What Happened When They Treated Autistic Children With Medical Cannabis?

For some bizarre reason, there is not a state in the US that recognizes Autism as a qualifying condition to use cannabis medically, except in the case of California where doctors can prescribe cannabis to anyone they feel will benefit medicinally.

In the Spring of 2014 we started working with our son’s new friend friend Noah to treat his Autism and Dravet Syndrome with higher THC cannabis and nutrition. Noah was on several AEDs and supplements as well as a 20:1 CBD oil at the time, and while his seizure control was very good, Noah’s neuronal activity was anything but, he was suffering every day.

Noah did not communicate and was very obsessive, compulsive and hyperactive. He had no comprehension, he defied and attacked those around him, and his coordination and motor skills were very limited. I felt that the CBD was too high in ratio for Noah and after doing a bit of research, I began to feel intuitively that children with Autism may often benefit more from the higher THC ratios as the THC redirects the neurons in a way that is more manageable for Autistic persons.

We started Noah the next day on a higher THC ratio medicine in addition to an inactivated (THC-a) oil….and the helmet came off. Noah’s new life started that day. He could smile, sit still, calm down, communicate, cry, hug, listen…..he could be a little boy. Noah is 4.5 years old and has come from being developmentally less than 18 months old to about 30 months old in less than 6 months. He has been having milestones every week or two, catching up cognitively where he was prevented from growing and learning before.

We slowly added in more CBD from high CBD strains into Noah’s mixed strain oils until we learned that Noah benefited most from a 1:3 CBD:THC ratio from mixed strains and a 2:1 Cannatonic phenotype made into oil, but the higher THC ratio was important at night as Noah was able to stop taking his 7mg dose of Melatonin and sleep through the night without seizure activity. During the day Noah seems more focused and better able to learn with the 2:1 Cannatonic. We acknowledge though that his brain and his body will change throughout the years to come and he may need different ratios and medicines.