The Canadian Press
Chris Carr
SASKATOON–Thirty children from across Canada are being recruited to take part in a new pilot study at the University of Saskatchewan looking at the safety and tolerability of cannabis treatment for childhood epilepsy.
Health Canada recently approved the study, which will include children between the ages of one to 10, and involve the University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, McGill University, and Université√de Montréal.
It is scheduled to start in June.
University of Saskatchewan pediatric neurologist Dr. Richard Huntsman said he’s already seen quite a few children whose parents already have placed their children on cannabis oil.
He noted he’s hearing the children are brighter, more interactive, and sleeping better, but scientists don’t yet know why.
Doctors slowly will introduce cannabis oil to the children with dosage increments each month while monitoring for potential side effects of the medication.
They also will look at seizure frequency and severity.
Huntsman admitted his cannabis research has been met with pushback, but said the trials are necessary as parents become desperate for answers.
“We had feedback from scientists saying we shouldn’t be doing this,” he noted.
“[That] we shouldn’t be studying this in children, which I disagree with completely.
“Parents are seeing this, they’re reading about this,” Huntsman noted. “It’s all over social media–and a lot of them are trying it.
“And in some situations, possibly in a dangerous manner.”
The study is funded entirely with support from several organizations, including a sizeable grant from the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan.
“We felt it would be best if this wasn’t funded by any drug company so that removes any potential bias,” Huntsman reasoned.
Alexander Repetski of Thornhill, Ont. says cannabis oil treatments for epilepsy have improved his daughter’s quality of life dramatically.
She was diagnosed at three months of age and doctors started her on first-line treatments–trying nine different traditional medications over 10 months but none worked.
“She was basically a two-year-old at this point and almost in a vegetative state,” said Repetski.
“She was a two-year-old who could not crawl or sit on her own.”
Repetski said he came across cannabis as a possible treatment during his research on her condition.
Two years into the treatment, Repetski said his daughter’s quality of life has improved dramatically.
“She gone from having 50 seizures a day to having a very mild seizure a couple of times a year,” he remarked.
“While she still has lots of issues and challenges with cognitive delay, she’s now running, jumping, attends kindergarten with an assistant.”
