UK SAYS NO PLANS TO LEGALISE CANNABIS AS MEDICINE

LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - The British government urged doctors on
Friday not to prescribe cannabis as a medicine after reports suggested
it was considering decriminalising the drug to relieve patient
suffering. But asked about a report in The Independent newspaper that
a decision to legalise cannabis for medical use had been taken, a
government spokesman hinted that a change in policy could follow after
human trials of the drug are completed.

"The government would have to be convinced in the usual way before the
MCA (Medicines Control Agency) would look at this in terms of safety,
quality and efficacy," he added.

In the meantime, "the government doesn't believe doctors should
prescribe it (cannabis)," the spokesman said.

Citing a senior government source, the Independent said Cabinet Office
Minister Mo Mowlam, who wanted an official review of the issue of
decriminalising cannabis, had reached a deal with Prime Minister Tony
Blair and Home Secretary Jack Straw, who both oppose any relaxation of
the law.

People suffering from multiple sclerosis and other conditions which
caused severe pain would be allowed to use cannabis legally, the
newspaper said. Human trials are currently being undertaken by British
drug company GW Pharmaceuticals into the medical benefits of cannabis
for patients with multiple sclerosis.

MS is an auto-immune disease in which the body's own immune system
attacks and destroys a sheath which protects the nerve cells in the
brain and spinal cord. It affects about one million people worldwide
and 85,000 people in Britain. There is no cure.

GW Pharmaceuticals said in December that it hoped to have a
cannabis-based medicine ready to be prescribed by doctors within three
or four years. But the spokesman for Blair's Downing Street
headquarters said these trials were "at an early stage" and generally
take several years to conclude. He also stressed that there were no
proposals to legalise the recreational use of cannabis. "And we've got
no plans to decriminalise substances which are currently controlled,"
he said.