AUTISM

Real life Experience of Medical Cannabis
Treatment in Autism:

Analysis of Safety and Efficacy

FINDINGS:
Cannabis as a treatment for autism spectrum disorders patients appears to be well-tolerated, safe and seemingly effective option to relieve symptoms, mainly: seizures, tics, depression, restlessness and rage attacks. The compliance with the treatment regimen appears to be high with less than 15% stopping the treatment at six months follow-up. Overall, more than 80% of the parents reported at significant or moderate improvement in the child global assessment.

Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 200 (2019)

Effects of CBD-Enriched Cannabis sativa Extract on Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptoms:

An Observational Study of 18 Participants Undergoing Compassionate Use

FINDINGS:
The findings presented here, taken together, support the notion that many autism symptoms are associated to neuronal hyperexcitability, and indicate that CBD-enriched CE yields positive effects in multiple autistic symptoms, without causing the typical side effects found in medicated ASD patients. Most patients in this study had improved symptoms even after supervised weaning of other neuropsychiatric drugs. The intrinsic limitations of the present study, due to its observational nature, are the lack of control groups, the small cohort size, and potentially significant placebo effects (83). Further clinical trials are warranted to confirm these initial findings.

Front Neurol. 2019; 10: 1145.

Current state of evidence of cannabis utilization for treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders

FINDINGS:

While research on medicinal uses of cannabinoids continues to expand and some co-occurring disorders of ASD such as epilepsy have been evaluated extensively with cannabinoids; equivalent evidence is not currently available to evaluate the efficacy of cannabinoids in treating other multiple conditions associated with ASDs. Given reports suggesting a dysfunctional endocannabinoid system in ASD, the pharmacologic potential of CBD to impact the symptoms and comorbidities affecting individuals with ASD is significant [43]. Medical cannabis may provide the urgent support needed to address the unique core symptoms of ASD and improving quality of life. Further research, as a result, is necessitated to understand this line of treatment option and to expand the generalizability of results.

BMC Psychiatry volume 19, Article number: 328 (2019)