MEDICINAL MARIJUANA INHALER INCHES CLOSER

Plans to make marijuana available by prescription to British multiple
sclerosis sufferers promise to shake up the debate in the United States
over legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Sativex, an inhaler that dispenses medical marijuana in mist form, is in
the final stages of testing by the United Kingdom's Department of Health, a
spokeswoman said.

Sativex's developer, GW Pharmaceuticals, a British company, hopes to sell
medical pot in Western Europe and the Commonwealth countries, including
Canada. The U.S. market is a "long-term objective," company spokesman Mark
Rogerson said.

Sativex would be the first prescription drug that uses real marijuana
extract and not a synthesized form. The product offers hope of pain relief
to an estimated 110,000 MS sufferers in the United Kingdom.

Twin arguments

Some say that by licensing the drug, the British government has confirmed
pot's value in relieving pain. Others say that once government-approved
marijuana is available, it will be more difficult to argue that disease
sufferers should be permitted to grow or purchase marijuana for their own use.

"The government's spin will be that there is a right way and a wrong way to
pursue (medical marijuana), and that (Sativex) proves it," said Allen St.
Pierre, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws. The Washington, D.C.-based group favors relaxing criminal penalties
for all marijuana users.

An estimated 2.5 million people have multiple sclerosis, including 400,000
in the United States. It is a chronic disease that affects the central
nervous system and can result in loss of muscle coordination.

The Sativex device uses vapor distilled from marijuana plants grown under
government supervision in southern England. It has proved successful in
relieving the muscle and headache pain of a small number of test patients,
according to trial results reviewed by the UK's Medicines and Health Care
Products Regulatory Agency.

The product is sprayed under the tongue and is said to be especially
effective because it is absorbed quickly and contains all of the marijuana
plant's pain-relieving properties