NEW CANNABIS WON'T GIVE A 'HIGH'

Keith Hellawell, the Government's "drugs tsar" has revealed that
British scientists have been licensed to produce a new variety of
cannabis - one that is almost totally free of the element that gives
smokers a "high".

The scientists have been granted permission to grow the drug at a
number of secret sites in the south of England. The new, "safe"
variety is manufactured by extracting the element that gives the
"high". The aim is to produce a drug that can be used to treat a
number of illnesses including multiple sclerosis.

Botanists have known for years that cannabis contains an element that
can bring effective pain relief and campaigners for its
decriminalisation have long argued its medicinal properties.

But scientists have now found that the pain relieving elements in the
drug have little to do with the "high" that smokers cherish.

In an exclusive interview with the Independent on Sunday Mr Hellawell
said the discovery has, at a stroke, destroyed the campaign to
legalise marijuana. He revealed that a British company, GW
Pharmaceuticals, has been licensed to produce the new, modified drug.

The Home Office decided to back research into using cannabis extracts
for medicinal use two years ago. Initial tests to isolate the most
beneficial parts of the plant have shown that tetra-hydrocannabinol
(THC) - the intoxicating compound in cannabis that gives
recreational users a high - is not the element that relieves pain.

Now scientists are developing a cannabis-based drug with a minimal THC
content. Trials are already taking place with 660 multiple sclerosis
sufferers to measure the therapeutic effect of the Class B drug. The
three-year study, costing nearly pounds 1m, is being carried out by
the Medical Research Council. If the results are positive, the
specially produced cannabis will be available as a treatment on
prescription in the next two years in the form of an inhaler.

Mr Hellawell said the Government's policy not to legalise cannabis has
been vindicated and emphasised that cannabis in its pure form had a
greater carcinogenic effect than tobacco.

"I get cross when the legalisers for recreational use used to be able
to say all these poor people are suffering because of prohibitive
policies," he said. "We have taken that argument away by carrying out
this research. The benefit people may have in dulling their senses may
not be the benefit needed to help them with their disease.

"There is no doctor in the world, even the ones who support the use of
cannabis derivatives for medical treatment, who would support smoking
of cannabis."

GW Pharmaceuticals confirmed that its tests had shown THC to give
little benefit, although the company stressed it held a neutral
position. "The myth is that sufferers benefit from THC because it
dulls the pain," said a spokesman. "We want to develop a dose so there
is no side-effect or high. I've talked to MS sufferers who are using
cannabis and they have learned how to just take enough so they don't
get high. Patients want to get on with their lives."

However, many MS suffers remain sceptical about the trials and intend
to boycott any treatment that becomes available. Colin David, a member
of the Medical Marijuana Co-operative, started using cannabis after
fracturing his spine and has been acquitted twice for cultivating the
drug. His view is that the treatment under development would not be as
beneficial as cannabis in its pure form.

"The tablets they are using in the trials have been around for a while
and have failed before," he said. "There are thousands of components
in the plant which work together to benefit sufferers. Isolating only
a few elements cannot have the same effect.

"Cannabis should be legalised. It's safer than alcohol and is far
cheaper for people to grow their own."

POTTED HISTORY

* Cannabis use was first documented in the fifth century BC, when the
Greek historian Herodotus observed that the Scythians (Russian nomads)
burnt it in small tents, inhaling it collectively.

* The Chinese started using cannabis as a herbal medicine for its
pain-relieving properties in the first century AD.

* Western medicine did not discover its benefits until the 1840s.
Queen Victoria's physician was one of many who began prescribing it
for various illnesses.

* The growth of jazz clubs in the 1950s and immigration from the West
Indies led to its popularity as a recreational drug in this country.

* Cannabis was outlawed after an Egyptian delegate at an international
opium conference in the 1920s made an impassioned plea for Britain to
include it in any agreement on the prohibition of opiates.

* In 1973 the Misuse of Drugs Act outlawed the use of cannabis
medicinally. Under the Act, it is an offence to allow any premises
under your control to be used for growing, preparing, supplying or
smoking cannabis.