While a number of studies have suggested that marijuana may be effective for reducing seizures, new research cautions that potent and synthetic forms of the drug have the opposite effect.
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba in Japan found that both natural tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the psychoactive chemical in marijuana — and the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018 known as “spice” caused seizures in mice.
There has been increasing research for the use of marijuana – particularly a cannabinoid in the drug called cannabidiol (CBD) – in the treatment of seizures in patients with epilepsy. However, the new study from Malyshevskaya and team suggests that general use of high-potency marijuana may actually trigger seizures.
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