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I made my son cannabis cookies. They changed his life
- pizza 10y agoCurrently trying some CBD oil with my moms. Prognosis: groovy. I spend less time anxious, irritable, hyperactive, distant, incapable of eating. It's quite nice. She likes it for going to sleep better and staying asleep longer, and I suspect its helped decrease her allergy/inflammation symptoms that wake her up in the middle of the night, coughing.
- AndrewKahr 10y agoCBD is helping my friend get off Percocet addiction.
- bengale 10y agoCBD makes it possible for me to do things that my anxiety used to stop.
- eli 10y agoI'm keeping an open mind, but these all sound like things a good placebo could accomplish
- patrickaljord 10y agoThe war on drugs is probably one of the biggest crime against humanity since WW2 with millions of deaths, millions in prisons, and trillions of dollars and human resources wasted, mostly affecting the poor and minorities everywhere. This needs to stop. Sadly, it looks like it will go on for a few more decades.
- guard-of-terra 10y agoWhat's funniest, USA created War on Drugs to tackle their internal purposes, but the rest of the world adopted it anyway (including the wrong side of Iron Curtain)
- Vosporos 10y agoYeah, so they could target communists, black panthers and pacifists :/
- mistermann 10y agoAfaik, countries are often required to (sometimes "unofficially") comply with a variety of US "customs" before various deals (trade, etc) will be signed. I completely believe that to control the world, you must control people's minds, and to control people's minds, you must control drugs.
- jchendy 10y agoJust in case anybody doesn't believe you: http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/ http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richa...
- pandaman 10y agoJust in case somebody believes you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Egypt#Ottoman_period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Egypt#Ottoman_peri... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Singapore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Singapore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Opium_Convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Opium_Convention There are also references of the ban in Turkey and Greece in 1890 everywhere but without good sources. The above should be enough to realize that that different nations made various drugs illegal without the US influence and without intention to oppress black panthers and communists.
- thesmallestcat 10y ago> Then, a couple of years later, the medication stopped working. And his aggressions exploded. > Once, when my son was late getting his cannabis oil after school, he put his head through a window and cut his face in a frenzy of pain. We gave him his medication, and he calmed down enough that we could bring him to the ER. Any reason to believe history won't repeat itself here?
- kingkawn 10y agoNo, hence the argument for the destigmatized, regular use of the drug to alleviate the symptoms.
- thesmallestcat 10y agoWhy is it unthinkable that as the child's tolerance builds to THC and CBD, these events will repeat themselves? The underlying problem (pain from gut disease leading to rages) is unresolved.
- dahart 10y ago"seven years later, it’s still working." Seems like tolerance isn't really an actual problem here. Are you suggesting these parents have some course of action to cure their child's problems? The child could relapse, but I don't understand what point you're trying to make.
- thesmallestcat 10y agoThat's fair. While it's possible that changes as the child becomes a man will nullify the medicine, maybe this is a permanent fix. But it's clear that the parents are forced to overmedicate for fear that the child will act out when "coming down." What rubs me the wrong way about this article is that it's written in such a way that any parent whose kid has a problem with tantrums might think, "hm, what if I just drugged up Johnny?"
- 10y ago
- ra1n85 10y agoWow. The title is click-baity, but the article does make me empathize with the mother's position. I remember being a young kid in school and seeing the few students that just seemed so mentally imbalanced that they couldn't even exist comfortably, let alone study. My school became a center for "emotionally disturbed" children for the county. For the half-dozen of these students, they had 3 (very strong) teachers. When there's no respite for a condition that is potentially dangerous to your child as well as others, what do you do? What happens when the medication fails to work or has worse side affects? This sounds like desperation. I'd have an open mind towards about anything if I were in this woman's position.
- openforce 10y agoI believe it sounds like desperation because of the societal constructs that make it a stigma to use this drug. If one looks at it from a purely medical point of view, I don't see why this should be construed any different from any current treatment that exists out there. As with most drugs - this would sound true - "The benefits of this treatment outweigh the potential side effects". For the woman's position, she has reached a point to see this truth clearly.
- ensiferum 10y agoThe crimininalization of marijuana and classification as illicit substance is such a tremendous stupidity.
- SFJulie 10y agoImagine I live in a country where discussing the law is illegal and can send you to jail for years and worth 70000€ of fine. You can criticize any laws but these one... like google did in order to avoid taxes. Even if the constitution grant the right to discuss and modify the law... and the country claims being the country of the Human Rights. Vive la France. The country where some animals are more equal than others.
- gragas 10y agoI'm for the legalization of marijuana, but I really hate the arguments these articles present in favor of it; I'm sure your raging 9-year-old kid would chill out on a strong dose of heroin, too. We should not falsely elevate marijuana as some wonder drug. Surely, there's a better argument that can be presented for legalization?
- pizza 10y agoWhatever the argument is, I expect it to work as such: argmax substance: E[sum P(symptoms_i improves | substance, ailment)]. Heroin works great for burn victims, for instance..
- thesmallestcat 10y agoThis article is propaganda. It doesn't contain any interesting data, just a rehash of the policy landscape and a single, heart string-tugging anecdote.
- jptman 10y agoUnfortunately, it's the heart string-tugging anecdotes that make policies happen in the US, not data.
- tunap 10y agoAfter 80 years of ignoring the data, I do not know how else one would effect change other than employing the same tactics. Empirical data is available, anecdotal data is available, historical harm has accrued for non-violent "offenders". The rarely spoken facets of the hemp plant's superiority to pulp derived paper and cotton fabrics have been ignored for almost a century. Before "reefer madness" was invented, the aforementioned products couldn't compete, hemp was common and priduced superior products. The reasons for demonizing hemp, not marijuana, were economic forces and lobbyists pushing their agendas at any cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger#The_campaign_against_marijuana_1930.E2.80.931937 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger#The_campaig...
- 10y ago
- roystonvassey 10y agoIn Singapore and a few other neighbouring SEA countries, there's a death penalty for the possession of cannabis. Possession. Death. Unbelievable.
- shiven 10y agoSingapore is fucked up in so many ways, it's not even funny. Yeah, yeah, fanboys, I know how cool it is in so many ways, but it is a fucking oligarchy at the end of any day.
- toxican 10y agoYeah those Singapore fanboys always busting into daily conversation, spreading their love...?
- marcoperaza 10y agoIt's also an island of stability and prosperity in a region of chaos and poverty.
- raverbashing 10y agoWell, it's almost literally an island (the size of a city) I don't blame them for acting that way though
- 3131s 10y agoAnd I live in one of the poorest of those countries and it's lovely. You could not pay me to set foot in Singapore.
- mcguire 10y agoAs long as the trains run on time.
- ensiferum 10y agoAFAIK, In Singapore it's not for possession but for trafficing. The difference being the amount you can have on your person. For possession you only face (severe) prison time and trafficing is a mandatory death sentence.
- tunap 10y agoI spent the majority of 2012 in hospitals with two family members fighting cancers. I had a lot of conversations with doctors/nurses and often enough MMJ was discussed. "Off the record", of course. The general consensus was CBDs have many apparent benefits, it was even posited they may inhibit malignant cell formations(further study required). The consensus also was that the THC race to get the most 'chronic' high from a strain is actually eroding the medicinal benefits of MMJ by sacrificing the THC:CBD balance for the greater psychoactive effects. This was a year or two before I saw the documentary on these guys who go the other direction for a non-psychoactive strain( more CBD,less THC). https://www.cwhemp.com/ https://www.cwhemp.com/
- spraak 10y agoThanks for the link. I know someone too who has greatly benefitted from CBD as well. This is only anecdotal but I've heard that there is a positive relationship between CBD and THC, where for some people/conditions it is helpful to have both
- tptacek 10y agoOn the other hand, the strain mentioned in this article is famously high in THC.
- tunap 10y agoI noted that irony. The parents should have been informed of low THC strains, they aren't uncommon. One of the NBC news channels broadcast the documentary on CW nationally and repeatedly. Pertinent info can be hard to find amongst the noise.
- fourstar 10y agoHere are some strains that are high in CBD: https://leafist.com/news/2016/12/19/which-cannabis-strains-have-the-highest-cbd-percentages https://leafist.com/news/2016/12/19/which-cannabis-strains-h...
- JakeTheAndroid 10y agoWhat's crazy is CBD is now specially schedule 1, which means it is considered addictive and containing no medical value[1]. So, the THC:CBD ratio appears to be irrelevant from the governments perspective. [1] www.foxnews.com/health/2016/12/20/now-schedule-1-drug-cbd-hemp-oil.amp.html
- mazlix 10y agoI'd advice caution on giving any developing brain cannabis. Although it seems cannabis is fairly harmless in developed brains– there's some evidence it can interfere with development.
- tankenmate 10y agoConstantly banging your head off an iron bath also interferes with brain development; this is a clear case of trade offs, not only medical but also legal and social. I don't think any reasonable mother, probably including this one, would suggest giving cannabis to an "average" child; but this is far from an average situation and so in all likely hood will require a non average treatment.
- mazlix 10y agoThat's totally true! In this case the child's brain isn't "healthy". Hopefully this works for the child's benefit, and clearly it's a case of a desperate parent grasping for anything that may help. However, it does sadly have potential to do further harm as well.
- mistermann 10y agoIn this case it seems more prudent to worry about whether this kid is going to cut his jugular when putting his head through a window.
- phreack 10y agoYes, obviously, this case appears to be entirely justified. OP likely meant it as a warning to any reader who'd think it harmless to do to a kid with regular but stressful tantrums.
- raverbashing 10y ago> I'd advice caution on giving any developing brain cannabis. Correct. However this also applies to ADHD and anti-depressive medication that is commonly given to children, sometimes in doses higher than needed.
- legulere 10y agoI think this article is irresponsible. Cannabis might cause permanent damage to cognitive functions in the developing brain: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/11/marijuana-brain.aspx http://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/11/marijuana-brain.aspx
- jimnotgym 10y agoFits of rage 300 times a day, and constant pain might cause permanent damage to cognitive functions in the developing brain. Conventional medicine has no treatment available. What would you do?
- chillwaves 10y agoWould you care to share studies of the known side effects for the proposed alternative drugs?
- tempcrap 10y agoSo, it works like medicine for some cases, and you say now everyone grow in their backyards? Doesn't make sense, though I'm not against it.
- jimnotgym 10y agoHow can a society that allows drinking alcohol and caffeine ban a plant you can grow on your window cill? How can a society that will give Ritalin to a child, dogmatically refuse to give a child cannabis based therapy? Why is the state so keen to control cannabis? Is it simply that the state associates it with hippies? Still? In 2017?
- DanBC 10y agoMildly disturbed that she medicates him against his knowledge with something that we think may be harmful for young brains (although we don't know, because drug laws make research impossible). We excuse this because she's in a desperate situation and there's a lack of support. But other people in her situation resort to more harmful forms of quackery. The answer shouldn't be "quackery is fine so long as it doesn't result in terrible harm", but "we as a society fail people with autism and learning disability, and we need to do better".
- jimnotgym 10y ago>against his knowledge He is a child, they are his parents. They have every right to choose his treatment >quackery If medical science had an alternative you may have a point. These parents ran out of options
- DanBC 10y agoNo, parents don't have the right to do what they like to their children. > If medical science had an alternative you may have a point. These parents ran out of options Exactly the point I made above. Lack of options does not mean parents can just try anything else. Some parents with no options chose bleach to treat autism. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/autism-potentially-lethal-bleach-cure-feared-to-have-spread-to-britain-a6744291.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/... This mother has no idea what harm might come to the child as a result of her experimental treatment. If she's doing it to herself that's one thing, but she's inflicting it on a child.
- jimnotgym 10y agoThat is not what I said, I said choose treatment not experiment. The mother states that she consulted with various medical professionals in the article. Once you have consulted you have the right to choose treatment. The article says She consulted with people specifically about the risks involved and was advised they were extremely low. How is that equivalent in any way to experimenting on children????
- kahrkunne 10y agoYou know, I'm not at all opposed to weed (I smoke weed myself on occasion) but I don't think we should encourage experimenting with drugs on 9 year old kids by people who are not medical professionals...
- phreack 10y agoArticle says it was a last resort option suggested and approved by medical professionals.
- exwebtina 10y agoI recall in 70s/80s Denmark and Netherlands made pot legal in parts of Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The areas quickly turned into dumps. I'm fine with Slab City but do we wan't this for all of US?
- raverbashing 10y agoHave you ever been to Amsterdam or Copenhagen to make such a ludicrous assertion?
- jimnotgym 10y agoRubbish. Complete rubbish. Cannabis is decriminalized in the Netherlands. The Netherlands like all countries has its good and bad parts.
- oneeyedpigeon 10y agoAmsterdam is very far from being a dump. Sure, the (very small) red light district might not be the kind of place you take your mother-in-law, but outside that it's a wonderful, picturesque, friendly, vibrant city.
- sehr 10y agoSuch a ridiculously gorgeous city. And besides, it's not even legal in Amsterdam anyways...
- sv123 10y agoWashington, Colorado, Oregon, DC... No reports of turning into complete dumps yet.
- mythrwy 10y agoArguably parts of Washington were a dump already.
- Guillaume86 10y agoYou already have far worse (and much more dangerous) neighborhoods in the US.
- mcguire 10y ago"We left Rhode Island [and moved to New York, where they cannot get medical cannabis] with almost a liter of cannabis-infused oil, but, even though we measure it out in drops, it won’t last forever. And because my son had to turn in his medical-marijuana license when we moved, we can’t go back to get more." I hate to point this out, but that one quote nullifies the rest of the article. When they moved, they would have checked the school district. They didn't check their son's medication? Or is it the case that it's not as bad as it appears?
- uiri 10y agoI wanted to cry, thinking that I could buy bags of White Russian but I wouldn’t be able to take them out of Colorado. If we bring our son’s marijuana when we travel, we worry that we’re committing interstate drug trafficking. Isn't moving the oil from Rhode Island to New York the same thing?
- mcguire 10y agoI would assume so. And a liter?
- factorialboy 10y agoSo the child had temper tantrums and the parents drugged him? Wait what? I hope I am mistaken.
- pharrington 10y agoYou're getting downvoted because you didn't read the article.
- jimnotgym 10y agoIs the opposition to cannabis as a therapy at least part rooted in the fact it is not patentable? Large Pharma can't make enough money from something people could grow themselves? A parallel story is the guy in the UK researching treating depression with 'magic mushrooms' in small doses (too little to be psychoactive). As I recall it took him 10 years to get a license to do the study! These things grow in your lawn in the UK! The results seemed good when compared to the poor outcomes for people on patentable anti-depressants
- gravypod 10y agoI have no oposition to people doing whatever they want but I wouldn't give my kid THC until the following happened: * I could obtain it from a trustworthy source * It's studies to understand it's effects on children (medical) * Understand any long-term effects it has on children's memory/behavior (psychological) I don't know if it not being patentable is accurate. You can patent your specificly mutated gene in the plant (like monsanto) to get exclusive rights. The plant is also presumably easy to cultivate as many untrained "farmers" do it. If you gave profesional botanists and farmers a crack at it I'm pretty sure they could come up with large scale and extremely cheap growth plans that are paralleled to the cost of tabaco. Lucky for them pot isn't as regulated as tabaco so they'd make out like kids in a candy store.
- randomdrake 10y ago> Is the opposition to cannabis as a therapy at least part rooted in the fact it is not patentable? Large Pharma can't make enough money from something people could grow themselves? No and no. Not only is it patentable, the United States Government famously holds one[1] for "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectant." Additionally, there are already pharmaceutical companies producing, researching, breeding, and selling medical cannabis in other countries like Israel[2]. And if you're looking to see what's happening in the United States, GW Pharmaceuticals is seeing success in their Phase 3 trials for Dravet Syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome[3]. [1] - https://www.google.com/patents/US6630507 https://www.google.com/patents/US6630507 [2] - http://www.tikun-olam.info http://www.tikun-olam.info [3] - https://www.gwpharm.com/about-us/news/gw-announces-new-epidiolex®-cbd-positive-phase-3-data-dravet-syndrome-and-lennox https://www.gwpharm.com/about-us/news/gw-announces-new-epidi...
- loblollyboy 10y agoI was a little brat as well. Lot's of tantrums. My parents punished me (probably not enough). My grandma once said: "how old are you?" This works. Nobody ever gave me drugs. I don't think it is ideal to give kids weed (I'm an adult who can barely handle weed). It is linked with psychiatric problems. That's not anti-drug propaganda, that's a fact. All that said, I don't think this is any worse than giving a kid ritalin.
- adrice727 10y agoDid you also undergo multiple surgeries on your spinal cord as an infant, have a chronic pain condition and severe autism like the child in the article?
- loblollyboy 10y agoNo, and in fact I did not really read the article. Point taken.
- op00to 10y ago> It is linked with psychiatric problems. Causation or correlation? Are people with psychiatric problems more likely to self-medicate with MJ? The conclusions drawn from the facts you mention are dubious at best.
- gravypod 10y agoIf you're ok with this, ask yourself if you'd be ok wih a parent giving a kid bourbon to put it asleep. This used to be a common household trick before people decided it was probably not a good idea. Granted I think the war on drugs is stupid but I also think a failed parent shouldn't be the one championing the anti-war-on-drugs movement as that's only going to give the opposition ammunition. I'm also not a developmental psychologist or a medical professional but I don't think this is the best thing for a young developing mind. I'm probably wrong because I've done limited reading on it but giving a young kid any drugs that haven't been exceedingly studied by the medical community doesn't sound like a smart idea. Edit: I read the article a little further and I don't think the parent is "failed" anymore. It's sad that the kid had such an already tramatic upbringing and I understand why you'd do this but I don't think that it's the best of ideas for most people alive.
- Mithaldu 10y agoMan, i remember your name, and thought you'd be a little smarter than to attack the parent before even having read the article.
- gravypod 10y agoI don't think it's not smart to have a misunderstanding or an assumption. I was wrong and definetly will own up to that but from the first 2 paragraphs I assumed this was going the "I just assumed this would be a good thing". The article really takes a turn after the first few paragraphs and morally muddles the situation to where there isn't a right answer. But yea, you're right. Was bad to jump to a conclusion.
- Mithaldu 10y agoI appreciate the owning up. That's a good thing. As for the "smart": I consider the ability to recognize when one does not have sufficient information to have a useful opinion to be smartness. :)
- throwaway729 10y ago
- linuxhansl 10y agoIt is interesting how sledgehammers like Risperdal and friends are legal and prescribed by doctors, while Cannabis is/was vilified for decades, in a infantile and ineffective "war on drugs".
- exDM69 10y agoI can't believe no-one in the comments here or the original article suggest growing their own. It takes 10 square feet of space, about $500 one-time investment, a day or two to build and about an hour per week of maintenance. It can be done safely, discreetly and odor-free. Sure, it would be illegal, but the chances of getting caught are pretty miniscule. Although I don't know how severe penalties are in place where the author lives or are there any secondary repercussions that make it not feasible (such as children taken into custody if caught).
- op00to 10y agoI believe everything except odor free. Got a link to evidence?
- exDM69 10y agoNo, I have not (only anecdotal evidence) but getting odor free is a matter of getting an active carbon filter (big enough, 3-10 kg) and a good ventilation system (required for cooling anyway). This ensures that the grow space is slightly underpressurized and all the exhaust air is odorless. Without these measures, it will stink. It needs a bit of investment and some time to get the build right, but it can be done.
- sakabaro 10y agoAllowing MJ with other drugs is a no brainer. I also very glad the author found a way to help his son and it should be let alone. However, saying things like that is not very responsible: > But Lester Grinspoon, a psychiatrist and professor at Harvard Medical School who has been researching cannabis since the 1960s, reassured me that the worst we could do was make our son fall asleep. One study had shown that even if there is no long term effect on adults on IQ, teenagers experience on average 10% less IQ than no consumers - even after stopped completely taken it for years. Another study has shown that if you are DNA predisposed - less than 3% of the population - MJ can induce schizophrenia reshaping the brain long term even after years after taking it. I don't fully get this is not common knowledge. Maybe, this is not hype enough and people want to not being perceived as reactionary. But, facts are facts.
- shoefly 10y agoA great article. There is one thing the author got wrong. Pot IS addictive. My brother can't go more than 3 hours w/o smoking it. If he does, he starts to sweat like crazy. He once went an entire weekend without it and he had a very rough time.
- Broken_Hippo 10y agoPot isn't physically addictive, though. Those things are his brain causing the symptoms. Seriously. I've smoked heavily for years, with sudden breaks, and at most I get a couple days of off appetite and bad sleep. No big deal. I've met exactly one person that had withdrawals from pot: In his case, he was self-medicating with it. It wasn't that he got withdrawals from pot, but that mental illness simply reared its head more when he stopped.
- random_upvoter 10y agoTBH I never understood this "it's not physical" subtlety. Last time I checked, the brain was a physical entity with physical processes running around in it. If it looks like addiction, walks like addiction and quacks like addiction, then it is addiction. And it exists in marijuana users.
- Broken_Hippo 10y agoThe difference is in the way the body acts - and the treatment is completely different for the two. I'm not a doctor, so do a bad job of explaining the difference between the two, but the general gist is that with physical addiction, your body needs the drug to function correctly. People who want to live die from physical detox. It isn't that psycological addiction doesn't have physical symptoms: Indeed, many psychological problems have them - anxiety and an upset stomach, depression and aches. Not to mention panic attacks. But the treatment isn't the same at all. You don't actually have to wean someone off of something psychologically addictive - that's why folks aren't weaned off of gambling, for example. And they won't die if they don't have it (suicidal is a different issue). Pot generally has mild withdrawal symptoms. I'm pretty sure a few get in a bad situation with it - just like folks do with anything else - but underlying psychological problems kind of mess that stuff up. Yeah, the sweating? Could be anxiety as well, for example. And to the layperson, it would seem like withdrawal symptoms instead of the anxiety coming back. Before his diagnosis, my ex would use about anything to get the voices inside his head to shut up. Friend of mine? Had a lot of trouble not smoking, but also was a bit... off. Brain damage from a car accident + a few psychological issues to boot. In all my years, I've never seen this sort of stuff from a reasonably balanced person.
- wolfspider 10y agoI find it strange in this story that anyone would suggest Risperdal for a child. Risperdal is an antipsychotic which comes with long term neuroleptic damage to the person taking it (flat affect, shuffles, etc..). I had a rather unsuccessful time with Abilify which is prescribed to people with depression but also comes with the same drawbacks. I somehow got a neuroleptic disease from taking it called 'akinesia' which I can only describe as a living hell. I promptly quit taking it and the disease ran its course. Psychiatry is in its dark ages and in a lot of cases does more harm than good. The harm just can't be immediately seen or measured and we tend to write the patients off as hyperbolic.
- smoyer 10y agoWithout getting into the debate about the recreational use of marijuana ... we've classified it as a drug so I don't see a reason we can't agree that there might be some legitimate uses for it.
- throwaway729 10y agoIt's classified as schedule 1. A criteria of schedule 1 classification is "The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States" So, at least the folks who wrote down those schedules disagree that Marijuana has legitimate uses. Note that "accepted" here basically means whatever the person in power wants it to mean. There's absolutely no criteria that "accepted medical use" corresponds to doctors' opinions on the matter.
- jameslk 10y agoAlthough the relief may be worth it, the drug is not without its potential side effects over long-term use: On short term memory: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2484906 http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article... On dopamine levels: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_1-7-2013-11-49-21 http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcolleg... and the development of brains in adolescents: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00053/full http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00... So the real question is whether it's worth the potential side effects? Perhaps in this case, since it seems the parents have researched their options and hopefully continue to research future options. A cure should be counterbalanced with its negative side effects. That seems obvious to say, but often I hear the misguided statement or see the attitude that marijuana is not associated with any problems. Sure, it's not lethal and shouldn't be Schedule I, but it's not something that should be taken lightly as a long term treatment.