Subj: Users' stories help medical research

Date: Aug 9, 1998

Source: Independent on Sunday

Cannabis Campaign: Users' stories help medical research

By Vanessa Thorpe 



IN AN unprecedented arrangement with the Home Office, Dr

Geoffrey Guy, the entrepreneur licensed to farm cannabis in

Britain for medical research, will now be able to make use of

the experience of patients who have been taking the drug

illegally.



The doctor has been advised that patients who find their

symptoms are alleviated by cannabis will not be liable for

prosecution as long as they contact him through their own

doctors. His company, GW Pharmaceuticals, will then be

able to use their evidence to direct its own research.



"Over many years a whole wealth of research has been going

on illegally in the homes of sufferers all over the country," said

Dr Guy. "The difficulty has been finding a way of tapping this

information for the use of the scientific community."



The Home Office permission means that doctor/patient

confidentiality will be maintained and people with illnesses

such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, Aids or glaucoma will be

able to communicate their knowledge of the therapeutic value

of the drug without fear of prosecution.



The agreement follows up the work of the newspaper Disability

Now and the campaigning group Alliance for Cannabis

Therapeutics which last month joined together to help Dr Guy

set up a register of sufferers who could take part in clinical

trials.



In this month's issue of Disability Now, published by the

charity Scope, disabled readers are being encouraged to

consider taking part in the Government-backed trials. The

journal's support for Dr Guyfollows a reader survey last year in

which nearly 98 per cent of respondents backed the

legalisation of the drug and 67 per cent had taken cannabis for

medicinal purposes.



Dr Guy believes the opportunity to investigate anecdotal

evidence is invaluable. "We now have a legal framework to

make enquiries into patient groups," he said. Patients can

contact Dr Guy through Disability Now at 6 Market Road,

London N7 9PW.



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