You may have heard the remarkable story of Charlotte Figi, the little Colorado girl who was on the verge of death from relentless violent seizures until her parents decided to try cannabidiol (CBD), a drug that Growing cannabis and its non-psychoactive components could help other sick children.
It turns out that CBD did something for Charlotte that no drug in the world could do: it saved her life.
For nine years before her death at the age of 13 in 2020, Charlotte had few seizures. CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, who documented her story, said Charlotte’s experience completely changed his perspective on cannabis and its medical potential.
Gupta’s 2013 “weed”-themed special gave Reseda kindergarten teacher Beth Sahyoun a much-needed hope, as her son, then-20-year-old Armand Suffered from epileptic seizures for six years.
“I was completely reluctant,” Sahyoun told me. “I’m not familiar with cannabis. We’ve been part of the medical establishment, and it feels very, very uncomfortable, but when you’re desperate, you go into uncharted territory. You have to.
She quickly found Dr. Bonni Goldstein, a pediatrician and leading cannabis doctor in Los Angeles, who helped Armand become almost seizure-free for nine years using CBD.
I met Goldstein a few years ago while writing Proposition 64, the 2016 ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana in California. She recently contacted me and was distressed that the California Legislature seemed to be on the verge of depriving her patients of the CBD products they needed to live their lives.
The controversial legislation, Assembly Bill 2223, is a good-faith attempt to close a loophole in the state’s marijuana laws that allowed unregulated, intoxicating marijuana-derived products to flood the market. The bill passed the Assembly with bipartisan support and is now before the Senate for consideration.
The federal government legalized the commercial production of hemp, a type of marijuana typically used for non-intoxicating purposes, in 2018. It’s the psychoactive component of marijuana, called THC. If it exceeds that percentage, the plant is considered marijuana, which, unlike marijuana, is strictly regulated, tested, and taxed, and can only be legally sold by dispensaries.
Here’s the loophole: A synthetic form of THC can be extracted from hemp-derived CBD. This substance is called delta-8 THC, and it has psychoactive properties. Because it is said to be milder than the THC in marijuana, delta-8 products are often referred to as “weed lite” or “diet weed.” Since hemp is not regulated like marijuana, anyone can purchase delta-8 products online or at gas stations and convenience stores. Distressingly, a large number of teenagers have reported using this product, but the safety of the product has not been systematically evaluated in any way.
“During the conversion process of CBD,” says Goldstein, “you get unexpected by-products. When you buy unregulated, untested Delta products, you are taking your health into your own hands. .
Dr. Bonni Goldstein, a pioneer in the use of CBD in pediatric patients, was at Hesse Community Park in Los Angeles last week.
(Zoe Cranfill/Los Angeles Times)
Owners of legal marijuana dispensaries, who have jumped through almost unimaginable bureaucratic and financial hoops, are understandably unhappy with a product that appears to be both undermining their business and endangering the public.
Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a Yolo County Democrat, is the author of AB 2223, a bill that bans these “herbicide” products. The bill would ban any cannabis product containing more than 1 milligram of THC per container.
“The bottom line is, if it makes you high, it shouldn’t be sold outside of pharmacies,” Aguiar-Curry said in a statement.
In a statement emailed to me Friday morning, she added, “We are trying to strike a delicate balance between helping children with health needs and preventing other children from being exposed to illegal drugs.” She said her bill “Ensure that CBD can be sold in the state as long as it contains non-intoxicating trace amounts of THC. Products with higher levels of THC will be sold in dispensaries so they don’t fall into the hands of young people.”
The problem is that Goldstein’s patients would be in breach of legislation. Typically, the ratio of CBD to THC is about 20 to 1 or higher, but they can be used in sufficient amounts to exceed recommended THC limits.
“If my patients take 20 milligrams of CBD, they’re also getting 1 milligram of THC,” she says. “But if they take 200 milligrams of CBD, the same ratio will produce 10 milligrams of THC. If they take 1,200 milligrams of CBD, they will take 60 milligrams of THC. There is no intoxication because we start with a low dose first and then gradually Increase the dose to minimize any damaging effects. Secondly, higher levels of CBD inhibit the effects of THC because CBD antagonizes the effects of THC.
Armand Sahyoun, 29, uses a 25-to-1 formula; he takes 1,600 milligrams of CBD per day, along with 64 milligrams of THC.
“There’s no harm done because it takes months to get to that dose,” Goldstein said. “His performance was outstanding.”
At the drug store, she adds, “you’re lucky if you can find a bottle that contains more than 600 milligrams of CBD. That means a child using such a high dose would be consuming $80 a bottle a day.” Beth Beth Sahyoun told me her son’s medication costs $900 a month.
Charlotte’s mother, Paige Figi, founded the nonprofit Access Now coalition, which educates the public and lawmakers about the health benefits of CBD.
“We are the collateral damage of these hastily enacted state bills trying to address delta-8,” Figi told me. “Forty-five million Americans take CBD every day for health—first responders, grandparents, people with epilepsy. Kids, Veterans, Pain Sufferers. These people are happy to use this product.
The state Senate should not pass AB 2223 if families like the Sayoons can’t fix it. This bill should be signed.
“Your kid is as sick as a dog and you have no hope, but you find CBD hemp, it’s not damaging, it’s not intoxicating,” Goldstein said. “Your child is thriving and now the government says you can’t have any more? This is cruel, stupid and incomprehensible.
A glimmer of hope emerged over the weekend: After a period of futile attempts to contact Aguiar-Curry, Goldstein finally heard from her office. The doctor is expected to meet with lawmakers this week to discuss her concerns.
