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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis proved to be an effective pain killer Chris Starrs The Herald, Glasgow Tuesday 11 Sep 2001 CANNABIS-based pain killers helped the vast majority of patients taking part in new trials, it was disclosed yesterday. The results showed 41 out of 53 derived "clinically significant benefit". Most patients involved are suffering from multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injuries. In the 41 cases, pain relief was significantly greater than when patients were given a placebo drug. The trials taking place in Oxford, Great Yarmouth, and London are testing the pain-relieving effects of cannabinoids, compounds found in cannabis, using an under-the-tongue spray. GW Pharmaceuticals, which has a licence to grow cannabis for medicinal use, presented the data at a meeting of the American Academy of Pain Management in Virginia, US. Three months ago a System Three poll for The Herald showed the majority of Scots wants to see cannabis legalised for medical use on prescription. The issue still splits scientists. A study published in July said cannabinoids were no better than codeine for controlling acute and chronic pain, and a separate report said they could have serious side-effects, ranging from feelings of euphoria and drowsiness to dizziness, depression, and hallucinations. Both reports appeared in the British Medical Journal. Yesterday, medical groups and anti-drugs organisations welcomed the progress in research, while an MS sufferer said it could have major benefits for patients. Mark Westwell, 40, from Skye, was charged with possessing cannabis, but he escaped a possible fine when the procurator-fiscal ruled it was "not in the public interest" to pursue the case. Mr Westwell is confined to a wheelchair and found relief by smoking cannabis. "I tried every prescribed drug possible and cannabis was the only thing to offer relief." A spokesman for the BMA in Scotland said "we are pleased that at last that research is being taken forward. We hope in time it will lead to real benefits for patients." Alistair Ramsay, director of Scotland Against Drugs, said that if the results proved accurate it would be "quite right" for non-smokeable cannabis-based medicine to be made available to people suffering from conditions for which there was no better pain relief treatment. A spokeswoman for the Scottish Drugs Forum said: "If we are starting to see research which suggests that there is a benefit then it's something we will have to look at very closely." Dr Philip Robson, medical director at GW Pharmaceuticals, said the research was the "most comprehensive evaluation of cannabis-based medicines so far undertaken in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury". The firm hopes to bring the first cannabis-based prescription medicine to market by 2004.
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