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Spain's Health Ministry to allow doctors to prescribe cannabis

Elizabeth Nash

The Independent

Sunday 06 Feb 2005

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In a bold venture that puts Spain at the forefront of the medical use of
cannabis in Europe, 60 pharmacies and four hospitals in Catalonia are to
prescribe marijuana for therapeutic use where other treatments have failed.

The pioneering scheme surpasses measures taken by the Dutch, leaders in the
field, and puts British efforts in the shade. A British drug company has
been denied permission to produce medicinal cannabis for trials - because
of lack of political will, critics say.

Doctors in Catalonia will be able to prescribe cannabis in capsules or as
an infusion to help four specific conditions: anorexia among Aids patients;
nausea caused by chemotherapy in cancer patients; constant pain - including
migraine - that has been unresponsive to other treatments; and muscular
problems among those with multiple sclerosis. About 150,000 patients are
expected to benefit.

Spain's Health Minister, Elena Salgado, said she accepted that cannabis
"has some therapeutic value". She approved "the controlled use of tablets
in specific cases and under medical supervision", but insisted on the need
to fight drug addiction. Spanish health policy is devolved to the regions,
but must receive Madrid's blessing.

Catalan doctors back the scheme, so long as cannabis use is carefully
controlled. "Prescriptions must be made under medical supervision, and only
in extreme cases ... It's a humane response to understandable demand for an
improved quality of life," said Guillermo Sierra, president of Barcelona's
medical council.

"We must ensure the therapeutic use of cannabis is not treated frivolously
among the young," he added. "We don't want to give the impression we
support smoking joints, or that cannabis is good for you."

The pilot project, which begins next month - initially for a year - stems
from a proposal by Barcelona's College of Pharmacists, following a similar
experiment in the Netherlands in 2003, although that has just 8,000 patients.

The plan was agreed by Catalonia's left-wing regional government, a
coalition of socialists, Greens and independent republicans. The
initiative, due to be approved by the Spanish Health Ministry after more
than a year of strenuous lobbying, is expected to prompt Spain's other
autonomous regions to adopt similar measures.

 

 

 

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