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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis to help kill pain
James Cartledge Evening Mail, Birmingham
Friday 11 Jun 2004 A new cannabis-based medicine is bringing fresh hope to thousands of Birmingham arthritis sufferers desperate for an end to their agony. People living with the crippling condition could be helped by a mouth spray called Sativex, which cut pain and improved sleep in a trial of 58 patients. Chan Gordhan, manager of the Birmingham Arthritis Resource Centre, said the breakthrough would be welcomed by patients already excited over another new therapy found to halt the disease in 40 per cent of cases. The second treatment, a cocktail of two drugs called Enbrel and methotrexate, is already licensed and should be available within months. "Anything that alleviates pain and helps people retain their mobility is welcome," she said. "We are also being inundated with phone calls from people asking where they can get the Enbrel and methotrexate treatment. "But we are telling them that they need to discuss it with their GP and their consultant. Headway is being made with every piece of research but this will not be suitable for everyone." Sativex was designed to help multiple sclerosis patients and it will have to pass another trial and gain official approval before it can be made available to arthritis sufferers. Drug company GW Pharmaceuticals, which carried out the trial, is the only company to legally develop and produce cannabis-derived treatments. It grows about 40,000 cannabis plants a year at a secret site in the English countryside. The Arthritis Resource Centre is based on the fifth floor of Birmingham Central Library in Chamberlain Square and provides a range of information about the condition. Leaflets and audio cassettes on osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis have been translated into Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Cantonese and Arabic.
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