Anticonvulsant effects of hashish in human epileptics

ABSTRACT

The possible anticonvulsant effects of a crude hashish material [containing 3.2% total cannabinoids by weight] were studied in 12 patients with idiopathic grand mal epilepsy which was not adequately controlled by phenytoin therapy. After a period of eight weeks of regular phenytoin therapy, the patients were divided into two equal groups. One group was maintained on hashish therapy and the other on combined hashish and phenytoin therapy for another eight weeks. Both groups showed a reduction in frequency and duration of their seizures. The results of the present study are suggestive of a potential therapeutic value of hashish or its constituents in human epilepsy