Medical Marijuana For Autism?

I don't often write about autism on this site as it's a bit out of my wheelhouse, but I was intrigued by this press release by Bernard Rimland, founder of the Autism Research Institute in San Diego, wherein he identifies a few cases of extreme autism where violent behaviors have been quelled by giving the patients medical marijuana.

"In ARRI 16-2 (The American Journal for Autism Research) we published a letter from a mother in Florida whose very large autistic son changed from a sweet, loving boy to a teenager who flew into unpredictable rages which 'were usually associated with self injury, aggression and property damage.” She went on, “At times I had to lock myself in the bathroom; otherwise he would attack me. We gave him many medications, but nothing worked.'

"A friend suggested a solution: a brownie with marijuana baked into it. 'Soon after he ate the brownie,' she said, 'my son’s anxiety disappeared, and his sweet, loving behavior returned. He shows no signs of being under the influence of a drug. He now receives one marijuana brownie and several doses of Marinol, which contains the active ingredient in marijuana [THC], each day. This has clearly saved my child’s life and my family’s life.'"

Rimland reports on a few other similar cases in which marijuana produced positive results in patients who were thought to be lost causes. Then he takes up the question of marijuana versus antipsychotics often used to treat autism:

"It seems to me if one is going to need to use drugs, one ought to consider a relatively safe drug, like marijuana, if research bears out the good results that a number of parents have reported. I use the term 'relatively safe' because marijuana and Marinol, the prescription drug that contains the active marijuana ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), do cause adverse effects-but these effects, evidence suggests, are generally much less harmful than those caused by psychotropic drugs."

I'm certainly not advocating for medical marijuana to be used in treating autism, but pot is generally a safe drug whereas Risperdal has killed over 1,000 Americans. As far as I know, autism is not an approved condition for medical marijuana in any of the 12 states that have medical marijuana laws. But with case reports such as these, you've got to wonder why someone isn't researching whether there are any positive benefits to be gained from using medical marijuana or Marinol in treating autism. Of course, the feds would do their best to block such research with marijuana but Marinol is a legal prescription drug in the US. Given just how desperate I know many families with autistic family members are, you'd think they'd be clamoring for research as well and that Marinol's maker, Solvay, would fund some level of initial research. The feds would have little choice but to stand back and watch what happens.

But perhaps I am simply being naive.