The products may help some people with the neurological disorder, but obtaining the right treatments can be difficult
In 2013, Tonya Taylor says, she was suicidal because her epileptic seizures kept coming even though she was taking a long list of medications.
Then a fellow patient at a Denver neurologist’s office mentioned something that gave Taylor hope: a CBD oil called Charlotte’s Web. The person told her the oil helped people with uncontrolled epilepsy. The doctor, however, would discuss it only “off the record” because cannabidiol was illegal under federal law, and he worried about his hospital losing funding, Taylor said.
The federal government has since legalized CBD, and it has become a multibillion-dollar industry. The Food and Drug Administration also has approved one cannabis-derived prescription drug, Epidiolex, for three rare seizure disorders.
But not much has changed for people with other forms of epilepsy like Taylor who want advice from their doctors about CBD. Joseph Sirven, a Florida neurologist who specializes in epilepsy, said all of his patients now ask about it. Despite the buzz around it, he and other physicians said they are reluctant to advise patients on over-the-counter CBD because they do not know what is in the bottles.
The FDA does little to regulate CBD, so trade groups admit that the marketplace includes potentially harmful products and that quality varies widely. They say pending bipartisan federal legislation would protect those who use CBD. But some consumer advocacy groups say the bills would have the opposite effect. [Read More @ The Washington Post]
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