Molecular biologist Dr. Annabelle Manalo Morgan of Tennessee is a strong cannabis advocate who promotes cannabis research around the world. She knows firsthand how powerful the healing properties of CBD can be, which is why she reportedly feels so frustrated that there are still large gaps in the formal research.
Dr. Morgan’s son, Macario Morgan, reportedly suffered roughly 200 seizures a day following his birth. To try to remedy the problem, doctors reportedly removed 40% of his brain.
Following this surgery, there seemed to be little chance he could lead a normal life — at least until his mom took matters into her own hands.
Dr. Morgan reportedly created a CBD compound just for her son, one that was tailored to his specific medical needs. Then she took him off the seven medications he had been taking and began administering only his personalized CBD oil. That was when everything reportedly changed for the boy.
‘Luckily his mom is a scientist’
The boy is now five years old and set to begin kindergarten in the fall.
“He has no developmental deficits,” Dr. Morgan told Fox News. “If you saw him, you would never know there was a thing wrong with him. He is not autistic, delayed, nothing. He is a normal 5-year-old-boy.”
However, she reportedly explained that this would not be the case if she did not have the expertise that she does. She said this is because the medical community will not take cannabis seriously as a treatment option until more data is available. This means that many more scientific studies must be completed, which will take time.
“If I didn’t do this, my son would most likely be tied to a wheelchair, wouldn’t speak, would still be eating out of a tube. But luckily his mom is a scientist,” Dr. Morgan reportedly said.
“It’s frustrating to me as a scientist that I believe in it so much, but I don’t have enough studies to back what I want to be able to share with people, …[a]nd what I believe should be available to the world,” she added. “How do you solve that? You do studies, but studies take time.”
In an effort to help make more data available, Dr. Morgan reportedly participates in 11 clinical trials, which are taking place all around the globe. However, a lack of data is not the only obstacle preventing cannabis from becoming an accepted treatment option.
Additional studies may be the only way to change minds
There are also some very common stigmas that will need to be overcome before cannabis treatments are fully accepted. One of the biggest stigmas stems from the misconception that cannabis products are just for getting people high.
“How do we start thinking about this as a medicine as opposed to something in a gas station that we can try to put in our ice cream?” Dr. Morgan reportedly said. “How do we take away the stigma of getting high off cannabis and taking those molecules and using them toward medicine?”
Again, the solution lies in completing more scientific studies on the medicinal properties of cannabis and building the available data. It is Dr. Morgan’s dream that eventually doctors will be able to prescribe cannabis products as medicine and that sick people will be able to take cannabis products that target their specific needs, just as her son was able to take a CBD compound that was formulated for his needs.
“[W]e need to start creating specific medicines of specific substances for specific conditions or ailments,” Dr. Morgan said. “If it’s a headache, than this CBD is for headache and that include proper formulation and adding the other right stuff with it.”
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