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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis on trial for pain relief
The Guardian Wednesday 20 Aug 2003 Cannabis is to be used to treat pain relief after surgery in 35 hospitals across the country under a government-funded experiment. Around 400 patients scheduled to undergo surgery are being asked to take part in the trials to measure the effects of cannabis plant extract against other pain-relieving drugs. Each patient will be randomly assigned to one of four oral pain relieving treatments containing either standardised cannabis extract, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, an active ingredient in cannabis), a standard pain-relieving drug, or a placebo. The pain relief and side effects will be assessed over a six-hour period with patients being asked to respond to questions about their pain and feelings. The £500,000 study for the medical research council is being led by Dr Anita Holdcroft from Imperial College, London. She said that anecdotal evidence suggesting cannabis could provide effective pain relief for a variety of debilitating conditions needed to be assessed scientifically. "My patients and clinicians want an answer to the question of whether cannabis is effective at relieving pain," she said. "We need to assess the scientific merits of some of the anecdotal evidence and we need to do this in the same way as any other experimental pain treatment." She added that if oral cannabis plant extract was found to be effective and without adverse side effects, it could provide another pain relief option to doctors and patients. The MRC confirmed that the hospitals currently signed up to take part in the trial are: Chelsea and Westminster, London Charing Cross, London Hammersmith, London Ravenscourt Park, London Barts and the Royal London, London The Middlesex UCLH, London The Manor, Walsall, West Midlands Ealing Hospital, London Hillingdon Hospital, London West Middlesex, Middlesex The Whittington, London Royal United Hospital, Bath St John's Hospital, Livingston, Lothian Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast City Hospital, Nottingham Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, West Sussex Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital York District Hospital Southampton General Derriford Hospital, Plymouth Wexham Hospital, Slough, Berkshire Wrexham Maelor, North Wales Glasgow Gartnavel Whipps Cross, London Luton and Dunstable Hospital, Bedfordshire The Lister Hospital, Stevenage, Hertfordshire Stirling Royal Infirmary, Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow Blackpool Victoria Hospital Princess Alexandra, Harlow, Essex Royal Liverpool University Hospital Southmead Hospital, Bristol James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough Ipswich Hospital, Suffolk
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