Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 9-24-21

FAMU
CBD A Promising Treatment Option For Children With Serious Ailments
Editor’s note: This com- mentary is provided by the Medical Marijuana Educa- tion and Research Initiative (MMERI) of Florida A&M University.
The passage of the Florida’s Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014 was inspired by a young epileptic girl whose seizures decreased in frequency and severity after being treated in Colorado with cannabidiol (CBD) oil. The successful treatment of Charlotte Figi with “Charlotte’s Web CBD” triggered a widespread move-
ment to legalize low-tetrahy- drocannabinol (THC) CBD products in all 50 states.
Florida’s 2014 medical cannabis law became known as the “Charlotte’s Web law.”
Qualified medical mari- juana physician, Dr. David Berger, says Charlotte’s Web law helped parents of children with certain debilitating med- ical conditions, particularly epilepsy, discover cannabi- noids as an effective alterna- tive to pharmaceutical drugs. Dr. Berger is one of the first board-certified pediatricians in Florida to specialize in pe- diatric cannabis therapy, and
DR. DAVID BERGER
he has treated thousands of children with qualifying con- ditions.
“Parents are looking for less medication and success,” says Dr. Berger, who treats children and adults at his Wholistic Pediatrics & Family Care practice in Tampa. “I often hear about a patient
ANDREA ANDERSON
who’s no longer having seizures, or their seizures come less frequently and with less intensity” after going on a recommended low-or-no THC cannabis treatment regimen.
Dr. Berger says he takes a “very individualized ap- proach” to treating patients who have obtained a Florida
medical marijuana card, but, “I always recommend, always start with CBD first. I would never start a child or, really, anybody on THC first.” As an added protection for medical marijuana patients under age 18, Florida Statute 381.986, the law governing medical cannabis protocols, mandates that a second physician must support the treating doctor’s recommendations.
Parents needn’t worry about doctors recommending smokable cannabis products to treat children under age 18 because that’s prohibited under the state’s medical mar- ijuana law “unless the patient is diagnosed with a terminal
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