Cannabidiol and Electroencephalographic Epileptic Activity

To the Editor.—  The search for an effective, nontoxic, anticonvulsant agent has been going on for many years. Several investigators have found that tetrahydrocannabinols have anticonvulsant effects in animals.^1,2 Of special interest was the finding that cannabidiol and cannabinol were potent agents in preventing and protecting mice and rats from audiogenic or electrically induced seizures.^3,4We hypothesized that the demonstration of a significant reduction of abnormal electroencephalographic activity by cannabidiol in epileptic patients would be an indication of clinical anticonvulsant effect, a finding that would be of therapeutic importance particularly because cannabidiol has no psychological or cardiovascular effects when given intravenously to humans.⁵We wish to report the results of the intravenous infusion of cannabidiol on the electroencephalographic activity of an epileptic patient. He was a 24-year-old man suffering from centrencephalic epilepsy characterized by symmetrical spike and wave electroencephalographic activity appearing only under light sleep. The patient's