CANNABIS GIVEN MEDICAL TRIALS

The first clinical trails into the medical benefits of cannabis on people
suffering from multiple sclerosis are to be carried out by the Medical
Research Council, it was announced yesterday.

It has approved pounds 959,00 grant for a 3-year study into the therapeutic
effects of extracts from the drug on MS sufferers.

People suffering from the disease have claimed it can ease their symptoms.

Several patients have been prosecuted in recent years after using the drug
to alleviate their pain.

The research will be carried out by Dr John Zajicek, a consultant
neurologist at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

Dr Zajicek will recruit 660 patient with MS from across the country who
have significant spasticity in some of their leg muscle.

Each patient will be randomly given one of three treatments in capsule
form: extract of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (a constituent of cannabis)
or a placebo (containing only a vegetable oil).

Neither the patient nor their doctors will know which treatment is being
taken until after the study. Dr Zajicek said: "We hope the study will
provide definite scientific evidence about whether or not taking cannabis
is helpful to people with MS".

Peter Cardy, chief executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, said: "For
years we have pressed for proper medical research to assess the clinical
effectiveness and safety of these substances. Thousands of people with MS
suffering from often very painful symptoms of spasticity(spasms).

"It clearly an unacceptable state of affairs when many people suffering
from a serious medical condition feel driven to break the law. The trail
will provide us with the evidence we need to know whether cannabis or
cannabinoids (extracts of the drug) are safe and effective treatment of
spasticity in MS."

Around 85,000 people in the UK suffer from multiple sclerosis, a disease of
the nervous system. It is the most common neurological disease affecting
young adults in the western world.

There is no cure for MS and the best treatment available at the moment for
slowing the progression of the disease is the expensive drug beta interferon.

But the cost of beta interferon means some health authorities refuse to
make it available

Breaking The Law To Ease The Pain

Mother-of-two Clare Hodges describes herself as a "middle-aged, middle
class woman" but she is forced to break the law daily in order to relieve
the symptoms of MS. Mrs Hodges, 42, has suffered for 17 years and has used
cannabis to alleviate spasms and pain for eight years, since reading of its
effects in an American magazine.

She heads the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics, which campaigns in favour
of people with medical conditions, including MS, being allowed to use the
drug.

The alliance estimates that more than 10,000 people in the UK use cannabis
to relieve medical conditions.

Mrs Hodges, a former TV producer who has been forced to give up work
because of MS, grows her cannabis plants at home in Leeds.

She smokes the drug daily and estimates that buying, growing and smoking
the plants costs her around pounds 30 a week.

While welcoming further research into MS, Mrs Hodges is scathing about the
medical establishment's reaction to calls for cannabis to be legalised for
patients like her.

"Of course any research is welcome, but we need help now", she said after
yesterdays announcement.