence that it may harm developing brains, the drug should be used only for severely ill kids who have no other treatment option, the nation's most influential pediatricians group says in a new policy. Some parents insist that medical marijuana has cured their kids' troublesome seizures or led to other improvements, but the American Academy of Pediatrics' new policy says rigorous research is needed to verify those claims. To make it easier to study and develop marijuana-based treatments, the group recommends removing marijuana from the government's most restrictive drug category, which includes heroin, LSD and other narcotics with no accepted medical use, and switching it to the category that includes methadone and oxycodone. The recommended switch "could help make a big difference in promoting more research," said Dr. Seth Ammerman, the policy's lead author and a professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Stanford University. The academy's qualified support may lead more pediatricians to prescribe medical marijuana, but the group says pediatric use should be considered only "for children with life-limiting or severely debilitating conditions and for whom current therapies are inadequate." The pediatrics academy also repeated its previous advice against legalizing marijuana for recreational use by adults, suggesting that may enable easier access for kids. It does not address medical marijuana use in adults. Studies have linked recreational marijuana use in kids with ill effects on health and brain development, including problems with memory, concentration, attention, judgment and reaction time, the group's policy emphasizes. The policy was published online today in Pediatrics. The new policy updates and expands the group's 2004 policy. Since then, the marijuana movement has grown substantially. Marijuana has dozens of chemical components that need to be studied just like any drug to determine safety, proper doses and potential side effects, said Dr. Angus Wilfong of Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. "The cart is so far ahead of the horse related to this drug," he said ONLINE: American Academy of Pediatrics: www.aap.org Medical marijuana: http://tinyurl.com/axxzhrj [sidebar] A gradually growing movement Recreational and medical marijuana use is legal for adults in four states - Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Nineteen other states - Pennsylvania is not among them - and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing medical marijuana use only, and most allow children to qualify, according to Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group that advocates marijuana policy reform and tracks state laws. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom