DOCTORS TREAT MS SUFFERERS WITH CANNABIS

GPs Refuse to Wait for New Spray to Be Licensed

SCOTTISH doctors have started prescribing cannabis on the NHS before
it is officially licensed in a bid to relieve the pain of multiple
sclerosis sufferers.

Medics, apparently frustrated by years of trials of medicinal
cannabis, have decided to wait no longer and are legally obtaining
the drug Sativex direct from the manufacturer.

Doctors are allowed to prescribe unlicensed drugs in the UK if they
think it is in the best interest of their patient, but they are
liable for any unforeseen consequences.

Sativex, which costs the NHS around UKP1,825 a year per patient,
contains two purified forms of cannabis and is considered highly
effective at controlling the pain and spasms associated with MS. It
contains an extra ingredient which prevents the patient getting a 'high'.

Many cancer and MS sufferers resort to cannabis in its illegal form
as pain relief and several have been prosecuted, including the late
Biz Ivol, from Orkney, who made cannabis chocolates and posted them
to fellow sufferers.

Trials of Sativex have been ongoing for at least four years and it
will be later this year before the makers submit an application for
UK licensing.

But prescription figures from the Information and Statistics Division
of the Scottish Government's health department indicate that around a
dozen patients are already being supplied with the drug by their doctors.

The true number of Scots receiving the drug is probably higher
because those figures do not include prescriptions requested by
hospital consultants.

Although cannabis is an illegal drug, the company which makes
Sativex, GW Pharmaceuticals, based in Wiltshire, is allowed to do so
under a special licence from the Home Office. This licence also
allows doctors to prescribe it and patients to take it without
breaking the law.

The treatment, which is taken as a spray under the tongue, contains
cannabis as the main active ingredient and is treated to ensure
patients do not experience a high. Cannabis blocks receptors in the
brain that cause a patient to feel pain or experience muscle spasms,
two symptoms of MS.

Sativex has already been approved as a prescription medicine in Canada.

A spokesman for GW Pharmaceuticals said: "We are working very hard to
finish clinical trials, which are necessary to get a full licence.
The good news for patients is that the mechanism does exist that
allows them to have access to this medicine. The final decision on
whether to prescribe it to a patient is a matter for individual health boards."

One patient who has benefited from the drug is MS sufferer Joyce
Fisher, from Dollar, Clackmannanshire. The 45-year-old former library
assistant has had the condition for 15 years and is now confined to a
wheelchair. Her GP agreed to prescribe Sativex after Fisher heard
about the drug last year, and she took it for three months. However,
she says her local health board, NHS Forth Valley, will no longer
fund her treatment.

"Sativex eased the pain within the first two days and it also
relieved the muscle spasms. It relaxed my body and allowed me to
stand up and exercise."

Patients have long campaigned for the legalisation of cannabis for
medicinal purposes. Scotland's best-known campaigner was MS sufferer
Biz Ivol, from Orkney, who died in 2004 after falling ill with a
chest infection and refusing any further medication.

Ivol was admonished at Kirkwall Sheriff Court in 1997 after she
admitted growing 27 cannabis plants to relieve her pain. She produced
cannabis chocolate bars, "cannachoc", for fellow sufferers.

Last night Linda Hendry, spokeswoman for the Legalise Cannabis
Campaign Scotland and a former acquaintance of Ivol, said Sativex
could have saved Ivol's life.

Treatments

Marijuana has some use in treating a variety of ailments.

It has been used to 'numb' the central nervous system - helping to
reduce any associated muscle spasms with Alzheimer's disease, and as
a treatment for sufferers of obsessive compulsive disorder and Tourette's.

Cannabinoids found within marijuana can relieve pain and stimulate
appetite, which can aid cancer and HIV patients.