CANNABIS MEDICAL TRIALS UNDER WAY

The prospect of the government legalising the use of cannabis for medicinal
purposes is still at least two to three years away, the biotechnology
company which is carrying out the clinical trials said yesterday.

Geoffrey Guy, chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals, which has two Home Office
licences to research the medical uses of the drug, said the company had
completed the first human trials in November.

Dr Guy said the firm soon expected to start clinical trials in patients
suffering from multiple sclerosis and other conditions which bring severe
pain, including spinal chord injury and neuralgia.

The company is testing a cannabis-based prescription medicine that would
give patients the medical benefits of dope but without the "unwanted
psychoactive side effects" - or the high - and without the health dangers
associated with smoking.

It is expected the trials, which involve 2,000 volunteers, will take a
further two to three years to complete.

Downing Street and the Home Office rejected reports yesterday that a deal
had been struck between Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam and Jack Straw that the use
of cannabis for medicinal purposes would be given the go-ahead later this
year.

The cabinet office minister wanted a government-ordered review of whether
cannabis should be decriminalised while the home secretary is adamantly
opposed to any relaxation of the drug laws.

Downing Street reiterated yesterday that the prime minister was waiting to
see the results of the clinical trials before any decision was arrived at.

The long awaited Police Foundation inquiry into the future of the drug laws
is expected to recommend that prison should no longer be used to punish
cannabis offenders and that ecstasy should no longer be treated as a class
A drug which attracts the same penalties as heroin.

Dr Guy said that the newspaper reports had simply confirmed the
"government's long-held view that it intends to allow cannabis-based
medicines to be prescribed to patients once clinical trials are completed.

"GW's trials aim to demonstrate quality, safety, and efficacy to the
satisfaction of the medicines control agency.

"The reports provide further reassurance that once MCA approval is obtained
for cannabis-based medicines, the government will reschedule these products
so as to allow prescription use."

The Home Office minister, Lord Williams, told the company early in 1998
that "if and when the benefits of cannabis-based medicine are
scientifically demonstrated... the government would be willing to propose
an amendment to the misuse of drugs legislation to allow the prescription
of such medicine."

A Home Office spokesman confirmed yesterday that the policy had not changed.

GW Pharmaceuticals grew its first crop of 5,000 cannabis plants last summer
in a secret greenhouse in the south of England. It eventually hopes to grow
20,000 plants at the site, which is being guarded around the clock.

The powder from the plants will be made into capsules or given to patients
using an inhaler.