An explainer of a new marijuana-based pharmaceutical drug approved by FDA

By Dr. Amitha Kalaichandran, ABC News, June 26, 2018
With comments from Nicholas Chadi

Epidiolex, a medication formulated from a cannabidiol (CBD) substance derived from the marijuana plant was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for children and adults over the age of 2. It treats Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), two rare epilepsy disorders that primarily affect children. […]

Dr. Nicholas Chadi, a pediatrician completing his fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital in pediatric and adolescent addictions, points to the limited research on CBD side effects in general.

“Only recently have we been able to separate CBD from THC, and to create substances with very high CBD content,” Chadi told ABC news. “So we don’t really know much about the effect of CBD on the developing brain or whether it could be addictive in the long run.” (Read more)