Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jul 2001
Source: Guardian Weekly, The (UK)
Copyright: Guardian Publications 2001
Contact:  http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/633
Author: Sarah Boseley

CANADA LEGALISES THE COMPASSIONATE JOINT FOR CHRONIC AND TERMINAL ILLNESSES

Canada yesterday became the first country in the world to legalise the use 
of cannabis for medical purposes, allowing those with chronic and terminal 
illnesses to grow their own and to smoke, inhale in some other way or eat 
the drug as they prefer. Under pressure from people with conditions such as 
multiple sclerosis who say cannabis brings them relief, the UK government 
has agreed to scientific trials to establish whether it has medical 
benefits and how it - or extracts of it - can be taken without smoking, 
which itself damages health.

But the Canadian government has taken the greater leap and allowed people 
whose doctors certify they have certain conditions to roll a legal joint. 
The move drew immediate criticism from doctors who want proper research 
into efficacy and the dose needed, and the Marijuana Party of Canada which 
argues that legalising the drug altogether would be a lot less bureaucratic.

Those with terminal illnesses - with the expectation of only a year to live 
- - and those with certain specified conditions will be eligible for the 
weed, if their doctor and two other experts sign the legal forms. The 
conditions include Aids, arthritis, cancer, MS, epilepsy and degenerative 
muscle and bone illnesses.

The patients will be allowed to grow their own cannabis or have someone 
grow it for them. It will still be illegal for anyone else to produce or 
sell cannabis, but that could change. The Canadian supreme court has agreed 
to hear arguments that criminalisation of cannabis is unconstitutional, on 
the grounds that it poses no significant health risk.

The Canadian government is also pushing forward with research. In a 
mineshaft, deep below a lake in Flin Flon, Manitoba, a government-funded 
cannabis plantation has been established with tighter security than the 
Canadian lab that stores the deadly and highly contagious Ebola virus.

The plantation, which is bigger than three football pitches, is expected to 
produce 185kg of the weed next month. This will mostly be used in clinical 
trials, although some is expected to go to those with official medical 
approval. One of the advantages of this source is that users can be sure of 
what they are getting. The amount of tetrahydrocannabinol - the active 
ingredient in cannabis - in the government plants is only 5-6%, compared 
with 15-18% in street supplies.

UK scientists are currently running clinical trials using cannabis 
extracts, called cannabinoids, taken orally.

GW Pharmaceuticals, one of the British companies involved in UK trials, has 
been negotiating with the Canadian government. It is researching the use of 
a cannabis extract that is sprayed under the tongue. Mark Rogerson, the 
company's spokesman, said: "I fully understand why they are going for the 
compassionate joint, but we would see that as a short-term measure."

The main Medical Research Council-funded clinical trials in the UK are 
based in Plymouth, looking at the effects of cannabinoids on MS patients 
and those who need pain relief. In November 1998 a House of Lords select 
committee urged that cannabis should be legalised immediately for medical 
use, allowing doctors to prescribe it for patients. But since the trials 
began, there has been greater willingness to wait for a reliable and safe 
cannabis pill to be approved.

"We want to see results from proper trialling," said David Harrison, 
spokesman for the MS Society. "Although people try to play down some of the 
suggestions that have been made about the downside and possible 
carcinogenic effects, we don't think it is right that somebody with a 
lifelong condition has their problem exacerbated by something else."

But Rod Hermeston, from Disability Now magazine, said 70% of his readers 
found cannabis greatly relieved their pain or muscle spasms. "If you ask 
disabled people they don't say we want the outcome of a clinical trial. 
They just say leave us alone to get on with our lives and alleviate our pain."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens