UK:'DON'T PUNISH CANNABIS USERS' SAYS BMA

The British Medical Association yesterday threw its weight behind MPs who
have been campaigning for cannabis to be legalised for therapeutic use by
urging the Home Secretary not to punish sufferers for taking the drug
illegally.

A BMA team complained to a Lords committee investigating the scientific use
of the drug that the Home Office appeared to be dragging its heels in
licensing trials for developing drugs from cannabis. There had been no
response to 14 requests for licenses, the peers were told.

"If a patient is not suitable for trial, and there are no other alternatives
available, then we do believe they should be treated sympathetically in
terms of the law and any penalty where they are using herbal cannabis for
their own therapeutic benefit," Professor Vivienne Nathanson told the Lords
committee on science and technology.

Professor Nathanson, head of the BMA's professional resources and research
group, said she believed there could be a big worldwide demand for a
cannabis-based drug which could relieve some of the symptoms of muscular
dystrophy, muscle spasms, glaucoma, vomiting after chemotherapy and chronic
pain.

"The numbers of patients who might benefit in a worldwide context may be
very considerable," she said.

The committee is focusing on the scientific value of developing cannabis,
which it heard had fallen out of use after the Victorian era, when newer
drugs became available. The BMA team told the peers that once drugs were
developed, it was likely they would be administered in the future by use of
inhalers.

But the BMA said smoking a cannabis joint could be five times more
carcinogenic than a tobacco cigarette. The BMA came down firmly against the
legalisation of cannabis for recreational use.

"Because of the way in which it is smoked, a single cannabis joint delivers
the equivalent in carbon monoxide, irritants and carcinogens of 4-5 tobacco
cigarettes and carries similar cardiovascular and respiratory health risks
including the risk of lung cancer," said Professor Heather Ashton, Emeritus
Professor of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

Professor Ashton, who was the consultant writer for the BMA report,
Therapeutic uses of Cannabis, told the peers that her own students in
Newcastle were also reporting dependency on cannabis, which was stronger now
than 10 or 20 years ago.

The BMA is calling for research into developing synthetic forms of cannabis
to avoid the side effects - including getting 'high' - in the use of the
drug for therapeutic use.

The health risks associated with smoking cannabis, including possible
passive smoking by the families of cannabis users, reinforced the BMAs case
for new forms of the drug to be developed.

But the team stressed that were were problems with developing drugs which
could avoid the side-effects associated with cannabis. there were also
difficulties in establishing accurate tests for the drug, which had made it
so far impossible to develop a roadside test for drivers like the breath
test for alcohol.