MEDICAL RESEARCHERS TO PUT 'POT PATCH' TO THE TEST

Albany - College To Study If Marijuana Absorbed Through Skin Could Ease
Chronic Pain, Nausea

Cancer patients may one day be able to use a "marijuana patch" to ease the
chronic pain, nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy treatment.

The project, funded by the American Cancer Society of New York and New
Jersey, hopes to build on the success of nicotine patches, which deliver
controlled doses of nicotine to help cigarette smokers kick the habit.

Researchers at the Albany College of Pharmacy will study whether the active
components of marijuana can be transmitted through the skin in similar
fashion.

If successful, such a patch could help ease the suffering of the 81,500 New
Yorkers diagnosed with cancer every year. It might also have potential for
other chronic or terminal conditions, including AIDS. Studies have shown
that some 60 million Americans visit their doctor every year for pain relief.

"Patients often refer to the treatment (for cancer) as worse than the
disease," said Don Distasio, chief operating officer for the American
Cancer Society's Eastern Division. "Something needs to be done."

The three-year, $361,000 grant was awarded to Audra Stinchcomb, an
assistant professor at the college, where she specializes in the study of
transmitting drugs through the skin, known as transdermal delivery.

Her biggest challenge will be finding a way to skirt the skin's natural
defense system against foreign or toxic invaders.

Stinchcomb will use the waste tissue discarded from tummy tuck operations
to measure how cannabinoids, the active ingredients in marijuana, are
absorbed through the skin, and at what rate.

"If transdermal delivery were easy, every capsule would have a patch," she
said. "The skin is a good barrier."

Stinchcomb estimated it could take a decade of research and clinical trials
before a marijuana patch might be approved for sale.

Such a patch could avoid some of the side effects of medical marijuana
cigarettes, a controversial source of pain relief that is currently banned
by federal law.

But voters in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, California and
Alaska have passed initiatives legalizing marijuana for medical use, though
doctors are still reluctant to prescribe it.

In New York and the rest of the country, a synthetic form of marijuana
provides a legal option for pain relief. Yet Stinchcomb said the pill,
known as dronabinol, has limited effectiveness in very ill patients.

"Severely nauseated patients may not be able to keep the capsule in their
stomach long enough for it to have an effect," she said.

Last year, a report by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National
Academy of Sciences, concluded that the active ingredients in marijuana can
ease the pain, nausea and vomiting of cancer and AIDS.