Altering rules on cannabidiol therapies.

• Author: Toth, Zita
• Position: Trends

The legalization of medical marijuana to treat various ailments has been a hot-button issue in a growing number of states in recent years. But the debate about cannabidiol, derived from marijuana plants, is just warming up.

Cannabidiol, commonly referred to as CBD, is an oil extracted from cannabis. It contains little, if any, THC (the psychoactive component that causes a marijuana "high") and is commonly used to manage rare, treatment-resistant forms of epilepsy, among other debilitating conditions. Parents of some affected children say they have seen a dramatic reduction in the number of development-stunting seizures their sons or daughters suffer after beginning a CBD regimen.

Paige Figi's daughter, Charlotte, suffers from an uncommon form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome, which affects about 1 in 30,000 children. Charlotte had more than 300 seizures a week before her CBD treatment began. She now suffers only two seizures per month, says Figi, who lives in Colorado. Though research is lacking, scientists suspect that CBD dampens the excessive electrical and chemical activity in the brain that causes seizures.

"Charlotte's Web" is a proprietary strain of cannabis named after Charlotte and used specifically to make CBD. The strain has very little TFIC--less than 0.3 percent-- though other strains may also be used to make concentrated products. Charlotte's Web is not widely available; most dispensaries choose not to stock it because of its limited appeal in the adult-use retail market.

The problem is, as a cannabis derivative, the oil extracted from any cannabis plant falls under the same legal restrictions as marijuana flower. By federal law, it is considered a Schedule I controlled substance, with no medical value, and cannot be...