Autism discussion with 11 year old's mother??

[MinnBobber]

HI,
has anybody wanted to have a (cannabis) discussion with a parent of autistic kid without crashing and burning.... or had a successful conversation??
It is my brother's girlfriend's 11 year old daughter who is autistic. I don't know the mom very well but get the feeling that she has believed the anti-cannabis propaganda machine.

I do a LOT of reading on med cannabis and it seems like cannabis is showing great promise on autism. I just feel it's my duty to share that with "the mom" as they even live in CA and could easily access med cannabis.

In early Dec we will be vacationing with them for a week and actually staying with them in a 2 BR condo. They did warn us that there can be episodes/ episodes at night. The mom came over from Vietnam when young and is likely anti-cannabis.

I'm thinking of a side discussion with my brother first to see what he thinks/ does he think she may be open to discussing cannabis as an option.

Thanks for sharing and experience or tips/suggestions you might have.
I just feel compelled to act, when cannabis MIGHT be a valuable aid...
thanks

 

[nosmoking]

I would like to suggest some reading material. Sometimes its better to find out for yourself rather than to hear it from someone else. If you can find some good articles, especially research backed, leave them laying around on your vacation and when they are found and brought up you could just say it is something that recently peaked your interest as you were thinking about spending time with your brother and his/your possible future family.

I have a sister with downs. She doesnt have episodes or anything but she has a horrible thyroid issue. I asked my mom if she would consider giving my sister high CBD/thc medicine. My mom was anti-pot for so long...still is even though shes come to accept it wont ruin my life. She said she would consider it and we had a great conversation about some of the medical benefits of cannabis. The problem is I have never seen anything on treating thyroid issues with cannabis so I cant just go pushing her and my sister down that road. Just like everyone else with the stigmatism against pot, she needs a bus load of in your face factual information to get her there. Then location or legal means/methods would become the next battle in this particular situation.

On another note, I coach a lot of autistic kids/adults to ski in the winter. I am not sure what pot would do for them. They dont have episodes of any kind. They do act like a bunch or crazy drunk kids half the time. A little cannabis might not let them be who they really are or it could make them much harder to handle. Not sure really but now you got me wondering how each one of my special athletes would respond to cannabis.

 

[AJS]

Chances are, the child is on quite a few medications currently, and it's difficult to introduce a new drug into that equation.
I personally think marijuana is better for an older person with autism who can treat themselves with it and actually analyze the differences themselves, with guidance. Marijuana is a tool that the user needs to know how to control. It's way more gray area than a regular prescription that just sorta acts on it's own, marijuana has a lot to do with the user.
If she were to give the child some sort of marijuana dose, I think it would require the a "debriefing" of the child before hand. Let that child know what's about to happen and what she should focus on during the experience.

Another method would be to administer a dose under psychoactive levels, just to get the cannabinoids to release in the frontal cortex to balance out behavioral issues and social cues. Possibly just CBD would work for this too. ADHD has high co-morbidity rate with autism. As someone who self medicates for his "off the charts ADHD", I can say that once the body is used to the intake of marijuana, it is an amazing benefit for adhd, so I would imagine it would remedy at least some of the symptoms paired with autism. It stimulates the frontal cortex and releases dopamine and norepinephrin, some of the main agents affecting ADHD. Stimulants also release these, which is why they're so effective with adhd, but also have the side effects of stimulants (appetite, sleep, twitches, etc). "To pay proper attention, the brain must be adequately stimulated. To have proper control of our impulses, areas of the brain must be adequately controlled, repressed, or slowed down. In ADHD children, both systems of stimulation and repression are not working correctly. Some studies suggest that ADHD Children/Adults may have only ten to twenty-five percent of these two neurotransmitters found in the normal brain. "

Also depends on how high functioning she is. I have a few friends that are aspergers and can get along alright, but still need medication. None of them use marijuana.