Friday, May 7, 2010

Parents Treating Autism Specrum Disorder with Marijuana

While doing my blog about kids and medication I kept coming across something interesting. Some parent's are taking it into their own hands to treat a their child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. To treat their children they are giving them medical marijuana. As young as the age of 9 these parents are giving their child this drug. I don’t condemn nor advocate drug use for adults, but in a child as young as 9. They’re still in the cognitive development stage and are psychoactive drug what parents should resort to. Marijuana can have negative affects on the central nervous system and can hinder the memory and movement of the user’s brain. Marijuana contains 400 chemicals 60 of which are cannabinoids. The most active cannabinoid is THC, which affects the brain by binding to and activating specific receptors. These receptors control memory, thought, concentration, time and depth, and coordinated movements. They also affect release and re-uptake of various neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters can affect personality disturbances, depression, and chronic anxiety. Another problem I have with parents’ actions is that this has not been tested: that I could find.

No comments:

Post a Comment