Children With Autism Benefit With Marijuana Treatment

Sam's Story: Medical Marijuana and Autism

KTLA News
November 16, 2009

'Sam' is a 10 year-old boy who lives with his Dad, his Mom, and his
sister Lucy in Northern California. Sam has autism. From age two till
eight, Sam's disorder made him violent and aggressive. His parents Steve
and Angela were truly living a nightmare, every day.

"He got to the point where he was hurting other children, when he was in
school, or in public places, Angela explains to KTLA News. "We'd be in
line at the store, and he'd just bolt and hit another child in the face
without any warning at all."

Sam's Dad remembers all the tough days. "One time he pulled down a TV,
he knocked over furniture. I had to put him in a hold for a whole hour.
His body was just spasming, so I lay there just crying, and holding
him."

Sam's parents worked with expert doctors, who recommended a succession
of conventional prescription medications -- like Risperdal and a host of
others. But Sam just gained 20 pounds... and he became even more
dangerous.

"His behavior was getting worse," Angela recalls. "And we were scared.
He was getting bigger, stronger, now that he was 20 pounds heavier from
the Risperdal."

"It was the saddest thing," Steve says. "The child we'd grown to love
was gone. When you talked to him, looked at him, he'd just disappeared. "

Finally, at their wit's end, and faced with the very real prospect of
needing to institutionalize their son, Sam's parents decided to try
something unconventional. ..and controversial. Last year they began
treating Sam with medical marijuana.

"If you think about it, it's the perfect drug for that kind of behavior,
very calming," Angela says.

Steve and Angela got a recommendation from a medical cannabis doctor.
They told Sam's pediatrician about their plan. And Steve grew Sam's new
medicine in their back yard. From the marijuana flowers Steve grew, he
could make a concentrated form, what people refer to as 'hash.'

Steve showed us a ball of hash, roughly ¾ inch in diameter,
representing roughly four months of doses for Sam. Steve softens the
cannabis with heat, then takes what appears to be just a speck of pot,
Sam's 'dose' for the day.

And from the very start, the cannabis was a godsend for Sam's family.
"The first time we did it, we wanted to see if it would work at all,"
Steve recalls. "It was an amazing experience, I'll never forget it, as
we watched what happened, it was like 'He's back!' It was like all this
anguish, pent-up rage and aggressiveness went away -- it just calmed him
down."

While KTLA visited the family, we watched Steve put Sam's daily dose in
a piece of melon and take it to him. Within roughly 20 minutes, the
effects were clear. Where earlier Sam had been animated and antsy, after
eating his speck of hash Sam became calm, relaxed, and social.

Could Sam's story help others? Respected LA-area pediatrician Chris
Tolcher says we don't know enough about cannabis for kids.

"I think for all the parents out there whose children may have autism,"
Tolcher says, "I think the message here is that this is intriguing
information that needs more research before we can confidently say that
marijuana is a safe and effective treatment for autism complications. "

But for one California family, medical marijuana has literally been an
answer to their prayers and a homecoming for their son. "It was a
medication with the result we'd been hoping for, for so long," Steve
says.

Angela agrees. "He was happy again, smiling, laughing. There was the boy
we'd lost for so long, who we wondered if we'd ever see again.

"It just feels like I have more control to help my son," Steve says. "We
don't depend on doctors, who may have the best intentions, but they
don't know what Sam needs.. I want do what's best for my son. And I'll
do whatever I can for him."

http://www.ktla. com/news/ landing/ktla- sweeps-sams- story,0,1396115. story