CALL FOR DEBATE ON CANNABIS

THE potential benefits of cannabis in relieving symptoms like pain and
nausea are being ignored, prompted by fears that the medical use of the
drug will foster the push for decriminalisation, a drugs conference was
told this week.

Senior research officer with the Drug and Alcohol Services Council of South
Australia, Linda Gowing, says the confusion between therapeutic use and
social use of cannabis is hampering an objective consideration of its
relative risks and benefits.

"The public are not having an informed debate while mainstream medical
people and politicians are dismissing the claims of therapeutic efficacy as
pure propaganda by people running the line to encourage decriminalisation,"
Dr Gowing says.

"I don't think it's a miracle cure in waiting, but there are indications of
potential value and I would expect it to be used mainly as an adjunct to
other therapies."

But Dr Gowing told the conference of the Australian Professional Society on
Alcohol and Other Drugs on Tuesday that industry is discouraged from
supporting research, and researchers from getting involved in therapeutic
use, because they see themselves getting embroiled in heady motives.

She says research into the benefits of cannabis is patchy and concentrates
on only one of the 60 different elements in cannabis,
tetra-hydro-cannabinol, which has the greatest psychoactive powers.

A synthetic form of THC, dronabinol, has been available in Australia for
use as an appetite stimulant for HIV and AIDS patients, but is not
considered a primary measure by HIV-AIDS specialists.

Less evidence exists for using cannabis in neurological and movement
disorders, specifically epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, to prevent
symptoms occurring.

But Dr Gowing says there is scope for cannabis to be used as an adjunct
medication for treating nausea associated with chemotherapy, particularly
in an inhaled form enabling patients to adjust the dose to suit their
individual tolerance.

While many pain relievers exist, Dr Gowing says cannabis potentially has a
role in alleviating neuropathic pain associated with nerves, for which less
effective treatment is available.

Unlike many of the opiate-based drugs used for pain relief, death from
overdose by cannabis is unknown, Dr Gowing says.

Research also has shown cannabis is effective in controlling glaucoma, a
build-up of pressure in the eye which can cause blindness if untreated, but
it is not known if the blood supply to the optic nerve is also affected.

The psychoactive effect of cannabis is best tolerated by people used to the
drug socially, but Dr Gowing says manipulating the different elements in
cannabis can reduce the psychoactive properties.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski