STUDY EXAMINES MARIJUANA'S EFFECT ON PAIN

Health Canada Approval: Chance To Look At Cannabis As Medicine: Montreal Doctor

MONTREAL - A McGill University researcher will be seeking scientific
evidence that marijuana really works to relieve chronic pain.

Dr. Mark Ware will be doing the first clinical study, financed by Health
Canada, on marijuana and pain.

"Finally, a chance to tackle cannabis as a medicine, not just something to
make you giggle," said Dr. Ware of the McGill pain clinic at the Montreal
General Hospital.

The year-long pilot study is expected to start in January.

Dr. Ware will investigate well-known but anecdotal claims about marijuana
smoking and its effects on severe pain.

"It's a real vindication of what's been three-years work for me," Dr. Ware
said after the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, a branch of Health
Canada, gave its approval.

Sparked by stories from his own patients, Dr. Ware applied unsuccessfully
for similar research grants twice before.

"They say that this stuff works. As a doctor, I have to listen to that,"
said Dr. Ware, who researched sickle-cell disease in Jamaica where
marijuana is a common folk remedy.

As an illegal substance, marijuana comes with a stigma, Dr. Ware explained,
without taking a position on the legalization debate. His job, he said, is
to find a scientific basis -- or lack thereof -- for what many people have
claimed for years.

"It makes perfect sense to look at possible medical benefits of cannabis,"
he said.

"If you're retching your guts out after chemotherapy and you take cannabis
and stop retching and feel better, that's strong anecdotal evidence, but
it's not a clinical study."

Dr. Ware's pilot project is the first step toward making cannabis a
legitimate medicine, to be prescribed and sold like any other.

Also, it is the first outpatient study involving the drug: It will look at
the effects of pot smoking in a natural environment, the patient's home,
rather than in a clinical setting like a hospital laboratory.

Most trial subjects will be recruited from patients already at the McGill
pain clinic. "Please don't get on a flight and come to Montreal expecting
to be involved in this study," Dr. Ware implored.

Subjects must suffer from moderate to severe chronic pain that is caused by
nerve damage. Interested candidates must first get a referral to the pain
clinic from their doctors.

The 32 recruits will be given enough marijuana to smoke three times a day
for one month.

"We'll ask them to take it as directed," Dr. Ware said. That means no
sharing with friends. And no extra "substances" allowed.

The marijuana is expected to be imported from a U.S. grower who can provide
standardized content of the active ingredients.

"We still have paperwork, licences and regulatory approvals to secure for
cannabis as a new drug in humans -- ironic as that may sound," Dr. Ware said.

About 250 Canadians have exemptions to smoke marijuana for medical purposes.