HASHISH FOUND TO BE GOOD FOR JOINTS

JERUSALEM (June 7) - If your joints are going to pot, a hashish derivative
may be your salvation. A doctoral student at the Hebrew University's School
of Pharmacy in Jerusalem has discovered that a substance taken from the
hallucinatory drug can be effective as an anti-inflammatory drug for
rheumatoid arthritis.

For her work with hashish as a therapeutic agent, Susanna Tchilibon - a
32-year-old immigrant from Milan - has been named a winner of one of this
year's Kaye Prizes for Innovations and Inventions at the university. The
prizes were awarded during the 64th meeting of the university's board of
governors, which ended yesterday.

Tchilibon said that hashish (cannabis), which is derived from the Indian
hemp plant, has been used since ancient times for treating various
ailments, such as malaria, constipation, and rheumatic pains. The plant has
both psychoactive and non-psychoactive constituent elements.

She investigated the metabolism of the major non-psychoactive material in
cannabis, called cannabidiol (CBD), and found that an acid derived from
CBD, code named HU-320, is a potent anti-inflammatory agent. HU-320 is
comparable to the known drug indomethacin, but without the known and
considerable gastrointestinal side effects caused by that drug. Tchilibon
added that use of hashish or marijuana (another hemp plant derivative) has
never been shown to cause those side effects.

A patent based on her work has been registered via the university's Yissum
Research Development Company. Further evaluation is anticipated to test the
effectiveness of HU-320, particularly as a potential treatment for
rheumatoid arthritis.

Commenting on her decision to settle in Israel alone, without her family,
five years ago, Tchilibon said: "I wanted to study for my doctorate in
medicinal chemistry, and I felt that the Hebrew University was the best
place to do this." Her research has been conducted in the pharmacy school's
Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products.