Cannabis drug available in the UK

Sorry if this has been posted before. Just read it and think it'll be a big step in the acceptance of cannabis for medicinal uses in the UK :) . Oh and btw.. who's up for finding that private location where they're growing it? :rasta:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4438498.stm


Cannabis drug available in the UK
Cannabis plants
The drug is based on cannabis
Multiple sclerosis patients in the UK are to be able to get a cannabis-based pain-relief drug from their doctor for the first time, it has been announced.

Sativex has already been licensed for use in Canada to relieve pain in people with MS.

The Home Office has now said the drug can be imported to the UK for individual patient's use.

MS charities welcomed the development as a step towards the drug being fully licensed for use on the NHS.


This is a move in the right direction
Mike O'Donovan, MS Society

Eighty-five thousand people in the UK have MS. It is not yet certain how many of them would benefit from Sativex.

The drug is a mouth spray containing two chemicals found in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol.

The announcement is believed to be in response to enquiries to the Home Office from doctors and patients about access to the drug.

'Quality of life'

Under the new arrangements, the prescription of Sativex would only be permitted under Home Office licence.


PAIN RELIEF
Sativex can significantly reduce nerve pain in MS patients, a study has shown.
Researchers at Liverpool's Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery compared the drug with a dummy version in a study of 66 patients.
Dr Carolyn Young, who led the research which was published in the journal Neurology, said the drug was seen to reduce pain and sleep disturbance.

A doctor would have to take responsibility for the prescription of the unlicensed drug, which would have to be imported from Canada for that particular patient.

Primary care trusts could decide to fund the treatment on the NHS. Otherwise, the drug would cost patients approximately £4 a day.

The government has asked a watchdog, the Commission on Human Medicines, to monitor the safety of Sativex.

Mike O'Donovan, chief executive of the MS Society said the prescription of the drug was: "a move in the right direction".

He added: "We believe there is now good evidence that cannabis-derived medicine can relieve distressing symptoms like spasticity [stiffness and muscle spasms] and pain in MS.

"Many people do not find available treatments effective and will now have the opportunity to try a new drug which could significantly improve their quality of life.

"We very much hope it will not be long before it is licensed for NHS prescription."

Cannabis research

Chris Jones, chief executive of the MS Trust added: "We must, however, highlight that, as with any treatment to alleviate MS symptoms, those which work for some people may not for others.

"With this in mind, we are pleased that people with MS may now have the opportunity, in discussion with their doctors, to access this treatment safely and legally and find out for themselves whether it is beneficial."

In a statement, the MHRA has said it did not object to the importation of Sativex for use to relieve pain in MS patients, but said it must be informed if the product was intended to be used for any other condition.

It added: "Under current regulations, the MHRA may only refuse an application to import an unlicensed medicine into the UK to meet the needs of a particular patient if there are overriding concerns about the product's safety or quality.

"Lack of proven efficacy is not a ground for refusing the import."

The company which makes Sativex, GW Pharmaceuticals, has been seeking a UK licence for the drug since 2003.

It has been granted a licence to cultivate cannabis for medical research purposes in the UK. Plants are being grown at a secret location in the English countryside.

The company says it will continue to seek a full UK licence for the drug.

Shares GW Pharmaceuticals' have jumped by 20% since news of the Home Office announcement emerged.

I'm up for finding it... FREE WEED

There has been Canabis pills out for a long time, but Pot heads like most the people here, and people for Canabis for medical reasons dont like it cause it doesnt provide the HIGH that you get from smoking pot. Just more proof that the Medical Pot argument is total BS and people just want to smoke it to get high, Like everyone else

My Slave Masters' Daddy Smokes then why CAN'T I. G,Bush Sr, smokes the green...

Dudes,

first time in here, but I was diagnosed with progressive MS April,2004. Many days
I feel pain in my leg, numbness, tingling, stress level at an all-time high.

Then it come to light there is help for me, and it just so happens to be my
recreational form of fun for that last 25 years, going from pot dealer in
high school/pot smuggler/low level pot dealer/MS Sufferer/parent.

I can't tell you how much relief I feel from cannabis compared to modern
pharmacuticals. On top of it all, I was arrested August 2005 for posession
of less than 1 gram of medicine legal in 10 states and 2 countries for MS.

I'm making plans for an Exodus to California while I coordinate a grass
roots effort here in Iowa for Medical MJ and Safer Choices for those over 21.


It's been a great month...........


#1 Denver
#2 Traverse City
#3 Chrohn's(a guy I know quite well has Chrohn's and praised medicinal benfits 15 ysr ago when I hooked him up)
#4 Uncle Arthur(nuf said if any of you have old Grandparents)
#5 Sativex (if it were legal in the States, I could never pass a UA anyway)
#6 Colorado loopholes that protect those who grow for medicine
#7 Wisconsin nurses endorse going medical in Madison

fell free to add anything else.........I have always felt that cannabis was a
safer choice than all other recreational drugs, and now that I have a
medical condition that benefits from it's use, I'm going to help
those who suffer as well be joining or starting any pro-marijuana camapaign,
that was the reason I got MS, to breakground so others can get their
medicine.

My trip to Cali will be sometime after I get a copy of my medical records 12/15.

RevGreen


Rev Green

Two later reports from BBC News:

Woman died on cannabis drug trial
Last Updated: Monday, 12 December 2005, 15:52 GMT

A woman developed mental health problems and later died after taking part in trials of a cannabis-based drug, an inquest has heard.
Diabetic Rene Anderson, aged 69 from Sheffield, was taken to hospital after starting to take Sativex to see if it would relieve pain she was suffering.
She died in March 2004 from acute kidney failure.
The continuing inquest is expected to have implications for the use of drugs derived from cannabis.
Mrs Anderson, a retired supermarket supervisor from Silkstone Close in Frecheville, had been taking part in a trial supervised by diabetes expert Dr Solomon Tesfaye.
He told the court he wanted to investigate whether cannabis could provide useful relief from the severe pain experienced by diabetic neuropathy sufferers.
Sativex, which is not yet licensed in the UK but has been granted a licence in Canada, had shown good results in multiple sclerosis sufferers, Dr Resfaye said.
He was first aware of Mrs Anderson's case when her family complained about her mental problems just days after her treatment began.
The doctor said the dose of the drug, which is taken using an oral spray, was reduced but Mrs Anderson's daughter, Jackie Sadler, rang back two weeks later to tell of her mother's deterioration.
Sheffield coroner Chris Dorries heard how Mrs Anderson suffered a series of physical problems after she was admitted to hospital in October 2003, 23 days after starting to take Sativex.
These included pneumonia which culminated in her death five months later.
The coroner said the purpose of the inquest was to examine what links there were, if any, between the experimental treatment and the physical deterioration which led to Mrs Anderson's death.
The inquest, which began on Monday, is expected to last five or six days.

Grieving family's drug trial plea
Last Updated: Friday, 16 December 2005, 17:31 GMT

The family of a woman who died after developing mental problems during the trial of a cannabis-based drug have called for the trials to be stopped.
Rene Anderson had been taking Sativex, which a coroner said was a "significant contributory factor" in the development of the illness which killed her.
A Sheffield inquest heard Mrs Anderson, 69, began to show bizarre symptoms when she started taking the drug in 2003.
Its manufacturer said afterwards the drug was not shown to be dangerous.
Diabetes UK, which had funded the trials, said they were continuing.
Mrs Anderson, a diabetic, of Silkstone Close, Sheffield, died in March 2004 from acute kidney failure.
She had been taking part in a trial into whether cannabis-based treatments could give pain relief caused by diabetic neuropathy.
But the inquest heard how within hours of taking her first dose she developed disturbed behaviour, telling her family that police had planted drugs at her home and officers were circling in a helicopter.
Three days later, the level of the drug was reduced after Mrs Anderson's family contacted the hospital to say she was confused and intoxicated.
After taking the drug for 28 days, Mrs Anderson was admitted to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital where her physical condition dramatically deteriorated.
On Friday, after a week-long inquest, Sheffield Coroner Chris Dorries delivered a narrative verdict.
"On the balance of probabilities, an idiosyncratic reaction to a trial drug (either alone or in combination with other medications) was at least a significant contributory factor to the initiation of this illness," he said.
Afterwards Mrs Anderson's daughter Jacquie Sadler called for an end to trials of Sativex, which is not yet licensed in the UK, but has been granted a licence in Canada.
"We're upset our mother was treated as a guinea pig for a drug that has been found to be at least a contributory factor to her death," she said.
Dr Stephen Wright, of GW Pharmaceuticals, manufacturers of Sativex, said it was a unique case.
"Whatever the sad cause of Mrs Anderson's death, it does not mean that Sativex is dangerous for patients even if it may have been one of several factors to have caused Mrs Anderson's initial confusion," he said.
"We do not believe that this case has any negative consequences for the regulatory progress of Sativex."
Diabetes UK said: "All trials seeking funding... must undergo a rigorous review process to ensure that they are both ethical and safe and promise real improvements in the lives of people with diabetes."

God made Marijuana perfect...why change it to a pill form?
Maybe they should study Pot on patients, and mark down the results!
Then they could go strieght to the food and drug administration, and legalize the natural stuff for all!

I mean if the only medical debait is lose of long and short term memory...then we have the perfect stuff for not only relieving pain, but forgetting our woes as well!

And I don't see anything wrong with forgetting my woes!
Isn't that why people drink?

The stigma that has stuck to pot being bad or evil is what has to change in the minds of the elite and pompus liars!
Slowly but surely they are becoming infected with the truth!
And the more they study Pot, the more hypocracy becomes the platform for it's use by the people, for the people!

If I have to pay tax to have people killed for me, and have blood dashed on my symbolic self against my wishes...I want to forget that!...it irratates my sainity!

Sir Les