KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Efforts to make cannabis oil available to Missourians with a severe type of epilepsy are off to a slow start, mostly because neurologists are reluctant to certify patients to try a treatment that does not have federal approval.
In 2014, the Missouri Legislature legalized cannabis oil to treat an intractable type of epilepsy that can’t be controlled by medications. Darla Templeton, director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Missouri and Kansas, estimates 18,000 Missourians could be eligible for the treatment.