Pot for tots? Parents turn to medical marijuana for child's treatment

by: Crystal Haynes

“It is the worst thing in the world to see your child have a seizure.”

Stacy Fisk’s daughter Ashley was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome when she was just 5 months old.

“Her first seizure started at the age of 5 months and they last 45 to 50 minutes,” Fisk said.

The rare form of epilepsy causes frequent debilitating and uncontrollable seizures, and no medication could stop them.

“They would do loading doses on her where she couldn’t walk after. For two days, she’d be home and she couldn’t walk,” Fisk said.

Desperate, Stacy began searching for a solution and found medical marijuana. Now, Ashley takes three doses of the marijuana in oil or tincture form every day.

“She’s about 90 to 95 percent better at this point,” Stacy said.

Medical marijuana is legal in the Bay State with more than 19,000 active patients, but getting a prescription for the controversial treatment isn’t easy because it requires two authorizations.

Dr. Eric Ruby is currently the only pediatrician in Massachusetts who will write marijuana prescriptions for children.

“You can treat a tremendous number of diseases and symptoms,” Ruby told FOX25.

Boston Children’s Hospital neurologist Dr. Sharon Levy is among the majority in the medical community who say more research needs to be done on the long term effects of marijuana on kids.

“Marijuana isn’t a medication Fungus produces penicillin, but moldy bread is not an antibiotic, and I think the same is true for marijuana,” Levy said.

The American Medical Association is calling for “further adequate and well-controlled studies of marijuana and related cannabinoids.”

The Massachusetts Medical Society says "patients should remember that marijuana lacks the rigorous testing of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Claims for its effectiveness have not been scientifically proven; and, that it poses health risks of toxins and cognitive impairment, the last condition being especially risky for young patients."

“Illicit exposure to marijuana in adolescence is associated with things like mental health disorders and there’s been a study that shows marijuana use during adolescence is associated with drops in IQ,” Levy said.

There are some doctors that say it is irresponsible to be treating children with this type of drug.

“Well, I think it’s irresponsible to use anti-epileptic after anti-epileptic that doesn’t work. That is very expensive. That makes your child turn into a zombie,” Ruby said.

Ruby has about 40 patients who have come to him for a certificate for medical marijuana. The process is extremely lengthy, and more than a dozen patients remain on the waiting list.

“I know with 100 percent certainty that this is helping my daughter when everything else has failed.” Stacy told FOX25.