Pubdate: Fri, 01 May 1998 Source: British Medical Journal (UK) Contact: http://www.bmj.com/ Author: John Warden, parliamentary correspondent UK EXPERTS WILL SPEED UP WORK ON CANNABIS Research into the clinical use of cannabinoids is to be put on to a new basis in Britain with the formation of a committee of experts who will draw up guidelines for good practice. The working party on the therapeutic uses of cannabinoids is being set up by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and will be headed by Sir William Asscher, a former chairman of the government Committee on Safety of Medicines. The aim is that the guidelines will encourage the Home Office to approve research licences which are currently being delayed. The development was reported by BMA witnesses to a House of Lords subcommittee inquiring into the use of cannabis and its derivatives for medical and recreational purposes and into whether any relaxation of the law is appropriate. Last year the BMA report Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis concluded that cannabis is unsuitable for medicinal use but that cannabinoid derivatives should be considered. Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of the BMA's professional resources and research group, and Professor Heather Ashton, consultant writer for the BMA report, gave evidence to the Lords subcommittee last week. They reported a meeting last month with the chief medical officer at the Department of Health to discuss further action in moving forward clinical trials of cannabinoids. It was agreed that a new independent body to conduct such trials was required. Dr Nathanson welcomed the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's working party as a means of producing better research and development of cannabinoids so that the least possible delay occurs before clinical trials are started. Concern had been expressed, she said, over Home Office delays in issuing research licences, with about 14 applications pending. The new research protocols might help the Home Office to compare licence applications with a set of guidelines and decide which should be licensed. In a written submission, the BMA said that individual cannabinoids have a therapeutic potential in several medical conditions in which present drugs are not fully adequate. The long term effects have not been studied, but present evidence indicates that cannabinoids are remarkably safe. The accumulation of scientific evidence has been hampered by regulations restricting the use of cannabinoids to one clinical indication--as antiemetics in chemotherapy for cancer. The BMA wants a high priority given to carefully controlled trials of cannabinoids in patients with chronic spastic disorders that have not responded to other drugs. In the meantime there was a case for the extension of the indications for nabilone and ะบ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol for use in chronic spastic disorders unresponsive to standard drugs.