Cannabis and small children

How is it possible that a substance like THC has almost no effect on small children?

Professor Ester Fride’s work proved that Cannabinoid receptors develop very slowly during the post-natal stage. This ties up with observations that small children appear to be insensitive to the psychoactive effects of controlled Cannabinoid treatment, and specifically to THC. Because of Professor Fride’s revelation, we now know that this gradual increase of EC system activity in the human body is accompanied by a gradual maturation in the response to the psychoactive properties of THC. In studies of post-natal mice a gradual increase in the density of THC receptors was recorded in the brain, and this led to the important discovery that small children can benefit from Cannabis medicine without any harsh side-effects. There are numerous studies from Hebrew University in Israel where children between the ages of 3 and 13 undergoing chemotherapy were administered high THC doses, approximately 0.64 mg/kg per treatment. Some of these children were given doses for long periods of time, up to 114 treatments based on 4 treatments per 24-hour period. The anti-emetic effects were also impressive with no real side-effects at all. [91] (Abrahamov et al 1995)

In another of her studies eight children between the ages of 3 and 14 years with severe neurological damage were treated with between 0.04 – 0.12 mg/kg per day.  Across the board, improvements in behaviour included reduced spasticity, improved dystonia (muscle movements), increased interest in surroundings and anti-epileptic activity, all with no notable side-effects. This same study included the case of an 11-year-old girl, who, after a motor accident suffered a spinal contusion with total paraplegia and a frontal skull fracture. The patient suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder, mood disturbances and lack of appetite. The daily THC dose administered improved her appetite and mood, as well as her spasticity, with no side-effects.  [92]  (Fride et al 2009)

Over the past twenty years we have seen excellent clinical results from Cannabis treatment in small children and young adults, especially in paediatric oncology cases, and where children have been suffering from serious neurological conditions and brain trauma such as epilepsy. All of these healings become possible because of the now scientifically proven fact that Cannabinoid receptor expression is different in children.

It is interesting to note that only a temporary presence of receptors is expressed during development, but not during adulthood, in certain regions of the brain at the Corpus Callosum and the anterior commissure, which connects the neuronal pathways between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. These expressions were noted between gestational day 21 and post-natal day 5, and this proves the important role of Cannabinoids in human brain development. [93] (Mechoulam et al 1996) To my mind this natural paediatric expression of the human EC system is clearly and obviously designed to be a biologically adaptive defence mechanism designed to protect children from illness because children are not supposed to be ill.

What about Human studies?

In her human studies Professor Ester confirmed the results of past studies where Cannabinoid receptors were identified in the human embryo at week 14 of gestation. In the 20^th week of gestation in the human embryo a selective (lesser) expression of the receptors was identified in the hippocampus compared with a much wider expression in the adult human brain. An advanced increase in the concentration of these Cannabinoid receptors was found in the frontal cortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia and cerebellum between the foetal period and adulthood. This proves that these receptors are functionally active at all stages of human development. So, in other words, the receptor concentration in these parts of the brain increased progressively only as the human progressed and grew. We can clearly see how nature has accommodated small children by ensuring only progressive development of the highly evolved EC system. The most important finding was that the psychoactive effects of Cannabinoid treatment are virtually absent, or extremely reduced, in children (in controlled studies) and now we know that this is because of the lower concentrations of the actual receptors at younger ages.