Hi Everybody, may we reopen the debate?

I claim cannabis to be a safe and effective medicine for my autism. I am not the only one. I've spent 8 months investigating the attitudes and objections to this.

Have I missed anything glaringly obvious? It seems to work fine for many. Some don't like it, that's fine. Some won't do it, that's also fine.

Why the censorship (not on this site but on others)?

Cheers,
Jules

the reason for censorship is that it is an illegal substance in most places.

It is my self-medication of choice also. Mainly for my anxiety and depression tho. I dont know how it affects peoples perception of their Autism. And/or whether it is an aid for that, or not.

I guess it would be up to personal opinion.

Great when I have an awfully overstimulating or real stress-inducing nightmare of a day on the odd occasion, although memory-impairing, so it has good points and bad, its up to the user to decide which outweighs which.

Helps with my joint pain (pun intended) in my knee, that my rx pain meds only touch at high doses, and morphine does to only an extent at a moderately sized dose on top of the pain meds I get prescribed., indeed after a good bong or three I won't feel any pain at all there. At some times day to day I have to walk with a cane now.

dont talk to me a bout cannibis, stuff has happend

dont talk to me a bout cannibis, stuff has happend

makes mental note.

How does cannabis help with autism, exactly?

That's the million dollar question, and is virtually equivalent to knowing the pathology of Autism itself.

I had originally hypothesised that the cannabis was balancing my 'ogrish autistic personality', making me less pushy, less rigid, less verbally dominating. The classic 'chilling me out' effect that we understand cannabis to have.

However, In the last 8 months I have read dozens of accounts of autists from every functional level and every age, all benefiting from cannabis.

This is leading me to suspect that all autism, while presenting very differently in different individuals, has the same underlying biological mechanism.

I would hypothesise that it is something to do with the endocannabinoid system (this regulates hunger, immune system, everything!).

And to quote an email I got a couple of days ago:

"Robert Melamede ✆ to me
4 Mar (2 days ago)
Hi Julian, from what I can see, autism appears to be an autoimmune-like disease and hence cannabis turns it down.
be well, drbob"

Anything to add? Have you tried it?

Although it's currently too expensive for me, here in the UK.

We are hoping to get the European court of human rights to have a look at it for us. The UK Government are discriminating against us by not allowing us to have the only medicine that works for some of us, when a Dutch person could have it on their NHS.

Wasilios Katsioulis II MEP is behind it, along with Paul Flynn MP and a few others. We just need a few UK Autists to come forward like the MS people did. 200 of them got their voice first.

Also, phone the manufacturers of Sativex and tell them you want it!

'cannabis for autism' on facebook

I've got doubts about drbob's claim. Autoimmune diseases are usually degenerative. Whereas autism often becomes less severe over time.

I assume that drbob is making the link that cannabis makes some people with MS feel better... and cannabis makes some people with autism feel better... therefore autism must be an autoimmune-like disease as well.

I've tried cannabis a number of times, more than 20 years ago. It had strong effects on me, but I didn't like the confusion and paranoia and negative feelings that I got sometimes so I never became a regular user.

I've known several people who were severely messed up by long term heavy cannabis use, so I am not a fan. I do accept that some people get good results and effects from cannabis.

Could some one clarify the effects of Cannabidiol?  "It's part of an experiment to compare the effects of intravenous THC and cannabidiol combined, with intravenous THC on its own. The mix of both gives the presenter a pleasant giggly high while THC on its own causes her to become desolate and paranoid.

Both are these are known to be key psychoactive ingredients in cannabis but the video is interesting as it is a reflection of the fact that THC has been most linked to an increased risk of developing psychosis while cannabidiol seems to have an antipsychotic effect."

Cannabidiol (CBD) is apparently being lost as growers breed for high THC levels.

This post was last modified: 03-07-2011 03:52 AM by awiddershinlife.

It's here: http://peterreynolds.wordpress.com/2011/...moke-dope/

1 hour long, delightful presenter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabidiol

Thousands of medical uses, no toxicity. Safer than eggs!

There are many good reasons to avoid eggs, personal safety being only one

I understand that marijuanna growing in a ditch has more CBD than what is currently available, and CBD is the source of the health benefits.  THC is what sets off anxiety reaction in some people.

It seems that "bud" (my kids say I cant call it "pot" any more) selectively grown for higher CBD would be more helpful for aspies.

Certainly one can generalise about the effects of the various components, but there are over 400 components to cannabis and  each kind has a slightly different effect.

I've known some that have made me 'just perfect', others make me stupidly high which is fun but no good for my job. Some make you sleep heavily which has it's advantages.

The only way to get it right is to have a good range of choice and experiment.

Ultimately, Cannabis for aspergers is either functional or funny, but never as seriously awful as we aspergers can be when we are unmedicated!