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UK: Call for cannabis trials to be halted after mother dies

Paul Stokes

The Telegraph

Saturday 17 Dec 2005

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The family of a diabetic woman who died after developing mental problems
while undergoing a cannabis-based treatment have called for trials of
the drug to be halted.

A coroner decided yesterday that Rene Anderson's reaction to the drug
Sativex was a "significant contributory factor" in the onset of the
illness which killed her.

Mrs Anderson, 69, a retired supermarket worker, was taking part in a
trial to determine whether cannabis-based treatments could help relieve
the effects of diabetic neuropathy which caused nerve pain in her hands
and feet.

She was said to have developed "disturbed behaviour" within hours of
taking Sativex in September 2003 as part of the Diabetes UK-funded
project at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield.

Mrs Anderson began telling her family that there were X-ray cameras on
the roof of the house, that the police had planted drugs at her home and
officers were circling in a helicopter.

Her family contacted the hospital, describing her as "confused and
intoxicated" and within three days the level of the drug was reduced.
After she had been taking the drug for 28 days, her family reported her
as "not the same person" and she was admitted to the Royal Hallamshire
where her physical condition dramatically worsened.

Mrs Andreson then became immobile and suffered from a range of problems.
She died of acute kidney failure on March 3 2004 after being transferred
to the city's Northern General Hospital for renal treatment.

Chris Dorries, the Sheffield coroner, recorded a narrative verdict after
a week-long inquest in the city.

He said: "On the balance of probabilities, an idiosyncratic reaction to
a trial drug (either alone or in combination with other medications) was
at least a significant contributory factor to the initiation of this
illness."

Jacqui Sadler, Mrs Anderson's daughter, said after the inquest that she
believed her mother had been used as a guinea pig and called for the
trials to be scrapped.

She said her mother, who had two children and four grandchildren, had
decided to go on the trial of the drug - which is licensed in Canada -
as a last resort.

 

 

 

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