For several years now, people living with autism and their loved ones have consistently looked into the benefits of using medical cannabis. They have remained hopeful, believing that this newfound ‘miracle’ can help alleviate some autism-related issues. After all, it has been helpful with PTSD, seizures, body pains, and several other medical problems.
Scientists are also not left out. They are effortlessly researching the benefits of medical cannabis for autism.
Thankfully, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. WEED, an award-winning documentary series that premiered in 2013 on CNN, has depicted and explained some remarkable benefits of using CBD to help humanity.
About The Weed Documentary On CNN
It has been eight years since the original CNN documentary was aired, and Dr. Gupta has created six documentaries in total. Each one with a unique view on cannabis.
The first WEED documentary aired in 2013 discussed the stigma attached to using weed. Dr. Gupta’s 2013 CNN article was titled “Why I changed my mind on weed.” This article was the exact opposite of the article he wrote in his 2009 TIME article “Why I would vote No on Pot.”
In his CNN 2013 article, Dr. Sanjay Gupta apologized for allowing the stigma associated with cannabis to hinder him from seeing the benefits of the plant. He wrote that the main reason of the article was to apologize for his earlier ignorance on issues relating to cannabis. He had failed to have a in-depth look into the published benefits of cannabis. In addition to this, he stated that he was extremely dismissive of the uniform testimonies of legal cannabis patients whose symptoms were alleviated by the treatments formulated from remarkable research
In WEED 2: Cannabis Madness (2014), he looked into the difficulties in medical cannabis due to varying political views. The third episode, WEED 3: The Marijuana Revolution (2015), went further to review the advantages of using medical cannabis.
Pot vs. Pills (2018) was the title of the fourth episode. It covered the harmful effect of the opioid crisis and ways in which medical cannabis can be of help. Then, WEED 5: The CBD Craze, which aired in the year 2019, assessed the way CBD has been widely accepted. It also looked into the perils of an unregulated market.
This documentary has made several state legislatures change their laws, thereby granting doctors and parents permission to use CBD.
On the 2nd of November 22, 2021, CNN announced that it would be showing the sixth episode of its "WEED" cannabis series titled Cannabis and Autism. This episode looks deeply into the benefits of using medical cannabis to improve symptoms of patients living with autism. This could be the breakthrough we have all been waiting for.
The documentary features CNN’s Chief Medical reporter, Sanjay Gupta. This episode follows the format of previous WEED series editions as it introduces the viewer to investigations carried out to find out how helpful medical cannabis is to autism.
Cannabis and Autism
ASD is a short form for Autism Spectrum Disorder. It is a complex, lifetime developmental infirmity that appears typically during the early stages of a person’s childhood and may negatively impact the social and communication skill of the sufferer.
Autism is defined by a particular set of behaviors and affects people differently in various degrees.
Although there is no known cause of autism, identifying it early helps people get all the support they need. This can help the patient live a quality life.
An autistic person may be nonverbal or have atypical speech patterns; he may have issues comprehending nonverbal messages, he may experience difficulty in making and keeping friends, and difficulty in maintaining basic back-and-forth conversations
The patient may be repeating phrases or sounds (echolalia), repetitive motions, prefer sameness, and have difficulty transitioning or having a routine. He may also have rigid or highly restricted interests, be extremely sensitive or have very low sensitivity to different sensory stimuli.
In the press release, CNN wrote that irrespective of how mild or severe an active condition is, it is always accompanied by two major symptoms. These two symptoms are social challenges as well as restrictive or repetitive behaviors. Marijuana for autism studies are happening around the world now as well.
In the most recent WEED documentary, WEED 6: Cannabis and Autism, viewers will be accorded the opportunity to meet doctors, scientists, and families. Most of these individuals are revealing themselves for the first time and will boldly profess how helpful the plant has been.
In WEED, Dr. Gupta brought a young Colorado girl, Charlotte Figi, into the spotlight. She suffered from Dravet syndrome and seemed to be finding help with medical cannabis. Although she passed away in the year 2020, she remains a noteworthy example of the benefits of cannabis. She has also inspired several other parents to consider the idea of using medical cannabis for their autistic kids.
Dr. Gupta's Recent Activities On Cannabis Advocacy
On the 13th of October, 2021, the esteemed personality was on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, where he spoke about his view on the use of medical cannabis. He also spoke about how he publicly apologized for his initial statement about it.
He also went into detail on the challenges with several medical studies which are being carried out on cannabis.
Dr. Gupta stated that most medical studies are created to look for the harm in cannabis and place extra emphasis on it. He believed the focus on the harmful side of cannabis would hinder the world from making reasonable progress in this field.
Last Words
Since the year 2013, Dr. Gupta has remained a strong advocate of medical cannabis, but his involvement in this field of research is not in any way limited to the WEED series. He started observing research from other countries, especially Israel and found out that the benefits of medical cannabis outweigh the side effects all around the globe.
With the scientific findings of Gupta and other scientists, we hope to find relief for autistic-related issues.
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