Cannabis Compound Helps 9-Year-Old Boy Speak for First Time

Sometimes the magic of medical marijuana is downright profound.

A sample of CBD oil from California is being credited with recently helping a 9-year-old boy who has autism speak his very first letters and words. The father of Kalel Santiago told Yahoo Parenting how his son began talking just two days after receiving spray applications of cannabidiol (CBD) oil. CBD is the non-psychoactive, medically efficacious cannabis compound credited with treating various childhood afflictions, including epilepsy.

According to Yahoo Parenting, Kalel has been fighting for his health nearly his entire life, having been diagnosed with a rare child cancer at only 10 months old. After courageously enduring more than two years of treatment and becoming cancer-free at age 3, Kalel was then diagnosed with severe non-verbal autism.

While attending a fundraising event for surf therapy autistic treatment in April, the Santiagos received a sample bottle of CBD oil and administered two doses a day to Kalel. Two days later, while at school, Kalel began reciting the vowels “A-E-I-O-U.” The boy’s teacher was able to record the monumental moment for the Santiagos to relive.

“You can’t imagine the emotion we had, hearing Kalel’s voice for the first time,” his father, Abiel Gomez Santiago, recalled. “It was amazing.”

Santiago further explained that Kalel has added consonants to the vowels in order to verbalize full words.

“He said, ‘Amo mi mama’–’I love my mom.'” his father recalled.

The sample CBD that almost instantly improved young Kalel’s quality of life was manufactured by California company Hemp Health, which sells the oil for $40 per ounce, a three-month supply.

“I don’t know how to thank (the CBD oil producers),” Santiago said.