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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: British test cannabis for prescription use
Margaret Perry The Straits Times (Asia)
Thursday 06 Sep 2001 DOCTORS in Britain may be able to prescribe cannabis as a drug for patients with multiple sclerosis, if two clinical trials prove its medicinal benefits, a pharmaceutical expert said here this week. But don't hold your breath waiting for cannabis or marijuana to become a prescription medicine in Singapore. It is banned and will remain banned. The Health Ministry said there are safer and more effective drugs to treat multiple sclerosis and for pain relief. It stressed: 'There is no need to use cannabis for palliative treatment. Cannabis is a drug of abuse and it is illegal. There is also no strong scientific evidence to support the suggested use.' In Britain, research is being done to see if cannabis relieves pain and muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease that attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Cannabis 'probably' helps people with multiple sclerosis, but more clinical trials are needed, said Professor Tony Moffat, chief scientist of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. 'This research is about whether cannabis should be legalised for medicinal use only,' the professor said on Monday, addressing delegates to the 61st International Congress of International Pharmaceutical Federation. The first study began in January at Derriford Hospital, in the south-west of Britain, where 660 multiple-sclerosis patients have been given cannabis pills. A second study testing the use of cannabis on post-operative pain will start shortly at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. Cannabis was used in Britain to relieve muscle spasms and rheumatism, until 1970, when the World Health Organisation said there was no scientific proof of its supposed therapeutic qualities. It was then banned. But in February, British Home Office Minister Charles Clark said that if cannabis is indeed effective, the law will be amended for its use in prescriptions. Canada, Switzerland and Belgium now allow people with chronic or terminal illnesses to use cannabis. In Singapore, morphine and cocaine are controlled drugs that are allowed for medicinal use here, but are under strict usage and storage controls. Morphine is a painkiller prescribed for severe pain linked with diseases like cancer while cocaine is available as an anaesthetic nasal spray for ear, nose and throat operations.
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