Charlotte Figi

Charlotte Figi (October 18, 2006 – April 7, 2020), American child with Dravet syndrome whose response to a high-CBD, low-THC cannabis extract became the single most consequential patient narrative in the U.S. CBD movement. By age five, Charlotte suffered up to 300 grand-mal seizures weekly, used a wheelchair, and had largely lost verbal ability; standard pharmaceuticals had failed. In 2012 her mother, Paige Figi, located a low-THC cannabis extract in Colorado; the underlying strain, originally called "Hippie's Disappointment," was being developed by the six Stanley Brothers of Colorado Springs, who renamed it Charlotte's Web in her honor. On the extract Charlotte's seizures dropped to two or three per month, and she regained walking, speaking, and feeding abilities. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta profiled her in the August 2013 documentary Weed, paired with his editorial "Why I changed my mind on weed." The broadcast precipitated a nationwide medical migration of families with epileptic children to Colorado, state-level CBD-only laws across the South and Midwest, and political momentum that culminated in the 2018 FDA approval of Epidiolex for Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes, and in the 2018 Farm Bill's legalization of hemp. The nonprofit Realm of Caring and the publicly traded Charlotte's Web Holdings were named for her. Charlotte died April 7, 2020 from complications consistent with (but not confirmed as) COVID-19; Governor Jared Polis proclaimed April 7 "Charlotte Figi Day" in Colorado.