Unorthodox Alternatives

"All day long she said, 'I feel sad'. Those were the only words that came out of her mouth. She was a depressed four-year-old and it was terrible."
"The seizures themselves and the medications prescribed by the doctors were causing a progressive deterioration."
"Since Ella's been on the CBD oil [cannabidiol], she's happy Before she was zombie-like and now we find her personality is just so awake."
"The CBD oil is doing an OK job. She still has seizures multiple times a day. But cognitively she is more alive and that for us is a really big deal. She sings and dances ... and we find that she is paying attention more."
Kim Turkington, Surrey, British Columbia

Kim Turkington (right) with Ella (front) and Cassidy in the back. Rob Turkington, her husband, is at left.

"We don't have a position at this time, but it will be coming in the near future."
"We're looking at all the evidence to make a well-informed recommendation."
Katie Olsen, spokesperson, Canadian Paediatric Society

"You can't think that a system in which parents are turning to drug dealers to get substances for their children is a reflection of the triumph of the medical system."
M.J. Milloy, assistant professor of medicine, University of British Columbia

Five-year-old Ella Turkington is an epileptic, and she also has autism spectrum disorder. Medical specialists tried prescribing medications that might help the child, but her condition failed to respond to seven different seizure medications. Her parents embarked on a research project of their own out of sheer desperation, in hopes of finding something, anything that might conceivably bring relief to their child. They discovered claims about cannabis oil containing little of the psychoactive drug THC, yet significant amounts of of cannabidiol.

And since CBD [cannabidiol] is believed to reduce seizures, they consulted with a neurologist at B.C. Children's Hospital, and embarked on a protocol of offering little Ella cannabis oil, in May. At the same time, Ella has been using CBD her pharmaceuticals have been reduced. She is now being given a low dose of CBD oil, and the results have been worthwhile. A notable improvement in the child's health condition and her frame of mind.

An autism advocacy group, Project Bearings, presented a seminar that took place last weekend featuring guest speakers, among them the grandmother of a little girl from Summerland, British Columbia. This little girl, Kyla Williams, was experiencing ing 200 seizures daily. Treated with cannabis oil, her seizures were reduced to very few. Her grandmother, Elaine Nuessler, has become a fervent cannabis oil advocate, and was one of the speakers at the seminar in Vancouver.

Courtney Williams gives her daughter Kyla a tiny drop of cannabis oil mixed with yogurt at in Summerland, B.C., in early August, 2014. Kyla who has a severe seizure disorder has shown dramatic improvement thanks to the illegal oil. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Penticton Herald - Susan McIver

Ms. Neussler and her family are such staunch believers in the medical efficacy of cannabis oil that they founded medicalcannabisforsickkids.com. Proceeds from the seminar were earmarked in support of their organization. At this juncture, Kim Turkington and her husband are also committed to supporting the use of medical cannabis oil. Their daughter has fewer and less severe seizures with the use of CBD oil treatment. Her average of 20 to 25 clusters a day with five to 25 seizures per cluster has been reduced significantly, to about four or five clusters daily.

Studies relating to treating children's seizures with cannabis oil remain new to medical science. No consensus has yet been reached on what to recommend to parents who decide to give their children medical marijuana. CBD oil is not at the present time regulated by Health Canada and as well no clinical trials on its use and potential benefits have come out of Canada. Moreover, the oil can be difficult to access. Complicated by the fact that various strains can affect those who use it in different ways. Precise measurements for best results remain a trial-and-error process.

According to Dr. Milloy of UBC, case studies show that children with autism do demonstrate some improvement with CBD; their behaviour calming. But insufficient evidence exists that the use of the oil is justified as a therapeutic option for children with autism. On the other hand, more evidence exists to show that cannabinoids may have their use in treating epileptic seizures. A review in the New England Journal of Medicine dated this month cites a study of children and young adults using Epidiolex, a purified cannabis extract of less than 0.10 percent THC.

Among 137 patients receiving twelve weeks of treatment, the median reduction in seizures was 54.4 percent. Which results are more than enough reason to gravitate toward the use of the cannabis oil. But then the issue of supply arises and the lack of access to the cannabis oil. The medical system cannot provide a substance that has no legal status. Parents must then turn to acquiring the oil through an underground network of illicit providers.

Which places parents in a very uncomfortable situation of potential problems where they fear their children will be taken as public wards if they give them cannabis as medicine; a substance not regulated by Health Canada. And the difficulty of finding a health-care practitioner willing to work with them in the administration and correct dosage of the CBD oil represents yet another hurdle.

"It's critical that people educate themselves about medical marijuana and join in the struggle to have derivatives legalized."
"Careful studies are needed to determine the exact composition and concentration of each compound in the various strains and their effectiveness in treatment."
Chris Nuessler, Kyla Williams' grandfather,  retired RCMP officer