As times are changing, the evidence is casting shade on the U.S. federal prohibition of cannabis. Right now, Cannabis is classified as a Schedule I dangerous substance with no medical benefit, next to heroin. The war on Cannabis could be depriving sick children the chance for treatment, and a new start in life.

In Israel, they took an opposite side and see cannabis as medicinally potent. Medical marijuana was first approved in 1992, making Israel the first to do this. In an article from USA Today titled, Marijuana may be a miracle treatment for children with autism, Israel, and two other nations have a government-run medical cannabis program to provide citizens with medicinal cannabis.

USA Today reports:

When Noa Shulman came home from school, her mother, Yael, sat her down to eat, then spoon-fed her mashed sweet potatoes — mixed with cannabis oil. Noa, who has a severe form of autism, started to bite her own arm. “No sweetie,” Yael gently told her 17-year-old daughter. “Here, have another bite of this.”Noa is part of the first clinical trial in the world to test the benefits of medicinal marijuana for young people with autism, a potential breakthrough that would offer relief for millions of afflicted children — and their anguished parents.”

The war on drugs has been too focused on labeling cannabis as being some toxin with no medicinal value. Our research is so behind that our government STILL deems marijuana is the equivalent to heroin. With all these laws, regulations and restrictions end up making scientific studies hard to start.

The FDA has oversight on the DEA, and both have only approved two antipsychotics, that come with lots of harmful side effects, to treat the symptoms of autism. It doesn’t make the choice for treatment much easier and it only complicates the situation even more.

Researchers in Israel conducted a study in Jerusalem at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, that composed of 120 children from5-29 years old, who have been diagnosed with a mild to severe case of autism.

Study participants are given one of two cannabis oil treatments or a placebo, drops can be mixed into meals. However, there is no THC, the psychoactive ingredient that delivers users a ‘high.’

“Adi Aran, the pediatric neurologist leading the study, said nearly all the participants previously took antipsychotics and nearly half responded negatively. Yael desperately pushed Aran and other doctors to prescribe cannabis oil after a news report aired about a mother who illegally obtained it for her autistic son and said it was the only thing that helped him,” USA Today reports.

Scientific studies and innumerable anecdotal cases have revealed that cannabis can treat everything ranging from PTSD to ADHD, cancer, and the painful pressure on the eyes from glaucoma. The plant’s healing abilities are shown clearly for the eye to see, in treating seizures from childhood epilepsy.It has now been found that the non-psychoactive compound, cannabidiol or CBD, can improve the quality of life for children with autism, and their families.“Many parents were asking for cannabis for their kids,” Aran told USA Today. “First I said, ‘No, there’s no data to support cannabis for autism, so we can’t give it to you.’”It took quite a few studies that looked favorably at cannabis in the treatment of childhood epilepsy and in reducing symptoms of autism before doubt was gone. Aran says that 30 percent of children with autism have epilepsy.

In an observational study, a doctor found 70 autistic patients had experienced positive results from the use of cannabis, so the clinical trial was launched for an extensive study.

Many families in America have chosen to flee the country to give their children cannabis in an effort to save them. If cannabis prohibition stays intact, children and adults will suffer without a healing chance to cure their ailments. In Israel, as of today, 110 clinical trials of cannabis are being conducted, while U.S., researchers focus heavily on the treatment of addiction etc. CBD oil, if proven effective against cancer and other ailments, it would do the government well to read the facts and stop playing games with our health.