ABSTRACT
Medicinal marijuana, like hedonic marijuana, has progressed from empirical use and anecdotal reports to the more critical scrutiny of modern scientific investigation. Nevertheless, the historical accounts of the properties of marijuana have provided an impetus for modern investigations on the effects and potential therapeutic uses of marijuana, its constituents, and their analogs. A seizure is a paroxysmal event that consists of a transient distortion of normal electrical activity in the brain and some alteration of normal motor, sensory, autonomic, or psychic function. Convulsions subsequent to cannabinoid administration have been reported to occur under certain conditions in “normal” animals, genetically seizure-susceptible animals, and experimentally seizure-susceptible animals. Convulsions subsequent to relatively low-dose administration of cannabinoids can occur in animals rendered seizure susceptible by some experimental techniques. Gammaaminobutyric acid deficiency may be involved in chorea, tardive dyskinesia, and spasticity, and serotonin deficiency in postanoxic myoclonus and perhaps in other neurological disorders.
