Medical Marijuana For Kids With Autism

mmm… can imagine that cannabis would mellow out a child with autism just as it mellows out children (and adults) without autism. the question is, of course, does it at the same time make it even tougher for the kids to focus, engage, or communicate? I’d guess the answer is – YES!

Lisa

I am autistic (Aspergers Syndrome) I am 48 years old and have used Cannabis to modulate the anxiety, intensity and aggression associated with my particular variant of AS for over 30 years as well as for pain management. I have never had negative side effects unless I have over indulged and not titrated my dose properly. Over indulgence causes a little bit of nausea and dizziness and sleepiness. The effect passes in about 1/2hr and all is again fine.

I rarely experience any of the psychoactive effects that are usually described when using Cannabis. No hallucinations, no distortion of vision apart from an increase in color perception and little distortion of perception generally, my motor skills are not negatively effected and often because of the reduction in anxiety they are smoother and more controlled when medicated. I do experience an increase in sound perception but not in a negative sense, I do not become over-sensitive even to loud noises but music sounds so much better and more enjoyable. I love listening to thunderstorms.
I have consistently over 32 years dosed at approximately 1 gram per day varying a little bit up or down depending on stress stimuli in my environment and the almost constant pain in my back caused by spinal cord injury that resulted from a bullying attack at 12 years of age in the school playground.

Due to issues in High School I was at 15 given psychological assessment by a leading practise who stated the results showed exceptional cognitive abilities and a career direction of nuclear physicist, research scientist, or computer analyst should be encouraged and the school problems were being caused by boredom. Aspergers was not at that time a known formal diagnosis in Psychology in Australia.
At 16 years of age I first considered suicide to escape the constant bullying in and out of school and the debilitating pain in my back that the doctors told me would probably mean a lifetime long addiction to opiates to manage. The side effects of these medications were horrendous and left me in a constant daze where thinking was difficult at best. Being a straight A maths science student I chose instead to find a solution to my pain and tried every alternative therapy and medical treatment I could find, I also learnt to fight the bullies and have not become a victim again or since!!

At 17 years of age I like many other teens tried cannabis for the first time. Apart from an increase in colour and sound perception the major impact of the cannabis was to give almost instant relief from the constant pain from my back injuries the effect lasted about 4 hours and there were no other side effects. I notified my current at the time GP of the effect and usage of the cannabis and was told no matter how effective I was not allowed to use it as it was illegal and would send me mad, It has not.

I continued my research for relief via “authorized” medicine and also studied the laws about cannabis and all known information on it’s use toxicity and side effects. Unlike most people I read every relevant study published in peer reviewed medical journals in order to be fully informed about the latest knowledge about the only medicine that gives me relief from the extreme, debilitating neuropathic pain associated with my spinal injury and that helps me modulate the natural anxiety and intensity/aggression associated with my particular variant of high functioning autism.

I made a conscious informed decision to gain relief from ongoing moderate and discrete, but never hidden usage of a carefully titrated dosage of cannabis to allow me to function almost without pain and go to firstly the final year of high school then studying Electronics and then working for a living. Firstly with installing telephones and PABX equipment Then as Sound Engineer for touring rock bands maintaining and operating state of the art PA systems. And where my medicinal use of cannabis was not condemned and high quality supply was readily available. I also found that when I was medicated those around me coped far better with my eccentricities and I was far less stressed and anxious than normal I also found it helped to modulate the natural aggression and intensity associated with my variant of Aspergers keeping me calm. Like many ASDs I have a violent and explosive temper and am often described especially by women as a “Scary Guy” I do not cope well with people interrupting my stream of thought especially when I am heavily concentrating on the job at hand, The cannabis increases my tolerance for interruption and also helps me be more extroverted and therefore social.

This was also advantageous when driving as it made me far less aggressive and therefore a much safer and more cautious driver without impacting my control or responses to changing road conditions. This has since been confirmed on driving simulators.
At 21 years of age I made a personal commitment to Christ and was faced with the moral dilemma of Cannabis usage for pain relief/aggression modulation Vs what the churches told me was the “moral” thing to do as in their view “Drugs were evil.” I read the Bible (I have almost total recall on the written word) and began to debate the church leaders and theologians on what the Bible actually said on the issue. I was subsequently pushed out of many churches of many denominations over many years for my views and choices. My faith in God is in tact, my church attendance not so.
I chose to retire from my career as a sound engineer at 30 due to the ongoing pain in my back and retrained myself into IT Infrastructure design and security engineering and worked in that field for 17 years. Until COMPULSORY random drug testing in the workplace ended my career!!!!

I was diagnosed as Aspergers by a government Psychologist in Dec 2006 where my cognitive abilities were again tested. The 31 years of Cannabis usage between the first test at 15 and the second test at 46 showed there was no discernible negative cognitive impact with general intelligence being rated at 94% in the first test and 95% in the second. Interestingly I was medicated when I did the second test which throws serious doubts over the claims it impacts cognitive function when used medicinally at low levels. The Psychologist “spat the dummy” when I informed her after the test result were finalised and her report, written of my Cannabis usage and the fact I was medicated during the test. It really upset her that my results showed no negative impact after 31 years Cannabis usage. (So much for objective science)

I have not become tolerant to Cannabis and it’s calming/pain reducing effects are as good today as the first time I used it. I use the increase in color perception to titrate the dose as I am aware that at a certain level of increase I need to pause medicating or spin out. I either vaporise or use a Bhong (glass&brass with filtering to remove the tars etc that make it through the water and reduce water vapour levels), to administer the dosage and sometimes cook biscuits or muffins with canna-butter if I am going out in public and cannot take my pipe.

Regardless I have had no need to increase my dosage to keep gaining the benefit of the Cannabis in calming me and managing my pain. I have a number of times over the years tried stopping my Cannabis use to ensure I was not becoming “addicted” and have experienced no withdrawal symptoms as such just a return of the anxiety/ discomfort associated with social interaction and of course the pain from my back injuries returns with a vengeance. All of those things were there before I even knew what Cannabis was and so cannot be attributed to withdrawal from the Cannabis.

I only occasionally drink alcohol to very moderate levels, consuming only an occasional glass of port after a good meal to aid digestion.
I have not been intoxicated on any substance since my 21st birthday and do not use cannabis to a point of intoxication only that of pain relief and anxiety reduction. I do not enjoy intoxication.
I have long been a highly productive member of society holding senior technical consulting positions to major corporations and contracting to Government Departments in my area of expertise, all while being a medical cannabis user.

I have made a conscious, informed decision to ignore the unjust, disproportionate, discriminatory bigoted law that ignores/denies the empirical scientific evidence on the efficacy of cannabis, in a select group of patients, for whom no other known medicine works. A law that prohibits me from having the one substance that gives me relief and quality of life and prevents me from exploding in peoples faces. I am currently being persecuted under this draconian law but am fighting back against the bullies, but that is a story for another time.

In hindsight I have known a number of (mostly undiagnosed) Aspies over the years who have used Cannabis to modulate their aggression and keep them calm, all have reported similar effects to those I experience, so I believe it is how Cannabis works with the autistic mind. Our brains are wired differently from the Neuro-typicals of this world and therefore Psychoactive substances react very differently with us, quite often the opposite of what is expected.

Cannabis will not cause learning difficulties at all in Autistics and will in fact help them to concentrate and be involved in social activities without melting down. They will not become tolerant to the calming effects of a carefully titrated dosage and revert to their old aggressive selves again.

And who amongst you will be the first to look me in the eye and tell me I have no right to control my own medical treatment and what happens to my own body? Or what I can and cannot put in my own mouth? Or that I do not have the right to a medicine to relieve the intolerable, debilitating pain I experience everyday since the bully damaged my spine?

Anyone?

Even static intelligence based treatment models such as ABA would likely agree that science is based on trial and error and that if it is measurable and observable then it does constitute behaviour/behavioural change. So a single case design study such as the previous man has described would have merit.

I would be interested however in how RDI would view this (as it is arguably the most up to date clinical model for treatment of ASD). RDI views (based on the most current research) ASD is in fact a strength in static intelligence and a deficit in dynamic intelligence. So treating the behavioural symptoms of the Autism/AS would ultimately lie in changing the neurology of person with autism so that they could think more dynamically/flexibly in real world relational situations. Standard intelligence tests do no measure this and hence are a true disservice when relied upon solely to help treat those on the autism spectrum and measure there ‘intelligence’. What they really need help with are their deficits in dynamic intelligence. This is not what they know discretely but how they use what they know in a continuous process subjective manner when interacting with others and the everchanging world. If they are left to be static thinkers in our dynamic relationship based world then you will see these behavioural symptoms emerge as defense mechanism and need to keep treating them. If you attempt to change there neurology based on experience then they will become flexible enough that they will not have to set up these defense and coping mechanisms. The chronic stress and anxiety of being a static thinker in our dynamic world would be mitigated and the behavioral symptoms of the order as well.

Wow, Lightning!! I absolutely LOVED your story. I think you have made some really great decisions and I sincerely appreciate your valuable and relavent perspective.

I am a mother of a wonderful 15 year old with HFA/Aspergers. I also agree for the most part with the article that started this topic here. RDI is a fantastic treatment as are many others. I have done many of them with my son since his diagnosis at age 5, RDI being the best one by far and just a great way to live in general. I have REFUSED to drug him all these years and it WAS a HUGE battle I tell you… I was the least liked pain in the you know what Mom in the school (which I ended up bringing to their knees in a “privately settled Human Rights case” settled not by my choice), the doctors were also annoyed by my questions on how do they know what drug, how much, how will we measure effectivness, safety, etc and my refusal to try any of them because of their poor answers.

My son is a WONDERFUL kid, he is beautiful, very social, friendly, loving, smart, kind and I credit a lot of that to the early interventions and NOT using perscription drugs… however, he IS still autistic. Just like lightening stated, he can have outbursts, misunderstand social situations, become depressed (for good reasons, not chemical… he gets extremely sad when a social event does not go right or plans change or he lacks skills in an area, makes mistakes, etc) he also has difficulty focusing on things he is not interested in, of course the opposite is, hyper focuses on the things he is. Since becoming a teen I find he is much sadder and lonelier then he should be. The doctors of course want to go with anti-depressents and anti-psychotics for the OCCASSIONAL minor outbursts (never for no reason) but I STILL am not ready to take that option. I am exploring the cannabis idea though. I feel very safe with that for some reason. And please, do not tell me about addictions. I know WAY to many pill popping, prescription addicts with full approval/support from the medical system. They are addicted to very dangerous drugs with deadly side effects and often WAY too many different ones at the same time. I also have a large amount of experience in dealing with addicts as I had a father who was an illegal drug user that comes from a long line of addicts. I am likely the one voted LEAST likely to condone the use of street drugs! I am proud of the fact that I entered into a career up holding laws, abstain from anything illegal and am a very productive, well respected citizen. Yet, I do plan on assisting my son in reducing his anxiety, calming his attention so he can focus better, lightening his moods and hopefully turn out as well as it sounds like lightening has. If Cannabis does that for him, I will feel just fine with that choice. I feel it is the lesser of many evils and I feel I have given all the other interventions their best shot and they have been very successful. I just feel there are somethings therapy cannot give my son now.

Who decided Cannabis was wrong anyway?? As a medication I feel it has its place.

Like any medicine, if you do not need it… it will not help you and could do harm. Meaning… NO typical kids/adults SHOULD EVER BE USING drugs of any kind.

I am wondering “lightening” if you have tried GABA (to calm) or Rhodiola (to stop the anxieties)? Enjoyed reading your post. Do continue to pursue your gifted abilities to write. I am also curious if anyone else in your family has AS, that you are aware of. AS people need to continue to speak out and share their perspectives. Thanks for sharing.

I can understand the hope to decrease aggressive behaviour in young children, but I strongly disagree with the use of cannabis. Marijuana is known to negatively affect the ability to learn. Overall a child might be docile, but she will also experience a learning disability. This is not fair to the child.

I don’t like the idea of giving marijuana to kids. I don’t even like meds used for kids who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD etc. A child’s body and brain are still developing and changing, and my fear is that the use of meds, or pot, would alter the natural progression of a persons mental/physical growth.

If by the time a person is 18 or 21, and they want to try pot, as Lighting did, and they find it works for them(not for the sake of getting high), then all the power to them. At least the marijuana is a naturally growing/grown substance and not pharmaceutically created.

While the use of Paxil has worked for me in dealing with my depression/anxiety, I know of people who have tried meds and they have experienced adverse negative affects from them, increasing their anxiety/depression etc. What works for some, doesn’t always work for others.

But no, no pot for kids in my book.

OK,
So obviously people who are AGAINST giving children with autism medication do NOT live with a child who has SEVERE AUTISM with SEVERE behavior problems.

All the therapy in the world will NOT stop serious behavior problems.

I think MMJ is safer than other RX meds like Risperadal.
I have NOT given my child MMJ but I WOULD feel more comfortable giving him that over a man made drug.

so how can we start a case study in NY ? what is the fear of testing this with a placebo just as Risperdal or any other drug. A drug is a drug- if it helps with the effects of autism and they can find help for their child – what is the government so afraid of? loss of billions of dollars – is it money or is it trying to find a relief for these children suffering from the effects of autism? all these billions of dollars raised for trying to find the cure – can be used in a case study. A case study will answer so many questions and possible give relief and help for the behaviours effecting this disease.

Having lived with AS for about 30 years now, it also was not known as a diagnosis when I was growing up and I didn’t learn of it till my older brothers first child was diagnosed with it and I looked up the condition – it was so dead on accurate I went to my doctor to check and found that both myself and my son carry the gene as well, and are both affected by AS to varying degrees. I grew up on the streets of a large city and saw many people at the end of the long, painful road of hardcore addictions, and swore I would never allow myself to become so addicted to anything. For many years I wouldn’t even take medication for the fear of addictions, but eventually I tried MJ to see if it would help with the overloads and breakdowns that I could not find a way to stop otherwise. I have alternately picked it up and put it back down back and forth many times over the years, mostly to assure myself that I dont develop an addiction, and the only effects I receive comments on is that everyone who knows me finds it easier to understand me and feels that I comunicate faster, more on-topic, and more effectively under the effects of an appropriate dosage of MJ than I do on or off anything and everything else. Even though I know how it affects me personally both with pain relief and with concentration/sensory integration, I would really like to see some clinical trials done and MJ moved from being mostly considered an illicit drug to being a true medical treatment option that is actually used medically instead of recreationally. Yes, many people use it for recreational purposes. Even more people use alcohol recreationally only than they do taking just a glass of wine with dinner for digestion/heart health, but that is perfectly legal – there truly are many herbal options that can deal with or solve problems that physicians will only treat with prescription medication – in part because that is how they are trained these days, and in part because they either do not know or do not trust herbal efficacy. I am not only speaking of MJ, but even products like chamomile and jasmine teas. God put every plant that is on this earth here for a reason it is our responsibility to find those uses and use what God gave us appropriately. I will not even begin to get into quoting scripture on such an open forum, but I can guarantee you cannot point out anything in the bible that condemns MJ usage, and many passages that support its APPROPRIATE use. Note the key word appropriate, as ANYTHING can be abused if taken too far or too much, even something as simple and common as sugar that we cannot survive without – too much is still bad. I believe that many aspies would benefit from the use of MJ, but not all. Just as every person is different, so is the brain structure and chemistry of each aspie still different from each other and what works for one may not work the same for others – it all depends on the chemical interactions that take place in the indivduals brain. Maybe an appropriate testing measure to ensure a patient should be using MJ medically for treatment would be to administer a dosage in the doctors office while performing a battery of tests both before, during, and after the MJ usage that measure the effects on that patients symptoms to ensure it is an appropriate solution for that person before prescribing it long-term. Side note, I notice that many aspies seem to take a small book to explain concepts like these, so I don’t feel quite so bad that I cannot put things as simply as others do, though i do find it somewhat easier to simplify my statements after a dosage of MJ as it slows my brain down from ultra-high speed to just fast-forward and makes it easier to focus on one thing at a time….Maybe I should have had some before I wrote this post, but I’m not hurting bad enough just yet today and won’t use it unless I need it.

I agree with everything that Lightning said, I have a 13 year old son with autism, and very bad behavior problems. I would also rather give my child marijuana over the man-made drugs that he is currently on!

Just remember, marijuana carries the greatest risk for triggering psychosis in younger kids:

http://addictions.about.com/b/2010/06/13/under-15s-at-highest-risk-for-cannabis-related-harms.htm

And kids with autism are at greater risk of developing psychosis already.

http://autism.about.com/b/2008/11/12/connection-between-autism-and-schizophrenia.htm

I love how you are “guessing” these negative things as a “gut reaction.” That is so unfair. Try watching your 17 year old autistic daughter in a fit of anxiety, biting her hands and poking her eyes until she needs to be restrained. Then check out the side effects of the typical “legal” medications she would be prescribed. Parkinsons-like shaking? HUGE weight gain? MAJOR ORGAN FAILURE? None of which she is going to get from small amounts of medical marijuana. It is unbelievable to me how judgmental people can be without taking any time to know what they are talking about, without having any clue of how difficult it is to live with the symptoms of severe autism and what the risks of the other choices are!

If they do have a bad reaction to the marijuana it is MUCH easier to take them off of it than the alternatives. Coming of the commonly-prescribed Risperdal can be pure hell, a friend told me she needed round the clock care with the delusions and psychosis caused by discontinuing Risperdal.