Father of Mexican Girl with Severe Epilepsy to Defend Cannabis Oil Before WHO Latin American Herald Tribune
go to original November 6, 2017

In 2015, 8-Year-Old Grace Elizalde Became Mexico’s First Medical Marijuana Patient (TheLipTV)

The father of a girl with severe epilepsy whose case paved the way for the legalization of medical marijuana in Mexico will appear before the World Health Organization to defend the use of a cannabis-derived compound as a treatment for seizures.

Raul Elizalde – president of HempMeds Mexico, the local distribution branch of San Diego, California-based Medical Marijuana Inc., and staunch defender of access to cannabidiol hemp oil, or CBD hemp oil – will participate in a Nov. 6 meeting of a WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence in Geneva.

During the meeting, the committee will review a number of psychoactive substances with potential for dependence, abuse and harm to health and make recommendations to the United Nations secretary-general.

Elizalde says cannabidiol is sold legally around the world because – unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis – it is not considered psychoactive. But he added that he became alarmed when he saw that CBD was on the list for review by the expert committee.

“The only problem with cannabidiol is that it comes from cannabis, and that makes it taboo,” he said.

A Mexican judge authorized imports of cannabidiol two years ago, and Elizalde’s daughter – Grace Elizalde, who was diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy – was the first beneficiary of his ruling.

Latin American Herald Tribune

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