CANNABIS TESTS FOR MS CASES APPROVED

A three-year clinical trial costing pounds 950,000 is to be carried
out into the effects of cannabis on people suffering from multiple
sclerosis.

Patients have claimed that the drug can ease their symptoms, and
several have faced prosecution for using it.

Dr John Zajicek, a consultant neurologist at Derriford Hospital in
Plymouth, will study 660 patients from all over the country, the
Medical Research Council said yesterday as it announced details of the
trial. He will select those who have significant spasticity in some of
their leg muscles.

They will be given one of three treatments: extract of cannabis,
tetrahydrocannabinol (a constituent of cannabis) or a placebo
(containing only a vegetable oil), all in the form of capsules.

The trial will be "double-blind" to avoid unconscious bias: neither
the patients 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 multiple sclerosis."

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 suffer from the often very painful
symptoms of spasticity [spasms]. It is clearly an unacceptable state
of affairs when many people suffering from a serious medical condition
feel driven to break the law.

"The trial will provide us with the evidence we need to know whether
cannabis or cannaboids [extracts of the drug] are a safe and effective
treatment of spasticity in MS." There are about 85,000 people in
Britain suffering from multiple sclerosis, a disease of the nervous
system.

It is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in
the Western world.

The prospect of trials into the medical benefits of cannabis first
came to light two years ago when the Government, the MRC and the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society agreed on how the study could be conducted.
Patients will be recruited from specialist MS clinics in hospitals
around the country.