Charlotte Figi, the little girl who changed cannabis laws in the United States

Charlotte is a little girl like no other. Since she was 3 months old, she has been a victim of epileptic seizures. Up to 300 a week, some lasting over an hour, with loss of consciousness and muscle spasms. Diagnosis was slow in coming, and the doctors could not immediately pinpoint the cause of his attacks.

After numerous tests, the verdict was in: Charlotte suffers from Dravet syndrome, also known as severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMIE). Ironically, Dravet syndrome is named after Charlotte Dravet, the first physician to describe this condition. severe form of epilepsy, in 1978 on French subjects.

This childhood syndrome is extremely difficult to treat. Existing medications are ineffective and plunge the child into lethargy, degrading the growth of cognitive functions. Charlotte's father Matt leaves his job in the army to look after his daughter at home.

In search of new treatments, Charlotte is put on a ketogenic diet under the advice of a Dravet syndrome specialist. This high-fat, low-carb diet is supposed to inhibit attacks. And so it did, for two years. But the side effects of the diet are terrible: bone loss, behavioral problems and immune system failure. Seizures start up again.

Just when all hope seemed lost, Matt came across a video of a child in California being successfully treated for Dravet syndrome with cannabis. The strain used for treatment is low in THC and very rich in CBD. Matt and Paige convince two doctors to prescribe medical marijuana and test different strains. They find 50g of a CBD-rich cannabis species and have it processed into oil. They are in uncharted territory: prescribing marijuana to young children is undocumented. They start by giving Charlotte small doses of oil, but don't know what to expect.

Seizures disappear for 1 hour, 3 hours, a day, 7 days in a row. The treatment works. They quickly run out of cannabis oil. Paige and Matt enlist the help of the Stanley brothers, two of Colorado's finest medical cannabis growers. They have a low-THC, high-CBD species.

Nobody wants it either, as CBD has no psychoactive effect. At first reluctant to let a child consume cannabis, they changed their minds when they met Charlotte. And named their strain Charlotte's Web (the Web corresponds to the dense network of trichomes that this variety sports).

Charlotte is 7 years old now. She now only has two or three seizures a month. She has been the subject of two CNN documentaries and has appeared on several TV shows. Her story contributed to the legalization of medical marijuana in many American states. Since then, medical marijuana has been used to treat children with Dravet syndrome. CBD has a huge advantage: it has no side effects. no side effects.

Her mother says: «The’cannabis oil helps her with everything. She controls her seizures 99% of the time. She is no longer tube-fed, whereas she was 100% before. She no longer exhibits autistic behavior or suffers from insomnia. She walks - she no longer uses her wheelchair - and she talks. She didn't talk before, and now she does. It's changed everything in her life.»

Telling the story of Charlotte Figi, the little girl who changed medical cannabis laws across America, the CBD's medical potential emancipate themselves and travel the world.