STUDY TO PIN DOWN MARIJUANA DOSES FOR CHRONIC PAIN

MONTREAL - After years of delay, a Canadian study on the value of
marijuana as a pain reliever is underway in Montreal.

Dr. Mark Ware, a professor of family medicine and anesthesia at McGill
University, treats patients with severe, chronic pain. His clinical
trial aims to determine the therapeutic value of cannabis for these
patients under real-life conditions.

Health Canada had held up the study, but the department has now given
permission to a supplier to release its product for the trial. Many of
Ware's patients sought prescriptions for medicinal marijuana after
other painkillers failed.

Yanick Drapeau injured his spinal cord in a motorcycle accident 18
months ago and is still in great pain.

"It's like electricity on my leg," said Drapeau. "Like a big shock
every day."

Drapeau took morphine every day but the side effects were too much for
him. Marijuana eased the pain without making him groggy, he said.

Doctors may sanction the use of cannabis as a medical treatment, but
they lack scientific facts to pass on to their patients.

"I wouldn't know how to prescribe it because to my knowledge, there
have been no studies of smoked marijuana," said Dr. Francois Lehmann,
chair of family medicine at the University of Montreal.

To determine the best dosages, Ware's enrolled 32 patients with
neuropathic pain. Their skin is very sensitive to touch or
temperature, like a sunburn that can't tolerate air flowing over it,
he said.

The patients smoke a pipe, now licenced as a medical
device.

"We're specifying that they use a certain amount three times a day for
a five-day period," said Ware. Patients will randomly rotate through
different strengths of cannabis at home and report back.

Patients hope the study will result in easier access to the pain
killer. Early results are expected in early 2005.