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UK: Cannabis spray painkiller in use in months

Murdo MacLeod

Scotland on Sunday

Sunday 17 Aug 2003

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MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferers are set to get painkillers made with cannabis
on the NHS by the end of the year, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

Tests on an oral spray called Sativex have been completed and are being
reviewed by regulators. If, as expected, they rule the painkiller should be
approved, the law will be changed to allow the cannabis-based drug - the
first of its kind - to be prescribed by doctors.

The developers of the drug, GW Pharmaceuticals, claim trials have shown
that the spray eases pain, gives MS sufferers control over their muscles
and allows them to sleep. Its effects on other people who suffer severe,
chronic pain are also being examined.

However, cannabis campaigner and MS sufferer Biz Ivol, last night claimed
the drug was a distraction, and urged ministers to allow MS sufferers to
use cannabis freely.

Hugh Henry, the Scottish deputy health minister, has told MSPs that
ministers are waiting for a go-ahead from the Medicines and Health Care
Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is reviewing the evidence from
trials of the new drug.

If the agency gives the drug the all-clear the law will have to be amended
by Westminster to allow cannabis to be processed, and the products derived
from the drug to be prescribed without fear of prosecution.

The UK government has pledged to change the law quickly if the drug is
approved by the MHRA.

The trials, which involved 350 people for up to two years, showed that
those who used the new drug, as opposed to a placebo, experienced
'significantly' less pain, along with better sleep and fewer muscle spasms.
It proved so popular that some of those on the trials have asked to
continue taking the new drug.

Scientists have been working on isolating the key pain-relieving
ingredients in cannabis in order to allow them to develop painkilling drugs
without the mind-altering effects of cannabis. They managed to isolate two
chemicals for use in Sativex - tetrahydrocannabinol or THC and cannabidiol,
known as CBD.

In addition to asking the MHRA for permission to market the drug, the
company has also begun trials to examine whether Sativex could aid the pain
of sufferers of cancer and spinal cord injury.

A spokesman for the company said: "We are preparing to act very quickly if
the drug is approved. We would plan to have it available by the end of the
year. It will be part of a transformation in the lives of many people who
suffer from MS."

However, Ivol gave the plans only lukewarm support. She became an icon for
the campaign to allow MS sufferers to be allowed to use cannabis when she
was prosecuted for alleged drug supply.

Ivol was accused of supplying cannabis by baking chocolates laced with the
drug and sending them to fellow MS suffers to help them cope with the pain
of the disease. Last month the Crown decided to drop the case against her
because she was too unwell to face trial. However, she attempted suicide as
a protest against the fact that she had been prosecuted in the first place.

Speaking from her home in Orkney, she said: "While it is good to see that
the authorities are finally admitting that cannabis is wonderful pain
reliever, it seems very grudging, and to have been organised for the good
of the drug companies."

A spokesman for the MS Society said: "If this treatment is found to be safe
and effective then we would want to see it made widely available as quickly
as possible. It will be a great help to many people. Unfortunately, it is
not a cure and it is only part of the picture. Studies have shown that
cannabis, just like other drugs, are only effective for some people."

Brian Adam, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen North, who raised the issue with
ministers, said: "I welcome the fact that this product is making progress.
I certainly hope it will be available by the end of the year.

"I believe that this will clarify the issues on whether cannabis should be
legalised by removing the medical issue from the argument. Many of those
who have argued for the legalisation of the drug have sought to hide behind
the medical arguments."

Adam also highlighted worries that the drug might not be equally available
to all sufferers. Another MS treatment, beta-interferon - which also eases
the pain caused by the disease - was at the centre of a furious controversy
in 2001 when it emerged that people in certain areas were refused the drug
by their local health board on cost grounds. The cases led to a furore over
'post code prescribing'.

MS is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young
adults, with around 85,000 sufferers in the UK. Scotland has the highest
prevalence of MS in the world, with about 10,000 people affected.

It results from damage to myelin - a protective sheath surrounding nerve
fibres of the central nervous system - which then interferes with messages
between the brain and other body parts, causing debilitating pain.

 

 

 

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