Long before CBD was a household name, parents of kids with epilepsy were engaging in a whisper network: a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis and hemp, they said, had helped reduce or eliminate their children’s seizures.

Cannabis’ Schedule 1 classification, combined with the fact that they were giving a treatment not approved by the FDA to their children, meant parents faced terrifying consequences for getting caught doing so. Nevertheless, a handful of brave parents came forward to publicly talk about the success they’d had treating their kids’ epilepsy with CBD, and a public push to develop and test a CBD-based epilepsy drug slowly but steadily grew. In 2018, the FDA approved one such medication, Epidiolex.

The clinical data was unequivocal: The CBD-based medication could treat many seizure disorders with very few, if any, side effects. Exactly why CBD was so effective, however, has remained fairly unclear. But a study published last week in the journal Neuron may offer some answers. The researchers’ findings provide a window into the neurobiology of epilepsy and suggest exciting implications for future treatments.

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