More than 500 prescriptions for medicinal cannabis have been written for children under 10 in the last two years

Data obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act found the number of prescriptions across all age groups has more than quadrupled.

University of Otago's Lynette Sadlier told our newsroom the non-psychoactive ingredient cannabidiol can effectively treat certain childhood epilepsy conditions.

She says not a lot of children become seizure-free with the medication, but some have a significant improvement.