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UK: Allow cannabis for medical purposes

The Guardian

Sunday 17 Aug 2014



Norman Baker MP is calling for liberalised drug laws so that medicinal cannabis can be made available (Minister calls for looser restrictions on cannabis to treat sick, 14 August). People with multiple sclerosis who turn to street cannabis to treat their condition often do so out of desperation. For years they have been told by successive governments to wait for a pharmacological, legal alternative to cannabis as a way of treating their symptoms and pain.

Now one such treatment, Sativex, exists – but the latest draft National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) clinical guideline proposes rejecting it based on a flawed assessment of its cost effectiveness. Just one in 50 people currently have access to this treatment, most of them paying privately. Unless Nice amends the guideline, the majority of people will be left to battle painful symptoms, or face financial strain as a result of funding the licensed treatment themselves.
Sally Hughes
Programme director for policy, MS Society

• As a pharmacist with a special interest in the medical uses of cannabis I am delighted that Norman Baker has spoken out. We are not talking here about the widespread use of cannabis in the community. One particular cannabinoid,CBD, is not psychotropic nor toxic and shows promise as a useful drug in certain conditions. The two active ingredients, THC and CBD, were discovered in Israel.

That much maligned little country is a world leader in research into the medical use of cannabis. Its health service already uses cannabis for certain conditions.
Monty Goldin
London

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/17/allow-cannabis-for-medical-purposes

 

 

 

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