Even though the United Kingdom is way behind the USA or Canada in the cannabis legalization league, medical cannabis has managed to crawl in and make a sweet spot for itself in the past few years.

The royal government has irrevocably digested the fact that marijuana is indeed a blessing for some.

One of the previous researches on cannabis emphasizes the fact that it's highly effective in treating rare seizure disorders in children while many other studies running parallelly are exploring the potential of CBD to protect brain injuries.

Oscar Parodi, a 14-week old infant, born at Norfolk and Norwich university hospital (NNUH), UK is the first human baby to join the trial to study the safety and effectiveness of medical cannabis in treating neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE). HIE is a condition caused due to the lack of oxygen and blood to the baby from the placenta.

 oscar parodi in hospital

Born on 11th March 2020 to Chelsea Parodi through an emergency cesarean section, he was right away shifted to the neonatal intensive care unit to undergo cooling therapy for the next 72 hours. It seems like this tiny winy boo is a born conqueror!

Oscar's mom, Chelsea Parodi, from Watton, Norfolk, said, “I was approached after the birth about taking part in this study and, I consulted my mum and my brother who is training to be a paramedic. It was hard, but, I wanted to do everything I could to help my baby boy. Oscar was in the hospital for nine days and he was being monitored 24/7.”

Prof Paul Clarke, a consultant neonatologist at NNUH, said there was a lot of excitement at the neonatal intensive care unit. “This is the first time a cannabis-derived medicine has been tested intravenously in human babies. It is hoped that it will be good for preventing seizures and protecting the brains of newborn babies with HIE.

“We have always had good support from families wanting to take part in research on our [unit] and they often do it from an altruistic point of view to help benefit future babies. One of the attractions of this trial for parents is the closer brain monitoring babies get as part of the study because a more advanced brainwave monitor is used for the trial babies. This gives parents more reassurance that any seizures will be picked up.”

 oscar parodi with mom and prof clarke

Within the 12 hours when Oscar was born, he was also given a single 0.1 milligram per kilogram intravenous dose of the cannabis-based drug - a 30th of the normal dose. The good news? - Chelsea says her son is doing "fantastically well"!

Okay, so Oscar is not alone in the action and he was joined by another baby who was born in April. Both of them received only one dose of cannabis and cooling therapy and were monitored closely for 120 hours after their birth.

“As with any study of a new medicine there may be unexpected side effects and unknown risks,” said Professor Paul Clarke. “With this in mind the trial has been carefully designed to make it as safe as possible, and so we are only giving the babies a minuscule dose at the beginning, and we monitor them even more closely than usual.”, he added.

The first phase of the trial, involving units in the UK and Europe, will take about a year to complete, with the babies' development being checked at 30 days, six months and 12 months after discharge.

If it was about 3-years ago, the trial wouldn't have been possible. The UK government made medical cannabis legal only in 2018 and the studies surrounding it are still in their infancy. We hope Oscar and his mate does well and this study opens up doors to the world of medical cannabis in the Royal country as well.

We'll keep updating you on this. Till then, Ciao and don't forget to drop your views in the comment section below.