PATIENTS' PLIGHT HIGHLIGHTED BY LANDMARK CANNABIS TALKS

THE plight of patients who derive a modicum of relief by smoking cannabis
was highlighted by the landmark talks involving the Irish and British
ministers with responsibility for their national drug strategies.

Hopes of a research breakthrough have been raised by a government backed
investigation in Britain into the medicinal properties of cannabis.
Significantly, it was the key topic when Minister Mo Mowlam and her Dublin
counterpart, Minister for State Eoin Ryan, met earlier this week.

Dr Mowlam hopes Britain will have a cannabis prescription system in place
by 2003. More likely than not, the end product would be a derivative
containing various properties of the soft drug.

The arguments in favour of such a move are illustrated by the case history
of an Irish patient suffering from a rare condition called dystonia. The
only time the spasms stop is when he sleeps and 40 years of medical
treatment have proved ineffectual.

The only relief he can achieve is by smoking cannabis which cannot be
secured legally in this country.

If Britain opts to change the law as a result of research, there is a
strong case for Ireland following suit. Essentially, such an initiative
should be taken exclusively on medical grounds to avoid the risk of it
becoming embroiled in the controversy surrounding the criminalisation of
cannabis.