At the risk of being controversial, it seems like autism might be the new black when it comes to the number of children being diagnosed with the condition. Not that I’m not disputing the rise of true autism in our younger generation, in fact, my own son lives his life on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS).
There have been numerous anecdotal reports of medical marijuana being used to ease some of the problems that go with the autistic disorders – and there have probably been an equal number of anecdotes against the use of cannabis in such circumstances.
For what it’s worth, my own son became rather more angry and aggressive with cannabis use. However, he was using it for recreational purposes rather than as a medicine and it is entirely possible that, if he had been more selective in terms of marijuana strains* and purity, the effects might have been dramatically different.
*We are currently putting together a comprehensive guide to marijuana strains/types and the conditions they help.
What is Autism
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability and shows itself in various ways – not everybody with autism will show the same characteristics. For this reason there is now a tendency to refer to people with this condition as suffering from an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, all people with an ASD share three main areas of difficulty – a triad of impairments:
- difficulty with social communication
- difficulty with social interaction
- difficulty with social imagination.
Many ASD sufferers live relatively normal daily lives – and there is no ‘autistic’ look (despite what you may have read in the past). Of course, in many respects this is ‘A Good Thing,’ however, it also means that an autistic person’s behaviour can be perceived as just rude or appalling, rather than be recognised as a sign of disorder.
Autism, Marijuana and Controversy
The triad of impairments can lead to major frustration developing in an autistic child or adult, which can then turn to anger and aggressiveness. It is these situations that it is thought medical marijuana might help.
Hopefully, as a child reaches adulthood, some coping mechanisms for these frustrations will have been learned – although this is not always the case; much depends on the age of diagnosis.
However, it takes a fair bit of maturity to employ coping mechanisms and children on the autistic spectrum have, by definition, not yet got to that stage. And here lies the controversy – a number of mothers have ‘confessed’ to medicating their autistic children with marijuana and the jury is out on the morality of their actions.
The video below shows the remarkable effect marijuana has had on the life and health of one autistic youngster.
This is a good news for everybody especially for families who have the same situation or experienced on treating their kids to be normal. I should say government should legalize the usage of marijuana to help more families in United States for it is a miracle drug.
Medical cannabis is most definately a promising treatment in autistics with severe behavioral or medical issues that hard to treat with conventional treatments. It is therefore logical to invesigate why and how cannabis can help some autistics.
Mainly, there is no doubt it helps with increasing appetite and reducing nausea and improving mood (depending on strains used). The real challenge of medical marijuana is to identify which strains are most effective for the autistic brain, because let’s face it, some strains are so potent, they could actually harm the autistic brain, whereas other strains, when carefully selected could really really help. So, let’s make a list of all the most therapeutic strains that can and have helped autistics so we can cut through the ambiguity and get down to exacly what helps and where we can get it for our precious children and adults with autism.
If you’ve ever seen an autistic almost half dead from orthodox medications, then you’ll understand why so many parents are turning to medical cannabis for their autistic loved ones.
My son is autistic, he has tourettes and so many other problems, he is 17 years old and every day is a new day of wondering how the day will be for him. Everything seems to be getting worse the older he gets, the aggressiveness is getting worse, his anxiety is so bad and he’s steadily dropping weight because of all his gastrointestinal problems. He’s getting toware he’s starting to cut his self. None of the medicine he’s on is working, I am really willing to try to get him on the thc oil to see if that would help with all his problems going on, it couldn’t make it worse. My son needs something that can help him be able to eat and not be so irritated and to help control his tourettes, My poor little baby is going through alot and hasee so many medical problems for any one person to handle and go through on a daily basis, therapy and all that we do, he has so many doctors for so many things and none of them seem to help or have the answer’s too help him, I want to see about getting the oil to try to see if it could possibly help him. I live in Baytown, Texas and I don’t know who I would have to talk to, to try to see about getting him on it.
You can read about our 10 year old son, Alex, who suffers from autism and severe self-injurious behaviors (he also has Tuberous Sclerosis) and our experiences with medical marijuana here: http://www.alexneedshelp.com
Children with autism and severe behavioral issues are normally low in dopamine or have a dopamine serotonin deficiency, thus consider Sativa elevates serontonin and Indica elevates dopamine…..you may want to try a hybird…to be safe..ask your doctor.
My son has autism and is 9 yrs. old. All the meds. either didn’t work and he had reverse reaction or the side effects were extreme – severe tics developed over time. His main problem is anxiety/aggression.
I feel a small amount of mmj will calm him down. We live in New York and it is not legal. Where do I start and what do you recommend I do to see if I can try a test trial on him?
medical cannabis is the medicine of the future.with more study the possibilities are endless take a glance on my blog for news,reports,videos all about medical cannabis
I have a 20 year old daughter who has Tubours Sclorsis ans Autism I would be most greatful if this area could be inveastigated using Marijuana she has BEEN BEING TREATED BY A DOCTOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NASHVILLE TN, AT VANDERBUILT UNIVERSITY she has been on various medications in the last few years. But they still do not control her seizures that she sustains daily and there is no cure for her.
I would be most interested in finding out if the use of marijuana either in food or type of pill would be of use for her in delaying these seizures since she is a very pleasant and compassionte girl for being 20 years old and there is no hope for her using this medication that the doctors have prescribed.
For her except that her intestines are very slow to digestest her food and pass it by using the bathroom we are now giving her prunes to help her pass the food she has had problems with passing the foods in the past but using prunes has helped her quite adequately.
Althought she lives in TN with her mother I would be very much appreciate any further research with marijuana for her to ease the suffering we must endure her having these seizures everyday and not having any type of expression of her fears and feelings is quite disalarming for us as her parents.
I presently live in IL and her mother and Lauren live in TN because it was necessary for employment at the time of her birth but it proved too much for her mother to take so we made a move to TN for the pleasure of having her in a less populated area and for her then schooling in grammer school it was a much better atmosphere for a girl with her infermaties and I moved back to IL due to some extreme situation I had with a housekeeper who was a alcholic and quite abusive toward me.
So I decided to leave for my benefits after my stoke and heart attack to be able to cope with his abusive treatment of me I left before I killed him or he me. It was another story quite unecessary to cope with since my wife and I were both policemen in the city of Chicago. After seeing the progam on TV about the possible use of the drug marijuana I started to think more about it and thought to ask about its use so a rely is anticipated from you ASAP. Thank you very much for your time and energy spent on my case of interest I remain.
Frank Aguinqaga
9725 S. Keeler Ave. #106
Oak Lawn, IL 60453
Phone: 708-576-8082 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 708-576-8082 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
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