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Doc who fights for marijuana Marjory McGinn Evening Express, Aberdeen Saturday 12 Jul 1997 CANNABIS, also known as marijuana, has never had a good press. But like the flower people of the 60's who found peace and love on a cannabis high, the drug has finally come of age and found a respectable role as a medical substance. Dr Roger Pertwee, a North-east scientist who has led the field in researching the medical role of cannabis, and related compounds, believes cannabis may ease symptoms of multiple sclerosis, and other diseases. Dr Pertwee, a reader in pharmacology at Aberdeen University, has just returned to the North-east from a ground-breaking seminar in London on the therapeutic uses of cannabis. He said the fact that an august body such as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain would host such an event in the first place shows the establishment is beginning to accept the drug more readily. "There has been a lot of fear surrounding the use of cannabis medically because it was associated with the hippie era. "People have confused the recreational and medical uses and they are quite separate issues. The advantages and disadvantages are quite different for medical and recreational uses. "Cannabis is one of the world's oldest known medicines, used for thousands of years, and there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that it is beneficial," Dr Pertwee said. While he doesn't necessarily want to see cannabis legalised he said he would like to see it used more widely for medical purposes and for doctors to be able to prescribe it more. "I'd rather see people get the drug from their doctor and be properly supervised than get it from a dealer. "After all certain patients can get heroin or morphine on prescription for pain relief." Dr Pertwee said more research needs to be done and he is also hoping to start clinical trials in Aberdeen on MS sufferers. "I'm trying to get together with some clinicians and put in an application for government funding. In the past there was a problem in setting up trials because the government was worried the drugs would get into the wrong hands. But these would be strict hospital-based trials." Drug companies have also avoided developing cannabis for medical use because of the bad publicity the drug has had, he said. Dr Pertwee carries out research at his university laboratory only on chemical derivatives of cannabis plant, called cannabinoids. "One cannabinoid, THC has the psychotropic effect and produces the high and the changes to the mind. It affects memory and mood, colours seem brighter, music seems more pleasant. "It's the kind of thing that people also using cannabis recreationally are seeking out." When used in people suffering from multiple sclerosis cannabis appears to relieve the pain and discomfort associated with the condition and muscle spasms. It could also help with depression associated with MS. Dr Pertwee previously carried out a survey of about 112 sufferers in the UK and USA and found more than 90% of the subjects found relief through using cannabis. And despite it's illegal status some sufferers are happy to admit to taking the drug because of it's benefits. He said the research he has done on cannabis, or the cannabinoids, show they may be useful because they act on specific sites in the body called receptors. The sites are like a lock in the door, and the drug acts as the key. Most of MS sufferers who use cannabis prefer to smoke it. "We plan to use a cannabinoid in the form of suppositories. In Germany they are developing a cannabis capsule. "People who self-medicate tend to grow the cannabis themselves, or they will get it from a dealer. "It was available on the NHS until 1971 when it was banned by the Misuse of Drugs Act." "A lot of patients are saying that other drugs used to treat their conditions are giving them side effects but cannabis isn't. "Obviously the government wants more evidence on whether cannabis is medically useful. "There is evidence cannabis can also help those suffering from bronchial asthma, though not when smoked, glaucoma because it can lower pressure on the eye spinal chord injury and could be used to treat mood disorders. "The advantages in using cannabis, he claimed, outweighed the disadvantages which could include an acceleration of heartbeat, alteration in hormonal level, aggravation of an existing psychosis like schizophrenia. "But obviously we have to be careful we don't want to make a patient's condition worse."
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