Opinion – Cannabis Inc.: CFM will change CBD treatment norm for epilepsy

The topic is very important: the review of the compassionate use of CBD (Cannabidol, a substance derived from Cannabis, with proven anticonvulsant efficiency), in the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsy. The CFM (Federal Council of Medicine) opened a public consultation at the beginning of the month, for doctors to participate with contributions, but the deadline ends on the 30th. Specialists say they need more time and have made a petition to be attended to.

The standard in question was edited in 2014, when Brazil began to discuss therapy. At that time, as it was a novelty, with few scientific tests, it was up to the CFM (Federal Council of Medicine) to edit norms to define guide doctors on the procedures. Hence, Resolution 2,133/214 came out, which regulates the use of the substance only for compassionate cases, that is, where treatment is essential for the patient’s survival. It also restricted the prescription to neurologists, psychiatrists and neurosurgeons. Establishing treatment protocols and experimental therapies is a competence of the entity provided for in article 7 of Law 12,842.

In the last eight years, however, 346 scientific studies were carried out on this type of treatment, according to the scientific research tool PubMed.gov., proving its effectiveness. BRCann released a statement on social media alerting the medical profession and other citizens about the importance of everyone getting involved in the debate that is “so important for the public health of the country”. The entity has already contacted the CFM previously, and managed to prevent the entity from closing the consultation on the 20th, as initially planned, but at the end of this month. The extra ten days, it seems, were not enough to broaden the debate.

“The public consultation was little publicized”, says psychiatrist Wilson Lessa Júnior, from the Pan-American Association of Cannabinoid Medicine. “It is also necessary to hold public hearings in regional CRMs, so that doctors can listen to patients and have the opportunity to delve deeper into the subject.” According to Lessa, this was not foreseen by the CFM.

For neurosurgeon Patrícia Montagner, founder of WeCann Academy, a medical education company, “the broad participation of physicians in this debate is essential to guarantee the qualified technical level of these discussions”. The fact is that after eight years, there is no reason for CFM to be in a hurry to close this issue.