Six-year-old needs marijuana-derived drug to treat his debilitating seizures
With the federal government continuing to crack down on California’s medical marijuana program, a young boy’s health is now at risk. The Los Angeles Times reports that a six-year-old living with debilitating seizures in Modesto, California, may soon lose access to the marijuana-derived medication that had been helping him.
Six-year-old Jayden David was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, a “catastrophic” and “potentially life-threatening” seizure disorder, before he was even two years old. Often unable to eat or respond to those around him, Jayden was so sick he would sometimes scream out in fear. His family tried a variety of treatment and doctors, but lived in hopelessness until they discovered Cannabidiol (CBD) – a relatively little-known, non-psychotropic component of cannabis that offers many of weed’s medical benefits without the high of THC. After 14 months of treatment, CBD has reduced Jayden’s number of prescriptions from 22 to four, and he is acting more and more like an average child: eating, speaking and cheerfully singing along to Yo Gabba Gabba!