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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Hope of treating MS with cannabis David Derbyshire This Is North Scotland Monday 11 Dec 2000 A breakthrough by an Aberdeen-based researcher into the medical use of cannabis could see it available on prescription in five years for mutiple sclerosis sufferers. Professor Roger Pertwee, of the neuropharmacology department at Aberdeen University, has developed a water-soluble cannabis compound, now undergoing clinical testing. Should it come through, the product could be made available on the National Health Service to treat symptoms of MS and maybe Aids. Prof Pertwee, 58, said: "About 600 people will be tested as part of a project based at a clinic in Plymouth to see if cannabis can help the chronic pain and muscle spasms which are the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. "If the results are positive, then cannabis could be made widely available." Prof Pertwee developed and patented the cannabis compound in collaboration with Boston-based Dr Raj Razdan and Virginia-based Dr Billy Martin. The breakthrough means that GPs' objections to the use of the cannabis because it had to be smoked or eaten can now be overcome. Smoking cannabis carries cancer risks like tobacco, and eating the drug is unreliable because of its absorption rates. If the tests prove successful, the drug could be administered to patients through under-the-tongue sprays, aerosols or injections. The Aberdeen team's research was supported by a £500,000 grant awarded by the taxpayer-funded Medical Research Council in August. The Government banned the medically prescribed use of cannabis in 1971, but the House of Lords' science and technology committee has recently recommended that it should now be made available.
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