Pubdate: Fri, 25 Jan 2002
Source: Dominion, The (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2002 The Dominion
Contact:  http://www.dominion.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/128

RESEARCHERS TRY TO MAKE CANNABIS FOR PAIN RELIEF

New Zealand researchers are hoping to discover the ideal form of 
therapeutic cannabis to alleviate the suffering of Aids and cancer patients 
without exposing them to harmful side effects.

Auckland University's Liggins Institute aims to develop a cannabis-like 
substance that will relieve symptoms but not give patients a "physically 
dysfunctional high".

The drug would be administered as eye drops or through an inhaler to 
eliminate the risk of lung cancer associated with cannabis use.

Researcher Michelle Glass said taking the drug orally - in cookies, for 
example - was unreliable because it took a while to enter the bloodstream. 
It was difficult for patients to gauge its effect because its potency would 
vary depending on what, and how much, the patient had eaten.

It was well recognised that smoking a joint relieved symptoms such as 
nausea, pain and appetite suppression in Aids sufferers and cancer 
chemotherapy patients, Dr Glass said.

"Other studies have shown that cannabis can help reduce spastic attacks in 
multiple sclerosis sufferers, as well as easing phantom limb pain," Dr 
Glass said.

But people not only became "physically dysfunctional" from the "high" they 
experienced, they risked developing lung cancer, so other ways of 
administering the drug were being searched for.
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