The beneficial effects of cannabinoid medicine in treating the complex symptoms for those with autism (ASD) is getting more attention. This concept of treating ASD with cannabinoids came to me while working as a school nurse in an adaptive living skills class for children with varied health concerns requiring creative attention. I was approached by the parents of a young adult with autism. Who had become legal age for cannabis and timed out of the school system per the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975.They had heard through one of my coworkers about my study of medical cannabis science.
Having just found a care provider, they were looking for specific dosage recommendations. This led me to read some available research about what doses had been tried and to what sucess rate with people with ASD. Spurring my interest in this direction of treatment for those with ASD symptoms.
Treatment of autism with cannabis often looks at Cannabidiol’s (CBD) effect on the nervous system in calming excitatory symptoms such as anxiety, repetitive movements, insomnia. It is thought that people with seizures may also have symptoms of Autism. The effectiveness of cannabis-based medicine for seizure disorders advanced the studies of the same medicine for autism. Studies of Epidiolex, a CBD based pharmaceutical cannabis medicine. Showed that there was a reduction of autistic symptoms in children with being treated for seizure disorders.
While CBD is the main cannabinoid that is studied. Cannabidivarin (CBDV) has also been studied on its effects on shifting ‘subcortical levels of the brain’s primary metabolite glutamate in the neurotypical and autistic brain. With similar results of effectiveness in both the neurotypical and autistic brain but with significant variances in response. CBDV shows potential in reducing excitatory symptoms of autism.
Recently Webinar hosted by Dr. Dustin Sulak, from Healer.com, featured Dr. Bonnie Goldstein’s review of the results of her group’s study, on cannabinoid dosaging for autism, “Cannabis-Responsive Biomarkers: A Pharmakinetic-based Application to Evaluate the Impact of Medical Cannabis Treatment on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (December 2021).”
Biomarkers are available in bodily fluids and are studied to see how well the body responds are to different treatments. Some examples of cannabis response biomarkers would be found in amino acid metabolism and brain cell activity. This study uses what is termed pharmacometabolomic’s, a process which helps systematically identify and study the action and metabolism of the cannabinoids under mass spectography.. While taking into consideration influences that can alter their degradation.
This study looks at five goals; Identifying cannabis responsive biomarkers, determining if biomarker changes shift physiological values, confirming as reported by observational care givers that medicinal cannabis treatment reduces emotional and behavioral difficulties, determine variances cannabis responsive biomarkers in children ages 6-12 years old with diagnosed ASD and taking parental supervised medical cannabis for at least one year, and determine if the biomarkers suggest mechanism of action of the cannabinoids. Children with epilepsy, traumatic brain injuries, or that required more than cannabis treatment more than 3 times a day, were excluded.
Saliva samples taken with no prior cannabis for 8 hours and then again 90 minutes after treatment of ASD and in the the morning only for typically developing children.
Fifteen children studied, used cannabis medicinally in the morning, twelve also at night, with three also including a midday dose. The study looked at the use of each participants medical cannabis dose as used the previous year and determined by the parents. The content percentages of the cannabinoids, THC, CBD, CBG, CBN, and cannabinoid acids, THCa and CBDa per treatment, were determined. The cannabis medicine was administered through tincture to eight and by edibles to seven of the participants. Results showed that twelve participants used from 0.05 -50 mg THC. Ten participants combined THC and next two highest cannabinoid contents in the study, CBD and/or CBG. CBN and the cannabinoid acids show scattered use in seven participants. The study results observed that the doses that had been adjusted by the parents for their children with ASD are too varied to determine a specific dosing for others. The observation of specific biomarkers that were predetermined for their average high or low levels in ASD children. Sixty-five metabolites showed shifts towards typically developing (TD) when medicinal cannabis was introduced.