CANNABIS EASES CANCER SICKNESS, STUDY FINDS

CANNABIS chemicals are better than conventional drugs at controlling
sickness caused by cancer treatments, a study showed yesterday.

But researchers found that cannabinoids, the compounds responsible for
the "high" obtained from cannabis, could have serious side-effects.
These ranged from feelings of euphoria and drowsiness, to dizziness,
depression and hallucinations.

A second investigation by the same team of British and Swiss
researchers found that cannabinoids were no better than codeine for
controlling acute and chronic pain.

Both reports appeared yesterday in the British Medical
Journal.

The sickness study, led by Martin Tramer at the Hopitaux
Universitaires Geneva, reviewed 30 trials involving more than 1,300
patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Three different cannabinoids were taken either as tablets or by
injection.

Across all the trials, the cannabis substances were more effective
than conventional anti-sickness drugs, although no difference was
found for patients receiving very low or very high doses of
chemotherapy.

Most patients said they preferred the cannabis treatments to normal
drugs.

However, patients also reported more side-effects from
cannabinoids.

The most harmful included depression, hallucinations, paranoia, and
low blood pressure.