Despite the growing popularity among parents giving cannabis to their epileptic children as a treatment, researchers are warning that there is not enough research to determine if the treatment is actually safe or effective.
On Monday researchers presented data at the American Epilepsy Society in Seattle showing that parents who move out of state to a place where recreational marijuana is legal are more likely to say that the cannabis treatment is working for their epileptic child.
These findings were called "concerning" by researchers.
Although many families who are using the treatments say they are working Dr. Kevin Chapman, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Colorado and the lead researcher, told Live Science it will be worrisome to doctors and researchers until there are more controlled, rigorous studies performed on the effects of cannabis on epileptic patients.
"By doing more placebo-controlled trials, I think we're going to get a better feel for whether it's beneficial for epilepsy," Chapman said to Live Science.
Researchers are also concerned by the use of cannabis to treat epileptic patients because no research exists yet on required dosage.
"We lack safety data in children, and there should be carefully done safety and efficacy studies on any drug given to children," Dr. Orrin Devinsky, the director of the New York University Epilepsy Center, who was not involved with any of the studies, said to Live Science. "We desperately need this data."
